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Why I wrote Crosby’s Balloon…

McManus Scans_Page_20 It’s important to me that the stories I write have a lesson or a message. Being a writer allows me to be a teacher in a passive manor. But I can’t help being a “bossy boots” and explaining my intentions directly in the this post. The following are a couple of ideas and principles that I value and wanted to get across to readers in my new book, Crosby’s Balloon.

Modeling Supportive Family Behavior. Cash and Addie treat their younger brother, Crosby, compassionately throughout the story. They listen to him. They suggest things that might make good experiences more memorable (suggesting Crosby draw a picture of his dreams so he doesn’t forget.) They comfort him when he is sad (his balloon deflates) and try to make him feel better. Sibling relationships are a privilege that not everyone enjoys and that many take for granted. I regret not being nicer to my siblings when we were growing up.

Creative Problem Solving. This ties into having a supportive compassionate family. The Problem: Crosby’s balloon deflates= Crosby is sad. The solution isn’t a trip to the store to buy Crosby a new balloon. The solution is a long term remedy that could possibly give Crosby coping tools to deal with sadness and disappointment in future situations (loss of pet etc.) You’ll have to read the book to find out what happened…..

Crosby’s Balloon by Whitney McManus Oldendorf is available for sale on Amazon.com &
https://www.createspace.com/4849138

Crosby’s Balloon

After receiving a special balloon from his neighbor, Miss Klickitat, Crosby’s dreams become filled with magical creatures and exotic places. But when Crosby’s balloon begins to deflate, can Miss Klickitat and friends keep his adventures afloat?

Available for Sale:
 Amazon.com  &
CreateSpace eStore: https://www.createspace.com/4849138

 

The Second Book

As you may know, I have been working feverishly on my second book in the Miss Klickitat StoryImage series. I’m not sure what the title of this second book is yet. I’ll just keep referring to it as “second book” or “the next story” for now.

Everybody’s favorite characters from Pretzel are in the new story: Miss Klickitat, Cash, Addie, and a new character, Crosby. Crosby is the main character of this second book.  His adventures begin when he receives a Valentine’s Day gift from Miss Klickitat.

This second book will be quite different from Pretzel. For one, it isn’t about baking. Secondly, the illustrations will be more prominent, larger with more color. Thirdly, it will be written at a lower grade level (probably).

Don’t panic Pretzel fans! This second book isn’t about baking but that doesn’t mean that Miss Klickitat doesn’t have more baking adventures in store.

What’s Up With Miss Klickitat’s Pink Hair?

What’s Up with Miss Klickitat’s Pink Hair?

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If you know me or have seen my picture you may notice a strong resemblance between myself and the Miss Klickitat character from Pretzel, A Miss Klickitat Story.  When I first created Miss Klickitat that wasn’t the case at all. But as I kept drawing she started to look more and more like me. After my book was published, a lot of people asked me, “What’s up with the pink hair?” Or when I ran into friends they were actually surprised that my hair wasn’t dyed pink!

It is true that Miss Klickitat is a character based on me, an alter ego: “a fictional character whose behavior, speech or thoughts intentionally represent those of the author.”(Wikipedia) Pretzel is based on a true story. Cash and Addie are real neighbor friends and we did have a pretzel making adventure.

Initially, all of the characters in the book were going to have vibrant unnatural hair colors and drawn with graphite grays so they would appear racially ambiguous. My intention was by not featuring  physical characteristics(like hair and skin color) of any ethnic groups that nobody would feel left out. I wanted loveable characters that children could relate to via personality and actions not physical appearance. For example; Mercer Mayer really nailed this with, Little Critter, a character who can’t be categorized by species, race, or even gender. Little Critter is just a kid.

As I wrote the story and developed characters it became more difficult to stray from the real people and the real events that occurred. Cash, Addie and I are Caucasians and we live in Portland, Oregon, a predominantly white city. I felt the need to illustrate from observation and write about my actual surroundings. The drawings in Pretzel give the reader a tour of the inside of my house, backyard, and my neighborhood where the actual story took place.

Unlike the other characters in Pretzel, Miss Klickitat’s hair remained bright pink for a few reasons. I like the pop of color on the other wise muted tone page. Her bright hair makes her noticeable and promotes the idea that she is a bit quirky. Also, I think pink hair looks great on people in real life like rock star, Pink and hip hop artist, Lil’ Kim.  I’ve never even colored my hair, and am not very “edgy” in my own appearance, I guess that’s what my alter ego is for.

 

 

About Whitney

Available for sale at https://www.createspace.com/4250853?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026cropped-1450341_10152390712153032_571194460_n.jpg

Whitney McManus Oldendorf is a worldly and somewhat eccentric woman, not unlike Miss Klickitat in this book.  When she isn’t writing and drawing, one may find her jogging in the rain, cooking a gourmet meal, or cracking jokes over strong coffee.  She earned a Bachelor’s of Fine Arts studying painting at Maine College of Art, and a Master’s degree in Elementary Education at Portland State University.  She has worked in a variety of education related jobs, including teaching and tutoring, before pursuing her dream of becoming a Children’s Literature Writer and Illustrator.  Ms. McManus Oldendorf lives with her angelic husband in Portland, Oregon. This is her first book.

Converting Files: Pretzel to EBook for Kindle

If you are a self published author like me you probably want your book to be available in as many forms as possible including ebooks.  A document file for a print manuscript is very different than a document that will read well when converted into an ebook.  Unfortunately, this means one must convert the original file. After working at it- basically re formatting my whole book, I understand why createspace (my publishing platform) charges $150 dollars to convert a book with several images, like my book: Pretzel, A Miss Klickitat Story.  It’s a lot of work if you choose to do it yourself, but you can do it.  There are a couple of things I’ve learned that will make the process much faster next time.

If you own a kindle or any e reader for that matter you know that the display and formatting are different than print books. .  Ereaders allow the user to choose a font and font size along with other customizable features, so forget about changing fonts or enlarging any text for emphasis.  Keep in mind, hitting return between paragraphs or tab for indenting doesn’t hold a space or page break when the doc is converted to ebook form.

There are a ton of resources for information about ebook conversion and plenty of places that will take your money to do it for you ($70-$150). Half the battle is finding the right information that pertains to your book.  Converting a text only manuscript from a recent version of Microsoft word is easier (and less expensive if you have pay for conversion) than a book many with images, easier meaning a few less steps. Doing two simple things would have saved me a lot of time from the get go:

  1. Save a continuous (no page breaks) document without line or paragraph spaces in Microsoft Word of your manuscript after it is edited and perfect.  If you are inserting images keep them in a separate file (as jpegs) for now. After step 2 you can insert them into the doc. .
  2. Download and read this free booklet: Building Your Book for Kindle by KDP Kindle Direct Publishing.  AVAILABLE AS A FREE DOWNLOAD  AT AMAZON.COM for mac or pc.

 

As I mentioned, this is a work in progress. More to come…

 

Pretzel, A Miss Klickitat Story

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Cash and Addie love to cook, especially to bake sweets and eat them with their somewhat eccentric neighbor Miss Klickitat, but today Miss Klickitat has a new recipe in mind for her young friends, a large, extraordinary item, a pretzel. With help from neighbors and the community, Cash, Addie, and Miss Klickitat embark on a culinary adventure with gigantic, festive results.

 Pretzel, A Miss Klickitat Story, is written at a fourth grade reading level and makes a great read aloud story for children of all ages.

Available for sale at:

Amazon.com

Createspace.com

https://www.createspace.com/4250853?ref=1147694&utm_id=6026