I’m happy to announce that Tales For Tra-La-La Day, the fourth and final book in the Monkey Mind Tales® anthology book series, is nearing completion. Over the next several months, I will be doing a monthly blog with updates on where we are in the production process. I will also include some previews of our illustrations and rhymes that will be found in the book.
Fan Club:
If you don’t have the patience, time, or memory to check back once a month, I will be sending an announcement to everyone who has signed up for the Monkey Mind Tales® Fan Club.
June 5, 2023:
I begin writing the short stories for my book series in spring of 2011. I wrote all twenty-four of them in a row and divided them into four books. The stories are being published in the same order they were written. The final six stories where based around a holiday, with its own mythology, fables, and traditions. I thought a holiday book would be a wonderful way to end the series, and the rough draft for Tales For Tra-La-La Day was written between 2015 and 2016. I was finally able to revisit the rough draft after the third book was published in March 2020 (the week before the country was put on lockdown). I have now spent the past three years editing the rough draft to get it just the way I want, and I couldn’t be more happy with how it turned out. I believe the rhymes are some of my best, and the stories are fun, beautiful, touching, and insane.
The book is now in the end stages of the editing process, where an editor has already looked at them. I am now editing them again, then I will send it off to another editor. After that I will make changeds and then send it to my mom, who is more of a perfectionist than I am. She will give me her edits, I’ll make changes, she’ll give me more edits, I’ll make changes again, and we’ll continue doing this until we think it’s as perfect as we can get it. After that, it’s off to be formatted into a PDF with illustrations (or place-holders for the illustrations while Tom finishes), then it’s edited again by my mom and I, then it’s passed onto several beta-readers to make sure we didn’t miss anything.
FanExpo: I’ve had to take a break from editing this week because I will be attending FanExpo in Dallas, TX, where I will have a large booth that I’ve spent the past month constructing. It should be a lot of fun, and it will definitely get the Monkey Mind Tales® brand name out there. At 7 pm on Friday, 3 pm & 7 pm on Saturday, and 3 pm on Sunday I will be doing book give-aways and recitals. Can’t wait.
Illustrations: We designed the look for the new batch of illustrations between February and June 2022. Tom and I both wanted to take our illustration style to a new level, and we did. You would think that snow is easy to illustrate—it’s not when you’re a perfectionist. To say that Tom has been patient with me would be an understatement. Like editing the book, Each illustration goes through several rough drafts, and then several edits after that to create what will be used in the book. One illustration went through about twenty-edits, and Tom clocked his illustration time as being about seventy-two hours. I am lucky to have an illustrator who treats this series as a labor of love, and he believes this book has his best work as an illustrator. I couldn’t be more pleased. The depth and richness of each illustration surpasses anything we’ve done so far, and I can’t wait to see it completed. Unlike our last three books, this book will have extra illustrations to help give it the atmosphere of those classic holiday story books from the turn of the century. While the fourth book may be taking up to four years to complete, it will definitely be worth it.
More updates coming next month including illustration examples.
Steve Michael Reedy
July 11, 2023:
I officially finished the opening and closing rhymes, and the connecting story rhymes. Forty lines of rhyme in total . . . whew. Now I am waiting on the third editor to finish editing the book—which the ending gave her chills and made her cry, which is a good sign. My illustrator and I are half-way through the illustrations and there are more in this book than any of the previous books, so we are hoping to have them done by mid winter. I’ll keep you posted.
Fanexpo was amazing. This year I had a booth in one of the four prime spots in the convention. Because of this, I promoted my binge-reading four book series by doing daily giveaways while also reading excerpts form the book. I gave away about 200 books. Some people figured out that if they came back to the next giveaway, they would be given the next book in the series, and if they collected all three, they would receive the fourth book when it is released. Tom Fee, my illustrator, came on Sunday and passed out free autographed posters along with co-signing the books.
I was surprised by how many people came to the booth and asked if the fourth book was available. They seemed disappointed when I said it wasn’t, which then added some fuel to my race to get it done by winter.
Crossing my fingers.
Steve Michael Reedy
September 26, 2023
I missed last month’s update, and almost missed this one. I have never been good at blogging—so at least I’m consistent. I will try harder next month, and it should be easier now that the 4th book is in the “place the commas correctly” stage of editing— which is completely different than “my-stage” of editing (hacking through each paragraph with a chainsaw several times until it’s shaped into something that comes as close to perfect as I can get… or throw it away and start over). My editor accidentally received one of my older versions of “Trendable’s Longlastables,” the second story in the book. She read it, and then I realized my mistake. After I sent her my finished/final version, she said, “I finally know what you mean when you say, ‘I’m editing.’”
As of September 26th, I’ve finally printed a complete copy of the book, beginning to end, with the in-between story rhymes, opening and closing rhymes, and even the copyright page. It’s an exciting day! And now I get to read through it all and make sure the book flows with all of the stories together, while comparing the text to the current illustrations to make sure they match.
Illustration update: This book will have about 60 or more illustrations (the most we have place in a book so far). Plus, we are designing the book to resemble an old-fashioned holiday book, so it will have a lot of extras to give it that “holiday feeling.” It is looking like we should complete the illustrations by 2024, though I will have my beta version of the book ready by December for all of my beta readers.
Thanks for checking in. Looking forward to my favorite month of the year, October. I’m actually working on making it a month filled with work/life balance, but we’ll see. Books are like children. They cost more time and money than you could have ever imagined, take away all of your free time, keep you up at night, and don’t care if you’re about to lose you mind taking care of them—but it is worth it.
December 11, 2023
Reimagining
Probably the hardest thing as an author, at least for me, is when I think I have finished writing a story and then realize it needs to be completely reimagined. This happens when what I’ve written failed to express what I had in my imagination. For example, at the end of September 2023, I believed I had finished the Pre-PDF proof of “Tales For Tra-La-La Day” (meaning, I thought I was done using my imagination and just needed to check for misplaced commas and missing words). Unfortunately, after I put the six stories together with the connecting story arch, I realized that the first story didn’t match the other five. It was missing something. At first I thought I could work with what I had written, but after a month, I realized it needed a new setting and new characters. So, I reimagined it. Thankfully, after six weeks worth or rewrites, I can say that it is not only better, but also a story that I am truly proud of, and a great beginning to the final book.
2024
Because of the unexpected rewrite, because the illustrations are so detailed (about 65 total), because this is a holiday book and it needs extra decorating, and because I want the book to be as perfect as I can get it since it is my last one in the series, I have moved the publishing date to a soft launch mid 2024, and a hard launch in fall of 2024.
What’s left?
The PRE-PDF proof (without illustrations) will be sent to beta readers for proofreading. Then the PDF-Proof will be created with illustrations included. This is followed by additional beta readers proofing the PDF-Proof. The PDF-Proof is then finalized and sent to be printed. A Printed-proof of the book is then evaluated and the book is published.
While the process is taking longer than expected, the outcome is better than expected, which makes it all worth it.
April 17th, 2024
It has been three months since my last update… I am a horrible blogger. But, in my defense, I spend what little free time I have trying to put this book together. And, with bleary eyes, and brain dead exhaustion, I just sent my book to my publisher (insert fireworks, applause, and Champaign cork-popping here).
All but ten of the sixty-two illustrations are completly finished. My publisher will put the PDF proof together as we complete the final illustrations and cover art. Tom and I finished the new snow-covered font, and we had our back-of-the-book pictures taken. After four-and-a-half years, we are just a few months from completion. Yahoo!!!
What’s Next?:
Once the PDF proof is complete, it will be handed over to about seven beta readers to make sure there are no issues.
New Snow Covered Font & Page Decorations:
This is an example of the second title page. I am really happy with how everything it coming together.
I can’t wait to hold a copy in my hand, and for people to read it.
Poem For The Front Page Of Website
Also, here is a poem that I will be using on the front page of my website. It is a ruff, but I think it is turning out well.
In a world full of monkeys in search of a book,
They often will ponder on where they should look.
With so many genres, it’s hard to decide.
Let’s open some up and we’ll see what’s inside.
Perhaps one on Science is where to begin.
Ponder life’s questions like what, how, and when.
Study the meaning of quark or transduce.
Learn lots of math that you wont ever use.
Put facts in your mind to the point it might blow.
The more that you learn, the more you don’t know.
Answers cause questions, a loop that won’t stop.
Searching for answers? You’ll search till’ you drop.
How about a Self-Help book, feel better while you’re here.
Give your life some meaning. Make your path more clear.
Label all that’s wrong with you, or learn six steps to peace.
Attract more things you wish you had, or make the voices cease.
Want to find your purpose? Want to loose more weight?
Want to reach a higher plane or find your perfect mate?
Live your life in chronic thought while searching for a clue.
Hopefully you’ll think to stop before you life is through.
Here’s a book on History with pasts from long ago.
It may not be filled with truth, but you will never know.
Read how humans are believed to come from ancient apes,
Then worshiped gods on mountains who were drinking wine from grapes.
Did we come from outer space or rise up from the sea?
Did we start off with a bang, or garden, snake, and apple tree?
The past was in the past, so the facts are often blurred.
Since you were not there yourself, you’ll have to take their word.
I see your smile is fading, and so I must construe,
The books that I have mentioned are simply not for you.
Perhaps some tales of magic might leave you more impressed,
Or strangely granted wishes, or creatures on a quest.
Find monsters that leave drool, bunnies that can talk—
Candy castles, dancing hippos, and a giant clock.
Each tale is full of twists and turns, with plots that go askew.
Come and see. I’m sure you’ll find they’re just the books for you.
July 4th, 2024
I am spending this 4th of July going over the notes my Beta readers made during May and June. I will spend next week going over the final with my mom, and after that I will send the markup to my publisher. Then there will be a short back-and-fourth as we get everything completed. It is looking like the middle of September for a release date. If anything, this 13 year journey has taught me patience—or at least that I need some. So far, everyone has loved the book, and I couldn’t be happier. It would be just fine to release it now, but I want the book to be as close to perfect that I can get it… as close as I can get It without driving myself insane.
The cover is completed, and I think it turned out extremely well.
Thanks for checking in. I’ll update again soon..
Steve Michael Reedy
November 8th, 2024
It has been three weeks since my book launch, and I am finally getting to the end of this blog. As you can see by the entry dates, blogging is not my strong point—mostly because… unless I have something important to say, I don’t want to waist people’s time… or mine. That being said, I can now say that I finished a journey I started thirteen years ago, and the outcome is a bit surreal. I have been half in the present and half in my imagination (or completely in my imagination) for all of those 13 years—and coming out of my imagination—and being fully present—is going to take some getting used to.
Book launch:
The book launch went extremely well. There were cupcakes, a story reading, and a DJ, with lots of dancing. You can see the livestream portion of the evening by checking out: Livestream.
Reviews:
I have received 4 professional reviews so far, and a few on Amazon. Apparently, the five-and-a-half years spent on the prose and rhyme, and the two-and a-half years spent on the illustrations, was wroth it. “Brilliant,” “enthralling,” and “sharply crafted, boasting clever rhymes and a consistent meter without ever forcing any awkward couplets,” are a few of the praises given by critics. One Amazon review said the final story brought her to joyful tears, which is a huge complement. You can check out the reviews at: reviews.
What’s next:
I will be marketing the book as a completed, four-book-series. I will be traveling to different book shows while also focusing more on my Reiki practice. I feel a little sad leaving the world I created. It was truly a pleasant place to be, and I couldn’t be happier with how readers are responding to it.
Thank you for your support.
Wishing you well on your journey.Steve Michael Reedy