Saturday, December 13, 2014

Get "Dreams of the Turtle King" for FREE with Kindle Unlimited @ Amazon

"Dreams of the Turtle King" Kindle edition is FREE for those with a Kindle Unlimited subscription through Amazon.com


That's right! You can read "Dreams of the Turtle King" in all its beautiful glory for FREE if you have a  Kindle Unlimited subscription.

It's a win-win, because readers get to enjoy the book, and I get a slice of royalties as well!!
So go grab your free copy and enjoy! 

And don't forget to leave a review on Amazon once you have finished the book!!  





Wednesday, December 10, 2014

Dreams of Turtle King featured on Artist of Texas Blog



A Recent Post on the Artist of Texas blog:
 
Dreams of the Turtle King: Poems Inspired by South Florida Beaches
You can find so much more than just sand on the beach. You can find people, animals, interesting and unusual objects, and occasionally, deep thoughts! In this collection of free verse poems, Denise Bossarte takes you on an adventure to explore the things you can find on the beach. Each poem's imagery is reflected in a paired watercolor illustration by award winning artist Nancy Standlee.

It had always been my dream to publish the poems I had written on my walks on the beaches of South Florida.

While living in Florida, I often went out walking on the beaches before the crowds arrived, when I could experience the beach intimately without having to avoid stepping on sunbathers!
I found particular images would grab my eye, and I would walk along the beach composing poems to capture the imagery. Once I had enough poems composed that I couldn't remember any more that morning, I would go home and write them down. I didn't want to use pencil and paper while walking on the beach but would let the poem be formed and edited in memory to keep the process part of the overall experience of the morning.

This was long before I became a serious photographer or learned about Miksang Contemplative Photography. I now know that these images were Miksang "flashes" and the poems were Contemplative poems.

Many years passed before the world of publishing became independent enough I could self-publish my poems.

I wanted to have illustrations for each poem. I decided against photographs, because (1) there was no way to easily recreate the images through photographs so many years later, and (2) I didn't want the reader to have a photograph that might be too "solid" and replace the imagery that the poems brought to mind. When I saw Nancy's posts of her journaling in watercolors, I knew that I had found just the artist to do the illustrations for my book. Such lively colors, so detailed, yet whimsical!

I reached out to Nancy and we worked through how to do the book. We were both novices at creating a book, so we just figured it out as we went along. Nancy was doing a 30 paintings in 30 day challenge so the 24 images for the book fit right into that challenge. She did research into each poems' subjects, like sea turtles, and worked to align her watercolors with the individual poems.
Quite a daunting task, but she was wonderfully successful. I've had people say they don't know whether the poems or the illustrations came first!

Once Nancy was done with a number of paintings, she mailed them to me to have a local printer do a high quality scan, then I mailed them back. She was able to offer the originals for sale on her website and I had the images for the book. I bought the cover image as soon as I saw it, as it was done in stunning color and metallic paints!

A local graphic artist friend of mine helped me put together the book cover which included the painting of Nancy's of the Turtle King, and Nancy and my head shots. She was able to match the colors in the Turtle King painting perfectly to create a beautiful cover for the book.

It was published as a soft copy book and a Kindle e-book, both available on Amazon.com
It was really a dream come true to see the beautiful book that Nancy and I created out there for the world to read!

Reviews from Amazon.com
"Having been raised on the beaches of Southern California, I found myself back there through the eyes of this author and artist. I received DREAMS OF A TURTLE KING in my Christmas stocking. Such a little treasure chest of dreams and memories and sand under my toes."

"I grew up near beaches and both the author and illustrator captured the scenes and thoughts of beach life. As I was reading the words and looking at the lovely watercolors it even brought to my mind the sounds of the waves rolling in from the ocean. Lovely book Denise and Nancy."

Denise Bossarte
Found Worlds Photography
www.foundworlds.com
Artist of Texas Signature Member

Saturday, December 6, 2014

Happy 1 Year Anniversary, "Dreams of the Turtle King!!"


Dear Readers and Friends,


It is hard to believe that today is the 1 year anniversary of the publication of my and Nancy's "Dreams of the Turtle King" illustrated poetry book!!

It is a wonderful thing to look back and say "I actually made one of my dreams come true!"
Each time I see the book and its wonderful cover with Nancy's illustration done in collaboration with Debi Beauregard, I am thrilled with the beautiful book we have created!!

My many thanks to Nancy for her wonderful illustrations, for Debi's help with the cover, and to
my friend Dave Donovan, author of "The Gift", who gave a generous "artist" grant to help make the collaboration with Nancy a possibility.

We are holding steady in the rankings on the Amazon.com US Store

and on the Amazon.co.uk UK store





Want to guess what was one of my favorite rides at Disney Land as a kid...?

"It's a Small World" ride.
For those of you who don't know it, it is a slow, winding boat ride through a cavernous space housing animated scenes from around the world -mostly of dancing children in country garb.
Check it out on youTube.
Today most kids would think it is pretty hokey, but to a young me in the 70's, it was, well...magical!

So what does this have to do with my book's anniversary??
In honor of magical things that inspire our creativity, I thought I would share with you postings of "Dreams of the Turtle King" on amazon sites around the world.
Kind of fun to see your book for sale in multiple country sites for some very interesting prices and currency - even if the book itself is just in English. :)

I wanted to share screen shots from each country, and spent an hour putting this post together with the screen shots. Unfortunately, Blogger will not let me share a post with all those screen shots! Sorry gang.

I have added the screen shot from the Japan store as it is so fun!