"Lives Well Spent"

Ernest Peter

I was saddened to hear the news of the death of Mr. Ernest Peter last week. Ernest left this earth after 93 well spent years, quite an envious accomplishment in my book.  
Ernest, along with his wife Judith, have been the driving force behind Stemmer House Publishers since 2003. It was also that same year that Stemmer House agreed to publish my first book entitled "I Hear the Wind", it would be the first book for the new ownership. 

Craig Thorn IV

The editor-in-chief at that time was Mr. Craig Thorn IV. It was Craig who first showed interest in my work. Every other publishing house I submitted "I Hear the Wind" to sent me rejection letters, but Craig saw something in those black and white illustrations that he liked.  
Not only was he the acting editor at Stemmer House, he was also a member of the English department at Phillips Academy in Andover. 
The e-mails and phone conversations we shared while editing this book were an exciting learning experience for me. He made me feel like my words were actually worth reading. He made me feel like maybe, just maybe, I could be a writer. 
It was after the editing process was finished and the book was in production that Craig informed me that due to health issues he wouldn't be active in the day to day operations anymore, that was in late April...he died of cancer in June.

Both these men gave me an opportunity at something I had only dreamed of, a chance to be published and a chance to share my words and pictures with the world. 

After Craig died, Ernest believed enough in my work to publish two more of my books, with the prospect of doing a fourth. Now with his passing, his wife Judith seems poised to carry on. I haven't heard any definite plans, but they are moving forward with my newest book entitled "At the End of the Day".  Time will tell as to what will be the future of Stemmer House, I can always speculate...but that would be a waste of time.

For now, I take time to salute these two men who believed in me and decided to give me a chance. 

For this...I am forever grateful. 

Thank you.

"So When Is This New Book Coming Out?"

Okay...so I lied. The new book didn't come out in late spring like I promised, it didn't come out in early summer, or even mid summer!  And the way things look, late summer is looking pretty frickin' shaky as well. Let's face it, I have no idea when this thing is going to see the light of day!!

Well that's not exactly true. I was informed by my wonderful compositor Michel Newkirk that it was indeed either going to or is at a printer somewhere in the U.S.A. That much I know is true. So I will sit and wait with the rest of the world until that fateful day when my twelve author copies (as stipulated in my contract mind you!) arrive on my doorstep. Michel has been a wonder through this whole project, my lifeline to the status of my book. She has supplied me with countless e-mails that have led me through the entire lay-out process for the book, for that I am forever grateful!

The proofs she sent me were amazing! I'm really excited to see this thing become real and not just a PDF file on my computer. My only hope is that the printer is able to do justice to the full, deep color of the original artwork, something I was not totally over joyed with on my last book entitled "Still (A Winter's Journey)". "Still" looked okay...sort of like old sepia tone photographs. But when I realized how much of the varied blues tones didn't come through in the final printing, I was a little heart broken.

But I've come to realize, unfortunately, that sometimes things don't work out they way you would like them to. 
I wish my first book entitled "I Hear the Wind" would have been released in hardcover as originally planned. Even my publisher has agreed to that fact, he now admits that not releasing that book in hardcover was a mistake. 
I wish that at least one of my books would have been included in the Library of Congress catalog, all the other books released by Stemmer House at the same time were, but not mine. 
I wish my publisher would be a little more motivated on my newest book. They haven't even submitted an image to Amazon yet for the books page, and the book description from the publisher states... "Reflections on the passing of summer's day."  REALLY?!! That's the best you could come up with?!! I was extremely underwhelmed with that lack of effort. They even had the title of the book listed wrong...it's called "AT the End of the Day" not "The End of the Day".
I wish my books could have had more national exposure and been sent to Publisher's Weekly or Booklist for review. I am eternally grateful to the smaller yet just as important book review sites that have reviewed my books, but getting a starred review from Booklist can have libraries all over the country buying your books.

I'm sorry for coming off as a bit of a sour puss on this subject, I guess I've dealt with and accepted these realities over the last five years, I should keep listening to those inner voices that tell me..."You should consider yourself lucky and be grateful for all the success you've had... at least you've been able to get published!!!!" But sometimes isn't it nice to maybe, just maybe, get what you really want instead of settling with what you're given? Maybe on the next book...

So when is the new book coming out? Hopefully soon...I'll try to keep you posted!!!  

Take care
Greg 

"Where Has The Time Gone!"

It suddenly dawned on me one day...don't I have a blog or something like that out there?  I seemed to have woefully forgotten about this whole blog thing I started. 

So I decided I'd better revisit this thing and see if I even remember how to post on here. Obviously I did, so here goes nothing.

I am currently wrapping up work on my newest book entitled "At The End Of The Day" which will tentatively be released some time this spring...most likely late spring, say like sometime in June. The editing process went on a little longer than I'd like, a lot of major changes where made, but I think we finally reached an agreement on the text.  I then set about the task of doing the illustrations, which included rethinking some of the already completed illustrations. I needed to see if they still fit into the revamped manuscript.

Being able to work on this full time would have been wonderful, but since I'm restricted to working on this in the evening and on weekends, my time is somewhat limited. The process went well and I am now working on the final illustration, I'm thinking it will involve fireflies, something magical and captivating I hope.


I have posted above a close-up from one of the newest illustrations. It involves dandelions as you can see and it really turned out well in my opinion. So I hope to finish up soon and get this all off to my publisher so they can get this book going. 


Well, I'd best close here, but I promise to keep all of my loyal blog fans up to date with all things Greg Budig!! You are eight of the greatest blog followers around!!!!


take care
Greg





 

"Book Signing in New Ulm"

On November 6th, me, my wife Cindy and our girls Emily and Anna traveled to beautiful New Ulm Minnesota to sign books at the Woman's Expo and Craft Sale. Well...I was the only one in the family actually signing books, but we all did go, and had a blast!!

I was invited by the wonderful Nancy Kokesch, owner of The Country Loft in New Ulm, to participate in this signing event. She had four regional authors present there and we were all treated royally! The expo was held at Jefferson Elementary School. The halls, gymnasium and cafeteria were packed with vendors and crafters from all over south central Minnesota. My wife and daughters had a good time sampling goodies and looking over all that was to be seen.   

Nancy ordered a large number of my books, which I wish I could have sold more of at the expo, but she had me sign each and every one of the unsold books for sale in her store. I asked, "Are you sure you want me to do this?" to which she replied..."Oh I'll sell them! Don't worry about that!"  She is one spunky lady!!

Our nephew Jeff and his lovely wife Mel stopped by. She's a native of New Ulm and were in town for her baby shower. They brought Mel's mom along who bought both my books for me to sign, we also had a nice chat about inspiration and other artistic things.  We asked them where a good place to eat in New Ulm was, they suggested...

                               Veigel's Kaiserhoff!!!!!

It was great! An ice cold Schell's beer and jager schnitzel made my day! My wife had the sour kraut & bratwurst with German potato salad dinner, she's a sucker for good sour kraut. The girls...one had a cheeseburger and the other had the pulled pork sandwich special, their German roots don't impress them much! But they were impressed with New Ulm, a very historic and charming city. I hope to be invited back next year, or better yet, maybe I can set up a book signing for my newest book this summer at the Country Loft! This time we can make it a weekend!! Schell's Brewery here I come!!!


 

"A Haunting We Will Go!"

There is something magical about an eerie autumns night...

The air is crisp and cold, ghostly cold! The moon shines it's silvery light on the world below, casting strange shadows across the October landscape. You pause to listen, hearing only the sound of the autumn leaves as the tumble to the ground. Out of the corner of your eye something moves, your heart quickens..."What was that?!!"

 Such is the magic of Halloween, that mystical time of year when the ghouls and goblins of your imagination can run free. It's a holiday rooted in ancient pagan rituals, transformed into a celebration of childhood and imagination, a time for everyone to be childlike again.

For me, I've always had strong memories of Halloween from my childhood. The vibrant and slightly sinister decorations that would adorn our home at that time always sparked my imagination. One was a large, jointed, cardboard skeleton that would grace our living room wall, we also had a cardboard witch with the most sinister smile! We had various cut outs of Jack-o-lanterns that we would tape up on the windows, the graphics were so sharp and detailed, stark images in black and orange. I remember the joy of creating Halloween decorations in school, bright orange pumpkin headed creatures with crinkly black arms and legs...oh the joys of construction paper, safety scissors and paste!!

The carving of the jack-o-lantern is a yearly ritual that cannot be neglected!! I dare say I haven't missed a carving for as long as I can remember. Even as a young eligible bachelor, carving a pumpkin for my own enjoyment was a secret indulgence of mine. You can't celebrate Halloween without a jack-o-lantern!!! The smell of the freshly cut pumpkin, the feel of it's inner goo...it's the stuff of memory! You would then simply light the candle, turn off all the lights, and bask in it's hallowed, orange glow. 

There are so many fond memories of this ghostly season, memories of watching your children go trick or treating for the first time, of seeing through them what having a real excitement for life is all about. 

I created the characters pictured above as decorations for the outside of our home, some of them are over twelve years old, but they are still going strong today. My wife told me I should write a story about them way back then, and so I did, it was called "The Scarecrows Halloween".   The story centers around a forgotten scarecrow who, now get this...comes to life on Halloween night!! Okay, not real original, but it's a time honored story line in children's literature and by God I was a gonna use it! The main focus of the story though was that the scarecrow and all the decorations of Halloween who came to life on that magical night, realized that they needed to live for that moment, because by morning the magic would be over and they would go back to being lifeless again. "The time is quickly fleeting! The time to live is now!"   That was their battle cry, their mantra so to speak, so they partied like nobodies business until dawn. That's when the Halloween spirits left them and they returned to their lifeless forms, but for that one shining moment, they were truly alive.

I guess that was the message I tried to convey in this story, that the time to live is now. And that's the beauty of this Halloween season, to run with your imagination and experience the wonderment of life as a child again...

"For the time is quickly fleeting!!! The time to live is now!!!"

Happy Halloween everybody...and don't try to steal my idea, I've already copyrighted it!!!! hee hee hee!!!!

"The Tree Out Front"

The maple out in front of our house has sat there, rooted firmly in the soil, for over twenty years I'm sure. We've lived here for almost seventeen, and the tree was barely a step above a twig when we moved in.


As time went by, the tree grew and thrived, it kept a most agreeable form and proportional shape...it was in fact a truly magnificent sight!! The trunk is straight and smooth, the branches reach skyward with an almost flawless poetic grace, it's foliage is thick and robust. It is a tree for the ages!!


But when the waning light and cooling temperatures of September begin to work their magic, it becomes a thing of legend! By the first week of October, our maple had reached the perfection of autumn gold. Granted some maples scream with the most stunning of scarlet, a maybe far more adventurous, or dare I say sexier shade of leaf. But I have only the deepest of respect for our dear maple, resplendent in it's shawl of pure autumnal gold.



Framed against the autumn sky, the clearest and purest blue you will ever find in nature, it almost vibrates....nay radiates a beauty that cannot be captured by mere words or by paint upon the canvas!! It must be witnessed in person. You need to stand beneath it's cathedral like canopy of gold and breath in it's rich and intoxicating aura, for there is nothing as sweet, or as life affirming, as the smell of autumn leaves.

So as I sit at the dinning room table, the vision of this most sacred tree framed neatly by the window at the front of our house, I ponder it's beauty. I think about how much value it's added to my daily life these past few weeks, how it has inspired me to write and create, how it has lifted my spirit to soar with the eagles!!! And then I ponder yet another thought..."When are those kids ever gonna rake that mess up!!"

Happy autumn everybody!!!

My secret identity as a...."Regional Author"

Last Winter I received an e-mail from the Northern Lights Library Network to invite me as a "regional author" to their "Spotlight On Books" conference at Sugar Lakes Lodge near Grand Rapids, MN.

As a "regional author", I would have my conference registration and my meals paid for, they would order a number of my books that they would sell for me to sign, and I would get to network with a number of media specialists from northern Minnesota....all at the beautiful Ruttgers Sugar Lake Lodge! I thought they had me mistaken for somebody else, I went anyway, and had the time of my life!

So that was my introduction to the wonderful world of library conferences and my role, or should I say my secret identity, as a "regional author". "So I get to go to neat places, visit with neat people, get free food and sign my books....sweet!!!" I could get used to doing that!

Imagine my joy when I received an e-mail invitation from the Minnesota Educational Media Organization inviting me, "regional author Greg Budig", to attend their 2010 conference at the St. Cloud Civic Center on October 1st. I wondered if I could start doing this for a living? Sure beats the hell out of working in a warehouse!!

I arrived early Friday morning and picked up my name tag and conference packet, found the author signing table and then went to breakfast. My cousin Nancy, who is the media specialist at Becker High School in Becker, MN, was able to show me around and help me get situated. Always nice to know people in high places!! I was glad to see some of the other "regional authors" who appeared with me at the Spotlight On Books conference in attendance at this conference, at least I wouldn't be totally on my own. Later on that day we would participate in the Author Spotlight sessions where we would have a few minutes to talk about ourselves, our books and how we get started in creating children's books...something I need to work on, I think I tend to ramble.

All in all it was a wonderful time! I think I may have gotten a few school visits lined up, I signed quite a few books and got to talk shop with some of my fellow author and illustrators.

My next appearance as "regional author" will be on November 6th at the Women's Expo in New Ulm, MN. I will supply more information on this event when I receive it.

So if anybody out there needs a bonafide "regional author"....you've got your man!!!