My Little Books & The Story of St. Valentine

Have you ever heard of the artist, Jackson Pollock? He was an artist whose technique was to throw and drip paint onto a canvas. It seems that his technique was intuitive, not so much planned as felt.

I kind of feel like my writing follows his technique: I throw thoughts and words at a page.

My book writing journey is really a little embarrassing. To be honest, my personal faults really shine through when I talk about my little books. But my deep hope is that my books are brave and that they touch people. Maybe just my own particular audience, but that they are touched, at least.

The first book I wrote was in 2016 and it was really an effort to see if I could do it. My decision to do it was something akin to bungee jumping, I just had to do it before I thought too much about it. I learned about Kindle Direct Publishing and I just wanted to see if I could do it. So, I wrote a little book and went through the process of self-publication. It was fun and exciting – just what I wanted it to be. I didn’t have anyone proofread it or check it for errors. I just wanted it completed and out there in the book world. So, when I read it now (which I rarely do) I’m a little embarrassed at my impatience. But I still love the ideas I shared.

Several people have encouraged me to get an agent or go through the traditional publishing route. I never wanted to do that. I hate competition and I just knew my writing wouldn’t be technically good enough. That reveals my self-doubt, I guess.

People have encouraged me to take some writing courses to polish my style and become a better writer technically. The thought of that just takes the joy and freedom out of it. Or it reveals my laziness. I just want to throw words at a page and see what happens. That’s more exciting to me.

I’ve had people tell me that if I don’t want to go through all the work of becoming a better writer, then I need to quit and don’t embarrass myself by putting my little books out in the world. They just make me look silly, uneducated, and amateur.

Have you ever heard of folk art? I was born in North Carolina and in the mountains are self-taught folk artists who make the craziest, most outlandish pieces of art out of stuff they have around them. They paint on pieces of wood, scraps of stuff they find, and stuff that would be thrown away. Their paintings are childish and simple – and I love it!

They don’t make their art to be hung in a gallery or make money, although some of it does both. They make it because they love doing it and they have to, if you know what I mean. You have to scratch an itch.

That’s how I feel about writing my little books.

The Story of St. Valentine happened because I discovered I could make images with AI. That solved a problem I had with writing books for kids. I needed pictures and I didn’t like the ones I created and it was too expensive to hire an artist to create them for me. I knew I’d never sell enough books to offset the cost of the professional pictures. So, AI fixed that.

The AI images are not what I would have chosen for my book, but like the folk artist, I’m using what I have at my disposal.

I love all the stories and legends that come along with all the saints and their feast days and the holidays that were created in honor of them. I love that these people were once regular people who went about humbly and simply doing good and God took their simple, genuine efforts and turned them into miracles.

It would be great if God did that with my little folk-art-type books: take my simple efforts and turn them into miracles.

I have 2 more children’s saint books in the wings. One about Saint Patrick and another about Saint Francis of Assisi.

If you buy The Story of Saint Valentine, look for all the little creatures I included in it. Notice that there’s a bee on every page and that it follows Valentine throughout his life, much like the Holy Spirit does for us.