Sunday, October 9, 2016

"When Pigs Run" Drawings

Strange that I enjoy drawing with pencils now. I've always been a pen and ink sort. Lately, I find it hurts my hand to really grip and control the felt tip markers I use, while drawing with pencils seems so much looser and freer. In any case, I am grateful to be able to bring Puddle and his friends to life.
Here is a drawing from "When Pigs Run."

Friday, September 30, 2016

Free on Friday September 30, 2016

Today only, you can download your choice of Free on Friday books. Here is the link: https://www.amazon.com/Rodney-Robbins/e/B00B5G2P06

Friday, September 16, 2016

MS-Word Text to Speech Super Easy

One of the best things I've ever done to improve my writing is to use the Text to Speech function built into MS-Word. I'm still using Word 2010, but this feature is also available on Word 2013 and 2016. Here is a great little YouTube tutorial by Britec09 demonstrating just how easy it is to add and use this feature to Word.


Using Text to Speech allows you to instantly hear your grammar and spelling mistakes, extra words, left over plurals, run on sentences and left over fragments. It also lets you hear if your story is flowing or floundering. Great, great stuff! Using the function for editing has saved my bacon so many times, it's not even funny. I'll edit and edit, and tweak and tweak, and be so sure that This Time my story is Perfect. When I have the simplest robot read my story aloud, I find mistake after mistake.

So, at least for crappy editors like me, Text to Speech is a Godsend. I highly recommend you try it.

Thursday, September 15, 2016

"When Pigs Run" Drawings

Well, I've started the drawings for my newest Puddle the Pig story. I decided to start with the easy stuff. So, here is a drawing of Rascal. He tries to lead Puddle on a shortcut through a brier patch. Poor Puddle's skin gets chewed up like a peach pit on a red ant pile.

So, my next question is color, or black and white? Since there is nothing to print in an eBook, and electrons are cheap, I'm leaning toward color, but black and white is classic for kid's read aloud story books. What do you think?

PS
Yes, that's Ranbone the Raven peaking into the frame lower right.

PPS
Notice the single prickly thistle sticking up over the rock. Visual foreshadwing.

Rascal from "When Pigs Run" by Rodney Robbins.












Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Today I am Working on a New Puddle the Pig Story

Rodney Robbins here. I just finished editing "When Pigs Run." It's another Story from the Five Acre Farm. This time, all poor Puddle has missed breakfast and all he wants is a bit of something to eat. It just doesn't go well for him. He get's led into a brier patch, he almost drowns in a swamp, he gets left behind by a poodle and more. Will he ever find Farmer Wilson and get something to eat? We'll see.

This great read aloud story will be the first illustrated Puddle the Pig story. I've scared myself half to death worrying about making good illustrations. No more! I'm just doing to have fun and get them done! Here is the type of thing I have in mind. More soon.


Friday, March 27, 2015

New Version of "Tricky Techniques" Coming Out Saturday

It's Friday, and I'm planning to edit, update and republish the "Tricky Techniques" booklet I wrote with my mom. This is a great little book on using creative visualization skills to improve your life. Take a look.(Love the cover.)

Click here to see the book live at Amazon.com.

http://www.amazon.com/Tricky-Techniques-Creative-Visualizations-Instant-ebook/dp/B00D9S9GSC/ref=la_B00B5G2P06_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1427462387&sr=1-3 
You can keep up with news about this booklet by checking frequently at my Amazon Author Central page here




















Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Learning to Get the Most from Kindle

Maybe this is too much behind the scenes, but I'm trying to do a better job in terms of publishing, not just writing. My books and stories are all available for the Amazon Kindle. You may not know this but there are handheld Kindle readers and Kindle apps you can install on your iPhone or Android phone, laptop or desktop computer. If you are reading this post, you can probably read a Kindle ebook. Well, I'm trying to help my readers by optimizing that experience.

Over the next week or so, I'm going back through all my stories and making sure the format of the manuscript makes for the best possible reading experience on your Kindle device or app. Then, I'm making sure each story links back to my new Amazon author page. Why? Well, if you liked one of my stories, you might like another one and putting the link in the manuscript makes it easy to at least take a look at the other stories I offer. If you would like to see my author page, follow the link below:

Rodney Robbins Amazon Author Page

Then, I'm going back through the Kindle setup information to make sure I have all my books and stories in the right categories. Amazon has a section called Kindle Short Reads and several of my stories fit well there. Amazon has stories grouped into 15 minutes, 30-60-90 minutes and some that are 2 hours of more (but not a lot more). So, for those who enjoy short stories or novellas, for folks that don't have a lot of time, and even for students looking to quick read SOMETHING for a school assignment, there is now a place to go and find exactly what you are looking for. Hopefully, you'll find some of my stories there.

I will also update my covers, as needed, to make them more visually appealing. The least I can do is make my food, er, stories, look good!

So, check back often. I'll also be pricing all my Kindle books and stories at $0.99 to see if we can generate a little momentum. A-N-D I'll be offering stories F-R-E-E sometimes, usually on Fridays. Can't beat free, especially when the stories are so good (even if I do say so myself).