The beauty of being a teacher for so long is that you build a lot of relationships with people over the years. I’m very proud of my students after they graduate from college, and I’m always curious to see what they end up doing with their careers and their passions.
One such student, Adrianna Murphy, and I had a lot of conversations over the years about publishing, books, writing, and telling stories through words and art. That’s where this short story begins.
Last year when I published From Humbug to Humble: The Transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge in the midst of a hip replacement, I felt something was missing. Just as Charles Dickens did with his beautiful story A Christmas Carol, he set out to hire an illustrator for his novella, the great John Leech. As I decided to write “the rest of the story” and explore what exactly happened to Ebenezer Scrooge after he saw the ghosts (specifically, how did he make that wonderful transformation?), I wanted to hire an illustrator as well. I wanted a representation of the continuation of the story and to follow in Dickens’ exact footsteps of self-publishing, self-funding, and hiring an illustrator. Adrianna was just the person to do the job, and the illustrations she created are beautiful. I love how she captured the essence of the continuation of Ebenezer Scrooge’s story as I wrote it.
So, all this to say, the second edition, which is out now, has Adrianna’s illustrations inside the book!
The books can be purchased at Park Books in Severna Park, Maryland, Bethany Beach Books in Bethany Beach, Delaware, and via Amazon.com and BN.com.
I am so pleased with the outcome of the book, and I would hope my favorite writer would be pleased to see its end result. I would never want to disappoint Mr. Dickens.
