Young human
looked out
and wondered.
Where were the stars?
And how far away were they?
Where was the Moon?
And how big was she?
Young human had so many questions,
and so much of the route left to walk.
He had so many paths to follow,
so many steps to take,
and so many seeds to spread.
Dear Patient Reader,
After months of collecting digital dust, I've finally published '89 Questions to the Moon' as a Kindle eBook. Here’s the link. The book has been a few years of ideas, which in the first place never dawned on me that it could come together as a book. It was a hobby that I was getting into, I was starting to get interested in writing short stories with illustrations, and I knew that I wanted it to be for children.
For those of you who remember, I posted each story with its corresponding illustration. Though the book however is not illustrated, which I prefer for my first book. I like the ability of the plainness of white pages and black text to carry a story. In the early days of 89 Questions to the Moon, I got positive responses and people I knew waited to read the next story each week. A story of the adventures of a young human and the Moon. When it came to thinking up the characters of young human and the Moon, it was pretty instantaneous. I imagined a boy looking out to the Moon.
Months later, and further into the story, I had a few friends tell me that it reminded them of Petit Prince (Little Prince) by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. I had loved reading Little Prince as a child, and appreciated its simplicity. Now I appreciate the depth the author created through uncomplicated text and minimal illustration.
About two years later, I was nearing the completion of my degree. It was also the height of the pandemic. Nevertheless, there was a book exchange and my senior sent me Italo Calvino’s Cosmicomics. I was struck by the elements I found in Calvino’s writing. Elements I associated myself with, my story being the very basic of those shared, common ideas. Drop a comment if you know books in this genre please. I’d like to go through them. Before these, it hadn’t striked me before. How ideas and thoughts can float across time, gender, race and age astounds me.
You also may recall that I even made very short videos with my voice over and moving images for a few of the stories. I find that very silly (I’m quite good at that) now, but every little part of the process leading up to publishing the eBook has taught me something, silly or not. By listening to my own voice, it was brought to my attention that I needed to improve the clarity and intonation of my voice when speaking. The initial recordings I made of myself were so bad. It’s safe to say that I can do better now.
The book contains chapters such as ‘Colours of the River’ and ‘Fruits of the Spirit’, though you can read a page at random. If you were to ask me to describe the book, it is sensitive, tranquil and curious. Until the time that ‘89 Questions to the Moon’ can become a paperback, a book that can be felt in one’s hands (sorry trees and technology), please support me as a writer, and consider buying my eBook for yourself or a loved one. Writing ‘89 Questions to the Moon’ was lovely and fun, and made me realise that I adore storytelling. And that storytelling is definitely an entity that does not stop at children but crosses over age and time.
Please gift my eBook, forward and share this post,
Much love,
Rebecca
P.S. I may bother you concerning my eBook, but one needs to promote oneself.
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