UPDATE!: The Kickstarter is now live. Click here to be taken to the Kickstarter page, where $15 dollars gets you a hardcover edition of this wonderful book!
I was in Japan last year, enjoying an extended vacation, when I stumbled upon a Facebook page called Authors and Illustrators. Little did I know that the simple act of clicking a page would lead me to writing a children's book. It's fairly amazing, actually, all the things that began as a small gesture, which snowballed into something much, much bigger. An illustrator sent me a friend request, and I responded positively. I liked his artwork, and thought perhaps there was the possibility of future collaboration between he and I. The more I thought about his art, the more I thought about children's books. The more I thought about children's books, the more I thought about children's stories. The more I thought about that, the more I realized that I very much wanted to write one. And so I did.
The Booger Hunter's Apprentice came to me as I watched my wife try to snag stubborn bogeys out of our baby's nose. There's an art to whipping out a little green glob out of a screaming infant, and she had it down pat. There was my basis for a story. I got a hold of Juan B. Juan Oliver and told him about it. He was interested, but had a few projects to finish. Would end of May be okay? Why not, I answered. I was in no hurry. I had three other books to finish. One of which is actually in editing as we speak! End of May rolls around and I get a message: Would you like to start working on it? I had almost forgotten! And, of course I wanted to get started! Juan sent me sketches, I sent back approval and suggestions, and we figured out the main characters, the creatures, the environments, etc. Every sketch he sent, I loved. No word of a lie. The man is a master.
My friend Pier Adam Turcotte, a brilliant videographer and photographer, is helping me animate the main character, who will be voiced by Edith Chartier, my sister. We'll have her presenting the Kickstarter, and it should be up within a week. My goal is to raise the funds to pay for two thousand English and two thousand French copies, as well as all those who are helping me on the project.
This is one of the funnest writing projects I've done so far, and I'm extremely enthusiastic about everything involved. Click the link to be taken to the official Facebook page, so you can like and share, to be kept abreast of further developments and to know when the Kickstarter will be up!
https://www.facebook.com/Boogerapprentice/