April 22, 2016
Our family was becoming excited for our week long camping
trip in Yosemite. We had reservations
July 14th for 7 nights in Lower Pines Campground, #12. It had been over two years since our last
family vacation and we were anxious to get away from life for a while.
The kids were still in school and I just found out that my
Copyright on Lucas and Lucy Fern, including the Tiny Life of Lucas Fern was
still not ready, so I decided to complete the editing and get something
published as soon as I could, to protect the story.
I had already sent the manuscript to over ten different
agents, with only one answer, and small unacceptable offer, and I was worried
that one of them might try something illegal.
I rushed and used Create Space to publish The Tiny Life of
Lucas Fern "Born Tiny, Born Blue, Big Ears, and Big Feet Too!!" It is a beginning story of Lucas, but I plan
on making a few changes, now that this Jr. Ranger series, with folk heroes, has
changed everything.
I can keep most of the story, but I was never able to have
it properly edited, or criticized.
Anyways. Finally, on
April 22, I was able to have a great part of the story set up from Lucas and
Lucy, arriving in Yosemite, all the way to Smoky Mountain National Park with
Johnny Appleseed. And the progress on
the cover was much better as you can see below.
One of my younger children was smart enough to investigate
the origins of Johnny Appleseed, learning that he never really lived anywhere
around the Smoky Mountains. I had to
explain that many of these folk heroes, were wonderers, and could have ended up
anywhere.
I have been faithful in keeping them close to where they
originally ended up, during the end of their individual stories.
One of the greatest parts in this Jr Ranger series, will be the Native American connection to each National Park.
As of April 22, 2016, I was still unsure of the folk hero I was going to use in my first book, beginning in Yosemite. The reason I chose Yosemite to begin the Jr. Ranger series, is not because it was the first, National Park. Actually it was NOT the first. It was the first to ever start a Jr Ranger type program, called the Yosemite Junior Nature School, that children were invited to attend.
This picture I added many more trees, giving a closer feel to Yosemite Valley. But still the mountain tops here missing trees.
Here I added the trees to the mountain tops and gave a little more definition to Half Dome, than I wanted. My kids seemed to like it more, so I just left it.
Copyright © 2016 Derek Ryan Jensen. All rights reserved.
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