Hello, my name is Dallas Clayton. I'm a writer. I wrote a book. It's called An Awesome Book. It's a kid's book, but I guess in many ways it is also an adult's book. You know, one of those where adults can read it and say "I'm really just a kid inside." Adults love to say stuff like that. Adults are weird. Apparently, some adults here at this blog liked the book so much that they asked me to tell you more about it. How great is that? Pretty great!
The book is about dreaming big. I wrote it for my son. He always has these amazing dreams about really fantastical things, like made up animals, and wizard hunts and far away lands just like most of us used to conjure when we were six. Trouble is, at some point a lot of us stopped dreaming those fantastical things and replaced them with dreams like oak dinette sets, and duty-free cologne. I can't say why exactly, but I think it has something to do with the prizes they give out on game shows.
Anyhow, I created An Awesome Book to try to speak to that -- the idea of moving our amazing wild imaginary dreams just a little bit closer to those more tangible, simple daytime aspirations.
Before I started doing it myself I can't say I know that much about making kids books -- how it's supposed to be done, that is, with all the publishers, and shopping, and marketing and all of those things you imagine go into manufacturing and distributing great works of literature. I don't know about any of that. I just sat down and wrote it. And when I finished that I sat down and drew the pictures (that took a while) and after that was done I was so excited I just wanted to tell everyone in the world about it.
So I released the book out myself and the response has been just tremendous. Honestly, I wake up every morning to some new opportunity, or letter from someone in a country I've never been to telling me nice things that they read my book to their kids, that it inspires them somehow. What an amazing gift! What a magical way to spend your day.
Even when I was writing it I guess I didn't give much thought to what it feels like to have someone you don't know read something you made to her child. That feeling hit me dead center. And after that, there was no turning back.
I made a video about what happened next, and I think it pretty much sums up my experiences thus far. You should watch it, if you have a minute or two and if you want -- share it with a friend.
Awesome Book Tour from Dallas Clayton on Vimeo.