The road painfully traveled.

I never realized when I started all this that it would lead me down a road of adventure.

I have been making the Fire Buddies for over 17 years and they are all over the country now. They were just a little pillow buddy for the kids at the scene to snuggle. Working at a volunteer fire department in a small town made fund raising a constant struggle. One day I just thought - I can sell the Buddies, give them a life and raise money. No problem - should be simple, I'm an engineer , I can figure this out. I don't need any help! I was an idiot!! I should have just ran myself over with the fire truck and moved on.

My first goal was to write a children's book about who the Buddies are and what they do. As I wrote the first book "The Legend" all the other 9 books fell into place. The writing was the easy part but I can't even draw a straight line much less a picture. I went out on the internet and found an illistrater. I got several quotes and decided on Simon who lives in London. He and I have done the first book by email. He is a great illistrater and you can find him at www.simongoodway.com.

I worked on the layout and the story for almost 6 months and it is now finally done. The next challenge was getting it printed. Again, I know that it is impossible to get a publisher and help, so I turned again to the internet. I found several printers and their quotes ranges from $2 to $10 for my 24 page kids book. The book is now at the printers, I have a web page and I have also put together a marketing plan for 2009. I have figured out how to put a business together, market it and make it a success. Please feel free to visit www.firestationbuddies.com to see how I did it.

If you have any questions about getting your ideas off the ground. Just reply to this blog.

Thanks,
Karen