Who can I call? Definitely not Ghostbusters. (Although I do love that movie.) When we have questions, what do most of us do? We Google it. And that’s exactly what I did. I Googled, I YouTubed, and before I knew it, I found myself deep down a rabbit hole. (Just like Alice) Everyone has an opinion. Everyone says their way is the way. Remember, I didn’t have a publisher, an editor, or an illustrator. It was just little ol’ me. I had never written a book before, barely a poem, but I knew one thing for sure, I wanted to write about my fairies, and I wanted to do everything the right way… or should I say the “write” way. (Yes, that’s my humor) The reality was simple, I didn’t have the kind of money to hire a whole team to bring my vision to life. So that meant one thing… had to learn! One day while searching YouTube, I came across a young woman explaining how to format a children’s book using Canva. I thought, Yes! I love Canva. I can’t remember her name, but I chose her video because she was straight to the point. No fluff, no confusion. I simply followed along step by step. Whoever you are… thank you! So there I was, sitting at my computer. Within a few hours, I had the formatting down and felt comfortable with the process. I was typing my story, organizing the pages, and imagining what the finished book would look like. Honestly, it wasn’t as complicated as I thought it would be. It didn’t take days, months, or years to figure out. Mission accomplished. Well… part of the mission, anyway. I had my story. But now another question popped up. Who are the characters? What do they look like? There was just one tiny problem… I can’t draw! The only person I knew who could illustrate beautifully was my Uncle Keith and sadly, he passed away. (Rest in peace, Uncle Keith. Your story lives on in Book 5, I love you forever) So now what? Back to Canva, I suppose. I started searching for characters that matched my story. At first, it was cute and fun, but keeping the characters consistent from page to page became difficult. Eventually, it became frustrating. So once again… I was back at the drawing board. Next, I started browsing Fiverr to hire an illustrator. There were so many talented artists there, and I was truly impressed. But once again, reality stepped in. I couldn’t afford it. Not on my fairy budget. And without characters, my story wasn’t really a story. In my imagination, the world was magical, fairies, trolls, witches… oh my! Then one day, my son walked in and asked, “Have you tried AI?” I looked at him and said, “AI? Huh?” At the time, AI wasn’t quite as big as it is now, at least not to me. But he explained a little bit, and of course… I did what I do best. I researched! Eventually, I discovered Leonardo.Ai. It required a subscription, but thankfully it fit within my budget. The catch? I still had to be the creator. I had to learn the prompts, the language, and the techniques. And let me tell you… that part was challenging. But slowly, I started creating my characters. And when they finally appeared on my screen… they were perfect! (after about 100 try’s) For the first time, everything started to feel real. My characters had faces. They had personalities. They had stories to tell. I was excited! Of course, it wasn’t always smooth. I spent HOURS working with AI. Back then, it wasn’t nearly as advanced as it is today. Sometimes my characters had ten fingers… sometimes an extra head attached. It was funny, creepy, and frustrating all at the same time. But it was also part of the process. Without a big budget to hire a team, I had to figure it out myself. FINALLY...I completed my illustrations. I began placing the images into the pages, and suddenly my book started coming to life. It was beautiful. It looked exactly the way I imagined. Somewhere in the middle of all this, I also decided to copyright my book. I started the process, and thankfully it didn’t take very long. Now my story was protected. I had my characters. My book was coming together. YAY! So naturally… another question appeared. How do I print the book? And just like that, I found myself doing what every first time author eventually does… Googling and YouTubing again. How do I print my book? And that… is where the next chapter of my journey begins.