First Post!

Hello everyone! I'm Diana LeBost. This is my first blog post for Di-version, a blog featuring Di's version of events and other things (See what I did there?)

I write poetry (Di-verses) and short stories. I suppose I write with kids in mind, but I don't really think of it that way. I write when an idea comes to me that I find amusing and want to read myself, and since I still read the great books I loved as a kid, I guess that means I write for kids!

I also illustrate, and have been an artist all my life. So has my fiance, Sahin Ersoz. We have both worked in animation for over twenty years.  This past year, 2013, we decided to take all the artistic and story ideas we'd been harboring for years and turn them towards creating excellent kid's books that are FUN to read and expertly drawn. Sahin, who is a fantastic artist ( comic book artist, storyboard artist, and animator for Disney, Amblimation, etc.), set out to illustrate a poem I had written eight years ago, called "A Lament of a Sensitive Kite." He then went on to illustrate a  Halloween poem written by his daughter. These books became Mr. Kite and the Perilous Flight and The Mad Mysterious Mansion. These books are volumes 1 and 2 in the Izzy and Daisy series, featuring two little girls, Izzy and Daisy, characters Sahin came up with while he was illustrating the stories.

We formed Pepandolie Books and published them in November and December 2013. We will soon publish "Gus the Platypus," written by me and illustrated again by Sahin, and I have a book in the works, which I am illustrating as well, entitled " Over the Moon" (working title).

 In this blog, in addition to presenting Di-versions and entertaining you with Di-verses, I want to chronicle my experiences as an independent author, both creating new books and trying to market the ones we have just published. I have only just begun to realize what a huge effort the marketing part is going to be. We will need to do many things I am unfamiliar with, like participating in social media, or just being social in general! I shall need to Di-versify! Damn, I'm unstoppable...

Here are the books. Take some looks!