Long Overdue - 2022 Year in Review

Wow! What an exciting year at Long Overdue.

I'm always on the long-winded side in my posts, so I'll try my best to fly through an entire year in 500 words or less. The photos will help.

We kicked off last year with the publication of Harry Trumfio's first children's book, Dad, Our Candy Man.

The behind-the-scenes story of how this book came together was incredible. An author in Arlington Heights, IL. An illustrator in Israel. The two had never met. We found Dena Ackerman (the illustrator) via LinkedIn of all places. The whole book came together over Zoom calls during the pandemic.

Then came the biggest event of our year. Days before the 43rd anniversary of American Airlines Flight 191 (more commonly known as the plane crash at O'Hare airport in 1979), we held the highly anticipated book launch of Safe Landing at First Draft. And then another party a few weeks later at Barrel.

What an incredible book that Kim, Melody, and Jim wrote together and an amazing way to honor their parents who tragically lost their lives on the flight.

Small thing to add, but it was a big deal for us: In preparation for Safe Landing's release, we set up an online bookstore on the website. This has made ordering and fulfilling orders sooooooo much easier.

Somewhere Jeff Bezos is shaking in his space boots at this upstart online bookstore in Chicago 😉

Summer time it was time to catch up with our favorite Minnesota children's board book duo around, Vicki Toups Sheaffer and Kristie Kaiser Frudden.

Their first book was in celebration of Vicki's first grandson, Jack. Well, new year, new grandbaby, new book. This time it was Kristie's first granddaughter, Olivia. And the new book was called Oh Baby it's a Clear Lake.

Excited to see their books showing up in more local bookstores in the St. Paul/Minneapolis area as well as a great coffee shop/bakery spot like Yum!

In the fall, we held our first webinar focused on editing. We were joined by three special guests -- Adina Edelman, Jeanette Smith, and Emily Price Soli. What an awesome event! So much great advice and helpful guidance for authors.

With Halloween in the air, Logan Tomaszewski led our first ever "group write" where a team of authors contributed linked stories into what will become a full-length book. This one is called The Headstone House.

Books 4, 5, and 6 on the year were our collaboration with the Buss family and their relaunch of Ice Cream Fine Storybooks (their publishing house). Coincidentally artist Kate Buss lives in St. Paul, not far from Vicki and Kristie. Our Senior Creative Director Annie Leue did an amazing job on the design.

With less than a month until Thanksgiving, it was time for another webinar. This time focusing on "Noteworthy" aka the part of Long Overdue focused on recording family stories and histories.

What better guests to have than Melody Smith and Kim Jockl from Safe Landing.

Also exciting to see Melody, Kim, and Jim show up on multiple radio shows, podcasts, and live events to speak about their journey as well as book clubs reading their book.

And then our 7th and final book of 2022 was a 40-page Noteworthy book compiled by friends and family for a loved one who had passed away. This wasn't published for the public, just a dozen or so copies for friends and family to commemorate a long life well lived.

Then we were thrilled to see Vicki and Kristie launch their own website, which is kind of like it's own growing publishing house or book label. Make sure to follow Soft Landings on Instagram and checkout their website - softlandings.life

We won't step on 2023's toes and share some of the books that are almost at the finish line. Stay tuned for the monthly newsletters and can't wait to write another recap like this one a year from now.

Who knows, maybe it'll be an even bigger year over here at Long Overdue!