Long Overdue Newsletter

Quote of the Month

"I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply

shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles."

- Shannon Hale, Author

Summer in Alaska - New Children's Book Little Green Frond

Two years ago, we started working with the Buss family (Kate, Patrick, and their father, Dennis). They wanted to reboot their publishing house (Ice Cream Fine Storybooks) and had a few projects in the works. Fast forward to July of 2023, and they've now published four books in collaboration with Long Overdue. Their latest, Little Green Frond, is available to order in our bookstore.

Also, want to point out that Kate Buss (Author/Illustrator) is a Minnesota author/artist, just like Vicki Sheaffer and Kristie Kaiser Frudden. Similar St. Paul/Minneapolis area, too!

Order Your Copy

What's the book about? Glad you asked! One day, a little green frond randomly shows up in the Arctic. The animals begin debating what exactly this object is/what's it supposed to be used for.

Each animal is certain they have the correct explanation...

Share this fun story with your kids, grandkids, nephews/nieces, looking at all the animals and going through their creative explanations. Will the animals reach an agreement over this little green frond? Here's a second chance button to order the Buss family's new book.

Second Chance Button to Order Little Green Frond

Save the Date - Saturday, Sept. 9th & Sunday, Sept.10th

Long Overdue is Coming to Printer's Row Lit Fest!

Big News: We'll be an exhibitor at this year's Printer's Row Lit Fest -- the largest book festival in the Midwest -- right here in downtown Chicago!

We've wanted to be part of this festival for the last couple of years, but scheduling never quite worked out. But now here we are, just 7 weeks away! We're so excited to showcase our authors' work, talk with book lovers, and hear from aspiring authors. We'll also have the Safe Landing authors in attendance, maybe a few other Long Overdue authors depending on schedules and travel.

More to share in the August newsletter, table #, location, etc., but if you're in the Chicagoland area, we'd love to see ya there!

Opening Chapter - Two Approaches

Having a hard time writing the first chapter of your book? This writing lesson originally came from a TV pilot writing course taught by Chicago comedy teaching legend, Michael McCarthy, but the principles also apply to writing the first chapter of a book. Especially if it's a work of fiction. So, does your "long overdue" book-in-progress start with a "Day in the Life" or a "First Day of the Rest of my Life."

Read Blog Post

"How 'bout this, we open with a 10-week-old puppy in a small Indiana town. One day, he gets picked up by a young married couple and is moved to Chicago. Call it 'Big City, Little Puppy' or something like that. Am I doing this right?"

- Crash, Team Dog (photo from 7 years ago)

Keeping up with Long Overdue

Best place to keep up with all things Long Overdue (including our authors' events like the one above) is a tie between our monthly newsletter and our Instagram page. If you enjoy this newsletter and know someone who might enjoy it as well, let us know, we'll make sure to add them to our subscriber list. We also got back on Facebook recently, you can follow us here.

And check out our website - Long Overdue Books. Long Overdue Books is a community for creating books. It's a place for authors (and soon-to-be-authors), readers, editors, artists, and designers to come together and move their stories from ideas to finished books.

Also, if you have any questions, ideas, stories to tell, you can reach Cal the Librarian at - library@longoverduestories.com