Illustrations

 

I have been learning how to publish on Amazon Kindle and trying to figure out how to add illustrations to a children's book. Here is a sample of what I added to my story, "The Adventures of Freddy the Frog." It will be available in paperback on Amazon soon. For the time being, it is on Kindle and complete with new pictures. This is all new to me, and to be honest, I am amazed I got this far. 

Here is a link to my book on Kindle on Amazon.

New cover, new price

 

I created a new book cover and my book is available for 99 cents on Amazon. Check it out.

Respite care presents problems in a pandemic

One of the services the Los Angeles County Regional Center helps provide is respite care for parents with children with special needs. This service is crucial for parents who are overwhelmed with caring for a child with special needs. It provides support for a few hours a week for parents to take a break, run errands, and take care of other pressing needs in their household. The Los Angeles County Regional Center continues to provide respite care for families, but some parents have reservations about starting new respite services and who they allow in their home during a pandemic.

Here is a link to the story.

Support groups continue to meet

Families with special needs children often rely on support groups to help through some tough and challenging times. In a pandemic, meeting for support groups is problematic. The Los Angeles County Regional Center provided ways for families and parents to continue to meet online and in virtual settings.

Here is a link to that story. 

Therapy and services for special needs children and families

 I wrote a series of stories about how the Los Angeles County Regional Center continues to provide services and therapy for special needs children and their families during the pandemic. This is the first of three stories I wrote for the Los Angeles Daily News. It focuses on how the regional center filled a gap in speech, physical and occupational therapy for kids when they were not in school in the spring. 

Here is a link to that story.

Carousel Ranch

Here are some of the things I have been writing about lately. This is a story that appeared in the Los Angeles Daily News about Carousel Ranch, an organization that provides horse therapy for children with special needs. Carousel Ranch also offers work programs and college courses for people with special needs. They were shut down because of the coronavirus pandemic and couldn't have children at the ranch for horse therapy. Their work program was interrupted and they stopped offering college courses. In July, Carousel Ranch started having children, in small groups, return for horse therapy. Carousel Ranch also decided to hold its biggest fundraiser remotely and online in August. Here is a link to the story.

Freddy the Frog

 

This is my first story. It is about a frog and a beetle who don't want to be a frog or a beetle. They pretend to be other things and have adventures on a ranch with a lake with ducks, squirrels and a grumpy catfish.

Here is the link to the book on Kindle. 

A new adventure

 

This is my new adventure, writing books and telling stories I didn't have time to put them into words before pandemics and busy work schedules. I have worked as a newspaper reporter and editor for almost 40 years in Los Angeles. I have written stories about race cars and earthquakes and movie premiers and book tours and school shootings and wildfires. Some of the stories needed more space than a newspaper provides. This will be my space to tell some of those stories that need a little more space. Feel free to explore with me and let me share some of the stories I have been waiting for the right time to tell.