author – Page 3 – The Woman Wednesday Blog

*Note: Woman Wednesday is a part of our blog. Each Woman Wednesday post will feature a woman who would like to share information in the hopes of inspiring and motivating other women. Comments are welcome below.

“I wrote this book about the little things. These are the little things in life we look over day by day, although they are always there. These are the little things that got me through the storm. These are the little things I want to share with you to cheer you up when you need a friend or when you need a reminder or a little sprinkle of sunshine. If we learn to see the world differently, our days may be a little brighter. If we learn to see the good, the world becomes a better place to live.” –Leilani Romero, author of “The Little Things”

The holidays are right around the corner! Although it’s all very exciting, it can also be stressful. Sometimes, we just need to remind ourselves of the little things in life.

You may remember Leilani Romero from one of our first Woman Wednesdays! We invited her back to discuss her book (which is now published), the self-publishing process (how to publish a book), and what motivated her to create and publish this book called, “The Little Things.”

Also, we get to see a sneak peek inside her book that is exclusively being shown here (and here only)! Keep reading for more:

Pictured: Lemons in watercolor by Leilani Romero (a sneak peek inside “The Little Things”).

Q: What is “The Little Things“?

A: “The Little Things” is a collection of happy things in one book! It is a yellow pocket of all things good, and it is a reminder of happy. This little book will lift your spirits, brighten your day, cheer up your soul, and encourage kindness. With the power of positivity, the world can change… I believe, one smile at a time. Meditate on these things, and good will come.

Q: What is the self-publishing process like?

A: For those who have always wondered how the book publishing process works, it isn’t as difficult as it may seem! I have always said I wanted to publish one day, but I wasn’t sure how it would all go. Like all big projects, you have to take it one step at a time. Here are the steps that I have taken:

Write and illustrate – Get all your ideas out there (the good and bad). As for illustrations, I created those by hand using watercolors and then scanned them in to digitize.

Edit – Find a good editor who will understand your vision and trust the process. I am lucky enough to have an amazing brother (who is also a published writer) to edit my book!

Find a printer – There are so many printers to choose from these days and not all force you to print in bulk. These days, some vendors will also handle the printing (ex. Amazon or Blurb)!

Get an ISBN – Depending on the printer, this process might be included with the vendor, or you can independently purchase the ISBN on your own.

Design the book by page and format – As a designer, I designed my own in Adobe In Design, but some printers can handle the PDF creation process for you!

Print the darn thing!

Launch on a jump-starting platform – I decided to have my 30-day campaign on Indiegogo, but there are quite a few others, such as Kickstarter!

Apply to sell your book in stores, local shops, and online.

I hope this helps anyone who is interested in or considering the self-publishing route!

Pictured: “The Little Things” exclusive “sneak peek” of what can be found inside.

Q: Why did you write this book?

A: A few years back, I was seriously struggling in the world. With creativity comes frustration, self-criticism, and heartbreak. Behind all the glitter-covered castles I built, were often anxious times that included 3:00 AM tears pouring down (that hard work and dedication brought along with them). Without these, there would be no success, growth, or marvelous magic. Fittingly so, I created this book at the end of college, not only as a project but as a suitable end to an era. In life, there’s good little things and bad little things. And these can pile up. These good little things may be some that are taken for granted. Truth be told, in life, we never know what others are going through. I, for one, am a bubbly soul by nature, and because of this, I have often times felt the expectation or burden to always appear so. The reality is that we all have our good days and gray ones too. And that’s okay.

I wrote this book about the little things. This book is about the little things in life we look over day by day, although they are always there. These are the little things that got me through the storm. These are the little things I want to share with you. To cheer you up when you need a friend or when you need a reminder or a little sprinkle of sunshine. The good is so much bigger than the bad.

I took great care to hand paint and illustrate and write all 64 pages. 64 pages of beauty, 64 pages of good. These are pages created to promote mindfulness and good mental health. These pages are meant to remind you of the small parts of your day that can make a huge difference in your quality of life –the genuine and the wonderful. These pages, I created, with the purpose of making others happy.

If we learn to see the world differently, our days may be a little brighter. If we learn to see the good, the world becomes a better place to live.

Pictured: Sunflower watercolor painting, a sneak peek inside “The Little Things,” by Leilani Romero.

Q: What would you like others to learn from your story?

A: Our day-to-day lives are full of little things. Unfortunately, research and personal experience have shown that we tend to fixate on the negatives and brush small positivities to the side.

My goal when hand-painting and writing this 64-page book was to collect reminders of all the little soul-filling, uplifting, and encouraging moments – the little things – that we may take for granted. Whether you turn to any page or flip through over time, “The Little Things” makes the perfect bedside or coffee table book to pick up throughout the day. Once I have enough funding, I will be able to get this book into local stores and online shops (like Barnes & Noble). A successful first book will allow me to continue to write new books and pursue my dreams of illustration.

Pictured: “The Little Things” exclusive “sneak peek” of what can be found inside.

There are only a few days left of Leilani’s Indiegogo book sale!

To purchase a copy of “The Little Things,” click here.

To follow Leilani’s blog, click here.

Leilani & My Lilianas would love to hear from you! Comment below!

Follow us on Instagram.

Connect with us on Facebook.

Q and A with Megan, Baltimore, Maryland

“The future. Earth’s governments have fallen, succeeded by a unified military order. An elite group of soldiers, the Sentinels, protect Cotarion from marauders and neighbors alike. Within, shadowy forces at the highest levels conspire for the power they need to enact a mysterious agenda.

But now, something has changed.

Men and women have emerged, displaying superhuman abilities powerful enough to threaten the established order, and the High General commands Sentinel Cameron Kardell to track a superhuman gone rogue. A superhuman who holds the key to these powers’ origin. Who happens to be Kardell’s best friend. Who will reveal the truth of Cameron’s own origins.

The Altered now wake.” –Megan Morgan, Author of “The Altered Wake”

Q: What are you passionate about?

A: Stories are definitely my passion! I love reading them, writing them, and listening to them. I love figuring out what makes a story work and picking apart why some stories don’t work. I love discussing what stories mean to people. They’re everywhere, and we are all telling ourselves stories all the time about who we are and how we impact the world. They’re almost so ubiquitous that we often don’t realize just how important they are.

That impact of stories on our personal and larger social psychologies are why I’m so focused on writing stories that defy conventions. As a kid, I read a lot of science fiction and fantasy, and I loved how these kinds of stories could invert our perspective of the world. A lot of the main characters in the stories I read were male, and women usually had supporting roles. Things are better these days, but I still crave women as leading characters who drive the narrative of the stories they’re in, so that’s what I write. In fact, all of my characters defy stereotypes, or at least, that’s what I hope.

Now that my first novel, “The Altered Wake”, is out, I’m working on the second in the series, “The Altered Rise”. And like a lot of storytellers I know, I have more story ideas than I will ever have time to write!

Q:What is something valuable you’ve learned that you’d like others to know?

A: I’ve been an army wife, and later, a single working mom to two awesome kids while writing my novels. I’ve written during ideal circumstances and completely awful circumstances. I’ve written when the words were easy and when they were hard. I’ve received heartbreaking rejection letters and even an email from a friend who was devouring my novel in a dental office. I boxed up all my manuscripts and put them on a shelf more than once. And eventually, I made the decision to get my work out into the world, even if I had to do it myself.

If there’s a lesson in all that, it’s that you just never stop. Surround yourself with people who believe in you. And don’t be afraid to work your butt off on what you believe in. Keep that little ember burning in the dark times, so that when there’s some kindling, it can ignite.

Q: What were your younger years like?

A: I grew up in Fairmont, West Virginia, which is a really beautiful place. As a kid, I spent a lot of time catching frogs and swimming. My mom loves to read, and so she took my siblings and I to the library on the weekends. My dad was a schoolteacher, and he read us books every night before bed with the most amazing voices. I was so lucky to grow up with two parents who believed in the value of reading and who encouraged me so much as I began to write my own stories.

In junior high, I started writing longer mini-novels for my friends, and as they devoured the chapters I supplied to them, I was hooked. I could make my own narratives, worlds, and characters. Then other people would believe in them. I found that, for me, it was the best way to reach other people. And sometimes, putting words down on paper is the best way for me to understand myself.

Q: What would you like others to learn from your story?

A: I think it’s really important to pay attention to the stories we tell ourselves and the stories we surround ourselves with. Not just books, TV shows, and movies, but the stories that are there in our minds. We all have narratives about who we are and what our value is, and we can absolutely change ourselves for the better by nudging those stories in different directions.
I had a college professor who, day one of class, talked about how we introduce ourselves to other people by telling them stories about our lives so far. It’s sort of how we package and present ourselves. I think it’s a good idea to look at those tales we’ve curated and see what they say about us, and also, to realize that the stories society tells us impact which narratives are worth keeping.

Question that!

Q: What does feminism mean to you?

A: Feminism means (to me) that people can be who they are without shame or ridicule. To me, it means we all have opportunities to fulfill our goals. The idea is that we have an even playing field, and “feminine” qualities aren’t ridiculed, and men aren’t shamed for having complex feelings. I see it as equality.

So, feminism means that my daughter can play in the mud (or not, as she prefers), and my son can paint his nails. We can be the complex people that we are. I think that’s good for everyone.