profile

Hi! I'm Kristin Emily Friend,

Picture Book, Fresh Air, and Ice Cream, Oh, My!

Published over 2 years ago • 1 min read

November 18, 2021

Hello, Friends,

Wow! The leaves have given us a beautiful show this fall! Happy November!

PICTURE BOOK NEWS

November is NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month. Though I'm not writing 50,000 words, camaraderie with other writers is perfect inspiration to hunker down and work on my next children's picture book.

Last November I wrote Aunt Kitten's Safari, a picture book for my youngest niece and six great nieces and nephews. Each child has a nickname such as Ladybug, Peacock, and Flamingo. Using the nicknames as avatars, I wrote a book to recognize and affirm each child's special gifts, talents, and uniqueness. The family book-launch party in April was SO FUN!

Social media responses indicate that many of you are continually keeping your eyes open for new picture books. You love to gift books and read to your children, grandchildren, students, and others. It has been an honor to be asked about purchasing Aunt Kitten's Safari.

That first edition had a limited printing and was written with specific children in mind. The book needed to be rewritten if it were to be helpful to a general audience. My desire remains: to encourage and affirm each child's special gifts, talents, and uniqueness through a fun, whimsical picture book. It is exciting to craft it into this new version.

Publishing options were overwhelming until I joined a Hope*Circle on self-publishing. Slowly but surely, this book project is gestating.

More information about Aunt Kitten is coming soon!

PONDERING FRIEND TO FRIEND

Fresh Air for the Holidays is my new blog post. It follows up on the topic of clarity which we pondered in October.

ICE CREAM ENTHUSIASTS

Gregg and I have a new ice cream maker in our kitchen!

We made banana pudding ice cream for the family and it was a big hit. Check out the recipe and photos on my blog.

Did you know that The West has a best kept secret? Huckleberry Ice Cream! A friend recently wrote a guest post on my blog about their huckleberry experience. Gregg and I totally agree... it is delicious!

Speaking of ice cream, I can't decide if turkey-dinner flavors of ice cream sound good or gross. Salt & Straw has five unique flavors of ice cream in their Friendsgiving Series. Here is a taste test video.

What do you think? Shall we try inventing our own ice cream recipes for a holiday meal? If so, which flavors would you enjoy sampling?

SURVEY SAYS...

Thanks so much to those of you who took time to fill out my survey last month! Your feedback was so helpful!

A Hope*Circle peaked my curiosity regarding readers' preferences in connecting and learning. You can share your druthers anonymously on this 3-question survey: Where Do You Hang Out?

Sweet Cinnamon Jimmies! Thank you for connecting with me and bringing your unique spices to our holidays!

Kristin Emily

www.KristinEmilyFriend.com

Hi! I'm Kristin Emily Friend,

Author, Illustrator, Blogger, Ice Cream Enthusiast

I am a companion in curiosity and refreshment through mulling over questions (Pondering Friend to Friend), ice cream (Traveling Ice Cream Enthusiasts), children's books (Aunt Kitten), and world traveling (The Friends' Travel Blog.) . . Sign up for my monthly newsletter to join me! . . I look forward to companioning with you.

Read more from Hi! I'm Kristin Emily Friend,

Click here to read this letter on the web June 2023 Hello! Here we are, almost at the longest day of the year. And we all ask in chorus, "Where does the time go??" For Gregg and me, half of our May involved a visit to Ireland. This is the first vacation (besides a cruise) where we stayed in ONE place the whole trip. That means we slept in our bed, traveled, slept for 10 nights in our friends, Kim and Dixie's home, traveled, then slept in our own bed. GLORIOUS!!! Refreshing and relaxing. You...

10 months ago • 2 min read

Click here to read this letter on the web May 2023 Happy Spring! Are you looking forward to saying hello to summer or sad to say goodbye to winter? I'm sad to say goodbye to the cooler and less humid Florida winter weather. Yet I'm looking forward to things we have planned this summer. One plan is to take a road trip through Canada. From PA, we will rent a car and head north of Toronto so I can meet "in real life" an online writing friend then head west across Canada to enjoy gorgeous Banff...

12 months ago • 3 min read

Click here to read this letter on the web March 2023 Greetings, Friend! For a fun change, this month I chat with you via this four minute video. There are also a few pictures below the video. Enjoy! Respectfully, (in honor of National Respect Your Cat Day) Kristin Emily Friend, aka Aunt Kitten www.KristinEmilyFriend.com There's Only One You with Aunt KittenAvailable here on Amazon "We're all unique! God made each of us new. I'm glad you're here 'cause there's only one you!"

about 1 year ago • 1 min read
Share this post