What
sets Sleep Sweet apart from your other published books?
Sleep
Sweet is an engaging bedtime story on its own, but when viewed
through the Spellbound App on mobile devices, it becomes a
holographic dream world with narration, music, animation and animal
sounds - fully interactive - that draw a child into the scene,
further enhancing the calm and tranquility. It is already being used
in children’s hospitals nation wide for relaxation and anti-anxiety
therapy. So when your loved one has a copy of Sleep Sweet, they have
a bed time book, as well as an interactive multimedia experience, all
on the same pages!
How
long did it take you to write it and do you plan on writing
any more similar themed books?
The
writing and illustration took a better part of a year to create. The
Augmented Reality portion of the project took another 12 months.
Tell
us about the Spellbound App and how it enhances the reading
experience.
The
Spellbound app uses the mobile device’s camera to recognize the
illustration, then the 3D scene appears hovering over the existing
page on the device. Users can touch the animals on the screen for
reactions, have the book read out-loud or just listen to the original
score- a gentle, lullaby looping classical guitar solo that is sure
to please any age.
Which
writers/books inspired you when writing Sleep
Sweet?
I’ve
always loved the classic bedtime tales like Goodnight Moon and The
Busy Spider. While I enjoy all forms of children’s literature, I
loved the idea of a book particularly designed for bed time.
Something that could cary the reader far away to dream land. The
illustration work is more painterly than those titles, more dreamlike
and fluid. It is kind of a hybrid of my own fine art style and
digital illustration.
What
are your ambitions for your writing career? Full time? Part time?
Because
I am both an author and illustrator/artist I would love to do both
part time, essentially creating a full time creative career.
Currently I am working on several YA novels as well as a line of
coloring books, but I’m also juggling fine art exhibits (I have a
solo show up at the Maturango Museum until January) so I already stay
quite busy with both :)
When
did you decide to become a writer?
I’ve
always been interested in short story and poetry, but when my
daughter was born, I began creating stories based on our adventures,
using her as a model. In the last four years since she was born, I’ve
put out ten children’s books, all having something or other to do
with our home, her development or silly things we share that other
parents can relate to.
When
writing Sleep Sweet
did anything stand out as particularly challenging?
I
think creating a succession of events leading from wide awake to fast
asleep in the limited time frame of a picture book was the most
challenging. The illustrations feature her getting more and more
tired, finally falling asleep. It was difficult judging based on
reading it aloud, how that would translate when reading it to a
child. Too fast and they miss the point and don’t have the time to
get relaxed, too long and you’ve become boring to the adult reading
it. It was an interesting balancing act.
How
did you come up with the story of Sleep
Sweet?
Sleep
Sweet is both a ritual my daughter and I share at bed time as well as
all the stories I’ve told her about my life and where I want to
take her some day. Many of the illustrations are from my own trips to
Africa, Panama, Alaska and across the US. The book is a guided
meditation, a dream journal and a vision board all at once.
What
do you like to do when not writing?
I’m
really into hiking and camping, traveling and exploring the natural
world. I find most of my inspiration in ancient cultures and the
timelessness of the planet so when I have downtime I work to refill
that inspirational well and fantasize about my upcoming projects.
How
can readers discover more about you and your work?
Readers
can connect with me through my Amazon author page, my web site and on
most social media platforms:
amazon.com/author/julianneblack
twitter.com/4jblack
Used
in Children’s Hospitals Nationwide - Sleep Sweet on
Amazon: http://amzn.to/2fDBYab