#99: A new version of Mr. Ace and the Rainbow Bridge is in the works!

This particular newsletter or blog (or somewhere in-between), was birthed as an excuse to keep a weekly writing habit after publishing my first book Mr. Ace and the Rainbow Bridge. As this endeavor reaches it's centennial entry, I've been thinking more and more about the genesis of it and the many forms it's taken over the last three years. But more on that next week. Reader, before we get there, I want to revisit Mr. Ace and the Rainbow Bridge itself, and reveal something important with you that's currently in the incubation stage.

A couple of months ago, a colleague of mind found out that I authored and published a book. This happens every now and then, especially since a decent amount of time has passed since publication. He was impressed, but asked me a question that I've often asked myself: is there anything you'd do differently if you published today? Since that day, now almost four months ago, this question has rattled around in my brain, over and over again, until about a month ago when I decided to do something about it.

For the uninitiated, Mr. Ace and the Rainbow Bridge was inspired by a real experience with a dog that my wife I fostered and ultimately adopted on the last day of his life. This all happened within a very short period of time, and needless to say, we were left heartbroken by the whole experience. At that point, we weren’t even married and kids couldn’t yet be seen on the horizon. We still had so much of our lives to live after he left. I kept thinking that Ace would’ve felt cheated after waiting nearly all his life to be adopted and how he was taken from us so soon. Questions like, "Will they remember me?" and "Where am I now?” along with the fabled “Rainbow Bridge” helped become the spark for a process and adventure that ultimately turned into my first book, achieving a childhood dream of mine.

In the four years since I published Mr. Ace and the Rainbow Bridge, the story has made it's way to the people who needed it most. Occasionally, I'll get a message in my email or on Instagram expressing how much the book helped their grieving process, but it was mostly from adult interactions with the text. Mr. Ace is a children's book first and foremost, but it has found a home mostly among adults and older readers. Whenever a parent or friend would read the story with their child, they'd often express how lovely the pictures are, but that the book was a bit too long for their child’s focus.

Reader, when I answered my colleague’s question, I revealed to him (and myself) the two biggest regrets that I’ve developed over the years about Mr. Ace. The first being the length. I initially wrote this story for my wife, so she could heal, and I didn't really take into account the picture book market nor the audience I wanted to ingest the story: children. Admittedly, I was clueless and naive to the picture book market at the time I started drafting. After having two children of my own and doing so much "research,” reading four to six picture books every night, I have a much better understanding of the genre. The second change I would make is how the book is so centered around me and my wife. We are the main human characters in the book, and while that doesn’t really affect most readers, it has increasingly rubbed me the wrong way as time marched on.

Reader, I wouldn't call Mr. Ace and the Rainbow Bridge a failure by any means. The story found the people that needed to hear it, and I learned so much about book publishing in the process. I’d even argue it’s the spark for the newsletter you are reading right now. However, I believe in the story so much that I just can't leave it behind in its current iteration, and if I’m being honest with myself, it’s probably why I haven’t moved on to another project either.

So, I'd like to take the opportunity to officially announce that a new version of Mr. Ace and the Rainbow Bridge is in the works! In the months since answering that initial question, I also answered my own regrets with this: I own all the illustrations and text, so if I want another crack at it with this story, there's literally nothing stopping me. As the school year changed into summer, I got in contact with both Mr. Ace's illustrator and editor, and we are currently in the process of revamping Mr. Ace and the Rainbow Bridge for the audience it was always intended for, children between the ages of three and eight. Reader, I’m talking about a new cover, a reworking of the existing illustrations (and a few new ones), and a more concise and streamlined version of the existing text (something more standard around 500 words).

I am not exactly sure what I am going to do with the original version of the book, and the more I think about it, the more I’m coming around to the idea of this new version replacing it. If you already own a copy, just know that you have a piece of my heart in your bookshelf, and you will forever have my gratitude. I hope you'll find the new version just as impactful and maybe something a bit more shareable with the little one’s in your life.

It was a question that helped spark this line of reflection leading me down a path back to Mr. Ace. And Reader, it's been nice having him around again.

I hope you'll feel the same way in a few months, too. Stay tuned!

Thanks for reading.