Orswald Patches Things Up - Another Fantaseed Story

It is my pleasure to announce the official release of Orswald Patches Things Up!

The road to the next book in the Fantaseed story collection was unexpected and difficult, but I am so glad I kept running with it. The idea for this story began during one of the best times of my life—a summer institute called the Central Utah Writing Project. During that time, I learned so much about myself as both a person and a writer.

One of our tasks at the institute was to create a personal piece. I knew I wanted to do something related to the Fantaseeds. The first book, P.H. Erwin's ABCs of Fantaseeds, had been released about two months prior, and I was thrilled by the responses from family and friends when they discovered that I had not only written and illustrated a book but had also "pulled the trigger" and actually published it.

I was so excited by their reactions that I sat down and created a roadmap of sorts for the next few books. What would I write next? I decided that the ABCs should be part of a small collection of educational books, so logically, the next book should be a numbers book—123s of Fantaseeds. That’s what I initially worked on at the beginning of the summer institute. But one day, during what was coined "sacred writing time," I sat down in a quiet space and decided to explore the individual lives of the Fantaseeds.

Naturally, my thoughts first went to Cobble—my pride and joy—but then I had a bit of fun considering origin stories. I looked at the Fantaseeds from my Instagram and stopped on Orswald. In recent designs, I had given him patchy clothes, and I suddenly asked myself, How did Orswald get a giant patch on his pants? One thing led to another, and the story practically wrote itself.

I'm so grateful that I took the time to create illustrations that will cause young readers/listeners to linger, explore, and better appreciate the world of the Fantaseeds. I'm even more grateful to an editor, Praiseworthy Pages, for carefully combing through the first draft and providing me with the necessary tools to turn the story into what it is today.

Writing and illustrating have been, and will always be, my number one therapy. Between the two mediums, I have been able to cope with a lot of difficult feelings over the years. More specifically, in the last 18 years, since the moment Cobble came into existence, I finally had a greater purpose and direction for my talents. A whole new world opened up to me, and I am so glad I never gave up on it. It has gone through some growing pains, but ultimately has flourished into a fun escape that I now enjoy sharing with others.

I hope that Orswald's story will resonate with you or a little one in your life in a way that no other story has. This is only the beginning of all the stories the Fantaseeds could tell, and I would love nothing more than to witness the magic they carry spread to the next generation of readers.