A first-time children’s author and Forth Valley College Art and Design student is hoping to be spot on with a fundraising target to allow her to print and publish her first book.
Mum of four Regina Nurney (39) from Whitburn – who has just completed her NQ Creative Industries course at the Falkirk Campus and is waiting to start the NC Art and Design in August – is aiming to raise £2,000 through Kickstarter by Thursday 3 August, to help her print and publish ‘The Ladybird Who Found Her Spots’.
Regina, who has four children, has read her fair share of bedtime stories for her kids and says she always had the outline of her own characters and story in her head.
But it was only through a recent course assignment that Regina – who has dyslexia - followed through, wrote the story and illustrated and painted the characters for her own children’s book.
She said: “I am passionate about ladybirds and think they are fascinating and had the story in my head from when my six-year old girl was born. They have babies that look like monsters, but they don’t bite or sting and they eat aphids from your roses – what’s not to like?
“My NQ Creative Industries lecturer Julie Parker set us all a task of designing a book cover and I just followed right through and had written the whole book and painted the characters within a week!
“The story centres on a ladybird who journeys through her garden to find her spots and details all the characters she meets along the way. It has been a real passion for me to do this and I have other ideas for a series of stories, themes and adventures for the ladybird in the future. But I just need to focus on raising the target amount to enable me to print and publish the first book.
“It has been great fun painting the background and hand-cutting the characters to illustrate the story and I hope in the future that I can incorporate touch sensitive elements into the books. The support I have received from my lecturers and the college has been great and helped me to get this far. I can’t wait to start my new course in August.”
Regina, who has already raised £800 towards the total and has joined the Society of Authors, received support throughout her course from her lecturers and from Ann McInnes her Learner Development Worker as she had to deal with her dyslexia and nearly being made homeless.
“It was a trying time as me and my family were nearly made homeless as the landlord we were paying our rent to, was not keeping up with their mortgage payments. But thankfully we now have a new home which we are very happy with.” Said Regina,
She added: “My advice for anyone else with an idea like this is to just do it. If you don’t jump you can’t fly.”
Ann McIness, FVC Learner Development Worker, said: “I'm so proud of Regina. Personally she has overcome obstacles in her home-life and at the college and supported others as well. She has followed her dream and what an inspiration she is to potentially go into schools and read her own book. Her family must be very proud.”
Drew Bain, Learning Resources Assistant, who helped to create a display in the FVC Falkirk Campus library to promote the book and the Kickstarter page, said: “Regina is a regular visitor to Falkirk Learning Resource Centre and we admire her enthusiasm towards her studies. Her passion for this project shines out. We wish her all the best with the book and are delighted to have created a display in at the LRC showcasing Regina’s artwork and the processes she followed. We hope to be one of the first places to stock the book when it is published.”
Anyone wishing to help Regina publish her book should visit her facebook page https://www.facebook.com/theladybirdwhofoundherspots/ and her Kickstarter page on https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/916089799/the-ladybird-who-found-her-spots