Brave Tiny!

Brave Tiny is a book that I wrote during the 2012 National Novel Writing Month. It is a story about a little killdeer at Blue Lake (which is shaped like a turkey's foot) and all his adventures. In the end, Tiny saves the day. I based this story on a real killdeer family and the animals that live around him. I hoped to entertain as well as educate people about killdeer and other wildlife.

Tiny makes friends with several ducks and those friendships are critical to Tiny saving the day. The other killdeer think Tiny's friendship with the ducks is strange because ducks can eat baby killdeer, or they're just rude. But, all the ducks like and respect Tiny because he sees them differently and is not prejudiced by what the other killdeer say about them.

Tiny finds a mate and travels a bit, but not that far from his home and returns there when trouble arises with his brother and other members of his family.

When I wrote this book, I aimed for children in about fourth or fifth grade. But, the book may be a bit technical and detailed for some readers. There are also several illustrations, done by me, throughout the book. The painting on the cover was also done by me and all the drawings inside were done by regular or colored pencil.

Though the main link on this page is to the paperback version, Brave Tiny is also available on Kindle format. Those with Amazon Prime can probably download it for free. The books is available worldwide. I am planning a new edition, but don't have any idea, at the moment, when that edition will be completed and published. So, now is your best chance to read the very first edition.

Here is a link to Brave Tiny, the kindle edition. If you have Amazon Prime, you may be able to download and read this for free.

Hi everyone! Have you looked at any part of Brave Tiny? If so, how did you like it? I'm sure it needs improvement, so give me a hand and tell me what you would like to see in the story.

Tiny is still alive and lives up at SDSU, a college between where I live and the lake where the story is based at. I think I just heard him calling and flying around. His brother, Killer, is also still at the lake, but is rarely seen anymore. His children and grandchildren can be seen from time to time. George was recently seen with Martha, which is unusual. Killdeer pairs rarely stay together more than three years and they have been together longer than that.

I may start a whole new hub on this subject. National Novel Writing Month takes place each November. You goal is to write at least 60,000 words to win several prizes including print copies of your books and discounts on consulting and other author help. I've found that writing about 2000 words a day worked for me. Don't worry about editing, you do that later. Your main concern is reaching that goal.

If you have a story bursting out of you, like I did with Brave Tiny, National Novel Writing Month is a great motivation to get your ideas down in words.