BOOK GIVEAWAY – FANTASTIC YOU by Danielle Dufayet

Danielle Dufayet has written and Illustrated a picture book titled, FANTASTIC YOU. It hit book shelves today. Published by Magination Press.

Danielle has agreed to share a copy with one lucky winner. All you have to do to get in the running is to leave a comment. Reblog, tweet, or talk about it on Facebook with a link and you will get additional chances to win. Just let me know the other things you do to share the good news, so I can put in the right amount of tickets in my basket for you.

Sharing on Facebook, Twitter, reblogging really helps spread the word for a new book. Thanks for helping Danielle!

If you have signed up to follow my blog and it is delivered to you everyday, please let me know when you leave a comment and I will give you an extra ticket. Thanks!

BOOK’S DESCRIPTION:

There’s one special person you get to spend your whole life with: YOU! Which means there’s no one you should take better care of! When you cheer yourself on and cheer yourself up, you make the world a happier place. Life is amazing when you share it with the people you love: family, friends, and always with YOU!

Fantastic You shows readers how to develop and nurture a loving and positive relationship with themselves. Kids will learn that self-care includes positive self-talk and self-compassion for a happy, self-empowered life.

BOOK’S JOURNEY:

First, I had to get strong (by terminating a toxic marriage) and write You Are Your Strong. Getting strong helped me to re-unite with myself and see my worth. During this difficult time in my life (having been married almost 13 years) I had grown emotionally and spiritually. Not only was I stronger, I also learned to truly love and value myself for the first time in my life. Fantastic You, essentially, is a book celebrating my journey of self-love and self-worth.

I didn’t want Fantastic You to be another “I’m so great” kind of book. That’s not it at all! Finding myself single again, I had the opportunity to get re-acquainted with myself and I liked it! Fantastic You came out of being on my own and loving it. But, there were times I felt like no one was around (my friends do have their own lives too!) and I felt a bit isolated at times. Then, I had an epiphany: I still have me! That’s when I knew I had a message to share: even if you’re by yourself –you’re never alone because you’re with…yourself! Learning to happily live on your own is so self-empowering.

I started writing Fantastic You as a how-to: How-To-Be Your Own Best Friend, but Magination Press thought that approach might present a problem since kids were still learning about friendship and what being a best friend meant. So, I looked at it from a morning to night perspective. What does treating yourself as your own best friend look like? What are some of the things I do to make me feel loved and supported all by myself? Positive self-talk is number one. Self-compassion is so important too. Learning to just enjoy your own company and appreciate who you are is a very positive way to relate to yourself as well. Vowing that you will never again tolerate abuse or disrespect is self-empowering and should be celebrated.

Revising Fantastic You flowed quite easily once I had this new approach. It took me only a couple of months and a few rounds from my fabulous critique partners before Karen at RedFox Literary re-submitted it to Magination Press. They got back to Karen rather shortly after that to let her know it was a YES!

Again, Magination Press was absolutely wonderful to work with. We only did a few very minor tweaks until it was ready for publication. Now, it is out in the world and I am so excited to share this book. I even have a “Self-Love Vows” PDF that anyone can download for free on my website. It’s a checklist of all the things you can do to make sure you are treating yourself with kindness, encouragement and unconditional love. What a happy world this would be if we knew how to truly love ourselves. This naturally would spill over into knowing how to truly love one another. Remember, it’s never too early or too late to start. Thank you for this opportunity to share my journey!

DANIELLE’S BIO:

Danielle Dufayet, born in Yonkers, New York, now lives in sunny San Jose, California, where she writes children’s books and paints. She also teaches English and Public Speaking (Self-Empowerment) to grades K-12. Danielle read her first picture book (Little Raccoon and the Thing in the Pool) when she was 18 whereupon she was blown away by its simplicity, timelessness and transformative power. That’s when she knew it was her calling. Thirty five years and a Master’s Degree later, she finally made her dream come true and she’ll have TWO books out in 2019 – one about inner strength and the other about self-love/compassion.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/danielledufayet

Twitter: https://twitter.com/danielledufayet

Art Website: https://www.danielledufayet.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ddaniwriter/

Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/danielledufayet

ILLUSTRATOR JENNIFER ZIVION’S BIO:

Jennifer Zivoin has always loved art and storytelling, so becoming an illustrator was a natural career path. She has been trained in media ranging from figure drawing to virtual reality, and earned her Bachelor of Arts degree with highest distinction from the honors division of Indiana University.

During her professional career, Jennifer worked as a graphic designer and then as a creative director before finding her artistic niche illustrating children’s books. In addition to artwork, she enjoys reading, cooking, and ballroom dancing. Jennifer lives in Indiana with her family.

Jennifer is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators and is represented by MB Artists.

Website: http://www.jzartworks.com/

Blog: http://jzartworksblog.blogspot.com/

Illustrator Saturday feature: https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2016/11/19/illustrator-saturday-jennifer-zivion/

Danielle, Thank you for sharing this book and its’ journey with us. I love that is help children develop and nurture a loving and positive view of themselves. Good Luck!

Talk tomorrow,

Kathy