We’re Having a Ball

For the last year or so, I’ve been volunteering here and there at GiGi’s Playhouse New Orleans. Mostly I’d helped out as a photographer. But for the last few months, I’ve been part of the GiGi’s Playhouse Lagniappe Gala Committee.

The Gala is GiGi’s largest fundraiser for the year, providing funding for their programs benefitting the Down Syndrome community. For GiGi’s, it’s the best night of the year.

Everyone gets dressed up, has some food and the occasional adult beverage and dances to some music. (BTW, this year’s Gala will be played by my close friends, the Nola Treblemakers.) WDSU’s Meteorologist Devon Lucie will be our host. I think I have to get up on stage at some point. That should be fun. And we’ll also be joined by the Muff-a-lottas dance troupe.

If you’d like to join us for food, drinks, fancy dress and fun, you can purchase tickets here.

SUPPORT GiGi’s IN THE CRESCENT CITY CLASSIC!

This year I will be walking in the Crescent City Classic to support GiGi’s Playhouse New Orleans. GiGi’s provides free programming and resources to families with Down Syndrome.

They’re trying to get 50 participants to join their team in the Crescent City Classic. 50 people would get GiGi’s special privileges, including a team tent which would allow them to let more people know about Down Syndrome and GiGi’s. Additionally, if 50 people participate and each raise $200 in sponsorship, that amounts to ten thousand dollars that goes towards the programs that GiGi’s provides.

They are currently at 28 teammates. We could use your help.

Now before you say “I’m not running a 10 K race”, let me relieve you. You don’t have to.

You have a couple of options. You could do what I am doing and walk the race. Believe me, I’m not running one kilometer, much less ten. However, if you don’t want to walk either, you can be a virtual teammate! Yep, you don’t have to even go to the race to be on the team. You don’t even have to be in the same state! You would simply volunteer to be a virtual participant and gather your sponsors and help us raise money.

So how do you register? First click on this Run Sign Up link. That will take you to this GiGi’s team page. On the right side of the page it says “Register”. Click that button.

That takes you to the registration page. There you will fill out all your information and choose how you want to participate. Below you can see the four options. If you want to walk or run in the race, click on the second option, “run it for charity registration”. If you want to be a virtual participant, click on the last option, “virtual run it for charity registration”.

There’s one more page to fill out after this one.

Once you’ve completed your registration and finished making your profile, you will be given a link to your own personal sponsorship page so that people can donate. Share it on all your social media. And don’t forget to tag GiGi’s in your posts. You can also add yourself to the Facebook event page here.

I hope to see you out there on March 30th!

HELP ME SUPPORT GIGI’S PLAYHOUSE!

Alright y’all! For the first time ever, I will be voluntarily entering a foot race.

March 30th is the Crescent City Classic. I will be walking 10 kilometers across New Orleans to support Gigi’s Playhouse. Gigi’s is a free education and resource center for people with Down Syndrome and their families. I’m trying to raise a minimum of $200 in sponsorship. If you donate, all of that money goes to Gigi’s and helps people with Down Syndrome, including Remy!

If you want to sponsor me, you can go HERE to my racer profile.

But if you would like to enter the race on behalf of Gigi’s you can do so HERE. Gigi’s is trying to get fifty people to be part of their team. If fifty people do the race on their behalf and raise the 200 dollar minimum, that amounts to ten thousand dollars for their cause. Pretty cool.

Let’s do this!

OUR CHARACTERS

Introducing some of our main characters for Remy and the Heart of Gold!

All art designed and illustrated by Travis Hymel, a professional comic book artist. Travis has worked on a wide range of books, including the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Saturday Morning Adventures and the official Trailer Park Boys comic book. In addition, he is currently working on his own comic book.

YOUR QUESTIONS ANSWERED

Ever since I launched this website, I’ve gotten a lot of questions about the book. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to answer them. 2023 was kind of a crazy year for me and it took me a long time to get things together. Longer than I expected. Now I’m ready to answer your questions. Here goes.

What is the book about?

Remy and the Heart of Gold is the story of a boy from a medieval kingdom called Nola. Remy’s heart is Down and he must go on a journey and face a mighty dragon to retrieve the heart of gold.

Why are you announcing this now?

Later this week, I will be releasing the key character sketches for the book. You’ll have an idea of what the book will look like as well as get to know the characters. I got the last important character design sketch right before Christmas, but I wanted to wait until the holidays were over to release them.

What comes next?

The book is already written. It has yet to be illustrated because I need to pay my artist. It is a lot of work. To that end, I am now searching for a publisher. Make no mistake though, Remy and the Heart of Gold will be published this year.

What’s your timetable?

There isn’t one. It will happen this year, but how soon depends on if I find a publisher sooner. My goal is to try to get the book made before the Summer.

How can I help?

If you know any publishers that might be interested or if you know of anyone who works in News media that would be willing to talk to me, let me know. You can email me at adam (at) remybook.com. This story has a great message and my goal is both to entertain children and to help make people more aware of Down Syndrome. This can be something special.

Also, if you have experience in filmmaking, please contact me. There’s a special project for the book that I will be trying to make very soon and could use some help.

But even if you don’t know anyone, you can help by subscribing to our email newsletter (just add your email into the form below where it says sign up) and like the facebook page. This will allow me to keep you informed when there is news.

Thank you for your kindness, your patience and your assistance. Together, we will do something amazing.

-Adam Relayson

Announcements coming soon!

I’ve been pretty quiet for a while.

I’ve been asked many times what’s going on with the book. Sorry I haven’t been communicating, but there hasn’t been much to say. Good things take time. I promise, I will have something to show very soon.

In the meantime, if you haven’t, please add your email address below so that you can be the first to know when there’s news.

Getting the book published

First of all, I want to thank everyone who liked and shared the website when it launched.

Remy’s Mom, Stephanie asked me how people can help get the book published. So I wanted to walk everyone through how this will work.

Step one was getting the website launched. This site will be the primary source of information for the book.
Step two is getting everyone signed up for the email list. I want to reiterate that I will not be misusing this information. You will only be emailed when there are updates on the book.

You can sign up by adding your email at the bottom of this post, where is says “Subscribe”.

Step three will be getting the character sketches. My artist, Travis Hymel, is currently working on a comic book mini-series. Once he’s done, he’ll work on the character designs.

Step four. Once we have the character designs, I’m going to advertise the book. I want to talk to newspapers, podcasts and even news shows if they’ll have me. This will increase exposure for the book and make it more likely to find a publisher. If you know someone who can help in this regard, please email me adam (at) remybook.com.

If the book doesn’t get a publisher, I will crowdfund it. This is why the email list is so important. I’ll be able to tell you how to get a copy.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

Thanks so much. -Adam

Thank you.

If you’re reading this, I want to say two things.

Welcome.

And Thank You.

Thank you for giving me your time and attention. I know there’s so much going on in the world and in people’s personal lives, that your time is precious.

I didn’t start out this year intending to write a children’s book. My actual goals were to make a documentary and put out an e-book of short stories from the last 20 years of my life. Both of those goals are still intended to happen, but this book has taken precedence.

Some friends have asked if I intend to make this my career. I don’t think so. This book isn’t about me. Its about what I can do and what I can give.

I can put something good out into the world. And I can let my nephew know he is loved the only way I know how. Through word and action.

Thank you for coming along with me on this journey.