LONGTIME friends Julie Busuttil and Susan Buik are celebrating their success after joining forces led them to publish a children's book, which has received worldwide recognition.
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Mrs Busuttil is the author of Superconscious Dave and The Purple Fandango, which was published in December by Australian Publishers.
Ms Buik, an illustrator and Mrs Busuttil's friend of more than two decades, helped bring the book to life.
Mrs Busuttil, a mother of four, was inspired to write the book in 2020 during the COVID-19 lockdown.
"I have young children of my own, I have twin six-year-old boys now and I thought it would be a bit of fun," she said.
The book takes its readers on a journey alongside Superconscious Dave, a smart and intuitive alien from out of space.
Upon visiting Earth for the first time, Superconscious Dave is drawn to a purple object caught in a tree, which he refers to as a purple fandango, but it's not until he shifts his intentions that it drops.
Inspired by her own revelation, Mrs Busuttil came up with the concept after completing an online course, which also helped her through the challenges.
"The course is about understanding yourself and knowing when you are in your genius or when you're in your victim or dysfunction. When I was falling into those dysfunctional times, which is basically that side of me that says; 'oh you can't do it, why bother?', I was self-aware enough to see it and push through it," she said.
"I'm also a psychic medium, which also comes into play as well."
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After writing the book, Mrs Busuttil united with Ms Buik.
"Julie gave me her sketch of what she wanted Dave to look like, but she also described him. I did a couple of drawings of what I thought it might be and she said; 'yeah, that's what I was thinking of', so it sort of just worked," Ms Buik said.
"We worked through the text of the book and worked out what pictures Julie imagined for the page and I drew them and it went backwards and forwards a couple of times. It's been fun."
Mrs Busuttil said one thing she did learn was that it's so much easier having an illustrator close by. The author plans to publish at least four books as part of a series.
Having made the top-25 Fan Favourite list in the Penelope's Prize Children's Book Awards, the creative duo is calling on community members to help them take out first place by casting a vote.
The competition is worldwide, with the top-25 list selected from 251 submissions. You can vote via Instagram at RDF_BOOK_REVIEWS by tapping the heart on the photo.
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