Local designer turned author pens children’s books

It’s kind of like a mechanic becoming a race car driver. Tianne Samson of Cowley has worked for years on the technical side of the book business, formatting books for publication as a graphic designer.
When that work turned to formatting children’s books, Samson found within herself a desire to write books. And while pondering how to go about it, she received a spark of insight on the day her son Carsyn Weber received his mission call to Canada for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She quicky wrote the children’s book “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission,” inspired by Carsyn’s call, then followed up with “Sunny Finds True Happiness” about a sun ray who sets out on an adventure trying to find true happiness and discovers that happiness is found within oneself.
She has also produced a coloring book for kids.
Having been a part of book production for many years, it was a big step to become an author herself, Samson said.
“I said (to myself) ‘I can do that,’ but I didn’t know how. I didn’t know where to start or how to do it or anything,” she said during a presentation at the Lovell Branch Library Tuesday afternoon. “I learned how to publish it and how to compile it, but how do I write it? I just kind of figured it out little by little.
“I didn’t know what to write about. I feel the children’s book industry is really over-saturated. You can find a book about anything. I think it was the day Carsyn received his mission call that it came to me.”
Samson disclosed due to copyright law that she used an artificial intelligence program to help with some of the structure of the writing, although the idea was hers and she produced the final form.
“I had the idea, but I didn’t know how to put it into word and write it down, so I went to ChatGPT and typed it in,” she said. “I generated it, and I took that and manipulated it and put it into my own words – took this out and added that. So part of it is AI. You have to disclose that.”
Samson said she never thought of herself as a writer.
“I always thought I could be. I always thought my life story, I could put into words, but I’m not necessarily a writer,” she said. “That was a lot of the stalling point for me, how to write and how to put it together, just the how.”
Samson said when she was younger she “thought it would be fun” to write. Her mother and grandmother always wrote to Samson and her siblings, so she thought it would be fun to write a book. When she started formatting books and worked into formatting children’s books about two years ago, she said, “I really want to do this. I really want to be able to write a children’s book for my kids.”
She “got serious” about writing the “I Hope They Call Me on a Mission” book a few months ago, she said, but she didn’t know where to start, noting, “I just figured it out as I went. I came up with ideas for what I wanted to write about. I just didn’t know how to put it all together. That’s what would stop me.”
Once it all came together, Samson knew she wanted to have the book finished before Carsyn left for his mission two months later.
“I really wanted to publish and print it so he’d have a copy to take with him (on the mission) at the end of August,” she said, having completed the book in two months.
Having reached her goal, Samson then wrote the “Sunny Finds True Happiness” book this fall, completing it in October.
 She also produced the “Color My World” coloring book for her kids but has made it available for others.
Carsyn is serving in the Edmonton, Alberta, Canada mission.
Samson has self-published the books through Amazon, using the Canva program for the illustrations. The paperback version of the two main books is $10, and a hard cover is $15. The coloring book is $6.
Samson recommends contacting her directly at 307-272-9802 or authortiannesamson@gmail.com.
She urged interested customers to act quickly if they want a book to arrive by Christmas.