TO COPE WITH LIFE THERE MUST BE UNDERSTANDING AND HELP.
TO SELF-COPE WITH LIFE THERE MUST BE JUSTIFIED SELF-CONFIDENCE,
BUILT UPON EXPERIENCE AND A QUESTIONING MIND.
THE SERENDIPITY WORLD OF ZONTORIA OFFERS A DIFFERENT
PERSPECTIVE FROM IT’S SIMPLE BUT COMPASSIONATE WORLD.
Donna J. Setterlund is founder of Zontoria Productions, CIO at KRE-AT®, an artist, published author, illustrator, storyteller, and creative imagineer.
She is known to her followers as “Jeannie”. Her unique ability of seeing with her eyes and heart, enable her to visually illustrate concepts from initial thought to brilliant visualizations. For decades, she has mastered the skills of creative development and conceptual imaging through her artistic writing and illustrations. Her body of work includes over a hundred illustrated titles, featuring a variety of children’s books, promotional, and inspirational books, along with the progressive series Serendipity World of Zontoria.
Donna fulfills her purpose of uplifting the souls of youth and adults of all ages through classic illustrated stories of life’s struggles and triumphs. These stories are based on real-life experiences told through the character of Jeannie and the characters of Zontoria. Donna’s passions include raising animals and building an Old West entertainment area on her ranch in California where others come to dream and imagine the future or relax in nature. Her husband, Cliff, their four children and families, miniature horses, and dog Sheba, are the lights that shine the brightest in her life.
~ THE AUTHOR’S EXPLANATION ~
We all have dreams and make wishes. Most of us want a life where we can have some fun, find peace, relative calmness, contentment and ultimately continuing moments of happiness. But, when troubles take over, frustrations and stresses start squeezing the life out of us, we want to scream, cry, or just find some place to hide. People all over the world are pretty much the same when it comes to happiness, sadness and stress. It was no different for me, but I refused to let adversity get the best of me, and was determined to find a way to make life better. It took a lot of work, but that’s what I did, and then after a lot of years and starting over many times, something great started to happen.
To find a way to talk about personal issues and questions in a language kids and adults can both understand and discuss, as subject matter through everyday conversation and everyday life, is an age-old dilemma and challenge, which has resulted in endless books and stories missing the salient points that the child or adult must articulate their feelings and not simply be told what the adult perceives as their problem and its solution. As I was growing up, I felt many problems of confusion and frustration, and had no real place for answers that were directly relevant to my problems. I had never had a place to state, or attempt to state, my feelings and worries; so, I could find my voice and answers. Finally, out of sheer frustration for dealing with my hopes, dreams, traumas, questions, confusions and doubts, I took my heartaches and traumas and turned them inside out to expose and dissected them into little pieces of understanding through my writing. I let the characters in the stories I explored speak for me and state what I needed to say. It was cathartic and healing.
This approach was so powerful, I gained confidence, found self-esteem, and was driven to move beyond my own personal tribulations, blocks and boundaries to complete more of these exploration stories of family and of life. I wrote these stories for myself, and they got me through life. Eventually I realized that finding a voice like this was important for everyone and that my stories helped others who read them as well. Through these works, grown from my own life and voice, I discovered that I was touching the core of the value of being human and dealing with being human – self-coping. People have always escaped the tribulations and traumas of their lives and tried to cope with them by using their imaginations.
I created Jeannie, who became my voice and a tool for exploring everything that I couldn’t. What an amazing serendipity life.
~ WHO IS JEANNIE? ~
“Hi, my name is Jeannie. Just in case you don’t know, I was the first character Donna created. Her idol was Walt Disney, and he had a mouse to talk with, so I guess that makes it okay for me to explain things, because Donna has trouble talking about herself. The official explanation for who I am is”……..
Jeannie is creativity, imagination, and dreams. She is opportunities, possibilities, happiness, and hope. In reality, Jeannie is Donna’s younger self who helps her cope with life. She is forever young and lives in a world where there is no time. When things get really hard in life, Jeannie explores ways to find information and discover solutions to problems. She can go anywhere, do anything, and isn’t afraid to ask the hard questions to find answers.
“It is really a lot of fun being me, because Donna and I can do anything we want in Zontoria. I get to travel to some really exciting places. I never know what will happen next, and I think sometimes it even surprises Donna. She asks me all kinds of questions and then she has to figure out how I answer them. It’s kinda funny, ha? I started out as a character and now I feel almost real. My quote is:
“Be careful what you wish for, because it may come true.”
BELIEVE AND ALL THINGS ARE POSSIBLE
In the Beginning Donna was Inspired
An amazing woman named Margaret Kerry, the live-action reference model for Disney’s Tinker Bell, took Donna under her fairy wings and sprinkled her with pixy dust. This little pixie with the serendipitous personality encouraged Donna to look for what she didn’t know she needed, and advised her to write fun stories and make the bad things in life have happy outcomes. Magic flowed in stories that came to life as Donna watched all the things around her looking for new paths to explore and conquer. While rethinking the limits of possibilities, creating became very interesting, and the Serendipity World of Zontoria opened a Universe of extraordinary discoveries, changed her life, and made everything a little better. After over 35 years this wonderful woman remains Donna’s dear friend and mentor.
Thank you Margaret.
~ CONCLUSION ~
This body of work takes that coping uniquely further. These works are not an escape from reality but rather a way to find a voice to explore the solutions for getting through ones’ own reality. Along my life journey, I have created and compiled a literary collection featuring the “Serendipity World of Zontoria”, based on life experiences and those of individuals around me. This large body of work includes fully illustrated manuscripts, sub-stories, early readers, original paintings and prints, and a continuing series of ancillary subjects and works, as they relate to my drive to cope in my own life, and now, as shared, for others.
When an individual discovers how a dream can be turned into reality, doors open into a world of possibilities.
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