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Once upon a time, I told my granddaughters, ages four and two at the time, that I was going to make a picture book for them. It felt like a solemn promise, and it didn't much matter that I didn't know what I was doing.
I love to learn, so I felt confident I could figure it out.
More importantly, I tell my granddaughters they can do anything if they work hard enough, and I try to set that example. So you can bet I was going to keep my promise, even though I had never written for children before, never collaborated with illustrators, and never worked with modern self-publishing platforms. But having made up my mind to do the thing, I was determined to do it well.
I was smart enough to know my limitations as a newbie kid lit writer and work with great coaches.
I found gifted (and patient) illustrators who believed in my stories and made them come alive on the page.
I made expensive mistakes, but I learned from them and considered the thousands of extra dollars "tuition."
By the time I published my first two books, The Climbing Tree, for Eleanor, and Virginia Loves Dogs, for Virginia, my youngest granddaughter Caroline came along and my two-book "Happy Happy After" series turned into three with the addition of Caroline and the Not-Mamma. A few months after I published the third book, I was notified that The Climbing Tree had been awarded first place Writer's Digest Self-Published Book contest. Promise kept!
These days, I teach graduate-level writing courses and work with little kids, big kids and grownups on writing and storytelling. I love sharing what I've learned so other kid lit writers can make their own dreams come true (without wasting as much cash as I did).
Every once and future kid lit author has a Once Upon a Time. What's yours?
I love to learn, so I felt confident I could figure it out.
More importantly, I tell my granddaughters they can do anything if they work hard enough, and I try to set that example. So you can bet I was going to keep my promise, even though I had never written for children before, never collaborated with illustrators, and never worked with modern self-publishing platforms. But having made up my mind to do the thing, I was determined to do it well.
I was smart enough to know my limitations as a newbie kid lit writer and work with great coaches.
I found gifted (and patient) illustrators who believed in my stories and made them come alive on the page.
I made expensive mistakes, but I learned from them and considered the thousands of extra dollars "tuition."
By the time I published my first two books, The Climbing Tree, for Eleanor, and Virginia Loves Dogs, for Virginia, my youngest granddaughter Caroline came along and my two-book "Happy Happy After" series turned into three with the addition of Caroline and the Not-Mamma. A few months after I published the third book, I was notified that The Climbing Tree had been awarded first place Writer's Digest Self-Published Book contest. Promise kept!
These days, I teach graduate-level writing courses and work with little kids, big kids and grownups on writing and storytelling. I love sharing what I've learned so other kid lit writers can make their own dreams come true (without wasting as much cash as I did).
Every once and future kid lit author has a Once Upon a Time. What's yours?