I wrote a children’s picture book!

It’s been a rough two years in times of Covid.

It’s been rough for all of us, and maybe for all of us, for different reasons.  But certainly, a pandemic, a sea change in the way we work and go to school and parent, has challenged us all. Death and sickness were all around us, maybe touching us where we live.

My two years has been rough for additional reasons, different reasons. But the powers that be said, Stay Home, so I did. And I thought, if not now, when? I had always wanted to write and publish my own books, and the technology was available and there was plenty of time. Why not right now?

CHILDREN, WRITING AND SELF-PUBLISHING

There are rays of sunshine in every life, I hope. The bright spots in my life fill me to overflowing with joy.  My granddaughters!

What joy I feel when I am with them!  What fun we have!  How much we learn from each other!  How inspiring they are!

The last two years afforded me the opportunity to fulfill a life-long dream to write and publish children’s picture books.  And the first of these, Pensive Penelope Thinks About Words, was inspired by my first granddaughter and is now being lived out in real time by my second granddaughter!  Learning your language and finding your voice is a universal experience!

I studied the industry and decided to self-publish.  Self-publishing has its pros and its cons, which we can look at another time.  But at this stage of my life, I want to be my own gatekeeper.*** (See below)

I’ve worked with freelance editors, illustrators, book designers, website developers and social media gurus, some of which were awesome and some of which were not.  But I’ve gotten it done, and by now, at the publication of my first book, I’ve got a really strong team around me.  Pensive Penelope is a real book, in hardback, with real pages and real hand-painted watercolor illustrations.  Listening Lucas Listens to Letters, the second book, is well on its way.  And the third, fourth and fifth books are already written and are waiting their turn in line! 

It was a good two years!  I wrote children’s books!  I learned how to get those books illustrated and designed and published! 

So, on the whole, good things even out the other things.

Life is like that…never all joy, and happily, never all disappointment.  The hard stuff is hard, no kidding.  But the good stuff is so, so good!  And it distracts us from the hard stuff and gives us rest from the pain.  Accomplishing through pain?  Great medicine.  Kids smiling, laughing, learning?  Even better medicine!  Publishing your first book?  Victory! 

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***For freelancers, I used UpWork.com to find my team. I used 1106 Design to design my book, www.1106design.com. I used Ingram Spark for printing and publication, www.ingramspark.com. Illustrations by Linden Eller, www.lindeneller.com