Why A childrens book? Why not a book for a different age group?
It was an interesting series of events that resulted in my decision to write a childrens book, Storm of Joy. I really wasn’t expecting children to be the audience when I started the writing process for my first manuscript, Dancing Grief Into Joy. Initially, I felt compelled to write to adults about how I choose to communicate with my son Todd in a new way that I definitely don’t understand but I have come to trust it completely, enough even to start a non-profit, Dance with Todd. And by doing so and taking action on Divine guidance, I intended to show how that has opened my life up to blessings beyond my wildest dreams. Let’s call that initial cycle Version 1.0 which ended in rejection from a potential publisher but I did not stop. I went to Todd and said,
“What’s the deal? You told me to write the story this way and I did it. You told me to write a book proposal and send it to this publisher and I did that too. So, why did you have me do all of that if I wasn’t going to get a contract? That was not a good use of my time!”
And Todd’s response was simple and to the point when he asked, “What did you learn?” Well, it turns out that I learned a lot about the writing, editing and book publishing process with Version 1.0. Yes I did and it serves me well today.
Self Development to Childrens Book
But the book still wasn’t published and I felt stuck again. So I asked Todd for more help and this time he said, “It’s looking good Mom. Let’s take out the parts you wrote to convince other people that it was true.” What? Why do you talk to me in riddles like that? I don’t even know what you mean so I’m putting this manuscript on hold until you show me what that means. That was March 2015 and in September 2015, I received a writing assignment in a self-development program to assess our level of creativity. The only rule for the writing assignment was it must be a fairytale that starts with ‘once upon a time’ and ends with ‘they all lived happily ever after.’ Instantly, I looked up and said to Todd, “That’s it! That’s our book, isn’t it? It’s a childrens book about the story of our lives.” I can still hear him laughing when he shouted, “Bingo!”
Childrens Book Focused
While I won’t dismiss writing for adults in the future, writing for children at this point is where my focus resides. Children have an inquisitive nature and a trusting heart that serves as their internal GPS. I think my great accomplishment may be to give a childrens book where they learn to trust what they feel rather than what they see because that will serve them well throughout their life.