Dec 31, 2014

Should I give illustration suggestions?

The obstacle to writing children's picture books is not having illustrations to go along with the text.

I cannot draw worth a lick.  Sure I can scratch a little stick man on paper, but that's about it.  When I write a full picture book manuscript and have someone else critique it, don't I need to at least suggest how I think the illustrations should look?  Though, I'm sure a publisher would laugh at my ideas and say, "No.  No no no no."  But, when it's time to submit the manuscript, should I include my ideas for the illustrations?

Dec 28, 2014

This blog is changing... sort of...

This blog will no longer just be about writing children's picture books. It will also be about parenthood. Here's why:

Last February, my husband decided to go to the grocery store to buy our weekly groceries. He had no more than pulled out of our driveway when I pulled a home pregnancy test from my nightstand. A pack of 3 tests, after all, there was no way the first test would be positive.

I was wrong. I was definitely pregnant.

Two days later I presented my husband with the book Dude, you're going to be a dad. He was as shocked as I, after all, I had only abandoned my birth control pills 3 weeks earlier!

We had always been on the same page about pregnancy:  don't tell a soul until we clear the first trimester. So... for 14 weeks it remained a secret. It was so hard to refrain from shouting the news from rooftops, but we did.

Days, weeks and months passed by faster than we could have imagined. We spent many weekends sleeping in late and going on more dates than we ever had. We knew we'd have less freedom once our little one arrived. The final 6 weeks were the most uncomfortable days and nights of my life. I spent half the time on the toilet due to compressed bladder, and at night I was forced to sleep in the worst position:  on my side!  Uggghh!

Weeks 38 and 39 were a blur. Looking back, I really should have savored those final moments of freedom, but spent most of the time resting. Yes, that's what I was supposed to do, but I feel as though I wished time away too quickly because I was finished with being pregnant. Before I knew it, the doctor was holding up my beautiful daughter only seconds after she was delivered. From that second on, it was no longer all about me or my husband; it was about her.

Because of this major change in my life, I want a place to blog about picture books and parenthood.
So, I hope you choose to continue to join me here and I hope you learn and grow here as well.