So excited!

Today, I learned that my online critique buddy, Yvonne Mes, will soon have two published books!  Eeeeeeekkkkk I'm so excited!  Can't you tell by my overuse of exclamation marks?!

Now, I just call her "Y".  So, Y has been writing for some time now, and her stories always impress me.  She doesn't write the typical, "Timmy went outside to play" stories.  The stories she writes are unique and playful and just plain ole AWESOME.  I'm so happy for her and I can hardly wait until her picture books are on my own bookshelf!

You can visit her blog here.

Back in the swing of things

Happy New Year!  Let's get this show on the road.

I'm working on a new manuscript and it feels great.  It's a manuscript I barely started last year, but the plot is cute in my eyes so I'm moving forward with completing it.  Who knows how many drafts this manuscript will see? lol

In other news, I found a new literary agency for picture books and submitted there.  Before submitting, I touched up my query letter, revised the manuscript just a tiny bit, and said a little prayer.  It's so hard to completely shelf these old manuscripts, even though this particular one was rejected about 25 times.  It doesn't hurt to try though.

I hope your new year is off to a great start too!

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?

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.

If you were a bird

Imagine you are a bird.  Not an eagle, but a small little bird like a robin.  You find a place to build a nest for your little ones.  After deciding that big shrub in front of the white and green farmhouse is perfect, you begin collecting items to build that perfect nest in the perfect location.  You collect twigs, shreds of candy bar wrappers, pieces of wiring, strands of ribbons, and are well on your way to assembling that nest.

Day by day, the nest gets a little bigger, a little bigger, until you feel that one more day is all you need, and that nest will be complete.  You fly high and low to collect just a few more twigs, and begin your final descent into the shrubs where your new home is waiting.  Zoom!  Into the bush you fly, only to find that your home is... well, where is it?!  You know you are in the correct bush.  You've been flying into that bush every day for days!  But no, your home has vanished.  Gone.  Now what?

This exact story line plays out in my head every time I have to remove a bird's nest from my property.  Unfortunately for the birds, they choose the worst places to build nests on my property.  One year a bird even built one in the Christmas wreath hanging on my front door.  Umm, no, sorry birdie, that's not going to work.  Each time I wonder if the bird is going to freak out.  Will the bird go bonkers trying to figure out where its home is?  What exactly goes through their mind?  I think I'd freak out if I were the bird and my home just disappeared in minutes.

What would your reaction be if you were a bird?

Overdue

Sadly, this is my first blog post of 2014.  Ouch!

This year has been one of non-writing for me.  Not that I'm finished with writing, I just wanted to put it down for a while.  Though, trips to the library and local bookstores always reminded me that I must press on (didn't Willie Wonka say that?), and keep writing.

For now, I am going to submit old manuscripts to new agents.  That will hold me over while I write some new books.

The End of 2013

I sit at my writing desk and notice the clock reads 9:06pm.  Year 2013 is almost over, and another year passes without an offer of representation from an agent.

This year, my #1 goal was to snag an agent and be on my way to getting published.  But it didn't happen.  Life got in the way.  I look back now and wonder, "What in the world did I do this year?"  The answer is easy.

See, I have many hobbies.  I love to sew, and at times that's ALL I want to do.  It's easy to get swept away in sewing projects.  I also love learning graphic design, and I have an amazing digital camera that requires a Ph.D to use.  Not quite, but it does take devoted time to learn all its functions.  Given all these hobbies, PLUS trying to write manuscripts and study children's books... PLUS having a full time career, house and husband, it's not easy.  But, I must say that I still am not giving up.  I will resume writing more this year, and I'll try, yet again, to land an agent.

Recently, I've been out of the writing mood.  I haven't written a new manuscript in months.  I haven't really studied a children's book in a few months, yet I still dream about getting a call from someone.

This year, I tried querying publishers, and chose two to begin with.  One rejected me after a month, and the other still has not replied.  It's been two months... I don't feel very optimistic, but we'll see.

Regardless, I'll keep moving forward.  Nothing can happen if I just sit home and wait for an agent to stop by my house to see if I'm a writer that wants an agent.  Haha, nope!

I hope the last moments of 2013 find you as hopeful as I am.  After all, hope is what keeps us motivated.

Please join me in 2014 as I continue to pursue my dream of finding an agent and a publisher.