This is my journey in creating concepts, writing, illustrating, finding a literary agent, and becoming a published children's book author and illustrator for the picture book genre.

Friday, October 19, 2012

When discouragement waves its vile hand, don't wave the white flag.

Dear World of everything literature, 

Could we please simplify the process? As a person who enjoys a non-partisan and objective rule set, this subjective, grey area scares me a bit. How am I to clearly anticipate what is expected of my writing and application process when opinion dictates itself as sovereign ruler of all book publishing conquests. Am I to be denied my path based on someone's personal likes and dislikes? This feels more like internet dating than a book publishing process. 
Ethan at the Columbia Library. Their children's section is very large and inspiring.

There's the dream! Can you see it? I can. Look at that. There are shelves upon shelves of glorious books. Books with characters, adventures, journeys, and happy tales that make the kidlets smile. I am working on a checklist to make this dream a reality. The cool factor is that I am taking you along with me.  Six years ago, I came up with the concept of Andy. I placed my little story in a drawer and left him there for several years. Life just became too busy to include my little ant.
He comes out to entertain my little ones on occasion. My three little men are my biggest fans. They pull out the book I made for them and look at the pictures that were drawn in simple shapes and a bright color palate of primary and secondary colors . Using crayons and pens from around the house, I created a visual narrative to enhance Andy's journey. This color and shape concept seems to be a cohesive fit for Andy's tale of losing his way. By incorporating colors into the character's names, our little ones are learning an additional skill set. Manners are a common thread throughout my little story. While using their words and witnessing nice interactions between characters, our future adults  are indirectly acquiring comprehension of both primary and secondary colors. This is just a bonus and a small coincidence realized after the fact. 
Writing is fun. I need to keep that perspective. Even if the world is not ready for Andy, he has served a great purpose in my home. Don't get me wrong. I am not giving up on the dream. I am just accepting that the original purpose of this story has been fulfilled. My children have benefited from the content and enjoyed the journey of my little Ant friend. There are still other friends for him to meet on his way. Andy needs help to make this happen. I need help to make my aspiring children's book author dreams a reality. Dreams take a lot of hard work and support. I will not wave the white flag. In the words of my youngest when I tell him that it is dinner time, "CHARGE!!!!!".
I leave you with yet another quote by the wonderful lady, Emily Post,"A little praise is not only merest justice but is beyond the purse of no one".
Thank you from my heart.