You Never Know Who Will Be Reading

If you are like me, reading and books have been part of your life since before you could remember. My mom was a career librarian, so I grew up in the library. Instead of rural Nevada, I could live in far away real and imagined places. I only ever met children's authors face-to-face through their writing. Hundreds of authors shaped my mind and values without us ever speaking a word.

Now as a published author, I have the thrill of meeting children and discussing their favorite books and characters. I'm honored to pay-it-forward from those wonderful writers of my childhood.

Whether talking non-fiction and STEM topics or fiction and flying monkeys, the chance to share ideas with readers never gets old. It is one of the main things that keeps me encouraged when the rejections roll in or the day job gets busy and family asks me why I keep at it. 

How about you? What part of writing for children do you enjoy most? - Q

From the Great Beyond

Do you ever run up against day job deadlines, procrastinated a bit too long, or had family demands that made it impossible to get a story finished in time for your critique group? Me too. 

The past few months have been beyond busy. (I've even gotten super behind on this blog.)

So this month, I pulled a story from my files that I wrote several years ago to see why it had been relegated to the great beyond (beyond me caring about it anymore). 

Hmm...the structure was okay. The premise was simple. It wasn't too long, but still had lots of illustration opportunities. I even had a record of the publishers I had sent it to and been rejected by (some with personal replies!) 

The answer is simple. I lost confidence in the story and gave up too soon. Now in hind sight (and with more experience), I believe it deserves a second chance. 

So, I'll submit it to my critique group to make sure I'm not kidding myself, then if it gets a thumbs up, I'll send it out again.

Maybe this time...

Quinn