Draft, edit, revise, repeat!

Being a primary school teacher, my job entails reading lots and lots of children’s picture books. Tedious or laborious, you say? No way! I would have to admit, this is one of the favourite parts of my day in the classroom.

Watching those eyes come alive with excitement as I turn the page, hearing the gasps of horror when the complication in the story arises, and then finally receiving the sounds of applause from the children as they cheer the resolution at the end, as well as my dramatic storytelling talents! I absolutely love it!

I realised how much I love children’s books when I decided to rummage through my bookshelves and found hundreds of beautifully illustrated paper treasures. Some from my own childhood, still in fabulous condition…

And others from my second childhood (ie. when my kids were young)…a few bedtime favourites…

Now that I’m in my third childhood (ie. my adulthood in which I’ve discovered my true calling…to read and write children’s books…that’s my positive affirmation anyway), I’ve decided to just go with it.

So in between all the fun of reading kids’ books, I’m still working on my manuscript. Draft, edit, revise, repeat…draft, edit, revise, repeat…draft, edit….you get the idea! Officially I’m up to draft 5 (which is unofficially about draft 55). Is it getting better? I hope so. Is it getting shorter? I hope so. Is it still arousing passion and excitement in me? Yes. Okay then, so I must be on the right track.

I just got an email from my older brother, who is a published author. His captivating book, The Symph: In Search of Harmony, has been spotted on a bookshelf on the other side of the world…in China! How cool is that?!

The Symph will take you on a musical journey like no other…so I’m going to plug it, not just because my brother wrote it, but it’s a magical story. You can buy it from Amazon or Barnes & Noble.

Tell me, have you ever published a children’s book? Or do you have a secret dream to do so? I’d love to hear from you…encouragement, advice or funny tidbits welcome!

Jennifer xo