Once we settled into our new home, I threw myself into my project by recording all of the ideas, pictures, and rhymes I had been mulling over for months. The book absolutely had to rhyme. I find rhyming children’s books to be the most fun for an adult to read (rhyming attracts me to books I want to read to my son and attracted me to books I wanted to read to the students at Success Preparatory Academy in New Orleans). Rhyming books are also an excellent way to help little ones to develop an ear for like and rhyming words.
It is a serious thing to represent an institution almost 200 years old, whose numerous alumni have held varied positions of responsibility and power. On top of that, I wanted to convey a universal college experience to small children. The end product had to be timeless, sincere, and engaging.
With an appreciation of the task before me, I set to work. Many of the verses came easily and I loved every second of the creative process. The difficulty is that children’s books cannot be too long. I wanted to include so many aspects of UVA and the college experience to excite and introduce little ones to the rich traditions and culture of my beloved University, but it had to be short enough not to lose the little ones’ attention. The beautiful thing about writing is that you get to write, edit, re-write, mull, write more, edit more, and continue tweaking your creation. It is a wonderful process!
With the fun part of the book process flying, it was time to focus on the other part of the process that tends to be less exciting: publishing.
It is a serious thing to represent an institution almost 200 years old, whose numerous alumni have held varied positions of responsibility and power. On top of that, I wanted to convey a universal college experience to small children. The end product had to be timeless, sincere, and engaging.
With an appreciation of the task before me, I set to work. Many of the verses came easily and I loved every second of the creative process. The difficulty is that children’s books cannot be too long. I wanted to include so many aspects of UVA and the college experience to excite and introduce little ones to the rich traditions and culture of my beloved University, but it had to be short enough not to lose the little ones’ attention. The beautiful thing about writing is that you get to write, edit, re-write, mull, write more, edit more, and continue tweaking your creation. It is a wonderful process!
With the fun part of the book process flying, it was time to focus on the other part of the process that tends to be less exciting: publishing.
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