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How My Books Get Made

Did you know that in Canada, only 29% of books that FEATURE people of colour are actually WRITTEN by a person of colour?

It’s important that writers from underrepresented groups have an opportunity to tell their own story. Your story. My story.

So how DOES a book like Molly Morningstar come to life?

Good question

It isn’t always an easy road.

I have a full time job and a large family, so these priorities take up most of my time. But inspiration can happen any time, anywhere. If you are open to it, ideas can come up constantly- based on observations and ideas that occur as we go about our lives.

That’s where Molly Morningstar started. It was an everyday observation: my daughter had no dolls that looked like her. Simple as that. It bothered me and I wanted to do something about it.

When ideas come, I write them down or dictate them into my phone. Later, when I have a chance to sit down and write, I will start to put the ideas together.

Sometimes I spend weeks just playing around with a story idea in my mind, other times the whole story comes in a single moment in the middle of the night or while I’m driving.

When I feel like I have a good sense of the story, I find some time and space with my computer and write everything down from start to finish, all in one sitting. I usually end up with about a thousand words. Children’s picture books are typically between 500-700 words, but that’s totally great because it gives me a lot of material to work with. After that, I put the story away for a few days. This way, when I come back to the story, I’m ready to see it with fresh eyes.

When I pick the story back up, I ask myself, does it need more detail? Am I missing something? Does the story still grab me? Would I want to read this story over and over? Is there something I need to research to make sure everything is accurate?

I work on the story by reading it through, adding more details, taking away unnecessary sections, and then putting it to rest again for a few more days.

This whole writing process has been part of my life for years.

I write every day – not at any one particular time, but consistently. I love it. I have tons of stories in journals and notebooks just waiting to come to life.

Once I feel like the story is solid, I start thinking about the illustrations. I don’t illustrate my books, but I still look for images on the internet that fit with the theme for the story and insert them next to the text to see how it looks. The illustrations play such an important role in carrying the story and communicating in a way that goes beyond words. The pictures I choose help the illustrator get started, but then they add their own perspective and bring the story to life in a whole new way.

I LOVE the next phase. It’s time to get some reviews.

I read the story to the toughest reviewers I can find: KIDS! I take their feedback very seriously because even if I am absolutely excited about a story, if the story doesn’t resonate with kids, I know that I’m missing the mark. And kids are honest. They tell me EXACTLY what they like and what they don’t like. I notice where they lose interest or laugh. Their responses (or lack thereof) informs my writing. I make changes until each story passes the kid test.

Then it’s ready to go to my editor. It took a few tries, but I found an editor who understands my goals and what I am doing. My editor is both brutally honest as well as patient. In return, I continually listen and learn because I know it makes the story better.

When the story is complete and I’m satisfied with how it reads and resonates with kids, it’s time to think about publishing.

When I first considered publishing my stories, I had no idea where to start. After a bit of research I discovered that the world of traditional publishing- literary agents, editors, publicists, and more, was not a path I wanted to go down. The process is long and there are too many gatekeepers who get to decide whether or not my story is worth telling.

My story IS worth telling.

I had no choice but to dive head first into the world of self-publishing. I Googled and Youtubed my way through countless hours of information, but I had no way to tell who to trust and which information was worth listening to or paying for.

It was overwhelming and I made mistakes. At one point I paid for a book to get Illustrated before I’d gotten the book edited. Then, every time I made a change in the text, I had to pay for the illustrations to be re-done. Talk about a costly lesson! But I learned. I continued to grow by trial and error, until I reached a point where I realized that if I really wanted to make this whole publishing thing work, I had to get some help.

Christmas 2020, Santa gave me April Cox’s 12 week course that taught me step-by-step how to publish a children’s book. The community, the resources and information I got through this course have absolutely transformed my writing journey. I found editors, illustrators, and other children’s authors who were able to help me whenever I got discouraged or stuck.

Phew! This whole making a book thing sounds daunting doesn’t it? But it is so fulfilling. My journey has introduced me to so many independent authors AND their books – people and stories that would probably have never been published in the traditional world. But people just like me, whose stories NEED to be told.

When you believe

If you believe in something strongly enough, it’s worth all the trouble and time to go through trial and error so that eventually, somewhere, out there, in a playroom, library, or classroom, ANY child can pull a book off of a shelf and immediately see, “HEY! That person looks just like me! Wow! A story like mine is worth telling!”

Every child deserves to see that they can be the hero! Race, gender, ability, stereotypes of ANY kind can be fought against simply by putting the right stories on the shelf.

YOU can help share stories of ALL kinds. Join the Molly Morningstar MOVEMENT or invite your teachers/librarians/parents/FRIENDS by clicking here and spread the sunshine.

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“I wish I had a doll that looks like me.”

Did you ever have a favorite doll or character in a book that you loved so much . . . and you wanted to be JUST like them?

My daughter used to LOVE to play with her dolls. She could spend hours making up stories, putting on outfits and carrying her babies around. She had SO MANY DOLLS! But one day as she was playing, she looked at all of them and realized, NONE OF THEM LOOKED LIKE HER.

That’s when she said it.

“I wish I had a doll that looks like me.”

It wasn’t that she didn’t have enough toys. She definitely had enough. BUT with all of the different dolls that she had, NOT ONE of them LOOKED like her.

She wasn’t complaining or being ungrateful. She was stating a fact that has taken too long to be addressed. She simply WISHED that ONE of them LOOKED like her.

Of course! Who wouldn’t? It was so simple and straightforward. Why hadn’t I thought of it before?

Maybe it’s because I didn’t have toys and heroes that looked like me either.

When I was a kid, I read EVERY day. I read before bed, I held a book hidden under the table and read at dinner time. I read in the car. When my mom was headed out to go shopping, I’d beg her to drop me off at the library. Remember Phoebe from “Friends,” how she was ALWAYS READY with a book in her purse? That was me. I never went anywhere without a book and I couldn’t wait for my next opportunity to crack it open and devour it.

Reading allowed me to lose myself in other worlds and discover exciting places and encounter new ideas. Despite reading EVERY book I could get my hands on, I realize now that I NEVER EVER ONCE came across a book that featured a main character who actually LOOKED like me. I learned a lot about OTHER people and how they lived, but looking back, I realize that I never read a story where I found I had SHARED experiences or could IDENTIFY with the main character’s appearance, culture, or community.

And it’s not just me and my daughter.

I have spent years working in education as a teacher and a Speech-Language Pathologist and an Early Childhood Educator. Reading books with kids has always been a favorite part of my job. So it was NO PROBLEM to spend hours scouring the library looking for the perfect book to be used to introduce a lesson. There were so many books out there, but again there were so few that reflected someone that looked like me . . . OR the kids I was working with.

This needs to change!

When I think about my daughter and all the students who I work with that are not exposed to books and lessons and images that they can see themselves in, I am so saddened.

When a child does not see him or herself represented in culture, it impacts their self-esteem and sense of belonging- it’s as though they are invisible.

BUT IT DOESN’T HAVE TO STAY THAT WAY!

It took my daughter’s sweet voice, quietly saying what I knew all along, to set me on my writing journey.

The very same day that my daughter wished her sweet simple wish, to have a doll that looked like her, I got to work. I remembered writing stories as a child. I had vague sense back then that there were stories missing that needed to be written for kids – just like me. Now, years later, I could write those stories for kids just like me, kids just like my daughter.

I found some space, sat down, and started writing a story that my daughter could read and see herself in.

That’s how Molly came to be. Molly Morningstar. She is JUST LIKE MY DAUGHTER: a spunky, inquisitive risk-taker.

AND what’s more, Molly LOOKS like my daughter too.

I believe that what when we see ourselves reflected in the world around us in literature and toys and media, we get the message that we are worthy, valuable and beautiful.

Welcome to the world of Molly Morningstar.

And just like I liked created checklists and followed my favorite authors and characters through their entire series when I was a kid, whether it was Nancy Drew, the Hardy Boys, Beverly Cleary’s Ramona Series or even the Berenstain Bears, Molly is a character that kids can fall in love and grow with, from book to book, from one adventure to another.

Not only does Molly look like kids who have previously been invisible in children’s literature, Molly’s adventures include problems that kids need help with everyday. Her experiences become opportunities to have conversations and help kids develop social and emotional skills so that they can make friends, learn empathy, develop compassion, and have a well-rounded worldview.

We all want our kids to learn skills that will help them grow, develop and succeed. My books are aimed at helping kids understand their feelings and how to navigate this world as a person who feels all the feels and has a sense of BELONGING and well-being.

Every child deserves to know that they can be the hero. The Molly Morningstar Series is here to help.

Need some practical tips to help you create spaces where kids feel like they belong? Click HERE for a SIMPLE and EASY Diversify Your Playroom guide to get you on your way. It works great at home or in the classroom.