This is Why

When people learn that I am a children’s author but, by education I am a speech therapist, they often ask why I write. There’s isn’t a simple answer to that question.  My love of story began as a child. My desire to write something a child would ask to hear over and over again came after reading countless books to my children. But mixed into that is the fact that idea seeds show up and I decide to plant them and see if a story grows.  I like coaxing a story out of an idea.

Sometimes it is discouraging to be an author. Ideas you nurture get rejected by editors or agents. Published books get less than stellar reviews or don’t sell well.  But the money must make it worthwhile, right? After all look at the cost of books. The reality is, a majority of authors aren’t making a living from the books they’ve sold, so they need another source of income. Just as the money you pay for a car doesn’t end up in the salesman’s bank account; an author doesn’t receive all the money from a book sale. (Read Why Does a Hard Cover Book Cost $18 to learn more.)

So sometimes we ask ourselves why. Why do we keep saying yes to those idea seeds, hoping, like Jack that they’ll lead to something magical.  For me it’s because of exchanges like this. I was at a table with my books for sale and a little girl walked up and pointed to No More Noisy Nights and said:

“I read that book.”

“Did you like it?”

“I did. We saw it at school.”

“I wrote that book. I’m the author.”

“You didn’t!?”

“I did.”

“Really??”

Really.”

“Can I give you a hug!?

So that’s why.

The ideas come and are nurtured in the hopes that someday they connect with a child.