My Journey to “Not So Thankful for Thanksgiving”

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Wow! What a ride!!

My journey to writing and publishing Not So Thankful for Thanksgiving is an interesting one.

My desire as a mama to look for a way to teach my little ones a lesson or two birthed this story. I was trying to teach my then three-year-old how to be thankful for what she had, and the story just came alive.

I used to write short stories what seems like a lifetime ago, but this time, I decided it was time to publish.

In 2018, I decided to research what was required and chose to send my story off to a traditional publisher. I was just too busy to self-publish, I told myself.

Although I had heard it was ideal to send it to a few publishers for review, I sent it to only one publisher. When I didn’t hear back, I told myself, “At least I tried.”

Then the pandemic struck.

I found myself scrolling through the news every second. The constant news of tragedy happening around the world was not helping my mind. So I chose to find some creative way to distract myself.

The kids were also home and needed to learn. My kindergartener did not have the luxury of bringing home library books from school to read. I mentioned this to her teacher and teased that if we didn’t get books for my daughter soon, I would start making up stories. She told me the most beautiful thing. She said, “If this is the good thing that comes out of this pandemic, then go for it.”

And here we are.

I finally self-published my very first children’s book, and it has been an absolute dream come true.

And yes, there are many more to come . . .