Here is a brief synopsis of what I have been doing so far. (If you have any detailed questions, subscribe and shoot me an email and we can discuss my work a little further.)
As you may know, I had an online writing consultation business for about a year. I closed it down recently due to unavoidable obligations; but I started a project shortly before closing that I am continuing with. The project was entitled ‘Project: Mandy’. Mandy is a children’s book concept that I am working on to further my knowledge on the process of writing, editing, and publishing. The intention was and is still to write a children’s book, get it traditionally published, and track the details for approximately one year after publication. After the year is up, I will package the process and publish it as a guide for other writers to use.
As of today, I am five chapters and a migraine into the process. That puts me around half done with the story and six migraines short of being done with the editing phase.
So what is Mandy and Samuel?
It’s a children’s book. (I could have sworn I just said that…kidding…) It’s a chapter book, targeting third grade range. The basic concept is Mandy, a little girl with a great big imagination, and her best friend Samuel, the original ‘get into everything’ little boy find themselves getting in trouble (yet again) and finding cute, clever, and big-hearted ways to get right back out of it.
The story begins with the duo breaking a very frustrated mother’s vase (then repairing it… with peanut butter!) After that, the pair find a big batch of baby frogs and attempt to save them. Mom and dad end up hopping mad over the frogs’ great indoor escape, but not for long!
The story captures the beautiful imagination of children, the hair pulling frustrations of their parents, and along the way, jerks some bitter-sweet tears right out of you.
Here’s a few excerpts:
…He is the craziest dad ever. Sometimes I think he’s just a big kid, like me. I like it because it makes him funny. I play with Samuel more than anyone. Samuel is my best friend in the whole world. We do everything together…. except take baths, because that’s just gross. After all, even if he is my best friend, he’s still a stinky little boy…
~~~
She sighed. ‘You have to start paying more attention when I tell you things.’
‘Yes, ma’am’ I said. I looked down at my hands. Tears started to well up in my eyes. I didn’t like it when she was mad for real.
‘Now, don’t cry, Mandy’ mom said.
‘Yeah, don’t cry, Mandy’ said Samuel. Samuel put his hand on mine.
~~~
“Ha! That’s the beauty of it. He could go to school naked if he wanted to! No one would ever know!” They both laughed.
“Now, we might want to go check the workshop. I have a feeling that the ‘fix-it-crew’ was up to something out there.” Mark said.
Carol shook her head. “Oh, this should be interesting.”
~~~
“What in the world?” Mark exclaimed. “Is that… peanut butter?”
Carol struggled to hold her voice steady. With a fresh batch of tears rolling from her eyes, she whispered, “peanut butter fixes everything.”
I hope you will check back now and again and see what’s new with the tikes. They’re guaranteed to leave a little smile on your face—even when they make you want to pull your hair out!
Also, I will be putting out a call for Beta readers soon. I’ll make the announcement in conjunction with an upcoming newsletter. To be eligible, all you have to do is sign up for the newsletter. (I will give more details in the near future…) You can help me put some final touches on these two zany little trouble makers before I ship the book off to try and snag an agent! How awesome is that? Plus, as an added little piece of awesomeness, there may even be an opportunity to be listed in the acknowledgements!
Stick around!
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