Becoming a children’s book author was never on my “bucket list”. I had a busy life – great husband and kids, busy career in IT as a business analyst in retirement services, friends, knitting, and travel. However, a few years ago several of these life elements aligned in a unique way resulting in a whole new opportunity!

In the spring of 2015 we took a family trip to Paris. Of course I took my knitting. My felted knitting bag conveniently fits right inside my carryon bag. I use wooden circular needles so have been able to travel with my knitting projects. After arriving in Paris the knitting bag popped out of the carryon and was available for use during moments of relaxation.

Upon returning home I continued working on my project - a shawl - and eventually reached the end of the first ball of yarn. Couldn’t find the second ball of yarn. I searched high and low – nothing. With disappointment I abandoned the project, but suspected that the second ball fell out of the open topped knitting bag at some point during the trip.

I told this story to a friend who shares my love of Paris and France. We jokingly professed our jealousy that the yarn was having an adventure in Paris and had an animated conversation about the fun the yarn was having in our favorite city. We agreed that it would make a cute children’s book.

This became the seed of inspiration for my first book, Lulu and Lainey … a French Yarn. I saw it as a creative challenge to see if I could actually publish a book. I soon learned about all the amazing tools available today for self-publishing a book. I found an amazing illustrator on Fiverr and used Amazon’s resources to publish the book in physical and digital editions.

Midway through this process more ideas for additional books began to form. My first book was published in June, 2016 and I am now working on my sixth book in the Lulu and Lainey series - scheduled for publication in early November, 2018. I’m also working on concepts for a new series to be published in 2019.

Stay tuned - there will be lots more news to come!

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