Anniversary Art Challenge: Picture #7 - Goldipunzel

To celebrate our anniversary, my amazing artist husband, Phil, decided that he would do a 19-day art challenge, drawing one new picture every day for 19 days. And I thought it sounded like fun, so I jumped right on the band wagon and declared that I would write a silly, one-page story to go with each picture he creates during this challenge. Of course, I have to wait for him to finish each day's picture before I can write the story, so I should be one day behind him ... but I'm also really flighty, so I'm a few more days behind than that. (Today, I'm playing catch-up! - Eventually, all of the pictures & my stories will be posted on my website, but for now, here's the story I wrote to accompany yesterday's drawing.)

Phil is taking suggestions for his art challenge, and yesterday (day 7) was inspired by the suggestion to draw "fairy tales as told by goldfish."

Goldipunzel

 

Once upon a time, a goldfish princess named Goldipunzel lived in the top of a tall tower with no doors. The princess was kind and beautiful, but she was terribly lonely. Her only visitor each day was the old hermit crab witch who had imprisoned her in the tower when she was only a guppy.
 

Every day, the old crab would come to the base of the tower and call “Goldipunzel, Goldipunzel, let down your hair!”
 

The princess would shake her head and sigh. “Goldfish don’t have hair, mother.” Then, she would lower a fishing line and hook out the window and pull the witch up to visit her.
 

One day, a handsome goldfish prince swimming through the seaweed forest heard Goldipunzel singing. He stopped at the base of the tower and gazed up at her, mesmerized by her beauty. Before long, Goldipunzel realized that she had an audience and stopped her song.
 

“Hello,” she called. “Are you here to visit me? I’m terribly lonely here in my high tower, and I welcome your company, sir.”
 

She lowered the hook to pull the prince up to her window.
 

“You’re kidding, right?” the prince asked, swimming to the top of the tower. “You realize that you can swim away whenever you wish, don’t you?”
 

Goldpunzel blushed and shyly reached out to take the prince’s fin. And they swam off to his castle together to live happily ever after.

What if the Princess REALLY Just Wants a Frog?? - (Announcing my Debut Picture Book!!)

Way back in October of 2011, I was actively querying my first YA manuscript when I discovered Tara Lazar's PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month - where you come up with an idea for a picture book every day in November). The challenge seemed easy enough, and so I eagerly accepted, certain I'd end the month with hundreds of ideas.

And guess what? It wasn't as easy as I expected. By mid-month I was grasping at straws, frantically looking for any source of inspiration. Any little shred of an idea. Just so I wouldn't have to count a big, fat zero for the day.

And in one of those "I have no creativity and what was I even thinking?" moments, I started thinking about my YA novel. KISSING FROGS. And I started playing the "What if?" game.

What if there was a princess who loved frogs more than anything else?

What if she wanted a frog for a pet?

What if she loved frogs so much that she 

couldn't help kissing them goodnight?

What if she wound up with a castle full of princes, all proposing marriage...

 The idea made me giggle so hard that I couldn't wait to start writing. I pulled out my notebook and a special story pencil and wrote my first draft that afternoon. And it was brilliant. Hilarious. Beautiful. Perfect! (Okay, not really. It was a first draft. And first drafts are always messy and awful. But the potential was there!! And I was absolutely in love with my spunky Princess Cassandra!)

After many, many rounds of revision, including a full manuscript critique from Christie Wright Wild, feedback from more than a few online writing workshops, and countless sessions with my fabulous CPs, Amie Rose Rotruck, Laura Shovan and Connie Collins Morgan, who helped me figure out the perfect ending to my story ... I put the thing in a metaphorical desk drawer to wait for the right timing.

Fast forward to November 2013. I was hard at work on final edits for my debut YA novel, TWELVE STEPS, and I had signed with my dream agent, Jessica Sinsheimer. And it was time to figure out what to work on NEXT. (Because, in writing, there always has to be a next project. Waiting for things to happen is much too crazy-making if you don't have something new to focus on.)

"What else are you working on?" Jessica asked. "What would you LIKE to work on next?"

So I told her all about the other MG novels I have stored in various stages of revision on my hard drive. And the YA novels that I've written and abandoned. Or plan to come back to one day. And the shiny new YA contemporary novel that I really wanted to write, but I wasn't sure if anyone would ever love as much as I do. And then I admitted, "And I have this picture book. People seem to like it. I don't know. Maybe we could do something with that someday?"

She loved the shiny, new YA idea and told me to start writing it immediately, and then she asked me to send her the manuscript for THE PRINCESS AND THE FROGS. (She loved it!)

Fast forward a few months ...

When the first "I love this book! I plan to take it to our acquisitions meeting next week" email arrived from an editor I'd had at the top of my Dream Editors list for years, I literally fell off my treadmill! (*Note: Reading life-changing emails while working at a treadmill desk can be hazardous to your health.)

It was an excruciatingly-tough decision, but as soon as I spoke to Kristin Rens with Balzer and Bray (Harper Collins), I knew she was the right editor for me. We talked about the story, the illustrations, and all kinds of other things ... and, once again, I found a partner I could be so comfortable with that I forgot my phone phobia! Not only did she (and the whole team) love THE PRINCESS AND THE FROGS, but she shared my vision for the book. She pinpointed the few spots in the manuscript that still felt like they weren't quite right, and I loved her ideas!

I've been dancing around for a LONG time, waiting to announce this news, but the day has finally arrived, and I can shout it from the rooftops!!

Coming soon to a bookstore near you!! 

My Debut Picture Book: 

THE PRINCESS AND THE FROGS!!!!!

So for those of you who are keeping count … Yes, this means my first TWO book sales were BOTH based on the first manuscript I ever wrote. Two books (TWELVE STEPS, and now THE PRINCESS AND THE FROGS), both inspired by the novel I counted as a failure. There is no wasted effort in the writing game. As long as you are learning and moving forward, as long as you never give up, you will find success. It may not be what you thought you were striving for, but if you keep working, you’ll probably find something even better.