I have been inspired to rhyme since I was very young—and I still enjoy it! I always loved the rhythm of Dr. Seuss books and other rhyming tales, so I began writing poetry very early on. My mom encouraged me to write stories and poems, and she sent them around to various children’s magazines. I won some little contests with my poetry—one of the prizes was a baseball bat!
Whenever any friends or family member needed a verse for a special occasion, I was their go-to poet, armed with a precious rhyming dictionary given to me by my dad sometime in the 1960s! I still find that particular dictionary to be the best rhyming tool of that sort.
In 7th grade Creative Writing class, I wrote my original version of Santa’s Dilemma: To Eat or Not to Eat. Here are some photos of my 1967 version.
Almost 40 years later, my revised version was illustrated by the talented Emily Wilson.
As an adult, I tried my hand at writing a song one day —words AND music. The word part came pretty easily after all those years of rhyming, but the composing part was challenging. Little by little, I learned to notate my melodies and add chords, and my songwriting hobby was born!
I produced four musical programs at the school where I taught and had some wonderful years of enjoying my music performed on stage. Any creative person can appreciate the thrill of seeing your work come to life! One of my school productions served as inspiration for a full-length musical comedy, Singles File, which I produced at three venues.
Now, as a grandmother, I am most inspired by my precious granddaughters, Annabelle and Maisie Grace.
I knew I had to write a song about Annabelle, since I had already written songs for each of my own children in the 1980s when they were small. I had so much fun finding the photos and clips to go along with the lyrics for Annabelle’s Song.
Annabelle, like me, loves to rhyme and has been doing it for some time. I enjoy making up little stories with her, and she loves rhyming –even if it means making up nonsensical words. We enjoy coloring and making up little stories together, so one day I got the idea for the Doodlebug book. Once I had the full story just the way I wanted it, I searched for an illustrator.
I was lucky to find Jaime Buckley, a Utah illustrator, and author, to create the fun drawings for the Doodlebug book!
Of course, I HAD to come up with an idea for Maisie’s story. I always thought the two girls would look so cute in Annabelle’s Barbie car.
Check it out!
I also wanted to somehow include their dad’s drone in a story. Before I even had the plot, I had the title: The Day Maisie Picked a Daisy.
Then it took several months to actually flesh out this adventurous tale. At one point I was struggling to come up with some sort of magical figure, and it was Annabelle who suggested a Wizard.
Perfect choice!
I hope you enjoy sharing these stories with the little people in your life!