Dream in My Hands

Getting to hold your dream in your hands is an experience like no other!

The process of editing my book, hiring a publisher, and finding the right illustrator took at least a year before I held the finished book in my hands. That doesn't even include the time I spent writing the book or searching for a publisher and illustrator.

Patience is something you have to have when publishing a book. I spent countless hours doing research. Along the way, I learned a lot about scams and dishonest people. Even now, I still get spam calls and emails.

Thankfully, I also met amazing people on this journey—talented people whom I aspire to be like someday. I consider myself fortunate to have had people along the way who gave me advice that helped me tremendously.

One piece of advice was to find an illustrator whose style fit my vision rather than trying to make someone change their style to fit it. (Thank you, Kathy.)

Some friends showed me their own writing and publishing process. They even gave me books to use as references throughout my publishing journey. They probably had no idea how much their encouragement helped me keep moving forward. (Thank you, Kathy and Rob.)

Another piece of advice was to make a practice version of my book before it was finished and read it to children. That turned out to be some of the best advice I received. I ended up changing many things because of that experience. I even removed part of the story because I could tell I was losing the children's interest while I was reading it. It also helped me decide where the words should be placed on each page.

I was also encouraged to have others read the book themselves instead of always reading it to them. That was incredibly helpful because I discovered that I needed to move some of the text. The reading order wasn't as clear as I thought it was. (Thank you, Husband)

One of my favorite parts of this journey was watching children's reactions. They made connections with the story and followed the airplane routes with their fingers. Seeing those little moments reassured me that the story I was writing and the illustrations I was envisioning were heading in the right direction.

These are just a few of my favorite examples. I'm sure there are many more that simply aren't coming to mind right now.

I would love to say that throughout this process I was just like my positive character, Opta Mistic. Nope.

More often than not, I found myself thinking more like Pessa Mistic than Opta. I had to remind myself to take my own advice over and over again. Slowly, my mindset began to change. I trained myself to catch those negative thoughts before they took over.

Is it a perfect method? Do I never have to work on it anymore? Nope.

I'm human, and I'll always have human moments. But now I have the tools to recognize when my thinking is headed in the wrong direction and choose a more positive mindset instead. That may be one of the greatest lessons this journey has taught me.