Once upon a time, a seven year old girl decided she wanted to be a writer.
She wrote a story called "Sara's Christmas List" (which had nothing to do with a Christmas List) and then her dad bought her a typewriter where she wrote a rip-off of Little House on the Prairie. She would've been sued if she wasn't seven and if Laura Ingalls was still around.
Then, fresh out of High School, her dreams came true: she self-published a YA novel... and then immediately began to hate it. Self-publishing was expensive, hard, and limiting, and her novel could basically only go as far as her finances could afford to market it.
That was almost ten years ago, and if you haven't figured it out yet, that little girl in the beginning was me. For awhile I gave up on the idea of writing, thinking it was a dream that came true for a lucky few, and I was happy writing about mom-stuff on my little blog.
Then, I found another area of passion in my writing: kid's books. After reading about a thousand to my 3 year old, I wrote my own. And I was pretty dang proud of it. I started the long and difficult process of sending it off to agents and publishers, and kept it in the back of my mind that even Harry Potter was rejected 12 times. I'd probably at least be rejected 13.
So I took all the necessary rejections just fine, and then it happened: I got a yes. Not just a yes, but a glowing review! My book had been read by an editorial board, and they all agreed it was a "fun and charming children's story that will entertain your young readers from beginning to end". I was over the moon.
And then.
I did my due diligence. And it was a scam.
Of course it was a scam. I hadn't even reached my goal of 13 rejections yet!
But somehow, this one, fake "yes" was worse than a thousand "no"s.
So I pouted for awhile, feeling like my dreams were dead, when I had an idea: an idea for a blog where I could share my stories for free. A place for my stories to go instead of sitting, unread, on my computer. A place where I could hopefully build an online following, which could hopefully someday get me noticed by publishers, so hopefully someday I can hold one of these stories in my hand, in print, and love it.
Welcome to Growing Up Bookworms! A land where all the stories are free, where a new story is posted every Monday, and where everyone lives happily ever after. This is the place where I share my passion of writing, and I hope it's a place you come to when you need a new bedtime story, or just want to cuddle up on the couch with your kids.
These stories have not been professionally edited, and unlike Rome, most of them were built in a day. They are all illustrated by some of my incredible artist friends, and as such, have a lot less pictures than a typical kids book. You may occasionally see an art note and have to use your imagination for the picture that should be there. Bear with us. This is an experiment, an alternate route to a dream I've had for twenty years.
I hope you enjoy reading these stories as much as I've enjoyed writing them!
If you have an idea for a story, a topic you feel would benefit children, or just something you would love to read, feel free to send me your ideas.
If you are a writer who would like to see your work published here, or an artist who would like to contribute to a story, please email me: anndeef@gmail.com
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