Outta’ this world blog

March 11, 2025 — A memory my Mom loved to recount from when I was a little girl: one day she told me she had an “enjoyable story” to share with me. After at least several days had passed (and, apparently, no story), I asked “when are you going to tell me the enjoyable story?” And then, she’d laugh. I guess I was very young, and because I’d remembered and used the same words she did, she was impressed and amused. 

I think it’s in our nature to love stories: to listen to, to tell, to read, to write stories down, to watch them on television and at the movies, to hear stories on the radio … in just about any way, shape or form. I was reminded of this while on vacation with friends (five other couples) recently in Sarasota, Fla. We decided we’re not

February 11, 2025 — I recently watched an online workshop on launching a new book, presented by Bryan Cohen of Best Page Forward. For those of you new(er) authors, like me, who may have a book launch approaching sooner or later, or maybe you’re just interested, I’ll outline some main takeaways in this post.

Being my second book launch, I’m looking forward to using the knowledge I gained last time, which will be a nice time-saver and guide. Build on your previous launch, Bryan said. Along these lines, some of the resources I have in my quiver are:

• List of bookstores who are carrying (or have carried my book)
• Local and regional publications and associations (for press releases)
• Author

December 17, 2024 — This post is slightly off topic, but since I write for children, I thought it’s not too far a stretch to share something about exceptionally small children that warms my heart. 

A few weeks ago, while volunteering with my husband at the University of Michigan NICU, I received a call on our volunteer phone, “Do you have time to hold a cute baby?” the nurse asked. What? “Yes, of course!” This is music to the ears of NICU volunteers.  

I’ll call the baby W. W likes a lot of attention. I’m thinking — SMART guy. The squeaky wheel gets the grease. Much better to be held in someone’s arms whenever possible than to lie in the crib. 

He was a little fussy and the nurse stopped back in and let me know

November 5, 2024 — Happy November (already)! This past Saturday was my first time participating in the A2 Community Bookfest. It was a seven-hour event with about 100 authors and other vendors set up on the first floor of the Ann Arbor District Library’s downtown branch. It was formerly called the Kerrytown Bookfest and took place where the farmer’s markets are held. I heard I just missed the “excitement” when the library’s power went out during setup! 

I’d missed the deadline last year and so, this year, I was glad when the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Michigan sent out an email for author members to sign up for the event. 

I shared a table with Heather Shumaker, autho

October 29, 2024 — I asked our son, Trevor, some questions about his favorite childhood books and this exchange is the crux of this week’s blog post. 

October 15, 2024 — I love spooky season! The colors have really started to pop around the Ann Arbor area. We bought small pumpkins to place around our patio wall last weekend and even had our coffee out back with our fire pit lit one morning. So cozy. I haven’t blogged for a couple of weeks — we were on vacation in Italy. Seems a bit unreal now — we had a beautiful time. 

For some of you who have asked where you can purchase my book, aside from being available online through Amazon and Bookshop.org, How Happy Is a Lark has joyfully winged its way into several

September 24, 2024 — Last Thursday, I took part in a local author book sale and signing at Adventure, Ink, Milan as part of their final Third Thursday celebration for the summer. I shared the evening with Don Hicks, coauthor of Frankenwalnut, with his son, Alex. A good book for this spooky Halloween season. Laura Harvey of Adventure, Ink, billed our evening as featuring something scary and something sweet, a great combination. 

Similar to my previous event in Ypsilanti, I sold all of one book BUT I don’t sweat the numbers. Like life, these events are more about the whole experience than about a certain outcome (such as selling stacks of books!) I got to see the very cool owner of the indie bookshop, Laura, again. That’s always a p

Sept. 17, 2024 — I set up an author table for the Rumble of the Bumble in Ypsilanti, Saturday, Sept 7.  I was pleasantly surprised to see my friend, Peggy Brody, and her cavapoo puppy, Astro, waiting for us. They hung out at my table with me the entire three hours, aside from the time they took to pick up her lunch and coffees for us. Astro has his own little stroller. He’s a really sweet little guy, he’s black and white, and gives smooches freely.

August 27, 2024 — My partner in crime drove me to Grosse Pointe Park. As we approached the front door to the charming Coreander’s Children’s Bookshoppe, I saw a flyer for my reading posted on their door with “SOLD OUT” written across it. Their theater is on the small side so they sell out often, but still, it was a great feeling! 

August 6, 2024 — Last Friday, I attended a Northville event called Buy Michigan Now where many different Michigan-based vendors sold local goods. 

I’m a member of a great international/national organization called the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and participated as part of their Michigan group. Five authors shared the SCBWI-Michigan table. The event ran for three days and different authors signed up each day. I was there with Cathy Collison, Shutta Crum, Suzanne Jacobs Lipshaw and Heidi Woodward Sheffield. It was a special treat for me to hear some behind the scenes stories abo

July 24, 2024 — For our upcoming book, Into the Thicket, the illustrator and I decided that we’d like to print in hardcover. Our book’s page count isn’t high enough to qualify us for hardcover printing through Amazon so I started to Google research (these two words are synonymous nowadays, right?) other alternatives. 

A highly-rated service that got my attention and would allow for hardcover printing is called BookBaby. They offer a wide range of services from editing and design (interior and cover) to printing and marketing. 

July 17, 2024 — Recently, I thought I’d like to help promote fellow self-published authors in my blog and I reached out on social media to ask them to contact me if interested. Admittedly, it’s a win-win situation, providing me with more quality content for my blog. I’ve received a few inquiries so far and one of them was from today’s blog interviewee, Piriam Maharaj. Her recently released first picture book is Stormy Weather - Tilly Learns About Anger. A sweet, rhyming story about Tilly, a little girl whose plan to visit the playground on opening day are ruined by the weather. In the story, Tilly learns ways

July 10, 2024 — I donated a couple copies of my book to the University of Michigan Mott Children’s Hospital Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) book shelf for parents and other caregivers to read to the babies. Families can borrow the books and select two to take home with them, if they wish. One of the volunteer coordinators was excited and interested to learn about my book and mentioned that they have an annual reading event and would I be willing to donate 60 books for their Babies With Books Read-A-Thon? Sixty is the number of babies in a full UM NICU.

June 18, 2024 — This week I’ll share several short and sweet updates. First, I received a wonderful thank you note from the students at Brick Elementary School. They sent it to me with a photo of me reading to children inside the tent on Literacy Night. What a sweet and appreciated gesture! I’ll be back at Brick on Tuesday night this week for their Reading in the Park event, where I’ll read my book aloud. This week is expected to be HOT (in the 90s)  and so I hope (for everyone’s sake) that it’s cooled down enough by the early evening time of this event, but at least there should be some shade, under trees or tents. 

June 11, 2024 — In previous posts, I wrote about the relationship between childhood interests and careers, a topic I find intriguing. My interest in writing started from a very young age. And my writer parents were early role models. My father even “published” my first little picture book before I’d even started kindergarten. He titled it A Jack-O. He cut out parts of pictures and some words I’d drawn in crayon, added to it a bit, and turned them into a little book in a binder. As I’ve blogged before, I still remember the thrill that gave me and clearly, I’ve cherished it, as I still have the booklet to this day. 

I have a folder full of other very early writings, many from the first grade (ages

June 4, 2024 — After my first interview with Jenny Kalejs, illustrator of How Happy Is a Lark?, of course I thought of more questions. As mentioned in the first interview blog post, here’s part two with more of her endearing and enlightening answers.

1. What was your illustration style for How Happy Is a Lark? What influenced your decision on a style to use (if relevant)?

For the Lark art, I would generally sketch something in pencil, paint in watercolor over it (I use a really simple little portable kit), and then create bold outlines and details using black pen (Staedtler “pigment liner” of various sizes, to be exact). At heart I’m an illustrator more than a painter, so the hybrid style of drawing + filling in with paint allowed me th

May 21, 2024 —Last week, my son’s coworker, Monica, showed him a photo of her grandchildren, Thomas and Olivia. Olivia, smiling broadly (and beautifully), is holding a copy of How Happy Is a Lark? They think my son is a celebrity because “Davey the Dolphin” (in the book on the happy clam page) is named for him. How adorable is that?! For those of you who know us, can you find other family names in the book? (Hint: you can.)

When I posted about our new book release, Into the Thicket, scheduled for this fall on Facebook, my son commented about the above and added, “You’re their favorite author!” (Me, thinking: WAIT! WHAT? WOW, how sweet. I can’t believe it.) He continued, “But everyone around Olivia is t

May 14, 2024 — On a hot summer afternoon, our sons were playing football in the backyard, just like so many other days. Davey threw one over Trevor’s head. Trev ran to get the ball and noticed something unusual near the ball in the grass. Turns out it was an injured baby rabbit. We took the rabbit to wildlife rehab to try to save it. Nearly 20 years ago (the boys were about 11 and 8 years old), this real life story inspired me to write a picture book manuscript, dubbed Into the Thicket. In the manuscript, after the boy finds the rabbit, the rest of the story is highly fictionalized. The rabbit rehab info, however, is true. 

Because the book was written so long ago, this year I consulted with a wildlife rehabber to ensure the book w

May 7, 2024 — I was happy to be invited to host an author table at Adventure, Ink on Saturday morning, April 27 — Independent Bookstore Day.

April 9, 2024 — Jenny Kalejs is an exceptionally cool human who I had the good fortune to meet at my previous job. We were both communicators working in different, but related, areas. Jenny was with the University of Michigan Biological Station. I worked in the Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. Prior to 2019, we worked in separate buildings but with our move into the new Biological Sciences Building, our cubicles shared a (tall) wall. I knew Jenny was an artist as I’d seen some of her creative drawings for the Biological Station and if we sat together in a seminar, I’d notice her amazing doodle notes. But what I didn’t know at the time was that she was a children’s book artist. 

After looking around on the internet and social medi

March 26, 2024 — I was so happy to receive a “real” email through the contact link on my author website. It was from Michelle Cox, a Title I teacher at Brick Elementary School, inviting me to participate in their Literacy Night. We emailed back and forth several times, figuring out details. Her enthusiasm radiated off the computer screen and it was contagious. We were both excited to be in touch and that I was able to attend. 

We decided that I would read my book, How Happy Is a Lark, twice over the course of the evening, which ran from 5 - 6:30 p.m. And that I’d lead the activity from the back of my book with the children. Initially, I was in a small classroom just inside the main school entrance. I had a number of parents, grandparents and st

February 20, 2024 — Favorite books from our childhood hold a special place in our hearts. They transport us back to a simpler time and for many lucky children, they may also be attached to warm memories of cuddling with Mom, Dad, or some other special loved one, before bedtime. 

A classic line from the movie, You’ve Got Mail, is when Kathleen Kelly, the small book store owner says, “when you read a book as a child, it becomes part of your identity in a way that no other reading in your whole life does.” 

One of my favorite childhood books was Frederick by Leo Lionni. If you’re not familiar, Frederick was a mouse who lived in a stone wall with his mouse family. During the autumn days as winter approach

February 6, 2024 — Can I get a virtual drumroll please? Ba-dum-bum-CHING! In fall 2024, we’re aiming to self-publish a new children’s picture book titled Into the Thicket. The story is a highly fictionalized retelling of the real experience of my youngest son finding an injured baby rabbit in our backyard one summer during his childhood. We delivered the little creature to a wildlife rehabber for help. The story encompasses an appreciation for wildlife, compassion, overcoming fears, loving  — and letting go, and demonstrating how even small acts of kindness make a difference in a great, big world.

I am fortunate to have worked with another incredible artist during my time at the University of Michigan (another touch

December 5, 2023 — Looking for a creative art and language activity for your children over winter break? Look no further than the pages of the picture book “How Happy Is a Lark?” I thought I’d turn this into a fun little contest. 

The book takes expressions like “Clever as a fox,” “Wise as an owl,” or “Curious as a cat,” turns them upside-down and asks and answers the questions, “How clever is a fox?” And “How wise is an owl?” And “Just how curious is a cat?” 

Here’s how to enter:

1. Take a question from the book — or better yet, come up with an expression of your own that you’

November 14, 2023 — I’m not sure I ever imagined myself blogging. But now that I have an author’s website and maybe some stuff to say, here goes nothing. Or rather, I hope, a little something. Mostly, I’d like my posts to help some others who are embarking on a publishing venture. Also, did you know that regular posts help with a website’s visibility? Search engines prefer (and therefore place them higher in searches) a dynamic, changing website to one that stays the same for long periods of time. 

Naturally, my blog’s theme will be my first picture book experience, writing and many related things. I thought I’d share something very dear to my heart these days — not surprisingly — I LOVE hearing f