I’m excited to announce the release of my leaf-lullaby children’s book, Did you see us?

The inspiration for the book began on a driving holiday, with my husband, through the Okanagan in beautiful British Columbia Canada. My husband enjoys discussing English words that sound the same but have different meanings, like there, their and they’re.  I mentioned that it would be inappropriate to confuse the two similar sounding words carnivore and conifer.  That sparked a conversation on the topic of conifer and deciduous trees.  That discussion led to my teasing assertion that it’s easy to remember the word deciduous as a brag – Did you see us? – in the fall, when leaves twirl, flutter and flirt the full glory of their autumn colours.

Initially, the children’s book was a side hustle – something to focus on while I waited for the PeakSpire illustration team to finalize drawings for the Fleck series.  I’m grateful to Siraj – director at PeakSpire – for his persistence in working with his team of illustrators to achieve the best possible original images for the Fleck Series and for the Did you see us? children’s book.

My role was to write the children’s book lullaby and to provide detailed instructions for the creation of the accompanying illustrations. I was keen to have the first illustration (forest in late winter) created in a way that would allow us to zoom in on specific aspects of the forest, for the balance of the illustrations in the book (e.g., the path, a tree, a branch). Two illustrations (the Spring and the Autumn illustrations) are the exact same image shown in fresh greens for spring and in reds-oranges and yellows for autumn. I hope you find a little fun comparing and contrasting the illustrations.

When I first began writing, I fretted that the people I knew would read themselves into my novels asking, “Is that me?” Naturally my experiences, including relationships, influence the stories I tap-tap-tap out on my keyboard. Predominantly, the characters and scenarios in my writing emanate from my imagination and are arguably an indirect reflection of the people, places and events I’ve encountered. I rarely write directly about people I know because that approach engages my thoughts causing the flow process (that I so enjoy) to sputter and falter.

As a flow writer, I tend to follow a characters’ guidance crafting the story around their motivations. If you disagree with something a character says, then please understand that the character said it, I didn’t, we are not the same – even though they spoke through my tapping fingertips. For me, the role of writing is akin to the role of being a silent observer; allowing the character to act and speak freely. This approach, I hope, leads to a narrative that reflects the characters strengths and challenges, ideally guiding the story along a path that is at times unexpected but always true.