How I Became a Children’s Book Writer
In 2009 my wife and I faced some important decisions. We were both working professional jobs and had two children under three years old. My wife was offered a promotion but it would necessitate a move from northwest Minnesota to the Twin Cities. The economy was in a down turn and morale was low in my workplace. I had been in my job for twelve years and it seemed like a good time for a change. We decided that I would become a stay at home dad and my wife would be the family breadwinner.
I had always been an avid reader. Now, with time to burn and two toddlers to entertain, one of our favorite family activities was going to the library. Settled in our new home in Shoreview we regularly drove to one of the Ramsey County Libraries. A Duluth pack served as our book bag. Often we stuffed over 100 books in the Duluth pack. My sons helped pick out books.
Reading many ABC books, I got the idea of writing an ABC book about the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness. That is a place I love to go and wanted my sons to know about. The idea of writing a book was exciting to me. So, during nap times and on weekends I began writing the stories and information that would become Boundary Waters ABC. Bedtime stories for my boys were often based on events that had happened to me in the wilderness. For example, on one trip our tent really did blow into the lake (T is for Tent).
Over a period of several years I wrote and edited what became Boundary Waters ABC. In my next blog post I’ll tell about the process of getting Boundary Waters ABC published. I didn’t know how unusual its path to publication was at the time, due to my inexperience.
Wes Erwin 