You may be wondering where I got the idea to write and publish a children’s book. I would like to say that there was a day when I was standing at the stove blending creamed soup with one hand and holding my son away from the stove with the other so he wouldn’t get burnedwhile having a discussion with my daughter about why a butterfly named“purple emperor” feeds on poo. You know, just a typical mom at home with her children when suddenly, bang! “I am going to publish a children’s book.”
Sadly, this wasn’t the case. It actually started a bit differently. My process was much longer and began during my university days.
Bestsellers
My major at university was literature, so as you can imagine, writing was an important part of my studies. Some wonderful students and friends of mine set up the Bestsellers Factory academic club, which has been organizing literary festivals ever since, and isnow an association. It was the same group of students who decided to organize the first Creative Writing Workshop in Poland—crime fiction writing that is. I was lucky enough to participate in their organization as well as in the workshops themselves.
What a blast that was! Picture this: a cold, snowy winter, spent in hermitages (once inhabited by monks) on the grounds of Pokamedulski Monastery in Wigry in the Suwalki region by a frozen lake. The Creative Writing Workshop had fantastic participants who now have various notable achievements in the field of literature and art. Well-known writer Irek Grin conducted the workshops and taught us how to write detective stories. And then there was me.
During the workshop, I wrote one single page of a crime story. I had no idea what to do with it next, let alone the courage to do it. Nevertheless, there must have been something special in what I wrote because Irek Grin asked, “Why aren’t you writing?” Those words echoed in my head for many years. There were a hundred ideas along the way, but still no courage.
Creative Motherhood Workshop
In the meantime, after graduation I worked for various companies seemingly unrelated to my field of study. Only seemingly, because the ability to write and communicate properly is useful in any profession! (This is a skill that should be taught in school by the way—how to speak and write in order to express one’s thoughts accurately and be understood.) However, working in marketing and sales has helped me to feel more confident and to believe in my own skills and abilities. And I’m still learning because after all, I have never been a genius and most human achievements come from working hard on a regular basis. So I worked and traveled a lot and then the key point of the story arrived—motherhood. I became a mother.
What an adventure that was! There were many sleepless nights, learning how to handle a baby and myself with the microseconds of free time I had, as well as reorganizing my world that had been turned upside down.
You already know part of this story. After all, it was my children (my daughter in particular) who inspired the book series about Julie and Wooly, the loveable bundle of nerves. And this is actually where the story begins—a bit while cooking and a bit while talking about poop-eating butterflies, but mostly during bedtime stories while combing my daughter’s hair. Yes, that was when I pictured the Wooly.
You must know that my daughter, as a sensory impaired child, hated having her hair combed or her head touched at all. She is much better with it now, but when she was three to fouryears old she would scream as if she was being skinned while having her hair combed or washed. I still wonder why the neighbors didn’t call the police the time they heard her screaming, “Leave me alone! It hurts! You’re hurting me!” It was an absolute horror for us both. It was then that I came up with a story about a nasty tangle that had formed on the head of a little girl who refused to comb or wash her hair. The tangle of uncombed hair that had eyes and hands,does it ring a bell? Yes, that was the prototype of Wooly.
There was one other story too—a fairy tale about a bundle of nerves who helped a very explosive little girl deal with her anger. The bundle always tried to understand her problems and they tried to solve them together.
These two characters eventually merged into one in my imagination. It was then I finally followed the advice of my friend, Alan, who also happens to be a writer. I opened my laptop, sat down in a chair, and started writing Julie and Wooly. Lulu’s Missing Case.
I figured that since I already had the guts to write, I would also find the courage to self-publish a book. And here it is! The first book in a series that you can explore with your kid. I hope you will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed creating it.
If you’d like to find out more about the reasons behind the story of Julie and Wooly and how it helped enhance my relationship with my kids, then you should definitely read the posts below:
