The Stories Behind My Stories - A Children's Book Author's Journey

I’ve always been interested in the why behind things—
a book, a play, an invention, a new business, a movie.

Passion excites me. I love stories about people who have a dream… and follow it all the way through.

I’ve always wanted to write children’s books.

When I was nine years old, I won a rhyming Marshall Field’s Father of the Year contest. The $5,000 prize—back then—sent my family on a trip to Florida. I was invited to the Walnut Room in Chicago, and it was a very big deal for a shy girl who could barely speak in school.

In my twenties, I won another rhyming contest—this time a $10,000 prize for the Robitussin “Dr. Mom of the Year” contest.
I was an editor of my high school newspaper. I wrote a column. I became an editor of my college newspaper as well. And over the years, everyone in my family has received a book from me as a gift at one point or another.

Writing was always there.

When I became a teacher at 24, I began writing stories for my students—not as part of the curriculum, but because I needed them.
My students were struggling with kindness, patience, and emotional regulation. And in many ways… I was still a child myself.

How does a 24-year-old teach those things to 8-year-olds?

I had to find another way.

So I wrote stories—
to show them that kindness mattered,
that slowing down had value,
and that their minds were something extraordinary.

After I left teaching, my stories sat quietly in a drawer. They moved with me from place to place. Every now and then, I would take them out, revisit them, play with them.

But life was busy.

Then, at 50 years old, I started a new job at a law firm after running my own business for 14 years. It was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life. I was surrounded by people who were brilliant, passionate, and deeply committed to their work.

And something inside of me woke up.

Being in the city, surrounded by purpose and passion, stirred something I could no longer ignore.

A desire to write.

On July 4, 2023, I took out all of my stories and worked on them all day long.
From that moment on, I couldn’t stop. I brought them on the train. I wrote every weekend. I shared them with friends.

Something came alive inside of me—
a flow of inspiration, unblocked,
a kind of joy that is difficult to explain because it runs so deep.

One day, I shared The Sea’s Slowest Snail with my friends and my spiritual teacher.
To make a very long story short… everyone believed the story would find its way into the world.

And it did.

My stories have been with me since I was a child.
But it took me until my 50s to discover their endings, their deeper meanings, and their final form.

Now, when I read them, they connect me—
to myself,
to others,
and to my higher power.

They guide me.
They remind me.
They help me stay open to the flow of life.

The Sea’s Slowest Snail is with me every hour of my day. I try to embody the snail in all that I do.

My stories are a gift to myself.
And now, I get to share them with others.

That’s my why.