A little over two months ago Angie and I signed our second book contract with Schiffer Publishing for our next children’s book. As I mentioned before the process takes time, but I am happy to report Angie is totally rocking the illustrations! This next book tackles a completely different topic kids will be able to relate to and one I dealt with regularly as a child. 
The next book, let’s call it NB, is actually the first children’s book I wrote, but it was put on the back burner for SOAR because I felt SOAR was a stronger story at the time. Once I got the go ahead for SOAR I reached out to Cathy Gust, my kindergarten teacher and sounding board once again for some advice on what NB was missing. I also turned to my sister-in-law for some feedback on the story as well. Both women gave me fantastic insight into what was missing which led me to revise and edit the proposal version we submitted to Schiffer.
Now here we are with three-and-a-half months until the final submission is due to Schiffer and it has been very exciting! While I can’t say too much about NB, I can say Angie is capturing my words beautifully in the illustrations she is creating. Her artistic influence is bringing my story to life creating a world that is visually stunning and captivating. She changed up the medium she is using this time around to watercolor and ink, and it is perfect. It is so exciting and fulfilling to see how Angie interprets and represents my story. I am so thankful for the partnership we have created and the 
friendship that has grown through this process. I couldn’t have found a better illustrator to capture my words and I love receiving text updates from Angie on her progress.
As for me, I am busy working on formatting the text of NB to prep it for final submission. I am also working on creating conversation starters similar to the ones in SOAR to help parents jumpstart conversations with their kids after reading NB. I have received such positive feedback about the conversation starters in SOAR, it was a no-brainer to add them to NB. Once Angie has her illustrations completed, I will insert the image ID’s into the formatted text for the final submission.
The second time around is definitely less stressful and I know more of what to expect. I have learned the book building process is definitely a team effort and I am so excited to see NB come to life before my eyes. I can’t wait to share it with you, but in the meantime, this update will have to do.