It's Fall Ya'll! Here's a little poem entitled "Autumn Leaves"

 Crisp multicolored leaves,

Dancing in the autumn breeze.

Floating gently to the ground,

Then hastily raked into a mound.

Children run, taking a leap,

Safely landing in the heap.

Giggles permeate the air,

as leaves scatter everywhere.

Reds, yellows, oranges, obscure green,

Painting a picturesque scene.

Happy Fall! And Happy Reading!

Where'd You Come Up With That?! Wednesdays!

 

Stinky Ol' Pig is a story about Percy, a curious little piglet who overhears a private conversation between some of the other farm animals. 

One farm animal, Mr. Lamb, has some unpleasant things to say about pigs and how dirty pigs are. Percy decides he doesn't want to be a stinky old pig, so he finds some sweet-smelling honeysuckle to wallow in.

Mom takes Percy aside and explains that all animals are different and pigs are made to wallow in the mud and cool off. 

So, where'd this idea come from? I'm not 100% sure why I chose pigs. I wanted to write a different type of animal story for children, so when pigs came to mind I came up with a pig who wants to smell nice.

Now, working off that, I had to decide why he didn't want to stink, and how he and Mama Pig would deal with the issue. I think writing it this way teaches children a few concepts: 

1. You shouldn't care what others say about you.
2. Everyone should be free to be themselves.
3. Compromise can be beneficial.
4. Not all beings are made to be the same, and that's ok.
5. Acceptance for those who are different than you.

The story underwent years of revisions until I felt it was ready for publication. Also, I couldn't draw pigs; I'm not great at illustrations. Luckily, I found Canva.com and the perfect image for the story. 

Stinkly Ol'Pig is available on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. You can read for free on Kindle Unlimited! 

Where'd You Come Up With That?! Wednesdays~ The Sofa Monster

In this story, Sammy is scared when a creature emerges from the couch cushions. The monster is a hodge-podge of things lost down the sofa cushions, like loose change, candy, toothpicks, and old shoe strings. 

Sammy tries to tell his parents about the sofa monster, but they don't believe him. Later, the monster is hiding under the dinner table, and he helps Sammy get rid of his peas so he can have dessert. Then he finds the monster hiding under his bed. The monster is nice, so Sammy crawls under the bed with him and is surprised when he finds out what the Sofa Monster wants. Together they make a deal so that both he and Sofa Monster get what they want. 

This story came to me as I was cleaning underneath the couch cushions and in the cracks. I really don't know how all that stuff gets in there, but I never know what I'm going to find. That got me thinking about what happens to the "stuff" that gets lost in the cracks. There could be a whole different world in those sofa cushions!

I think anyone with kids can relate to finding "stuff"  in odd places. You never know what kids will do when you're not looking. 

And from there the Sofa Monster was born! 

You can find the book on Amazon and directly from the publisher Pen It! Publications.

The Sofa Monster is also listed on LitPick for student reviews. 

Happy Reading!