#139 Circles in the Wind's Beginnings

     

     Circles in the Wind has had several names.  The Dandelion was the most obvious and one of the first.

     Desert dandelions in Arizona are different from the long-stemmed beauties I remember from my childhood in South Dakota.  We used to collect armloads of them at the city park, then braid the stems to make necklaces and bracelets.  

     Of course the parachutes with their tiny seeds always went sailing away on the wind from our breath, and I couldn't imagine why our father didn't appreciate those lovely images when we did it in our yard at home.  

     As an adult, after I wrote my first draft in celebration of the life cycle of dandelions, I created seventeen illustrations on 12 x 18 inch watercolor paper using watercolor paints and a black fine-line marker.

     After several revisions, my manuscript had settled into its current format of poetic prose, and I began to send copies and query letters to publishers.  

     In 1992, I received a detailed response from one editor who suggested that I revise my story, eliminating the anthropomorphized characters, and then resubmit it. (The term "anthropomorphize" means to "give human characteristics to nonhuman things".)  

     Thrilled with the input and encouraged by the attention, I changed the manuscript and sent it back to her.  I also foolishly erased the faces from the illustrations of the little seed, plant, sun, wind, and flower. 

     Unfortunately, the publisher was still unable to offer a contract for my story.

     When I later published Circles in the Wind as an ebook, I used my original manuscript and added the little faces to my illustrations again, trusting myself to create the picture book in my own way. I am happy with the results, and it has been well received in the Amazon stores.

     Circles in the Wind by Lynda is currently listed on both Amazon for its Kindles, and Barnes&Noble for their Nook, and sells for $2.99.

     Please feel free to visit my other blog, www.ebooks4kids.blogspot.com.  My current post offers recommended historical fiction for kids in ebook formats.

     Next time I will tell you how the ideas for my little beginning reader called Monkey Tales by Lynda developed.

     Meanwhile, please keep reading...