You are a therapist, why did you write a children’s book?

Story Time!

I’ve always loved birds. Since I was a child, from pretend play with stuffed animals, to drawing and painting. The ability birds have to fly. The complexity of a bird’s visual system. The variation in species and coloration. Everything about birds has fascinated me for as long as I can remember.

While training for my play therapy certification I took a course on utilizing metaphors and stories in therapy. During the course the presenter asked us to work in small groups and create a story line- one that would be useful for a therapuetic setting. As we talked about themes and story lines I remember thinking about how great my colleague’s thoughts were. I felt totally uncertain about sharing with the whole class. I took a deep breathe and shared the very basic outline when my turn came.

I held my breathe as if in slow motion as the presenter opened her mouth to speak. “You need to finish this.” I was shocked at the positive response. I never deeply considered becoming an author. I decided I would give it a try. After all I did have a bachelor’s degree in visual arts that I never used beyond sharing creative ideas and having clients use art in sessions.

This was the beginning of 2 years of editing, painting, scanning and going back to the drawing board, quite literally. I spent a great deal of time reading about all the details we don’t realize go into creating a book. I filled sketch books with ideas and ended up doing two full sets of different watercolor paintings for the illustrations. My amazing husband even found another therapist turned author to consult with for editing!

Yes, that’s right, I painted every page and every image by hand in watercolor. All of my art courses through college were the old-fashioned way, on paper. To say the learning curve to bring the illustrations to the computer was huge is an understatement. After all this has been a 2-year endeavor.

In the end painting and creating are my happy place. I get to be immersed in my thoughts and ideas. I was able to ask friends, family, colleagues and professionals for their input. This book was a truly a labor of love; from loving the act of creating something new, to help to receiving the love and caring from all the people who helped me behind the scenes, even when it seemed completely impossible, “The Suggestion Box” is the end result.

I hope anyone who finds it and reads can feel that love and enjoys the story as much as I’ve enjoyed the creation. I am over the moon excited for it to become available in the next few weeks!