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Wisteria Jane Hummell

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Watch out world…Wisty has arrived. I can’t believe the Wisteria Jane Hummell books are here. This little lady has been living in my head for years, and now she is out in the world making her mark. Wisteria is an amalgamation of all things “kid” and all that is right with this world. She is innocence and truth unleashed.

This sweet child is learning about her surroundings in the best possible way. She is living life, and making mistakes as she goes. Wisty is not afraid to take chances, say what she thinks, and has the magical passion that can only be found in a five-year-old child.

Writing this series has given me the opportunity, and excuse, to really dig into my memories of life as a young girl. I remember my mother taking my siblings and me on walks to the park. On our way we would stop to watch the squirrels jump and dance around the trees. I’m sure the park was fun, but I don’t remember much about playing on the slides, and swinging from monkey bars. I remember those squirrels with their bushy tails flicking in the sun, and thinking how wonderful it would be to live life as a squirrel.

There were several years, about age 2 to 7, where I was convinced that through trial and error I could learn to fly. Unfortunately, my belief in human flight did not pan out. I ended up in the emergency room about half a dozen times with stitches, to different regions of my head, as a result of my need to be airborne. Thankfully, none of my crash landings were life threatening, but they were lessons in gravity and the reality that birds can fly, but little girls can’t. Yes, I had to learn the limits of my powers at a young age, just like Wisty.

Wisty believes all things are possible.

It has been quiet a process bringing this book to life, and I have enjoyed the entire journey. We are getting geared up for book number two right now. Let the countdown begin.

Writing Children’s Books

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Writing children’s books is not for everyone, but I have met a lot of people who have voiced their desire to write a book.  I decided that I need to start keeping track of my experience entering the world of children’s literature and becoming a published author.

I graduated with my master’s degree in education, in December of 2011, and told my husband I wanted to take a year to write a book and see what happened.  My sweet husband was totally game and I started planning my process.  All of 2012 I was seriously planning my book-which turned into a ten book series-and started writing.  I attended an enormous writing seminar in New York City with my best friend, to get a feeling for the culture of the publishing world, and what I found was totally astonishing.  I was doing EVERYTHING wrong.

I was told that I should not try to enter the world of publishing with a series of children’s picture books.  I was also informed that trying to present a morals based message is a really hard sell.  And by the way, I should not come to the table with an illustrator already on-board.  Well, this went against everything I had been working towards for the last year, and it was a bit disheartening.  I was completely committed to the series I had been working on and believed wholeheartedly in the morals based or character building messages of my series.  I also had a New York Times best selling illustrator on board, because he completely believed in the series too.  I was a little discouraged, but not defeated. I plodded on.

I think I probably received about 15 rejection letters before I finally got a glimmer of hope.  My first positive feedback was from an agent who said that I needed to keep trying because the voice and message was strong, but that I would have to find just the right agent to pitch this series.  He then rejected me…  I got another 30 or more rejection letters and the next ray of hope showed up.  I received an email from a small publishing house stating that they were interested in the entire series.  I was beyond excited, but I still didn’t have a literary agent.  I am a firm believer in working with professionals in all my life’s endeavors.

I called up the agent I really wanted to work with and told her I had a contract on my desk and no agent.  It took her a day to read through everything and get back to me.  Her response was  “we can do better”.  The strangest email I ever sent was the one declining the first offer on my children’s picture book series.  My agent sent out queries to the top editors in the industry.  We got some really great feedback and an offer from a publishing house that was as excited about the series as I was.  I signed the contract about a month ago, and we are starting the process of going to print.  It is amazing… I seriously can’t believe that I broke all the rules and still got in.  I guess the moral of the story is trust your instincts and stick to your plan.  Anything is possible if you really believe in yourself.