The Best Part of Writing for Your Grandchildren

When I first started reading about Amazon KDP, I was intrigued by the idea that an ordinary person could write a book, illustrate it, and actually turn it into something you could hold in your hands.

I thought, I could do that.

The technical part didn’t scare me. After spending a career working with specifications, I could figure out trim sizes, safe areas, gutters, bleed, and all the other requirements that go into making a book. And with what I jokingly call my “PowerPoint Ranger” skills, I was pretty confident I could learn how to put the pieces together.

But knowing how to make a book isn’t the same as knowing why you want to make one.

That came later.

One of our Yorkshire terriers passed away, and I started thinking about how nice it would be to create a story about a little Yorkie. Not just write the story, but learn how to illustrate it and turn it into a real children's book.

That little idea eventually became Lucy.

And somewhere along the way, the project became about more than learning how to publish a book. I started thinking about my grandchildren.

There is something special about being able to put a finished book into their hands and say, “Paw Paw made this.”

My daughter is an elementary school teacher, so handing her one of my books carries a little extra weight, too. She has spent years putting books into children's hands. Now I get to put one of mine into hers.

My grandchildren may still be too young to completely understand what it means that Paw Paw wrote these stories while thinking about them. That's okay. Maybe that part comes later.

The first Lucy story is about a little Yorkie and a squirrel who meet and become friends. On the surface, it is a simple children's story. But when I think about it now, perhaps there is something more in there.

Lucy and Sammy are very different, but that doesn't stop them from becoming friends. Their friendship continues from one season to the next. Fall becomes winter, winter becomes spring, and spring becomes summer.

That's not a bad lesson for a child.

Someday my grandchildren will be older. They'll make friends of their own. Some will come and go, and if they're lucky, a few will stay with them through many seasons of their lives.

And someday, perhaps many years from now, one of my grandchildren may pull an old Lucy book from a shelf and realize something they couldn't fully understand when they were little.

Paw Paw made this.

He was thinking about us.

For me, that's better than any sales report.