Untitled children's book

Last year at some point I had a dream — literally — that was like an animation of a children’s book. I scribbled down the main plot ideas and started a new WASTE BOOK where I’ve been throwing words here and there. Since it’s a picture book the text is minimal, so it’s not as if I’m having to open a whole Scrivener document to manage plots, characters, or even chapters.

Some of it I wrote out of order, but mostly I started at the beginning and wrote in order. That is unusual for me (or any author), but as I said, it’s a simple text and it more or less appeared in my head fully formed. All I had to do was tell the story.

I’m done with the ABORTIVE ATTEMPT, and soon I will have enough put together to start thinking about ABANDONMENT. Before I start the final polishing, let me share with you proof that even though I wrote it in order, I still did not write a finished product.

Notice that I numbered the pages of the WASTE BOOK, and that this part of the ABORTIVE ATTEMPT skips to p. 6. Notice also the scratch-outs and the way the conversation just kind of falls apart and I let it. I didn’t stop to fix it.

This is part of the “final runthrough” I started a couple of months ago, i.e., taking all the bits and pieces and putting them in order and giving them a solid SUCCESSIVE APPROXIMATION. Notice the blanks: the father is trying to explain the scale of the solar system to his youngest child, and while I had the concept in place, I didn’t have numbers.

Again, I didn’t stop to find the numbers: I just drew in the blanks and kept writing. (In the book, I suggest writing/typing ‘XXX’ if you can’t think of the right word/phrase; it’s easy to see, easy to write/type, and doesn’t slow you down.)

Yes, I know the actual nearest star is Proxima Centauri. I’ve fixed it. (If the Earth were the size of a marble, Proxima Centauri would be 29,393 miles away.)

So now I’m ready to do another runthrough, and then I think I will actually try to find a real life agent and publisher. I do not have an illustrator, and while I would like to think I could illustrate it myself, I know I cannot. For once I’d love to have someone else do part of the work.

How’s your captivity going?