Wednesday, February 11, 2015

The Seeds of My Dream: The "Bad" Picture Book Blog Hop

As I await the publication of my very first picture books--The Adventure of the Penguinaut (Scholastic, 2016) and Love, Triangle (Balzer+Bray/HarperCollins, TBD), I have become extremely reminiscent of my writing journey.  Although I tell people that I have been writing for about four and a half years, in truth, I have always loved books and writing.

You see, I recently re-discovered a collection of my past elementary school creations that I am excited to share.

When Dani Duck first proposed the idea of a "Bad" Picture Book Blog Hop about first "attempts" at writing picture books, I immediately jumped right in! Why?  Not because my creations were "bad."  But because to me they celebrate the dreams inside every little girl and boy.

Throughout our lives, our earliest dreams continue to burn--even if only faintly smoldering.  I consider myself to be lucky to have taken the steps to feed the flames of that dream. And although the attempts I am about to share never set the world on fire, when given the chance I believe all dreams can if we never give up.

 Rainbow Hunt by Marcie Goldstein, illustrated by Marcie Goldstein (circa 1982)

As you can see, I created a laminated hardback cover using cellophane sheet covers and cardboard.  Only the very BEST in production quality (my husband, Senior Production Manager at Little, Brown would approve!)

 Title Page

 Dedication page:  To My Mom and Dad with love

 One day their were some children.  They were happy because they saw a rainbow.  Their names were Susie, Kristen, Christi, and Marcie. They were best friends.  The rainbow was double.

And yes, I committed one of my own pet peeves and used the wrong "there".

 All of a sudden the rainbow started to disappear and then it was gone.

 Then they met a girl. Who was very smart.  She saw the rainbow out of her window.  Her name was Lisa.

 Lisa said, "I know where it is.  In the the Easter eggs I have." No said Christi, "I know it's in the shirt my mother has.

Grammatical errors as is.  And apparently Christi's mother is Joseph of Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat fame.
 Then the smart one, Marcie, said, "I know it will be back in a few minutes.  And then all of a sudden it started to come back.  But is wasn't a double one.

Humble much?  Ugh.  The smartest character was named Marcie.
And so they all watched it and always look at rainbows.
The End

Rainbow Hunt was not written as a school assignment, but was something I created for fun.  This was not uncommon for me.  Here are a few more of my earliest work.

 Mrs. Kopp's Nightmare
written as a class assignment and read aloud to younger students as part of a Halloween celebration at school

 And yes, Mrs. Kopp's Nightmare was also fully illustrated.  Notice the see-through ghosts.

 I also tried my hand at comic strips.  Here is one from The Adventures of Rasy Rasberry and Have A Heart.  This was written on my own and not for school.

 Oh, and I created my own Fashion Magazine, The Unique Unicorn.  Not only was I the Editor-in-Chief, I also wrote all of the articles. And I am sure if there was a cover, I would have been the cover girl of every issue--like Oprah!

I am so glad I still have so many of these treasures.  I consider them the earliest seeds of my writing journey--before SCBWI, before my agent, before the book contracts.  They are reminders that the little girl I once was became the woman I am today.

In closing, I would like to share these last words from a former teacher and a young writer.

 Super job Marcie.  Send me a copy of your first publication.

Oh I will.  I believe this was from my sixth grade English teacher, Ms. Silver in 1986.  So she should keep an eye out in her mailbox in 2016.  I intend to fulfill this request made thirty years earlier.

"About the Author"
Marcie Goldstein lives in Liverpool, N.Y. and loves to write books.  Someday she hopes to be an sucessful author.

You got it, girl!  You will!

You can see all of the posts in the "Bad" Picture Book Blog Hop at http://daniduckart.blogspot.ca/. And tomorrow be sure to check out the next stop when Mandy Yates will share her early creation at http://www.childrensbookacademy.com/mondays-with-mandy-or-mira.


36 comments:

  1. How neat you still have these! And yes, that teacher will be very surprised in 2016! Super!!

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  2. Oh Marcie, I love all the unicorns and rainbows. They are precious. Would it shock you to know I saved my kindergarten nonfiction book on owls?

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    1. Oh fun! I would love to see it, Kirsten. As for the unicorns and rainbows...twas the early eighties. My bedroom reflected the same.

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  3. I absolutely LOVE this post by little you. Adorable and smart. Obviously, nothing has changed. :)

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  4. How great that your family kept these early books! And a great teacher to encourage you. Your future classroom presentations are set!

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    1. These will definitely need to play a part in my school presentations. And believe it or not...I was the one who saved all of these in a huge stack at the back of my file cabinet. :)

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  5. These are such, precious memories and proof of the young author emerging. Cool post.

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    1. Thanks. I am so happy I kept them all these years.

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  6. I uttered a lot of giggles and wow's. This is truly delightful. Thanks again for sharing. I especially loved the fluorescent bows.

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    1. LOLI Lynn, I was a little fluorescent-obsessed in those days. I wore a BIG bow in my hair every day.

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  7. Nice to find out you filled your childhood with unicorns and rainbows, and wanted to share that with others early on! Sweet!

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    1. Aw. I never thought of it that way. Thanks, Julie!

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  8. How exciting to see your involvement a such a young age, Marcie. You knew all the pieces and parts back THEN. I think it's a lovely gesture to send your 6th grade teacher a published book. She will treasure it. Good teachers plant seeds that nourish creative souls.

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    1. It is exciting! And YAY for good teachers planting today's seeds that will become tomorrow's leaders! xo

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  9. What a brilliant picture book. I have a few of those floating around too. I loved the comment from your teacher, so encouraging.

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    1. I wouldn't say "brilliant" but definitely the beginnings of my career. :)

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  10. Thank you, Marcie, for sharing these treasures. Congratulations! Dreams do come true :)

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  11. I love, love, love this! I just wish I could find more of the writing I did when I was young. You have a wonderful collection from your youth. :)

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  12. I love, love, love this! I just wish I could find more of the writing I did when I was young. You have a wonderful collection from your youth. :)

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  13. I loved reading this, Marcie. I too have books that I wrote when I was a kid. How wonderful that when you become an author, a little girl's dream comes true!!!

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  14. Thanks, Kirsti! Dreams do come true! xo

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  15. What great memories to preserve! I wish I had kept some of my early efforts...

    Your teacher will be thrilled to get your book next year! Kudos to her for encouraging you. :-)

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    1. I can't believe I had the wherewithal to keep it all. But so glad I did. Thanks for reading, Barbara!

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  16. How awesome. And you came up with the concept of a unique unicorn way before Uni the Unicorn. Love all your drawings and stories - you were destined to become a PB writer!

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    1. What can I say? I've always been a sucker for good alliteration or play-on-words. :)

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  17. Love the reframe Marci: " Seeds of my dreams." Dream on!

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    1. I did feel a reframe was needed. The idea of "bad" just didn't seem right. We need to be kind to ourselves on this journey. We need to allow ourselves to learn craft. It takes time. Every step matters.

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  18. That is so awesome that you have these books! The best was the written note from your teacher to send your first publication to her and the fact that you are living your dream! Bliss.

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    1. Yay! I hope I can find the teacher. I am not even sure its the teacher I think it is.

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  19. Such excellent publications! I was the president of our local Rainbow and Unicorns club when I was 7, so I appreciate your topics.

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  20. Wow! That is awesome! You will also like this incredible website! Your grades will be as high as stars!

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  21. The article is well written, it takes courage to do anything.Nice writing style. Looking forward to reading more from you.,I finally decided to write a comment on your blog. I just wanted to say good job.

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