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.