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I’m about to publish my first children’s book. A little over one hundred words and I still feel a bit

terrified that I’m about to PUBLISH it! How did this even come to be, I ask myself?

My parents read me a lot of books when I was a small child, and one day I began reading on my own. I’ve been reading book after book ever since then! And despite the fact that I have so far been unable to have children (which is the topic of my first book), I have always loved kids, and four years ago I transitioned from working in an office to working as a nanny, and the children I take care of each day have inspired me as a writer.

Before I became a nanny, my husband and I were eating a meal with an older couple, and the wife said to me, “Betsy, you need to write a children’s book. I want to see a draft in a month.” Well, that deadline came and went because I didn’t know where to begin! However, she had planted an idea in my head that never went away.

Several years later, after our move to the DC area, I attended a writers’ conference that literally unlocked ideas inside my heart and I began to actually pursue my dream of writing books. One day at the writers’ group I’m part of, we were instructed to write about the color green. I pieced together some ideas I’d had for a children’s book, and wrote the first couple of pages about spring including the phrase “the world outside is green.”

I kept writing about all four seasons, tying them together with a theme that came from my own struggle to see God’s goodness in barren years. One evening I timidly read my book to other artists at my church, and Donna said, “Do you know that this is really good?” Her exhortation gave me confidence to keep sharing these words.

Okay, I have the words. But now I’m stuck. How do I illustrate a children’s book? I can’t draw a stick figure!

I’m an “indie author” and love it. That means that I independently publish my books. Thanks to technology and social media, I currently bypass the traditional publishing methods. However, I needed an artist.

Well, when we first moved to the DC area in 2012, a friend from back home put me in touch with her friend here. I attended church with this woman the first week in our new town, and she introduced me to Karen Schneider, who quickly became a friend.

Earlier this year I inquired on my Facebook page “Does anybody want to illustrate a children’s book?” Several people were interested – and Karen’s artistic ability and commitment stood out to me. I prayerfully decided to team up with Karen as the illustrator, with a hope of finishing the project before the end of the year. Her illustrations are eye-catching and timeless, and her creativity is invaluable.

Here we are, weeks away from finishing this project. I believe that the words will stay in people’s hearts and minds like they do in mine. In fact, I sing the words to this book often. I’ll share the music one day, but in a few weeks I’m sharing the words and pictures. Just the other day I was pushing a child on a swing at the local playground, and I heard myself say a line from the book, “We swing and slide and bounce around, until the sky is dark.”

This will be a beautifully illustrated children’s book with a message that has made people cry. It’s certainly made me choke up with emotion at times, but when I shared it with a woman my mom’s age, tears ran down her cheeks. She needed to hear those words, she told me. Her kids are grown and as she’s approaching a new season of health problems and retirement, she needs to be reminded of the goodness of God in her life.

I have come to deeply love the fact that God is unchangingly good. Through every season of my life, whether it seems like God’s goodness is abounding or whether it seems that it has run dry, He’s still good. For me, even in this barren season, God is good toward me.

That’s the essence of this children’s picture book we’ll be launching very soon. It’s a fun, beautifully illustrated picture book of little children going through the seasons of life, yet my hope is that a message will take root in the hearts of the readers, and in every forthcoming season my readers will remember the goodness of God. 

My hope is that children and adults alike will see glimpses of themselves and glimpses of God in our first children's book entitled Seasons.

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Hi, I’m Betsy, and I live in the Washington, D.C. area with my husband, Mike. We have been married since 2008. We enjoy exploring new cities together on foot, eating at our favorite Italian restaurants, and doing life as a team.

I published my first book Embracing Hope During Infertility in January 2015. You can learn more about me here. I would love for you to connect with me by following my Betsy Herman, Writer Facebook page. 

Thanks so much for reading my posts!