By Pamela Burba

Every author dreams of writing the next cherished treasure like The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. But where do you start?

“It’s always best to start at the beginning. And all you do is follow the Yellow Brick Road.”

– Glinda the Good Witch of Oz 

 

Is there something keeping you from getting started? Did Dorothy let the Wicked Witch of Oz stop her from taking that first step?

Glinda the Good Witch of Oz was the first of many to encourage her to get on her path and stay on it no matter what. I’d love to encourage you to take that first step! So grab those ruby slippers and join me as I take you on my fairy special journey.

My sister Cheryl and I loved when our Mother read us fairy tales as children. We always dreamed of creating a fairy tale that not only teaches children in a fun way but also lets the story continue from book to book. All we needed was…an idea for a fairy tale.

Sometimes your story may be right under your nose.

As it turns out, our idea was sitting there right in front of us all our lives. We just didn’t realize it until our cherished mother Dottie passed away at the age of ninety five.

Our mother told us sweet story she over and over our entire lives. It involved me as a four-year-old trying to buy an ice cream cone with a penny I’d found.

We were sitting around reminiscing about this story, and suddenly we realized THAT was our book idea. From a sweet simple story came the perfect idea for our fairy tale! Hooray, our feet were finally on that yellow brick road!

Ice Cream and Sprinkles and Fairies! Oh my!
            –Pamela Burba

If I could give one piece of advice it would be to have fun while you are creating your story. Just take your time and enjoy the journey! Much like Dorothy, our journey is full of wonderful stories that happened along the way that we will treasure forever.

Once the Dottie Sprinkles character was created, the story began to fall into place Children would visit Dottie’s Fairy Special Ice Cream Shop and soon learn it was run by ice cream fairies. Dottie would teach gentle lessons to the children of Ferry Harbor. The love for our Mother just poured into the story.

And so Dottie Sprinkles Fairy Special Ice Cream Shop was born.

 

“In all this world there is nothing so beautiful as a happy child.”
– L.
Frank Baum 

It helps to know your goal. Ours was to bring happiness to children by creating a magical way for them to learn gentle lessons. And just by reminiscing—brainstorming—we were able to find our idea, and the stories just poured out of us.

Just like Dorothy kept her goal of getting home in front of her it helped us to never give up!

“Oh, look! There’s the Emerald City! Oh, we’re almost there at last!”
– Dorothy Gale

How exciting to reach the final step on the yellow brick road and reflect on what you hoped to accomplish when you started.

For us it is our hope that children will cherish Dottie Sprinkles long after The Fairy Grandmothers have clicked the heels of their ruby shoes and headed home.

 

Writing

Follow Your Yellow Brick Road From Beginning to End

Image
Author Feature

How a Good Girl, Proved that Kindness Still Matters!

The following are the words of Alexis Bloomer, Archway Publishing author of Good Girl Bad World” and “Kindness is Key.” For more on the author, visit her Facebook page, Twitter and website. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services.

The Inspiration for My Book

My freshman year of college (2012), I was sitting in my in college apartment at Sam Houston State University and I thought back to my first year in high school and remembered how lonely I felt that year. I was in college, making new friends and I was reminded of the past and the words that hurt me. Isn’t that crazy? How we can remember comments that hurt us, more than ones that celebrated us? Just like the hurtful comments, I remembered a comment from one of my favorite authors, Dr. Seuss, “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not!” Such simple words that impacted my story, profoundly. Continue reading

Standard
Writing

Building Blocks for Writing

The following are the words of  Ralph Mosgrove, Archway Publishing author of  “Saying Thanks and Beyond.” Learn more about Ralph on his author Facebook page. Download the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services.

Drawing Inspiration

 1. Examine a life-changing experience in life and formulate thoughts on paper. Starting with Title, Sub-Title and an outline. For me it was my wife, Elsie who provided the impetus for this book. Her disabling fall, in 2008, breaking her hip and back changed our lives dramatically.

 2. After her death in 2015 I began thinking about our conversations concerning people who offered themselves by opening doors for her as she approached with her four-wheel walker. This act of kindness, repeated over and over, caused us to say, what more can you say beyond “Thank You” to these considerate, compassionate people. Continue reading

Standard
Author Feature

Who Are We Writing For? by Larissa Juliano

The following are the words of Larissa Juliano, author of Gracie Lou. Larissa is an elementary and library teacher in upstate New York. Besides teaching, her passion in life is writing books in hopes of inspiring children to use their imagination, especially through literature. She currently has two more books in production with her trusted Archway team. You can follow Larissa on Twitter @larissasjulianoDownload the Archway Publishing free publishing guide for more information on our supported self-publishing services.  Continue reading

Standard