Writing for Children

... OF ALL AGES

Even though I've been a performer for children since 1986, my song and fiction writing has largely been for adults. I have two projects for kids, and here they are:

The Old Elephant's Christmas

For ages 5 to 10
Available on CD

more info

Tiny Teresa Twiddle, Mr. Witherbee Whopperwill, and the Terrific Toenail Town

For ages 4 to 8
Winner of a 2004 Saskatchewan Writers Guild Literary Award
In search of a publisher!

Summary: The tale of a town where all the residents paint their toenails to celebrate the end of winter, a tradition begun because of a little girl who once got a terrible case of the "jibblegerms."

"A totally outrageous and offbeat story for kids with some very playful and imaginative elements."

Lesley Choyce - juror

FAQ: How long does it take to write a story?

It really depends on the story. The two projects mentioned above are good examples for comparison. I wrote Tiny Teresa off and on for about three months. In hours, it probably took me 50 or so. That includes all the revisions. If I ever get it published I'll likely have to do more revisions for the publishing company.

The Old Elephant's Christmas (OEC) took me much, much longer. I worked on it off and on for about a year. With all the songs and revisions and testing it live in front of an audience and doing more revisions, it probably took me 400 hours, which is approximately three months of full-time work. That doesn't include the time to make the CD.

FAQ: Did someone pay you money to write these stories?

No. But I did win a prize of $100 for Tiny Teresa, and maybe one day I will sell the story. But maybe not. You just never know in this business!

With OEC I hope to one day make some money from selling the CDs (once I break even) and I also make money by performing the show live, so that's why I invested 400 hours of time to write the story and songs.