Last week my daughter came over to show me how to set up a blog. She quickly navigated through all the choices and in less than an hour I had my own blog. It took that long because I couldn't decide which background to have. After looking through the variety of backgrounds from high-tech to nature, I came across this picture of an ancient desktop computer. Instantly I was transported back to my first job as a graphic designer and my first experience using a computer. Learning to use that top-of-the-line word processing machine was frustrating and fun at the same time--I was a fish out of water. The image of this old computer represents the start of a journey which I am still in middle of.
     Creating this blog and sharing my thoughts with the world is another one of those fish-out-of-water experiences. However since the "world" will probably be just a few family members and friends, I probably shouldn't panic. Since trying something you've never done before is a theme in my children's picture book series (WantsToBe.com), I'm getting to know the feeling first hand. I have started many things and I can honestly say that whatever I was determined to finish enriched my life.

     When I first got the idea for this series of books, I just wanted to duplicate the good times I had telling these stories to my youngest son. But as I read the reviews it became apparent that whether I liked it or not, every story has a message and what our readers were finding was that it was not the one they were expecting. This in itself starts some interesting conversations and sparks the imagination of both children and parents. Having a talented writer like Valerie has brought these tales to life and I hope you enjoy our first book The Snake Who Wanted to Be a Horse.