What started as a daydream; a flight of fancy on a rainy day over a decade ago, sparked an idea for a story about two raindrops on a little adventure. During that time I was working in a fast-paced corporate job, raising two toddlers and trying to stay sane. I dreamed about writing children’s books, but I never had time or energy to focus on it.
Years later, I am thrilled to say that I have published my story and become an award-winning author! I know, right! What does that even mean?
Let’s start from June 2022. My husband, two children and I moved to Canada and we lived off two suitcases each, for the next 5 months, while we waited for our belongings to arrive from South Africa. We settled into our new city and the kids started school that September. After moving into our house I had time to focus on my dream so I began researching, attending webinars and taking up courses about writing and publishing children’s books.
I wrote my draft and after a number of edits I worked with a wonderful illustrator, Steven Tu to produce the book. As the ‘publishing date’ approached, I got ready for the launch date. I set up some promos and spread the news amongst my small network of friends and family.
Two Little Raindrops launched on 17 October and received wonderful reviews. (You can check them out here). I am immensely grateful to everyone who has read Two Little Raindrops and left a review! They are so important to the book’s success.
I then decided to enter Two Little Raindrops for an award as I also wanted validation from an organization that is recognized for evaluating children’s books specifically, according to industry benchmarks.
I decided to enter Two Little Raindrops in the Mom’s Choice Awards® (let’s call it ‘MCA’ from now on). The MCA scores entries on a number of elements such as production quality, design, educational value, entertainment value, originality, appeal, and cost. To enter I filled in the application forms, providing all sorts of information about the book and target readers. I then posted three copies of the book to a location in the USA for the judging panel to review.
Time passed and in December, my husband, two kids and I were very lucky to have flown half way across the world to spend the holidays with our family in South Africa. And I really mean half way; it took a total of 39 hours from the time we left our house in Canada to the time we stepped off the plane in Johannesburg. What followed was (almost) a month of quality time spent with family; basking in the sun (with temperatures that reached 35 degrees Celsius); swimming in the Indian Ocean and feasting on our favorite dishes (thanks mom!).
I almost forgot about the application until I received an email from MCA congratulating me on receiving the Gold Mom’s Choice award. I am giddy with excitement!
What I’m really happy about is that parents and educators see the Mom’s Choice Awards® as a seal of approval when selecting quality products for children and families. The fact that parents and teachers love it means that people are enjoying reading the words that I wrote(!) alongside the beautiful illustrations!
I am very lucky to have had the opportunity to work on my dream, but this is a reminder to you: if there’s something you have always wanted to do, don’t hold back! Try to find the time and energy. At the very least, you will check an item off your bucket list, but you never know, you might just win an award!
This is just the beginning – there’s more, so I really hope you continue to follow my journey. Thank you for all your support!