I’ll tell you a little bit about how the idea came to me. Go back to around 1998. Wo, you say, that’s a LONG time ago…. No, that’s not when I started working on the current book. But, that is when our first born son Oskar was 2 years old and I spontaneously started inventing bedtime stories about this little mouse named Max and his forest buddies. Every evening, Oskar asked for more “Musen Max” (that’s Max the Mouse in Swedish) stories. The adventures of Max and his buddies developed and multiplied. And Oskar listened intently. He was a pro at listening attentively. And he still is.
My storytelling was always done at night time. It became our routine. As the stories developed, Max the Mouse introduced Oskar to new friends in the forest. There was Albert the bunny, who was always kind of worried about stuff and Max was the friend he turned to for advice and comfort. There was the big, brave and solid bear friend Brumm. And after a while we found Knut. He was the troll who was always up to mischief.
The storytelling became our routine. It never got boring. In 1999, Kaj was born. The stories continued with our second son Kaj, but Kaj wanted to decide how the story went. He wanted to be the one telling the stories. Kaj was a great storyteller in his own right and was pretty determined that his stories were the best! He added giraffes and all kinds of other characters into the stories! Oh boy! If I remember correctly, the Max the Mouse stories took a break for a while…
This all took place in Sweden. I was a busy at home mom with a husband who travelled constantly. But Sweden was a fantastic place to live with young kids. We spent a lot of time in the libraries, at playgroups and out playing in nature. It was at our weekly English Playgroup that I met Kelli, my illustrator.
Fast forward to 2001. Our third son Lukas was born and life was very busy and full of fun. Sure there were moments when I wanted to throw in the sponge, and fly home to my parents in Switzerland. I was a mom of three boys 5 years old and younger. Phew.
One afternoon, as soon as Bill came home from work, I expressed my fatigue and said that I needed to get out of the house to my supportive hubby. I grabbed baby Lukas in his car seat and headed into town to attend an auction. Never done that before! A few hours later, I came home with a rug and several beautiful ceramic pots. A little impulsive shopping therapy! Soon thereafter, we got an invitation to a friend’s wedding in Switzerland. Bill said: “you go. I’ll take care of the boys.” That was exactly what I needed. A break from my life as a full time mom. Just for a little while. I took some “me time”.
And I came back refreshed. I had moments thereafter of wondering what I was “going to be when I grew up.” And that’s when I started to type up some of my stories about Max the Mouse and his forest buddies. I didn’t want to forget them. All three boys were hearing the adventures now and they loved them. So, the little seed of an idea started to grow in my mind. The idea of making a book.
Life with three little boys kept me (us) very busy. I don’t regret being at home with them for one moment . I feel very grateful that I could do that. Financially and logistically, my husband and I had agreed that we wanted to make it work with me being the child and household manager. Fast forward again, and Bill’s work brought us to Belgium. Also a fantastic place to live with young boys. There were just as many outdoor activities to do there. And storytelling continued to be part of my and the boys’ daily activities.
As the boys grew, played and eventually started going to school, I began again to wonder what I would do “when I grow up”. Our life in Belgium only lasted 2 years and then we moved our family to Switzerland (my actual “home” country). Yippee! That’s where I began volunteering and working as a teacher. And I contacted Kelli again. Did she want to illustrate our first Max the Mouse book?
She accepted without hesitation. I had written one of the Max adventures (in Swedish) and wanted to make a book out of it. We worked on it together. I did the digital design part and found a digital book company in Sweden who would print it and put it up on their website for a year. I can’t even explain in words when I first had my book in my hands! The story as I had told it to our boys. I might add that the three boys were also very happy to get a copy, of course.
So I had a pile of little softcover books. My baby. But I had no clue how to market or sell it. It had never really been my first priority, but this was such naiveté. Why did I print a pile of them? I gave away books to family members and friends but then what? Kelli and I entered the book into a competition in Sweden. Rejection. Or rather, no answer at all. Our lives were busy and the fact is that I had no notion as to how to get my book on the market and I had no energy to find out. This was around 2010 or so.
Life goes on, children grow and become teenagers. I worked and played and our life was beautiful. We had moved from one part in Switzerland to another. And then, fast forward to a global event: Covid-19 pandemic of 2020. I was working from home as a teacher when the schools closed. And during the summer, I discovered a Masterclass (from Canada) about how to become a children’s book writer. I hesitated at first but then I signed up. I decided that now was the time to translate the original book into English and learn how to get it made and marketed and be successful! The class was fantastic. I learned so much and I’ve got a bunch of new online friends.
Once you join a Masterclass and start learning all about self publishing a children’s book, you realize it is no simple task! Miriam Laundry gave us all her tips and secrets and detailed her journey as a successful children’s book author and business owner. She’s very inspiring! By the time the class started, I had already rewritten my story in English. And for some reason, it sounded best written in rhyme. Turned out I was not the only person in the class who likes to write in rhyme. How fun! But then, one of the things we’re told is that it’s preferable not to write in rhyme. Yikes! I tried to rewrite in prose. It just didn’t work for me. I stuck with rhyme.
I connected to many other platforms for children’s book authors and I heard it time and again -don’t write in rhyme. Unless you know how to do it. We don’t want the reader to stumble over the words. So, one more thing to learn. Meter. The meter of the rhyme has got to be done correctly. So I spent a few days studying this. It goes without saying that the manuscript got rewritten many times! I’m not a perfectionist normally, but I feel like I almost reached that status.
I stumbled upon the name of a well respected editor: Jana Broecker. She specializes in rhyming picture books. Yay! So I contacted her and we started working. Like a scientific examination of my manuscript. It went through many more changes. The names of the characters changed too. That was a difficult decision for me. Emotional, but it made sense. My book had changed from a very simple Swedish children’s book to a rhyming picture book in English. So Max became Maxwell Mouse and Albert, the bunny, changed to Bertie Bunny.
I have a routine in the mornings when I wake up. I do deep breathing exercises. It’s my mindfulness meditation practice. The trick is to breathe as deeply as I possibly can from far down in the abdomen and exhale as slowly as possible. If I can manage to do thirty of these, my fingers and toes start to tingle. I imagine the oxygenated blood reaching all parts. It’s super healthy for you. Lo and behold, on several occasions when I do these breathing exercises, some new idea pops into my head! Give it a try!
So, one of the ideas that popped into my head one fine morning was this: why not offer a cute soft animal (bunny) to the first 50 people who buy the book? And, ask Tina (a friend who is very talented at crochet) if she would be willing to make me a Bertie Bunny prototype. I messaged her, she loved the idea! We met and she then made me a beautiful crocheted bunny! She created one out of glacial grey Alpaca wool. She actually made a small one and a bigger one. And she put a scarf on the little guy! It was winter and cold outside.
Then, I started wondering where I could have 100 or so of these bunnies made. I don’t think I could afford Swiss prices. I looked online and I spoke about it left and right. Several friends messaged me with ideas of where to order some crocheted bunnies in Switzerland. I was so thrilled that so many people were thinking of me and my bunny! It truly warms my heart. And then one day, here I am speaking with another great friend: Marisa. She says, why don’t we organize for it to be made in Argentina. She loves supporting her people there and she is the best at helping friends out. A quick call later with her brother over there and here we are already connected to a woman who can crochet 100 bunnies for me!!
My book is now with my illustrator (in Sweden) and the bunnies are being made in Argentina. This book is an international project. Thanks for reading!