I have just finished writing my 900th children's story and I still have many more ideas yet for many more new stories. I have several different characters that I use over and over again in my stories. I also will come up with new characters, if I see fit. I have written children's stories on many subjects from animals, babies, music and I have just started writing stories about controversial issues such as sexual abuse, alcohol and drug addiction and family issues.

To write a children's story I usually start with a simple idea. This idea can come to me in many ways. Here are some examples of different ways that I have gotten ideas in the past:

1. Sometimes I may hear a catchy phrase or even a single word. What I will do is mull that phrase or word in my head for a few hours. I think of what character best suits the phrase or word or if I don't already have a character in mind, I come up with a new one.
2. I see something happen in the world that is upsetting to me or something that I feel people need to be made aware of. These ideas usually come from news events that I have watched on television or newspaper articles that I read.
3. A lot of people know that I am a writer. I have had several people come up to me and say "Hey, such and such happened to me today. You should write a story about it." I find that once someone says that to me, it is like a challenge to me to write that story. I find that these types of stories are always the more difficult ones to write. The reason for that is because someone else is expecting me to write a story and if they don't like what I have written, then I feel that I have let that person down.
4. I write a lot of stories about animals. Most of the animal stories that I write are because I have actually seen the animal in real life that I have written about. I have also had a lot of pets in my life and a lot of my animal stories are based on these pets.`
5. I love to write children's stories about traveling. I have done a considerable amount of traveling throughout most of Canada and part of the eastern United States. I love to travel and if I could, I would make my living my traveling and writing about the places I have traveled to. I would love to travel throughout Europe and Australia someday.

Once I have the story idea and the character of the story picked out, I usually just start writing the story. When I am writing, I hardly know how the story is going to turn out. I very seldom ever know how my story will end. Some of my best stories that I have written have been written in this manner. This method may not work for a lot of people, but it certainly works for me.

As far as proofreading my stories, I have to admit that except for the odd spelling and grammar errors, I hardly ever make changes to my stories. I feel that making changes to my story takes away from it. I find that the story works itself out in the end somehow. I know a lot of writers plot their story outline on a graph or piece of paper before writing it. I'm not saying that isn't a good way for some people to write and there are a number of stories that I have actually plotted the outlines out before writing the story. However, for me, I find this way too constricting, like I have to follow that path on that graph no matter what. I prefer the freeform method of writing because it gives me freedom to write the way I want to write and to have the characters do what I want them to do.

The one suggestion that I would make to people that want to write children's stories is to just have fun with it. Write that story that is inside you. They say everyone has a story to tell. Let's just get those stories written down.