With an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, I thought I had it all figured out. Self-publishing was beneath me. I wanted to create a book that was compelling enough to be published by the big Houses. But they could have cared less about me and my voice. Eventually I gave up on chasing this dream and focused on chasing my schnauzer and poodle in the Hundred Acre Wood nearby.

One late summer day as Herschel, Lorraine and I plodded home following an invigorating hike, my neighbor hollered to me, waving an invitation. She had become a consultant for an online publishing house called Heritage Makers and wondered if I had any interest in creating my own books online.

My writer's ego had shrunk to nothing by then, and so I said, "Tell me about it.  Sure, I'd love to publish a book."

I loved it more than I could have ever imagined.  I have a teensy weensie vision of the impossible yet the impossible seems to dominate my thinking more often than I admit.

Why is it I put up roadblocks, defining how things should be, based on the status quo?  It is only within the context of more spontaneous times that I recognize how tunnel visioned I truly am.  I wonder how many uniquely shaped trees I have missed because I was staring at the forest?  How many inspiring Hubs I have ignored because a particular title didn't grab my attention- or was it lint in my eye? 

The first book I published was for my Mom's 80th birthday, titled The Best Potato Pickers in the County. When it arrived in the mail, I took the formidable beast out of the packaging and just stared at it.  This was the moment I had awaited all my life- well, since I was five and decided I wanted to publish a book when I was old... and wise.  I released the necessity of wisdom as easily as I had given up fame.

That night I read Potato Pickers to my daughter, displaying the illustrations as I had when she was a little girl, worried about monsters under the bed. Sure, she was fifteen, but this was my book and it was about her grandmother. She was charmed and even impressed with it all.

I gave my mom this book on the occasion of her birthday. She was surrounded by all the grandchildren, who leaned in and immediately began asking questions: I didn't know you picked potatoes, Grandma! How do you pick potatoes, anyway? were you really the best potato pickers?  Which one is you in this photo and which one is your twin? You had a twin?

What grandmother wouldn't get a thrill out of answering these questions?  My mother held court for nearly an hour and I sat back, satisfied. A wave of recognition flowed through my empty brain; publishing wasn't about national distribution or fame. What was most important to me was sharing my stories with those I love.

My childhood dream of publishing was replaced by a passion to publish my stories for family and friends. And to help them share theirs with me.

The Best Potato Pickers in the County I fleshed out Mom's story by researching what it must have felt like to pick potatoes in North Dakota during the Depression and wrote a fictionalized version of this favorite memory, complete with sibling rivalry and mother/daughter sensibilities that mom said were "pretty darn accurate".

Household Hints for Movers and Shakers When my brother turned 50 and my first niece graduated, Mom took all of us to Hawaii as a last hurrah. I took lots of photos of them surfing and rolling in the sand, and put them into a silly little book containing helpful hints I'd received online, as well as quirky quotes. Then I tweaked these photos, turning surf boards into pizza slices, etc. This was their stocking stuffer and they appeared to love it!

Transformation A few years ago, our church built a new building. Over the course of three years, my husband took photos of the transfiguration. I was editor of the Episcopost at the time, and so I selected photos that illustrated the transformation, along with a sampling of original poems and writings composed by church members and inserted them into a leather-bound, coffee table book as a thank you.

I find great satisfaction from creating and gifting these books.

I also had a great time assisting one of my closest friends, Jane, as she published her story titled, Backpack. Jane spends a lot of time in Alaska. On one trip, she painted watercolors of a little grizzley bear that were so adorable I gifted her an 8x8 book and insisted she publish her journal into a storybook for her grandkids. She lives in New Jersey and I'm in Colorado, but we worked together online to connect her sweet, simple story of a limping cub with her accomplished artwork-- creating a book that her grandson thinks is the best ever! And it is...