If you had walked into my parents’ house right after I had my first daughter, you would have found my dad and me standing in the basement, staring at a children’s book about a cat. I won’t name any names, but let’s just say… it was absolutely terrible and it was the only children’s book that they had.
Now, my dad and I have always been the designated family rhymers. Give us a birthday, an anniversary, or a random Tuesday, and we are probably coming up with a playful verse for the family chat. So, looking at this awful cat book, we had a synchronized “lightbulb” moment. We looked at each other and said, “We can do so much better than this.”
Right then and there, the dream of writing a children’s book was born.
The 48-Hour Whirlwind
When my dad and I sit down to create, we just feed off each other’s energy. It’s fast, it’s chaotic, and it’s a total blast. Once we decided on the concept for Rae’s Lake Day, the basic storyline and the rhymes practically flew onto the page. It only took us a night or two to write the core of the book.
But writing a story is only half the battle. If we were actually going to print this and put it out into the world, we wanted the quality to be top-notch. We knew our words were solid, but we also knew the illustrations needed to be better than anything we could doodle ourselves.
So, we made it a full-blown family affair.
We called up my cousin, Marie who happens to be an incredible artist, to bring the characters and the lake to life with beautiful, professional looking illustrations. Then, we talked to my other cousin to officially edit the manuscript and make sure every single syllable was polished to perfection. It became a beautiful, living snapshot of our family’s combined talents.
The Big Leap: The Kickstarter Journey
Once the manuscript was polished and the artwork was ready, we hit a massive fork in the road: How do we actually fund and print a high-quality book independently? Enter Kickstarter.
If you’ve never run a crowdfunding campaign before, let me tell you—it is a wild, emotional, and vulnerable ride. It is one thing to share a creative project with your family and friends; it is an entirely different thing to put your heart and soul on the internet and ask the world to back it financially.
We had to figure out reward tiers, calculate printing and shipping costs, film a campaign video, and layout the entire project page. The pressure was on because Kickstarter is an “all-or-nothing” platform—if you don’t hit your exact funding goal before the timer runs out, you get absolutely nothing.
When we finally hit that “Launch” button, my stomach was in knots. But what happened next completely blew us away. In the first 15 days, we were already 82% funded. But we needed to be 100% funded in order to get any of the money.
Slowly but surely, the notifications rolled in. Friends, family, and even complete strangers started backing our dream. Watching that funding progress bar tick upward every day was one of the most thrilling, humbling experiences. Thanks to an incredible community of supporters, we didn’t just hit our goal—we surpassed our funding goal for Rae’s Lake Day by $300.
From a Late-Night Joke to the Bookcase
Holding the first physical, hardbound copy of Rae’s Lake Day in my hands was a moment I’ll never forget. It started as a funny critique of a terrible cat book, survived a whirlwind writing session with my dad, became a beautiful collaboration with my cousins, and was brought to the finish line by an amazing community on Kickstarter.
It taught me that when you have a creative spark, you shouldn’t ignore it—even if you have to learn an entirely new platform like Kickstarter to make it happen.
Want to check out the finished product or grab a copy for your own little ones? Head over to the Book page to see more information.
BONUS: As a mom, I knew I wanted this book to be more than just a storytime read—I wanted it to be interactive. So, I’ve created a few hands-on activity printables so kids could follow along with Rae’s adventures and practice early learning skills.
(Whether you have the book yet or not, you can grab these free activity sheets for your little ones right now on our new Free Resources Page!)
Well…Bye!! May your coffee be strong and your toddlers’ tantrums be short!