FAQs

  • Use Google Keep or an old fashioned note pad to jot down story ideas. Transfer these gems into word documents weekly and keep editing whenever a new thought arrives.

  • Bonding, listening skills, language and cognitive development, are a few of the most important reasons to read to infants and toddlers. As healthline.com puts it, Even the youngest children benefit from hearing their caregivers read to them.

  • Psychology Today says, “Infants can start learning specific words from stories shortly after their first birthday. After hearing a new object name in a picture book, babies aged 15 to 18 months are able to transfer that new name to a real object, and even to drawings of the object (Ganea, Pickard, & DeLoache, 2008). A little later, infants can learn new actions from a book as well.”

  • After watching YouTube videos for about a year, then doing an outline of desired pages, it took me about 3 more weeks to navigate the Squarespace site, choose my template, images, and content. It then required 8 months of waiting for the web master to find time to work on my new site’s SEO (Search Engine Optimization), design interface between desktop and mobile versions, and publish it. In my case, he was in the neighborhood, so came over for a few hours to complete everything. ZOOM is another option.

    Of course, it all depends on how much you wish to contribute, either monetarily or in online research.

  • Read to your children whenever you can. Here is what Hannah Sheldon-Dean’s blog advises on the Child Mind Institute website:

    As important as reading together is, it doesn’t have to be a picture-perfect routine. Reading at the same time every day — as part of a bedtime routine, for example — can be comforting and make it easier to build the habit of reading, but anytime your child is hearing language and connecting with you makes a difference.

    Dr. Phillips notes that kids’ development happens in fits and starts, so kids who are gaining a lot of motor skills quickly might not be excited to sit in your lap and read. When that’s the case, it’s more helpful to meet kids where they are rather than trying to enforce rules that could make reading a less positive experience.

    “I have a nine-month-old now and she has zero interest in sitting still in my lap while I’m reading a book,” says Dr. Phillips. “But I’ll sit and look at a book myself and then she’ll come over and look with me. I can point to some words, say some words, maybe she’ll take the book from me or maybe she’ll wander away and I’ll keep reading while she’s playing in the same room. Whatever you can do is great.”

    Irene says, reading about natural settings inspires us to get out in the fresh air as often as possible. This will relax the entire family.

  • This can depend on the genre you are writing in, experience you have, and the market you prefer.

    Irene wanted to control the procedure of her 1st Children’s book. She also had her cousin, Ken Cotnam, to help with getting through Amazon’s review process.

    It can be a risky business, however, requiring much research and a certain amount of advertising expenditure.

    The learning constantly continues.

  • Draw from everyone you know, as well as those you view/read about who offer heartfelt, valid information. Be open to gleaning in a variety of ways.

    Irene’s focus is nature. She had kids, teachers, friends, a graphics design sister, a cousin who worked at Harlequin Books, along with countless clips online to sift through. It is a lesson in listening and discernment.