Life Lessons

“Why are you writing this book?” A friend, also an author, asked me this simple question not long after I began writing The King’s Broad Arrow. The simplest answer – life lessons. She grabbed a scrap of paper and wrote, “I have something important to share with children in the world.” That little piece of paper is still taped near my desk. It helped me keep my focus many times when the process of writing a book felt entirely overwhelming. 

Having spent a significant amount of my life working with kids – many years as a swim instructor, several as a preschool teacher, a few more teaching in a private school, and 22 as a mother – there are life lessons I have gathered, carried, and want kids to understand. Other than that, and the fact that the main character would be a kid from Maine named Sam, I had no plan, no story – just a few things I hoped readers, young or old, would take from the book – You’re never too old to make, or learn from, mistakes. You are braver than you realize. Know your strengths. Face your fears. Carry your burden. Every person you meet can teach you something. 

It has been incredibly joyful and exciting to create Sam, his story, and a place to share those beliefs. As I prepare to let Sam’s story make its way in the world, I’m both thrilled and nervous. It helps to pay attention to my own lessons: repeating the words I gave Thomas Paine, “Many of life’s greatest experiences begin with a huge, terrifying question mark”; remembering the huge, terrifying question marks that preceded some wonderful parts in my life; harnessing imagination to hope instead of doubt; and feeling stubbornly optimistic that another great adventure is waiting on the other side of the question mark!