My year in writing: I made some progress but look what cool things my friends did too!

2025 was... weird. For many reasons. The country, and indeed, the world, was a big source of stress for most of us, and writing for children didn't always seem like the most important thing to be doing.

But we know books, especially books for children, ARE important and our stories are worth telling, so somehow, we persevere.

Here's how my year looked:

Queries: 2025 was a lighter year for me in terms of queries - only 12 sent. I think that was due to a combination of factors, not the least of which is that it seems to me fewer agents who used to represent picture books are still doing so? Maybe that's just my impression. Over the course of my 8(?) years actively querying, I have sent out over 150 queries. I'm proud that I'm still putting my work out there - because anyone who does this knows how hard it is and how disappointing those rejections can be. But I do believe that my stories are worthwhile and have a place on the library and bookstore shelves and in people's homes, so I try to push past the self-doubt and keep going.

Visiting Books of Wonder in NYC!

Stories: I currently have seven (YES, SEVEN) completed/revised/polished/critiqued/revised again/etc. manuscripts that I am very proud of. In 2025 I drafted 2 additional, both of which I am excited about and continue to work on. I have a number of additional stories that I've started over the years, and every now and then I take one out and try to go somewhere with it.

My stories are primarily funny, because those are the kinds of stories I enjoy reading most in storytime. My protagonists are often (but not always) animals (capybara! Bear! Sloth!) or inanimate objects like vegetables (a rutabaga and a potato, to be specific). However, there's often a social-emotional element that will resonate with toddlers or preschoolers without being didactic or preachy. I hate stories with an overt "moral." Kids are much smarter than we often give them credit for being. For example: The preschooler who once described an oval as "a circle lying down." Mind: blown.

In 2025 I continued, and will continue, to meet with my writing/critique group, The Story Spinners, pretty regularly. We were able to have a couple of short writing retreats which were a much needed opportunity to focus on writing when the many distractions of the world and our daily lives make things difficult.

The Story Spinners are an absolutely stellar group of human beings. I'm excited that one member, Elizabeth Duncan, has her debut picture book coming out this year: Antonia Brico and her Magic Wand: The Extraordinary Story of Antonia Brico, Symphony Conductor, illustrated by the magnificent Victoria Tentler Krylov is a story of a Colorado-based groundbreaking conductor. Susan Wroble, who writes fascinating and detailed science and ecology-based picture books, also has her debut coming in 2027 from Holiday House- DAWN CHORUS: Conservation Efforts that Help Protect Birdsong Around the World. I have no doubt that one of Rondi Frieder's middle grade novels will be on your shelves someday soon, and the same goes for Karen Deger McChesney's YA and Coral Jenrette's adult fiction. Honestly, my writing is infinitely better thanks to the thoughful reading and consideration by these amazing women.

Most years I am able to attend my regional (Rocky Mountain!) SCBWI conference - Letters and Lines - but this year I was abroad so I had to miss that much-anticipated way to connect with the Colorado kidlit writing community. But I was fortunate enough to see some folks in other venues. I was glad to celebrate Stan Yan's debut graphic novel The Many Misfortunes of Eugenia Wang at both the American Library Association's summer conference in Philly as well as at his book launch party in Boulder. It was fun to see so many other Colorado kidlit folks at the launch, including friends Anden Wilder and Kaz Windness, who also had wonderful new books release in 2025.

It was exciting, too, to see the picture book of a library-world friend debut in 2025! Rachel G. Payne is also a librarian specializing in early childhood literacy, albeit working across the country from me in Brooklyn, NY. We had the good fortune to work together on the inaugural Excellence in Early Learning Digital Media Award that was given by the Association of Library Services for Children in 2019. Her debut picture book, Let's Rumble! A Rough-and-Tumble Book of Play (illustrated by José Pimienta) is a celebration of rough (but safe) play.

Former library coworker and now full-time author and illustrator (and all-around lovely human being) Brittany Chiccese also had a book released in 2025 - her third she has illustrated - called Just In Case: Saving Seeds in the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. Her debut author/illustrator book, Tiny Worlds, JUST came out a few days ago and I can't wait for my copy to arrive in the mail.

I was lucky enough to get to visit (and buy kids' books from) bookstores in Donegal, Ireland, London, and New York City. I even visited a library in Trim, Ireland - and met a librarian there originally from Texas!

I'm not sure of a good way to end this summary of my writing life in 2025. It was a year. Some writing happened. Some querying happened. Some joyful book stuff happened.

Here's to a lot more of the same in 2026.