My mom has an eight by ten postcard that I wrote in the third grade, pressed inside an old family photo album. It says, “I will be published all over the world,” written in thick, orange crayon.

Here is where I stand (in reaching that goal):

I have been published in THE WRITERS’ JOURNAL, HOPSCOTCH FOR GIRLS AND FUN FOR KIDZ children’s magazines.

Here is what I have available for future publication (not written in orange crayon):

HUMPHREY’S SECRET KINGDOM is a middle-grade novel with a modern day, fractured-fairy tale twist. It is written in short chapters, similar to Kevin Henkes’ book, “Olive’s Ocean.” Approximately 25,000 words, it is the story of a quirky and offbeat eleven-year-old boy with a photographic memory named Humphrey Peterson.

On the heels of murdering a houseplant and other unmentionable crimes Humphrey’s busy mother drops him off at the front gates of Disneyland to spend the day alone.

DON’T WALK BAREFOOT ON THE SIDEWALK is a realistic-fiction similar to Ben Mikaelsen’s book, “Petey.” Also a middle-grade novel (approximately 30,000 words), the story is about twelve-year-old Abigail Rose Santoni who is moving across country when her BIG Italian family gets into a horrific car crash in a small town in Arkansas. If only she were a character in a book, she would be so much more heroic. But maybe she is heroic. And in ways she never expected.

THE HIDEAWAY is a middle grade chapter book, (approximately 12,000 words) about how nine-year-old Peter is brought to THE HIDEAWAY. A place where he will be safe from his cruel foster dad, Mister Mumford Longfellow. While there he meets three new friends who are homeless and live in their van. As FlowerMiss speaks to them by musical compositions, Peter realizes that he can interpret the meaning behind her music as it speaks to him in a way that none of the others can understand.

ERNIE PEA AND THE PRINCESS is a creative nonfiction picture book text based in the year 1944. Ernie Pea learns how scarce rubber materials are because of the war, how he can ration and salvage old tires, raincoats and garden hoses because President Roosevelt has called for recycling these items.

These are my books. They have not been published “all over the world.” NOT YET.

I am in the throes of querying agents with these stories and have had many postive responses – requests for full and partial manuscripts.

I am hopeful.