My personal goal was to have at least 1 book published by the time I turned 40. I set this goal on my 38th birthday.
I am happy to say I had 2 published in the 6 months before I turned 40. I have always been very determined to hit my goals, but this time it was personal. A life-long goal to finally share some of the hundreds of stories I have written. Well, probably thousands of stories at this point, but not every story needs to be shared.
I can remember writing stories and creating characters way back in elementary school. I loved to illustrate my own books back then too. I have kind of fallen out of that habit but the love of writing is alive and well within my soul!
I hope you have had a chance to hear about my first published series, The Adventures of Sparklepants. The first book I chose to release was, Sparklepants: Moving Day. The second book I released was, Sparklepants: Terrific Tea Party.
When I host book events, one of the questions I almost always get is: “Why did you pick that book to be your first book?”
I thought I should answer that very popular question….. I chose Sparklepants: Moving Day to be my first release because moving was something I did several times as a child. I know how it feels to go to a new school and make new friends and how scary that can be for a kiddo. You have to pack everything up, move into a new house, make new friends, find your way around a new school and it can be overwhelming. I thought by explaining what a Realtor does to help everyone find a new home and reassure kiddos that their parents will try to make the new house feel like home even if everything looks different, that can be okay! I included a “Super Important” box because one time when I moved, we lost all of my favorite things! My Mom helped me pick out new favorites, and everything worked out. I put a spin on my real-life experiences and added a super cute puppy named Sparklepants to liven up my stories.
The second book was, Sparklepants: Terrific Tea Party. My very dear friend Molly Nesham owns a tea company named Persnicketea. She is a Tea Sommelier. I can remember a lot of jobs at career day, but nothing like a Tea Sommelier!!! I thought it would be fun to teach kiddos what a Tea Sommelier does, so I released it next.
I am hooked on Persnicketea tea blends… I have so many favorites! I wanted to make my story relatable for kiddos and easy to understand by taking my characters on an amazing tea party where they meet Molly!
In fact, I love her tea so much that I named my publishing house Tea Time Publishing!
The next question is always, “What Sparklepants story will you release next?” I have 30 stories written for this series right now and so many of them are my new favorites! I am leaning toward either:
Sparklepants: Vintage Memories or Sparklepants: Great BIG Make-Over
Both of those stories are with beta readers right now! They are both edited and one will be going to the illustrator soon!
Other super exciting stories I am currently creating include a wedding and future puppies!!!!!! You will absolutely fall in love with Sparklepants and Freckles sweet love story!
Can’t wait to share more soon! I have been very busy creating some amazing stories!
Sending Sparkles,
Stephanie Paasch
Author Stephanie Paasch 