The Origins of an Idea

A pair of mourning doves who demanded their own book...

Morning, Mourning Doves girl and fledgling

I'm excited to share that I have decided to publish my own children's book, Good Morning Mourning Doves, through mine and my husband's publishing division, Blue Bear Stories. (The title is still in the works. More on that later.)

This story is one close to my heart. Anyone who follows me on social media has seen the photos I took in the summer of 2020 of the birds #Inmywindow. I was delighted to wake one morning to the noisy going-ons of a mourning dove couple setting up home in our top floor window in the back of the building.

In My Window

Over the first summer of the pandemic I was privileged to watch the development of two families from the same couple and was inspired to write a story about it and how it effected my life and brought a new sense of wonder.

I tried writing this story in prose -- blah -- too long winded with no real passion. So I put it aside for a while. I was struck with inspiration during January's Storystorm event, hosted by Tara Lazar, where writers write a new picture book (or anything really) idea each day for a month. Awesome! A guest blog post by Amanda Davis, Storystorm 2021 Day 29: Amanda Davis Keeps Creative Juices Flowing with Haiku From Two was just what I needed. She encouraged haiku writing as a warm up exercise. Bingo! I would write this story in haiku!

I hadn't written haiku since elementary school. I remembered enjoying it, so I gave it a try and fell in love. I was obsessed counting syllables, ticking off on my fingers, over and over. Short punchy language, to the point, no excess, and I found the story!

Lilly wakes to hear...

Coo cooing in the window.

"Morning, Mourning Doves.

I also created a some exploratory illustrations. Here's one that I quite like.

Fly mourning dove, fly!

Picture books are short and sweet -- under 500 words if possible. I feverishly wrote the story all in haiku and sent it to a couple of my critique partners, nervous and excited. They loved it and had some great suggestions, including for me to really lean into the haiku. Again, obsessed, I wrote and rewrote and researched (haiku and Mourning Doves), and came out the other side with something I was very excited about.

My first stanza, setting the scene of mourning doves in a big city. I moved away from a parallel story with Lilly and the baby birds to a narrative nonfiction voice.

You awake to hear...

Male calls Coo-OOO-woo-woo-woooo.

Morning, Mourning Doves.

Again I sent it out to my various critique groups who helped immensely in shaping, pushing me in acknowledging the truth of the story, encouraging and making amazing suggestions for comp titles and for changes. Another critique source suggested I try writing it in prose. So, I did.

I had it in the back of my mind to try this route again, but I had to complete this stage first. I rewrote it, keeping the short and lyrical language and style and again created something I loved! More CPs (critique partners).

I decided to add snippets of fun facts to each spread vs. having all the information in the back matter to reinforce the information presented with the prose and with the art on each spread. This would also target multiple types of readers -- those who like story/fiction and those who like facts and information.

Sketching began -- doodles, thumbnails, fulls size sketching, character, and reference sketching, pushing pulling with the idea of nature in the city with unique angles, flying, freedom of the skies among the buildings of the city. I added text borders, structure, elements, fun facts. I spent time on the roof in the garden, sketching, taking photos, imagining flying above, perching in the mulberry tree, seeing my apartment building from above, below -- exploring the angles and perspectives that I feel make my book unique.

When I got to a point where I was excited to start painting, I knew I had something. I painted a couple spreads and am excited to paint the rest of them. This is going to be a fun adventure, and I thank you for joining me on this journey!

Let the flight begin! Chirrup-churr-churr!

Morning, Mourning Doves cover sketch