How Did You Write a Book

I read, I read, and I read some more. In the beginning I tried to read everything I could about Rochester. I quickly realized that there were a lot of books out there, but they were written for adults. The pictures were black and white and felt disconnected from the stories. I took notes about the parts that were interesting or most important to the evolution of the area. The hardest part was deciding when to start the story and which stories to include.

I needed to learn more. That's when I started to take fieldtrips. I went to the Rochester Museum and Science Center and took notes. I went to the Eastman House and took notes. I went on a tour of the Mount Hope Cemetary and took notes. I spent the entire summer reading and visiting places to learn as much as I could.

I am not an artist. I draw stick figures in my classroom. I researched using AI to create images and also talked to a few artists. In the end, I decided that I had to try and illustrate the story myself. That meant I had to not only learn to draw, but how to draw on the computer. More research! After many mistakes and failed attempts, I started to make progress.

I was so excited to hand my story off to an editor. My smile quickly faded when I saw all the revisions I had to make. It was hard to stay focused and not give up. I made the changes and sent my book off to get published as a first draft. Again, I was so excited and checked the mail every day to see if my book arrived. It finally showed up and within ten minutes I had written notes all over it. I still had A LOT of work to do.

I revised. I researched more. I fixed pictures. I drew new pictures. I deleted pictures. I revised again.  I went on more fieldtrips. I spoke with people that were experts. I had an editor read it again. And so on, and so on, and so on.... This part took three summers of work.

Finally it was time to publish the book. It was a very long road or starts and stops, but in the end it was worth it. Do you want to write a book? Do it! Hard work, creativity and patience is what you need. Everyone has a story to share.