In this Chapter....

 

I have been drawing and writing stories for most of my life!  Early in school, I was drawing giant cartoon posters at school of characters like Garfield and Mario - then selling them for 25 cents each.  Even then, I had a creative and entrepreneurial spirit.

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Before I was 7, my family had moved 4 times between Newfoundland, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland back again, and I think that is what led to all the imaginative stories and daydreams that filled my head.  One lifetime doesn't seem long enough to get them all down on paper!

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My biggest challenge was believing I could become an artist, writer and illustrator.  I had a creative writing teacher who gave me the advice to believe in myself and my work.  But it wasn't until much later that I listened to that advice.

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I painted windows for businesses in my 20s, did a couple of years at art school and then left to live in the UK!  There, I studied creative writing and was published in non-fiction books for both illustrations and writing.

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My husband and I moved back to Canada later on and after having our beautiful son, I opened my art studio and gave classes in 2015.  

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But, in 2019, my first children's book was published and I truly felt that I had come full circle and home to doing what I truly love.  Some of the characters that I draw now, I doodled when I was a teenager!

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My greatest achievements are when children come up to me at different events and say they love one of my books, or a mom tells me that their child can't put down one of my books.  To me, that is the greatest feeling in the world.

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