I have been busy getting my curriculum ready for the class that I’ll be teaching this fall at my local college. Along the way, I decided to share some of that class online via social media, and I launched Looking at Lit, a free club for anyone who wants to learn more about literature. I knew that the release date for my new picture book was looming on my horizon, but I had placed that release on the back burner while I began sharing about literature, in general. Among other things, I told anyone who would listen that all writers need to study other writers.

I also shared what I knew about a few themes, including about the literary theme of Dark versus Light. At the time that I began that project, I wasn’t thinking about what I would write next. I was strictly sharing for other people until it occurred to me that I need to start a new picture book, and I need to harness the theme of Dark versus Light.

I considered several potential book ideas, and I began writing a few stories, and then, realized: “Hey! I’ve already written a book about Dark versus Light–and that book is about to be released in bookstores everywhere.

I don’t want to be a plot spoiler, but one of the lines in The Donkey’s Song is: “A Bit of the Night turned to Day.”

What I do want to tell you is that the theme of Night versus Day is so very familiar to me that I didn’t even think about it when I was writing it. The words just poured out of me–looking for a place to land.

My Intuition Actually Wrote My Debut Picture Book, The Donkey’s Song, I Just Typed

Today, I am excited for a variety of reasons. My debut picture book is about to be released, and I have realized that what I have been telling everyone else about writing is true:

1. Read, read, read other people’s writing
2. Etch into your memory everything that you can learn about literary themes, figurative language, symbols, and symbolism..
3. Then, just let it all brew in your brain for a while.
4. When you begin writing, turn off your self-editor, and allow your intuition to write.
5. Without your even knowing it, your intuition will tell your story the way that it needs to be told.
6. Your intuition will draw from what you have banked inside your mind, and
7. Voila! Your story will be born.