Writing Unlimited

  Where do ideas for books come from? Anywhere and everywhere! They might come from experiences you have, travel, TV, overheard conversations, feelings you have, or something you heard on the radio. The other day, while listening to a news story on NPR, I learned about a woman, Toni Stone, who became the first female pro baseball player in the Negro Leagues. As I listened to her story, I thought, WoW, this could be a great picture book. It would be about her struggle to overcome gender and racial barriers.  I took notes about her life, and then I did some brief marketing research. Were there any books about her already written? Yes, there were a couple adult books as well as a graphic novel. Hmmm…a little more research revealed that the graphic novel is aimed at kids 9-13. Okay, so that would be the focus of the picture book I’d do, so there would be no use creating another book on the topic, right? Not necessarily    A few years back, I had an idea to do a book...