The Perfect Words

This week I am focusing all of my editing energy into a rhyming picture book that I've been working on for about a year and a half now. I know there are "BEWARE" and "TURN BACK" signs posted all along the road to creating a rhyming picture book. I even tried to go back and rewrite this story several times as a picture book without rhyme. It's just one of those books that has to be told in rhyme.

To be honest, I LOVE this manuscript. It makes me laugh every time I read it. I just have to make sure editors feel the same way.

I spend a substantial amount of time at a site called Rhymezone. I find words that rhyme that I never would have thought of on my own. Although some days I find myself stuck and trying to force a rhyme that sounds pretty lame and only takes away from the story.

Maybe one day I'll post a blog about the journey this manuscript took from the initial thought to its publication, but for now, I'll keep editing. Yes, this part of the writing process can often be tedious, but when I find the perfect word for the perfect sentence, a mundane editing day can quickly become a fun time. 

Review of Nancy Rue's Here's Lily

 

The main character in Nancy Rue's Here's Lily is Lily Robbins, a clumsy sixth-grader who is relentlessly teased by many at school, but particularly Shad Shifferdecker. Kathleen, who works at a modeling agency, takes a special interest in Lily. Lily becomes swept away with the idea of becoming a model and really rubbing Shad's nose in her success. Before Lily's parents agree to help Lily pursue her modeling dreams, they give her the difficult task of finding God in modeling.

This book is perfect for preteen girls. It is broken into fourteen chapters with a total of one hundred and thirty-two pages. It's a bit longer than what's considered a chapter book, but not as long as many middle grade. The content is preteen appropriate.

I was really impressed with the message for preteen girls. Nancy Rue does a fabulous job of helping young women understand that beauty has less to do with gobs of makeup and clothes and more to do with confidence and doing God's will. 

Not only was the message touching, but the story was very fast-paced. I found myself staying up an extra hour to finish it last night. Here's Lily is part of The Lily Series. I plan to read more in this series.

It's hard as adults not to become obsessed about our looks. We are bombarded by the media's version of the ideal woman. But as a teenager. My stomach hurts just thinking about it. If you have a preteen girl around ten to twelve years old, or even younger if she is, as people have always called me "an old soul," she will enjoy this book and benefit from it.