A Rainbow of Reasons Why I Wrote 3 Twee' Books.

A Rainbow of Reasons: Why I Wrote 3 Twee' Books?
 
By Susie E Caron (c) 11/1/14

NOTE: This is "The Back Story" & the first of 7 daily blog posts that lead up to Nov. 8, 2014, launch of my 3rd book , Twee' for Two. Please join me on Facebook.

I wrote my "Between You & Me" series for many reasons, but I began to write without really knowing the answer to 'why'. I  tend to be rather instinctive about what I do and especially when I am in the act of creating something new.  However, I wanted to write something useful and fun for kids and parents. I didn't have a clue where to start, so I prayed about it. Soon after, I began to envision a little tree with 'problems'. So I wrote, about how Twee' complained until she recognized that one of the things she complained about was actually helping her.  After I wrote Twee', I knew that her story had been from my own experience. I was also pretty certain that kids and parents would recognize some similarity in their own lives. I hoped that reading Twee' would help them to talk about it together.

While I wrote Twee', I seemed to know what the next two books were about. I didn't think them out, they were just kind of hovering in the background and waiting for their turn. However, I needed to come up with a name for the series before Twee' was published. Because I wrote about Twee's relationship with a rock, I titled the series "Between you and Me." I also wanted Twee' to be read aloud to encourage relationship building between child and parent so the series name made sense. 

I wrote my second book, I Am Twee', about  her  wish to be like others.  This is also something that most people feel  at some time in our lives. Kids and adults often think that somehow they just don't measure up and are not as gifted or as attractive as someone else.   In this second book, Twee'  struggles with feelings that she is not special. She learns that she too has gifts when a visitor points them out to her. Twee's message in this book is that we are each individually unique and therefore gifted in some way differently from others. When we share our gifts, whatever they are, everyone can benefit.

I wanted the third book to be about friends and I had heard from some fans that their children wanted Twee' to have a friend too. The only thing I really had to decide was "What will it be?" The decision was made when my daughter adopted two tiny kittens. One she named Link and he was mostly black with a lot of white as a kitten, but grew into a large Maine Coon Cat with new colors and tons of personality. I couldn't resist and modeled Twee's new friend after Link. The story grew from realizing that sometimes even good friends must leave us. I wanted to illustrate how to be a friend and also how to have a good 'good bye' rather than just 'disappear'. I had learned in my training and in my practice as a psychologist how important it is for children and adults to have an opportunity to say goodbye in a positive way, even though its sad.

My 3 books are completed, and I have learned a lot about story telling, writing, publishing and marketing. Now that I've had time to realize the answers to 'Why I wrote the series,' I know there are many reasons. The first reason is to illustrate to parents how children develop, while also making the stories interesting enough to adults so they want to read them out loud. All of Twee's stories illustrate some of our universal experiences, like having to deal with things we don't like, envying others only to find we too are special, and making friends, saying goodbye and gaining new friends.

Thank you for reading my 'back story.' Please comment below and  share this on your favorite social media. To make it easy you can click on the links just below and on the upper right corner of this page.
Remember, 
Twee' Means You and Me
Susie E. Caron

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