Tracy Wainwright joins us today with two of her children's books. She has graciously offered a winner the choice of either book in a random drawing, so read on through to learn how you can win.

Writing children’s books is very different from writing novels. First of all, for me, novels usually mean trying to get to a certain word count. I’ve always had the challenge of meeting the minimum word count, being pretty good at condensing ideas but not so much expanding on them. This helped while I worked on my children’s books – Apple vs. Asparagus and Counting from Creation.

Given these are picture books, they had to follow pretty strict guidelines of page count (24 or 36 – not 24 to 36) and the number of words on each page. While the word count isn’t as strict as the page count, it needs to fall between 500 and 1000 words. Have you ever tried to tell a story in less than 1000 words? It’s a challenge even for a minimalist like me.

For Counting from Creation, the challenge wasn’t as great, as I used poems for each page set. Apple vs. Asparagus, however, tells the story of a vegetable who wants to play with a fruit, a fruit who’s a snob, and a collection of friends who come along and take sides? Can Apple, Asparagus, and their friends learn to get along in 1100 (yes, I went a bit over!) words? Get it and find out.

https://www.amazon.com/Apple-vs-Asparagus-Tracy-Wainwright-ebook/dp/B00IU95MFQ

https://www.amazon.com/Counting-Creation-Tracy-Wainwright-ebook/dp/B00IV0LZOG

Leave a comment to enter to win winner's choice of book in a random drawing. Don't forget to cleverly disguise your email address so we can reach you but the 'bots can't. For example, donna AT livebytheword DOT com

A Peek inside...

Asparagus said to Apple, “Will you be my friend?”

“No, thanks. I’m playing with Apricot and Avocado. They’re like me. We’re fruits, and you’re not. People like us. We’re good and sweet. You’re icky and blah.” Apple turned to his friends. “Come on, let’s go play.”

Apple, Apricot, and Avocado sped off, skipping and laughing. 
Asparagus hung his head. He was sad. What was wrong with being a vegetable? It couldn’t be so bad.