Penny's first book!

I wrote my first book when I was in grade 3. It was a picture book illustrated by me and drawing from, as all good writing should be, life experiences. It was the immediate bestseller titled: Creepy Crawlys.

I remember so many details of that early writing experience: the extreme sense of duty I had to my readers (those ‘little kids’ in the classroom next door), the desire to make it look and feel  like a real book, the pride I felt at the ants on the front cover – I think my Dad taught me how to draw them. I loved the exercise. It inspired me, caught my imagination and challenged me to push my written communication abilities.

It’s funny, as I sit here at my desk in Sydney, thinking back over how I ended up a children’s writer. I might have had the occasional, highly imaginative idea that writing would be a nice thing to do, but I never really took the concept seriously. I was always going to grow up and be a nurse, or a doctor, or something else similar. It wasn’t until the year my daughter was born that I decided to write for publication. My first attempts met with rejections, and I’ve received a lot of rejections since then too, but I keep writing and now have more than 11 books in print.

Writing isn’t the only thing I do in life, we all wear a number of hats don’t we? But when I look at my books and my writing I can see that some things never changed. The things that inspired me as an 8 year old inspire me now – I love communicating truth, I love the wonder of a good story, I draw on what life gives me,  I’m committed to offering my readers something of value and am challenged to keep pushing my writing to be the best it can be.

This is why I love sharing Creepy Crawlys with children when I do school visits. It shows them that God knows us even better than we know ourselves, and He designed us with love on purpose. Creepy Crawlys reminds kids that it’s ok to be 8 and to keep growing, knowing God’s in control.

And when I tell the kids that I still can’t spell – well, that’s just my favourite part!

Penny is a children’s writer from Sydney, Australia.
For more information bout Penny or her books visit www.pennyreeve.com