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My first published story was Ten Unusual Features of Lulu McDunn, although it was not the first one I had written; I had several rhyming Bible stories that I was sitting on until I was ready to start pitching them. I wanted to write a story that was from my own imagination, but I really didn’t know where to start. Since it was my first attempt at writing an original story, I thought I should keep it simple. A counting book! You can’t get simpler than that! But it had to be we

I had written four children’s Bible stories: Food for a Fish, The Biggest and Toughest, Good News of Great Joy, and Daniel for Lunch, which I thought were pretty good. But then they were rejected by the publishing company where I worked full-time. Ouch! Now what? Fortunately, I had something that most first-time authors didn’t have—inside connections. I had been illustrating Bible stories for years and had worked closely with several different publishers. So when I pitched

In 2008, I was illustrating for a small Christian publisher. Our company owned the license for one of the most successful Children’s Bible series of all time, which was what I spent most of my time illustrating. Then work slowed down. I found myself with time gaps between projects. Rather than just sitting around, I asked if I could try writing Bible stories for the series. I’d never written a story in my life. How hard could it be? I’m not trying to write a Pulitzer Prize-w