THE CLEVER SEED is a quarterly newsletter exploring creativity and inspiration through the eyes of a children’s book author and illustrator.
Early storyboard sketch from I Am Human
There is a strange moment in a book creator’s life when a story stops belonging solely to you.
For months, sometimes years, (dare I say decades?) a story can marinate quietly in your imagination waiting for the right moment to grow. Once ready, it can grow slowly, steadily, or voraciously—turning over and over in your head as you refine sentences, story pacing, and compositions. As a creator of picture books, I often think of the process of making one a bit like carving a sculpture. The form is there in your mind’s eye- but only becomes visible once you chip away at it, bit by bit.
While you’re making a book, it exists in a space of possibility—until suddenly, it doesn’t.
At some point, you have to turn in the pages. You have to finalize the paintings. And the part that is always a little bit heartbreaking—you have to let that place, your carefully-drawn characters, and that feeling, go.
Sketch of two sisters from The Red Thread
The art files are sent into the digital ether, far, far away where your words and pictures are printed, bound, and made into an object that will make its way into other people’s hands. Then the one person who spent so much time quietly making the thing is suddenly expected to talk a lot about it, whether they like it or not.
Welcome to publication season!
I am knee-deep in the publicity for two of my upcoming books, I Am Human (November 3, 2026) and The Red Thread (April 20, 2027) and my head is spinning.
My days are spent writing emails, booking school visits (yes I need a booking agent!), doing interviews, event planning (can we have wine at the launch, please?), and developing workshops and special activities around the book. As a fairly organized person, I tend to create lists—which inevitably spawn more lists, including an ungodly list of influencers who might just move the needle. And I’ve written personal letters to all of them. All the while in the background, I’m shuttling kids to and from school and cross-country meets, recovering from my own sports injuries (should I have signed up as the cross-country parent volunteer?), grocery shopping, meal planning, and trying to salvage my friendships before connections grow thin.
Workshop cards for the I Am Human Project
To say things have been busy feels like an understatement. After I turned in my last project, my work has shifted from creating something in the quiet of my studio to helping it find an audience.
Despite two early positive reviews that came in for I Am Human from School Library Journal and Kirkus Reviews, I’m admittedly nervous.
A book on AI and kids could be naturally polarizing at this moment in time, and as much as I try to frame and give context to my story, how a book will actually be received is beyond my control. I have no idea how a child might react to the story- or if my original intent will be clear. I can spend months and years deciding what a story means to me, but I can’t decide what it will mean to someone else. Once it reaches a reader, it becomes something new.
That’s both terrifying, and exciting.
If anything gives me a sense of calm, it’s that my readers have been kind. The worst thing that happened to me during a school visit was a snowstorm. And a fancy technology failure. The best thing was when a seemingly disengaged student gave me a surprise hug after a book talk and the librarian later told me what a big deal it was when it happened.
My projects could totally flop, and I might never get a blurb from an adored celebrity or get on the Oprah Winfrey Show. But perhaps letting go of a story means trusting that something you shaped will find its way to someone who needs it, even if you never know who that person might be.
And if I’m lucky, every once in a while, I’ll get a hug.
Chilling with a kiddo after a book talk in Seattle on a wintry day in 2025.
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Upcoming Launch Events!
If you’re in the Bay Area, please join me for a Book Launch for I Am Human and In Conversation with Charlotte Cheng of Common Sense Media, on November 14th at 5pm at Reach and Teach Books in San Carlos, CA.
Parents, educators, and families welcome.
»» RSVP HERE
The following day, I’ll be doing a family-focused, all-ages I Am Human Book Talk + Creative Writing Workshop at Linden Tree Books on November 15th, at 10:30am.
Great for students young and old who love to write and draw!
»» RSVP HERE
Hope to catch some of you in person in November!
Until next time,
Laura G. Lee
website: http://www.lauragleestudio.com
IG: @lauragleestudio