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Thursday, August 25, 2016

August

Getting the big box of book babies is always one of the best things in the world!  It is only a few weeks until THIS BOOK IS NOT ABOUT DRAGONS is out in the world and I am so excited. The writing of the books was...well...it was one of the easy ones, to be honest. I had been playing around with the idea of writing a book about a moose (don't ask me why--I think there is something about a moose that is just inherently funny. Maybe it is the word, Moose. Moose. Yeah, it's a little funny.) Well, I was getting nowhere with the moose book. (FYI this was right before a BUNCH of books featuring moose(s) came out. I think many authors got bit by the moose bug at about the same time, but some of us are slower to make stuff happen.) ANYWAY, there I was, trying to write about a moose (who obviously didn't want any part of my story) and I thought, "Well, at least you're trying something new, Shelley. At least there are no dragons in this book."

And that became the working title of my next book:  THERE ARE NO DRAGONS IN THIS BOOK.
The silliness of writing a book about something I was trying NOT to write about must have unclogged a valve in my brain because the writing just flowed. I sent it to my agent and she loved it. She sent it to my editor and she loved it. (Eventually, my editor and I changed the title around a little to THIS BOOK IS NOT ABOUT DRAGONS.) 

And that's the story of the book that I wasn't even trying to write! (But am so glad that I did!!!)

Soon, I am going to introduce you to some of the dragons that are not in the book. That's right, NOT in the book. But until then, here's a little guy I call Fred (I named him for the illustrator, Fred Koehler.) Yes, I know it's a little strange that I am naming all of the dragons, (especially since I didn't draw them) but seeing as they didn't get to be in the book, I thought the least they deserved was a name. 
Fred

More soon!

xo--
hrh