Kids From Marrs

No, I did not spell Marrs incorrectly. It was the last name I grew up and was the subject of many jokes! My best freind since the age of 5 calls me Marrs Bar to this day.

I began my story telling when I was around 6 for my little brother, John, who was 3 years my junior. It didn't take long to figure out that he only really paid attention when the story was about John the pirate, John the cowboy, John the sheriff...you get the idea.

When my own children came along, I had the personalized story-telling down to an art form. Over the years I spun tales of "Matthew the Magnicent", "Elena the Princess on the Pink Mountain", "Mandy, the Girl with a Thousand Kittens", and "John, John Leprechaun". I did not know at the time that some of these stories would one day be reincarnated using the names of my children's children.

So it came to be that one night in 2013 I was telling my grandson, Seamus, his favorite stories. The ones he loved most starred him, Seamus Starr, as a super her0. After the 20th time retelling it in one scenario or another, he asked, "Nana, can you write that story down for mr so i can read it when I'm at home"? So of course, being a Nana, I immediately set out to write the stories in alittle book. Then after he read through and approved, he asked, "Why doesn't this book have pictures in it? Can you draw pictrures in it"? Well, no, actually, I could not. I can doodle pretty darn good, but illustrate a book? No way.

After thinking it over a couple days, I came with an idea of putting together a picture book for him. It became the first of 6 books I would write and self-publish about various children in my family.

The pictures in the book consisted of paper and felt cut outs in rough shapes I put togtether to form images of his family and incorporate the story. I laid the cut pieces down on colored paper, took a photo with my ipad, uploaded the photo to my computer, then added it to a template I found online for creasting picture books. This firt book had pretty basic shapes, since it was my first try at this concept I came up with.

Once I held the first finished copy in my hands, I knew I just had to do more! The next book was for my niece, Sierra. She was pretty excited at 6 years of age to have a book about her!

My writing starte to flow better and I found I was really getting into making the pictures come more to life.

By the time I started my third book, I really had the whole picture thing down! I was spending more and more time on laying out the pieces and creating pictures that had more depth to them. My third book was for my daughter, Elena, who is a dog foster mom.

This is the book that became the most popular. I started getting invited to local elementary schools to read the books to the children, and i even was asked to do a presentation for an entire school assembly on how to write a book from beginning to end. this is not even my profession! I believe the teachers just saw the passion with which i approached the story telling process and that I was eager to share with the children.

I ended up writing three more books, "Auoroa-Bora a Counting Book" about my grand daughter,

"Choochie-Maloochie" about my oldest son, who is a musician.

"John-John Leprechaun" about my youngest son

I curently am in the process of creating my 7th book for my grandson, which is titled "What's All Over Oliver?".

Will I make money with these books? Not very likely, as I have never had an agent or a publisher come knocking at my door. But self publishing them has enabled me to buy large enough quantities so I can donate them to school fundraisers, give as gifts, and sell locally with my autograph for each child.

Writing these stories and bringing enjoyment to the readers has been one of the most satisfying things I have done since my own children have long grown up. They keep the stories alive for all of us and are universal in appeal to others who read them.

Want to know a secret? Sometimes I type my name into Amazon...just for the thrill of seeing my books pop onto the screen!