My Little Pet Dragon (Fun!) (3 page)

The week before Thanksgiving I was depressed. Although my son Aidyn had initially been diagnosed with Development Delay, it was looking more and more likely that he had a mild case of autism. He rarely spoke (which apparently isn't uncommon for children born with the umbilical cord wrapped around their neck), and his vocabulary was limited. Would he ever be "normal" like other kids his age?

Just a few weeks before, I had published a couple of short works. This was significant because I'd been writing for years and never published anything. It was around this time that I came across a thread on Reddit by a guy who called himself throwaway_writer who
claimed to be making $1,000/day
.

Needless to say, I was shocked. I couldn't imagine making $100/day off my writing, let alone $1,000. Although the talk of money impressed me at first, it was his writing advice that intrigued me the most. Take chances, build your craft (and library) by writing shorter works, identify underserved markets, and experiment, experiment, experiment! Also buried in this marvelous thread was the mention of writing children's books.

Hmm…children's books…

I’d never considered the idea…

Again my thoughts drifted towards monetary concerns. Was there any real money in children's books? (
J.K. Rowling isn't doing too shabby...
) And what would happen if I started making more money from my children's books than my more serious works? Would I find the work as fulfilling?

By chance, I stumbled across a portfolio of artwork that really impressed me. All concerns about money vanished, and I realized what I must do. I needed to do this for my little one, regardless of whether or not I made a single penny. This would help Aidyn, and at very least, teach him a few new words. So I set out with a modest goal in mind: to teach my son to say the word "dragon" through the aid of a picture book. Everything else would be icing on the cake.

After acquiring all of the assets that I needed, I put together the humorous, little picture book and showed it to my mother, who is a traditionally published historical romance author writing under the pen name
Kathleen Kirkwood
. She loved it, but didn't offer much in the way of feedback.

Whenever someone says that they like something I wrote, I'm instantly suspicious. (I have a notoriously hard time accepting praise.) "Oh, she's just saying that because I'm her son," I thought. What if she really hated it and didn't have the heart to tell me? So I looked and looked for something that needed improvement or a typo that I had overlooked, but everything appeared to be in order. It had also come together quickly, which sent my mind spinning.

While looking it over one last time, I realized that something was indeed missing: a dedication. Of all things, I'd forgotten to dedicate it to my son Aidyn, though in my heart, I'd done this a thousand times.

But something bothered me about doing this. It felt selfish to include his name, especially when there was someone else who needed it more.

In late October 2011, Amelia "Mia" Decker and sisters Alyssa and Rain Mowery were crossing the street when a car ran a red light and struck all three of them. Sadly, Mia did not make it. The two sisters were hospitalized, and young Alyssa was fighting for her life. Her mother Christin was an acquaintance of mine through Facebook, and seeing the heart-wrenching pictures of Alyssa’s struggles was hard to bear.

Without hesitation, I dedicated My Little Pet Dragon to Alyssa Mowery and submitted it to Amazon. I also vowed to write more children's books and eventually dedicated multiple titles to my little guy, Aidyn.

That was over 100 books ago.

And although I've written about
crazy frogs
and
ninja robot repairmen
, My Little Pet Dragon remains my most popular title. It seems odd that I never followed it up, considering the enjoyment that it gave me. In addition, readers often comment that they'd like to see a chapter book based on this particular title.

Well, you're in luck.

Work on My Little Pet Dragon Ness (the novelization of the picture book) is currently underway. A sequel is also planned, titled My Little Pet Dragon Neka. I'm also kicking around the idea of doing a serial called My Little Pet Dragons: Ness & Neka, but first I've got to get another story out of my head. The sequel to
My Crazy Pet Frog
(also dedicated to the Mowery family) is deep in development. It's appropriately titled Secret Agent Disco Dancer and promises to be the craziest adventure yet! (Soon, I promise…)

In the end, my son did learn how to say the word "dragon" (along with many other words, including "sequel"), and is interacting with children his age more and more. He's proud of his ability to read books all on his own—authored by me or anyone else—and it’s gratifying to watch his confidence soar and become more involved and self-sufficient.

These last two and a half years have been quite a journey, and I have no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

If you have an idea, run with it. Take a chance on yourself. There's a reason why you see it working in your head. Put all of your heart into it.

And if not for monetary gain, consider how your work positively affects others. You may not make a million dollars, but you might capture the imagination of one very important fan.

All of us have stories to share.

Don't let anyone stand in the way of telling yours, least of all, you.

Scott Gordon
Children's Book Author

P.S. If you have a question for Ness, Neka or any of my other crazy characters, please e-mail me at:
[email protected]
.