How To Tell if Your Book Idea is Any Good

Even Before You Write the Whole Thing

Hi friends!

I promised myself this August I would catch up on everything (L O L) and while I’ve caught up on some things, I’ve got a long way to go. Same as it ever was. But of course, because I’ve decided what I want to do, my brain is like wouldn’t it be MORE FUN to do these other, completely different things???? It’s very inconvenient, tbh. Mostly I’ve been ignoring that voice, but yesterday at the end of the day, I took some time and wrote out a first draft of a new picture book idea I’ve been batting around. I have a picture book coming out from Sourcebooks in May, 2026 (more on that soon!) and I’ve been noodling around with another idea because I don’t know how not to have a book going.

There’s lots of ways to plan out a picture book, and recently, I’ve been doing that digitally. I have a Kindle Scribe¹, which is an e-ink tablet, like a Kindle you can write on. You can select different templates when you want to start on a blank page, and I found this one to be very helpful for picture books.

This gives me space to think about what illustration might be included as well as what text could on each page. I’m not an illustrator but I have to think about both components as I write. That’s how the story of a picture book is told.

So I start writing and it’s going great. I’m feeling good about this as a very first draft. I see the arc and where the illustrator can make a few jokes and I’m enjoying the process. Yay! Here’s a sneak peak.