On Saving Old Drafts — and TAKE YOUR PET TO SCHOOL DAY

Many years ago, I had what I thought was a great idea for a picture book. The title said it all: Take Your Pet to School Day. It would have chaos, humor, and lots and lots of animals—perfect!

But my early drafts were duds. I dragged out the beginning, introducing a variety of kids and pets, then stalled. I had no idea where to go with them.

I did all my usual stuff. I brainstormed lists of animals, animal sounds and bad behavior. I played around with problems and solutions. I experimented with format, adding a counting element at one point. Nothing worked.

So, after weeks of frustration—and many, many drafts—I gave up. I stuck the folder in my file cabinet to languish among the sad collection of undeveloped, unloved and unsold manuscripts.

Then, several years ago, I was trying to figure out what to work on next—always the hardest part for me. I pulled out my idea files along with some of those unfinished manuscripts—including Take Your Pet to School Day.

This time something clicked. I had three ideas for how to make it work:

1. Instead of my overly long introduction, I’d use a flyer on the first page to announce the school’s “Take Your Pet to School Day” and start the action right away.

2. To help move the story along—and make it more fun to read aloud—I’d have several teachers and the principal repeat the refrain “Pets do NOT belong in school!”

3. I introduced a mystery: Who actually wrote that flyer that went home with the kids? (Here’s a hint…)

From here, the story came together quickly—in maybe a month or two. I sent it to my agent, Jennifer Mattson, in May 2016 and we had an offer from Maria Modugno at Random House in June. Maria quickly signed up Suzanne Kaufman to illustrate, and Take Your Pet to School Day was published in July 2019.

So, in case you missed it in the heading, the moral of the story is: Save your old drafts—yes, even the sketchy, no-good, terrible ones.  And if you’re feeling stuck and frustrated with a manuscript, put it aside for a few weeks or months or—in this case—a few years, and see what happens.

For a peek into Suzanne’s illustration process—and a chance to win a copy of the book—leave a comment on my post over at PictureBookBuilders by September 10th.

Thanks for reading!

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