It took 32 years for me to make my dream of publishing a children’s picture book a reality. I had dreamed of publishing a children’s book since our children were toddlers, reading bath books and board books.

I was always especially enamored with picture books, enthralled by the stories and poems that were enhanced by colorful illustrations. They were the perfect combination of art forms, created to educate and entertain children.

Catherine with younger granddaughter, Cassidy

In 1992, when our children were toddlers, I wrote a poem for them called, “Sweet Dreams.” That poem latched onto my heart, and I couldn’t let it go. I had envisioned it as a picture book since its inception, so the following year I submitted it to a major children’s book publishing house.

Many months later, I received my first of many rejection letters. But I didn’t give up.

A few years later I revised “Sweet Dreams” and changed the title to Taking a Ride on Butterfly Wings and submitted it to Writer’s Digest Magazine’s Writing Competition. My manuscript was ranked 20th place out of the top 100 winners in 1997 and was awarded Honorable Mention in Children’s Fiction. That gave me the courage and confidence to continue.

Over the next decades, Butterfly Wings went through numerous revisions as I continued to refine it and submit it, only to have it rejected again – a total of 11 times.

In the meantime, I was very involved in and busy with my career, along with raising our two children. I was an educator serving the children and families of Greenwich Public Schools for 35 plus years – 10 years as a special education teacher and over 25 as a school psychologist. I led our Community Service Club, Cos Cob Cares, for many years, organizing fundraisers for childhood cancer, for a school in Haiti that had been destroyed by a massive earthquake in 2010, and for Japan after the destruction from the earthquake and tsunami in 2011. Our club held food drives for local families suffering from food insecurity, and holiday toy drives for some of our students. In the year or two near the end of my work life, I served as the head school psychologist, leading department meetings and representing us at district level meetings.

Catherine with husband, Bill

When I retired in June 2016, I had the time to reinvest in my passion –– writing. I joined the National League of American Pen Women and renewed my membership to the Society of Children’s Book Authors and Illustrators. I attended classes, workshops, seminars and conferences. And I read numerous books on writing and publishing books for children, underlining and highlighting just about everything.

I was still enamored with writing and with the idea of publishing my first book.

In the meantime, I honed my skills by editing and revising several of my dozen or so children’s stories, polishing many of my 150 and counting poems, writing personal essays –– 33 to date –– and writing magazine articles. I even started a novel. But it was still Butterfly Wings that kept tugging my heartstrings.

By now my husband, Bill, and I had two granddaughters, so I wanted this book out in the world before they were too old to appreciate and enjoy it.

So, 31 years later, in 2023, I decided to self-publish the book. My daughter knew of an extremely talented and creative visual artist, Martha Ratcliff, who is based in London who showed me a sample of her work. I was immediately drawn to her style of illustrating and invited her to collaborate on a children’s picture book. In the spring of 2024, I was in possession of all the gorgeous illustrations. She incorporated my every request, including the nicknames of our granddaughters, Lulu and Lainy.

Eventually I contracted with Wordzworth, a publishing company also located in London, which helped me produce this long-awaited children’s book.

Finally, 32 years after the poem was written, my first children’s picture book, Taking a Ride on Butterfly Wings, finally emerged and was published on August 1, 2024.

Like the transformative journey of a caterpillar turning into a butterfly, Taking a Ride on Butterfly Wings has emerged as a unique, special and beautiful creation. It took a lot longer than the average number of days a caterpillar stays in a chrysalis, but the important thing for me is the book is here. And that I did it.

Hard work, determination, fortitude and the ability to face obstacles without giving up allowed me to achieve this dream. So here I am, a 68-year-old grandmother, and –– finally –– a published children’s book author.