The Triplet Ballerinas

My Triplet Ballerinas…School Work x 3

Guest Blogger: Megan J.

My triplet ballerinas are my daughters, Makenna Anne, Jaeli Jo and Maysie Jailyn.

The triplets just finished 4th grade and it was another year of more challenging school work. This started when the girls were in 3rd grade and more was required of them. One time, they each had to write a report about a business in the community that they think is important. In the report, they had to tell about the business, facts about it and why it’s important. They also had to provide pictures and build a model of it using at least a paper bag. We went a little further and used a shoe box. With a little help from me, we came up with 3 pretty creative business models. I even took them to each place to ask questions they could use in their reports. The models were big hits at school and used to show as an example to the other students.

Makenna chose Ossian State Bank, Maysie chose Honegger Animal Clinic and Jaeli chose Heyerley’s Bakery:

My Journey…Writer’s Conferences

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to attend a local SCBWI (Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators) Conference. At that time, I had a manuscript but not much else. There were a lot of informative sessions to help a writer make their children’s book successful. But, sometimes, it was pick and choose which session to attend. I really wanted to attend a session given by a popular children’s book author whose book I had in my library, but I was leaning towards maybe self-publishing at the time, so I decided to go to the less popular self-publishing session (the only one offered at the conference). This was given by a self-published children’s book author of many books who provided us with plenty of resources and information on self-publishing. The most inspiring thing I heard from her was when she said she wanted to self-publish her books, not to necessarily make money, but to get her books “in the hands of readers”. This session started me on my own self-publishing journey.

Recently, I attended another SCBWI Conference. The “Marvelous Midwest Conference” was a larger one in Illinois and, this time, I was attending as a self-published children’s book author. I handed over 10 copies of “The Triplet Ballerinas” to the conference bookstore for consignment and headed to sessions on everything about children’s books. At this conference, there were a few more self-publishing sessions to attend. I attended sessions on “Visiting (and Virtually Visiting) Schools”, “Choosing Your Self-Publishing Style”, “Reaching Readers: How to Promote Your Self-Published Book Like A Pro” and even a “Social Media Masterclass for Authors” to help with promotion especially of a self-published book. Again, I received plenty of resources and information on helping with the self-publishing and marketing of my book. At this conference, the most inspiring thing I took from one of the sessions on self-publishing was: in traditional publishing, the shelf life for a children’s book is only three months, but in self-publishing, it is however long you want it to be. That is AMAZING!

I only sold two books in the conference bookstore, but I am fine with that because two more readers now have my book in their hands. Beverly

My Triplet Ballerinas… Triplet Poses

My triplet ballerinas are my grand-daughters, Makenna, Jaeli and Maysie.

In 2008, we had lots of fun posing the babies in different Christmas outfits and poses for the first Christmas with triplets in the family. Those poor babies probably wondered what was going on but they were good babies and cooperated for us. It was a new and wondrous time for all of us but is now a distant memory. Where has the time gone?

Over ten Christmases later, there are no more giant stockings, no more matching outfits and the only posing done is if the girls decide they want to. But, every Christmas is a time for us to marvel at the miracles that were brought into our lives so many years ago. Beverly

My Triplet Ballerinas…Blessed and Thankful

Guest blogger:  Megan J.

My triplet ballerinas are my daughters, Makenna Anne, Jaeli Jo and Maysie Jailyn. 

Hoping I was pregnant, I got a call from the doctor’s office one day shortly after giving blood. “You’re definitely pregnant,” the nurse said.  She commented that it was most likely twins because my levels were so high. We were ecstatic! During our first ultrasound at 6 weeks, the doctor wanted to measure the babies to make sure everything was good and on track. They were right, it was twins! The babies had not developed heartbeats yet, but they looked great. We were told to come back in a week to measure again and by this time, there should be two beating hearts.

At 7 weeks, we went into the ultrasound room and they started measuring the babies. We heard the first heartbeat. It was very overwhelming. Onto the second baby, another strong heartbeat. I laid there thinking about the conversation my husband and I had over the last week after finding out we were having twins. We tried for so long to get pregnant, we were thrilled we were getting two babies at once. The ultrasound tech said she was almost done and both babies looked great. While she was finishing up, I thought I saw a third blinking spot, very similar to the other two blinking spots that showed the heartbeats. I figured I was just seeing things from all the excitement. But then, the tech said, “Uh Oh,” very quietly. She looked at us, and then continued, “I see another heartbeat.” I looked at my husband, thought about it for a moment and instantly got tears in my eyes. The third baby was doing great as well!

We went home, in complete shock. After being so excited for twins, we thought, “What’s one more?” We felt very blessed and thankful for our three healthy babies.

My Journey…Writing from Ponies to Ballerinas

In researching what I wanted my picture book story to be about, I took inspiration from where I could find it. So, one day, when one of my triplet granddaughters leaped off the couch, the idea of ballet and triplet ballerinas was born. I started researching ballet and found the book, “Ballerina: A Step-by-Step Guide to Ballet”, which was very informative. I decided to have my one main character be the triplet who loved ballet (Macie). I wrote the other two triplet girls (Annie and Jamie) as being more interested in horses to make them seem “boyish”. I found the book, “For Horse-Crazy Girls Only: Everything You Want to Know About Horses”, which was also very informative about horses and ponies. At that time, my story was about Macie trying to convince her “horse-crazy” sisters to be in a ballet show with her.

Sadly, through editing, I had to cut out some scenes that didn’t fit and the “leaping off the couch” scene was one of the first to go. But, it had served its purpose anyway by giving me the idea of ballet and ballerinas. In one of my early critiques, the horses the girls got for their birthday were called “ponies” instead of “horses”. It dawned on me then that it would probably be better to have the triplets get ponies for their birthday rather than big horses, so the horses then became ponies in the story.

When I decided to take my story in a different direction with three main characters who love ballet instead of one, I cut out the ponies altogether. I also changed the character name of “Jamie” to “Julie” for a more girly-sounding name. My characters of triplet sisters were truly “triplet ballerinas” now. Beverly        

My Triplet Ballerinas…One-on-One Time

My triplet ballerinas are my grand-daughters, Makenna, Jaeli and Maysie.

When your grandchildren are the same age and looking for a little attention from Grandma, giving one-on-one time is almost mandatory. Unless there are rules attached though, it can easily get out of control. When they were little, it didn’t matter how many times they each got their own individual one-on-one time, they wanted more, more, more time with Grandma, so I decided to end it.

A couple summers ago, when they were 8, I started the individual one-on-one time back up thinking they were old enough to handle it better. They each stayed overnight alone once during the summer, but, again, they wanted more, so I would add time here and there during the summer days for some mini one-on-one time, but, again, it quickly got out of control with them clamoring for even more so I ended it once again.

Last summer, each triplet had one individual overnight with a day of doing something special they liked and this seemed to work well. We are going to try it again this summer and see how it goes. Now that they are getting older, I am going to enjoy this one-on-one time while I can… Beverly      

My Journey…Book Launch

After the release of “The Triplet Ballerinas”, I decided to celebrate with a Book Launch Party. I called it the “Spring Book Launch” in honor of the book’s Spring Ballet Show. This was held at a local venue on the afternoon of March 16^th, 4 days before the start of the Spring season. It took months of planning and preparation, but it was well worth the effort. “The Triplet Ballerinas” was available to buy for the special Spring Book Launch price of ten dollars, and I signed most of them with my signature saying, “Leap high!”. We had refreshments of star cookies with pink frosting from a local baker and frosty lemon cookies in the shape of daisy flowers along with pink lemonade. We also had a raffle drawing consisting of 3 signed copies of “The Triplet Ballerinas”, 3 boxes of the delicious star cookies and 3 table centerpieces. My favorite part though was the two Story Performances on the dance floor of the venue, acting out the story of the book. I was the narrator and my triplet granddaughters were the “triplet ballerinas”. We had a “Miss Carol” for each performance and also tutu-wearing “practice dancers”. We even had a “King Poo Poo” the cat and “Grizzly” the dog, complete with cat dress and dog nose. It was a wonderful afternoon of celebrating the release of my book, “The Triplet Ballerinas”. Beverly

My Triplet Ballerinas…Triplet Birthdays

My triplet ballerinas are my triplet grand-daughters, Makenna, Jaeli and Maysie.

The triplets were born on July 2nd, 2008, so when the Fourth of July comes around each year, we know it is about time for another birthday and a big combined birthday party. Before the triplets started school, it was mostly just family at their birthday parties. Once they started school though, the triplets would each invite a couple school friends (along with their cousins and family friends) to their combined theme birthday party.

In 2013, when the triplets turned 5 years old, Rapunzel came to visit with her long, blonde hair and her signature purple dress. Since they have a summer birthday, a backyard Pool Party Birthday was needed in 2014 when they turned 6 years old. In 2015, when they turned 7 years old, it was a Princess Birthday Party inspired by a trip to Disney World earlier that summer. There were a lot of Disney princesses around that year including Makenna’s “Ariel”, Jaeli’s “Belle” (of course, since they both love to read!) and Maysie’s “Cinderella”. In 2016, when the triplets turned 8 years old, they discovered American Girl dolls so they had an American Girl Tea Party with all their friends and any doll they wanted to bring. In 2017, when they turned 9 years old, it was a Rainbow and Unicorns Birthday Party with “horn hairdos” and t-shirts that said “Happier than a unicorn eating cupcakes on a rainbow!” In 2018, when the triplets turned 10 years old, they had a Fashion Show Birthday Party. This involved makeovers, manicures and even a fashion show runway for everyone to show off their glamorous selves.

It seems like just yesterday the triplets were babies and celebrating their first birthday. Now, they are young ladies, growing up more with every year that passes. Beverly

My Journey…Self-Publishing (Illustrator)

In the research of how to find a children’s book illustrator, I discovered I first needed an interior designer for my book. An interior designer of a children’s picture book is usually a graphic designer who lays out the interior of the book and helps decide what size the book should be. They work with the illustrator and determine how the text and illustrations fit on each page of the book. Luckily, I had no problem finding an interior designer, but it was a long, sometimes frustrating, search for an illustrator whose illustrating style was a good fit for “The Triplet Ballerinas”. I searched many illustrator portfolios to constantly find someone I liked and then turned down for one reason or another. I decided to try one more website and found Sandie Sonke, an illustrator whose style I really liked. I contacted Sandie who asked to read my manuscript and then decided to illustrate my book for the amount I had budgeted for an illustrator. After many months, my journey to find an illustrator for “The Triplet Ballerinas” was finally successful! Beverly

About
Illustrator Sandie Sonke loves to create whimsical and colorful illustrations. Her hope is to bring a little happiness to those who view her work: http://www.sandiesonkeillustration.com. Sandie lives with her family in Southern California. 

My Triplet Ballerinas… Drama

Guest Blogger:  Megan J.

My triplet ballerinas are my daughters Makenna Anne, Jaeli Jo and Maysie Jailyn.

There is bound to be drama when you have three daughters in the house. But, with three daughters of the same age, the drama is exaggerated beyond what words can explain! I can’t even imagine what life will be like in just a few short years when the teenage hormones hit. At age 10, the drama now usually consists of problems related to not sharing or who is wearing whose clothes, and most commonly, “they won’t play what I want to play”. This is a constant struggle and a battle I dread each day, but I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.

The girls do not realize yet how lucky they are to have two sisters their own age. They have a companion and someone to play with and talk to every day. Jaeli and Maysie, the identical twins of the triplets, have much in common, but their fraternal sister, Makenna, struggles daily to feel included. As they get older, I hope they find special bonds between each other and that one day they will realize how precious their sisterhood really is. I can see it now though: boy drama, attitude drama, friend drama, competition drama and much more I am sure!

Even with as much fighting and drama that has been going on lately, I still see how fast they are growing up. So, I know I need to take a step back and enjoy the time I have with them while they are still young.