www.orderchildrensbooks.com: Marketing Madness Collaboration! 4/30

Collaborating on story telling and publishing can be a joyful, bumpy, exciting trip.

Although I still create picture books solo, I also enjoy teaming up with other creatives.

Tana Bevan and I have been creating stories from the get-go, and we have some tales to tell, trust me.

Like the case of the under-water rainbow, when Tana quipped that "rainbows are not under water."

Hold ya horses there Tana, Mermaids don't exist either, you know, right? Among a fit of laughter, the rainbow was added under-water. Then there was the time I felt challenged by Tana to write a certain type of story, when she announced, "We are not writing a story about a child who swears!"

Challenge accepted I wrote just that story! Then, like a child avoiding peas like the plague, Tana did not want to see the story -- which I called Sailor Talk. After more refusals than a reading of the classic Dr. Seuss Green Eggs and Ham, I finally got her to listen as I told the elevator version of the story. As a past preschool teacher, I found creative, fun ways to avoid a single swear word in a book about swearing.

And Tana loved it!

Sailor Talk will be published soon, and Tana is on-board!

Collaboration is a tricky thing and sometimes other life events interfere. One water-color artist had to drop out of a project (Sorrow Birds) when she found she was expecting and needed the time for family. (But has given permission to use the pictures she did create, so she will still be part of that story!) Sometimes, the process is so easy, you can't believe it! Travis Shorey worked fast and brilliantly painting over 20 brightly colored original monster paintings for Monster Mash.

Six year old Melanie Patino, quickly delivered her artwork for the picture-book, The Artiste, and then waited patiently for me to complete the work. I've collaborated with my son, James Gunderson -- who contributed some artwork to Fleur de lis Spree.

If you need to find artwork for a book or project, consider working with a talented friend, a local artist, or reaching out on the web! Collaboration, sharing ideas, stories and projects can be tricky, but it's well-worth the process.

The Artiste will publish early August 2014 on CreateSpace.com.