In 1997, while working on a newsletter for the youth in our church, the idea for the Theodore and All God’s Creatures stories came to me, but in the form of comic strips. As I worked on the storylines the comics quickly developed into children’s books. Over the next weeks, months and years I continued to write while pursuing a traditional publishing deal. I sent countless query letters to literary agents and publishing houses across the country and investigated every known avenue or lead, to no avail. One day a friend mentioned self-publishing to me. I had little knowledge of self-publishing and there were very few resources available at that time. Still, the idea stuck and I began pursuing it. Only, I had one major dilemma. I needed an illustrator.
I spent the next few years trying to find an artist to create the drawings for my books. However, that proved to be just as unfruitful as securing a publishing deal. As time continued to pass by I became more and more discouraged. While lamenting to a friend, she very casually responded, “Why don’t you draw the pictures?” I looked at her incredulously. “I can’t do that. I’m not an artist.” She shrugged her shoulders and said, “Maybe you can.”
Late one night, while crying out to the LORD in prayer, I began to feel as if something was pouring over and into me, filling me up. Sensing that it was from the LORD, I sat quietly, allowing it to wash over me until it slowly faded away. When I woke up the next morning, I drew Theodore. That’s when I knew that the LORD had poured into me the ability to draw the pictures for my books. Some time after that a friend gave me a copy of Adobe Illustrator. I had no idea how to use it. The first time I opened it I could barely figure out how to draw a circle. Frustrated, I closed it and didn’t attempt to reopen it again for almost a year. But the next time I opened it, it clicked and four months later I completed the illustrations for Theodore Walks in the Light, Theodore Gets Salty, Theodore Goes Fishing and The Worrisome Worm. Truly God was with me.
Once the illustrations were done I had another hurdle to get over. I had to figure out how to print and bind them. After much research I bought a high tech printer and began printing and binding the books in my home. Each book took about 20-25 minutes to make, but the result was a custom hardcover design. After selling 100 copies my husband and I decided to find a professional printer. Within a year we printed 1000 copies of each.
In 2003 we established icdat Productions. Since then, the road has had many ups and downs, but our desire to teach and inspire children to love the Lord through learning and obeying His Word has not faltered. In 2017 the Lord brought me full circle, back to the original comic strip idea giving Theodore, All God’s Creatures new life, along with our latest series, Morris Muse, a venture for all ages.
