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More Mac and Cheese, Please, Please, Please

February 16, 2023 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as Children's stories, Childrens Lit, Mac and Cheese, teachers, writing

My eldest daughter was in kindergarten the year that I published my children’s book, Mac and Cheese, Please, Please Please. Her Kindergarten teacher and classmates instantly became my “M&C Triple P Fan Club”. I mean, it’s a rhyming book with easy to read words, repeated sentence structure and a memorable plot-twist ending… That has ‘Kindergartener’ written all over it! (Pun 100% intended)

As a lot of parents can relate, my daughter’s kindergarten year was impacted by the pandemic and her class moved to a distanced learning format to finish out the year.

Fast forward a few years and you can imagine our delight when my daughter learned that her kindergarten teacher, Mrs. K, would now be her third grade teacher! I was honestly feeling relief because after Mrs. K transferred to third grade, all I heard about was how my daughter hoped she had Mrs. K for third grade, and I was not prepared to deal with the disappointment had that not been the outcome.

When we went to open house at the beginning of the school year, my daughter quickly recognized that a lot of the kids from her kindergarten class were going to be in her third grade class too. When we pointed this out to Mrs. K she smiled and said that she had asked the principal if she could have as many kinds from her kindergarten class as possible so they could, “Finally finish the year together.”

Her words still make me cry. We are so lucky to have teachers like Mrs. K.

As it turns out, the kids in this class are still diehard Mac and Cheese, Please, Please, Please fans and they are straight-up demanding another book. So I started writing the sequel and I’m pretty excited about it. The only teaser that I’ll share is that my kids helped me pick the setting of the book, and as a result I’ve been watching A LOT of YouTube videos about space. Excited to share more updates soon!

gray and black galaxy wallpaper — Photo by Pixabay on Pexels.com

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Friendly Reminder

January 15, 2023 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as be kind, new year, reminders, writing

For me, January has always felt like a clean slate. An opportunity to psych myself up for the year ahead and think about all the things I hope to accomplish.

On the contrary, January is also a time when I think back on all of the things I wasn’t able to accomplish over the past year.

Did I reach my fitness goals? Nope.

Did I tackle that home improvement project? Nope.

Did I publish my next children’s book? Nope.

I find that I always need that friendly reminder to focus more on what I did accomplish, and less on what I didn’t.

Did I make sure my children knew they were loved? Yes.

Did I keep things like family dinners despite our crazy activity schedule? Yes.

Did I raise a puppy? Yes.

Did I volunteer my time to important causes? Yes.

Did I take outdoor walks when my schedule/the weather allowed? Yes.

Did I tackle massive projects at work? Yes.

Did I start contributing to a new blog? Yes!!!

Did I write my first romance novel? Yes!

Focusing more on what I did accomplish, helps better prepare me for what I hope to accomplish in the New Year.

How can I build upon the things I that I was successful at? How will that help me accomplish the things I haven’t been successful with in the past?

Please remember to be kind to yourself. You’re doing great things and you are enough just as you are. Everything else is a bonus. 🙂

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I Have a Secret to Confess…

October 15, 2022 by Renae Wrich in category Writing with Renae Wrich tagged as #Romance, #writing

I have a secret to confess…

While I’m grateful to this community for allowing me to talk about my work as a children’s book author over the last few months, the real reason I’m here is because I’m also an aspiring romance writer!!

Yes, I’m fully aware that children’s literature and romance are two entirely different genres. In fact, I can’t really think of two genres that could be any further apart from each other.

While my foray into children’s literature came rather easily, my journey with writing romance has been a different story (pun absolutely intended).

Romance is definitely my favorite genre to read. I love me a good HEA with swoon-worthy heroes and relatable heroines. I love the recipe of romance, the build-up, the steamy moments, and the heart-bursting grand gestures.

I’m a total sucker for the stuff.

For me, writing romance all started with a cabin getaway on a beautiful lake in Minnesota. In the midst of consuming my second romance novel of the trip, a dangerous thought crossed my mind…could I write romance?

I challenged myself to try it!

Side note- Describing the process of giving myself a writing challenge in the middle of Halloween season is giving me total Mary Shelley vibes. #goals

I am now in the process of finishing the first draft of my very first romance novel. The best part is that since I’ve started, several voices and characters have emerged and I find myself plotting the outlines for at least three additional stories.

It’s been challenging and draining (peep my post last month), but holy macaroni, it’s so fun!

I can’t wait to share more about it soon.

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Writing Batteries

September 15, 2022 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as writerslife, writing

I published my very first book, Mac and Cheese, Please, Please, Please, in July of 2020. While there are obvious downsides to accomplishing this milestone in the middle of a pandemic, in some ways I think the pandemic made it possible for me to focus on making this dream a reality.

I should preface this blog post by saying that I know my experience certainly wasn’t the same experience that everyone had in 2020. My day job was by no means considered “essential work”, and I will always have a deep appreciation for all of the people who were essential throughout the pandemic.

My job on the other hand, slowed down. Like way down. While other parts of my life got more complicated, like distanced learning for my kiddos, writing somehow became less complicated. I found myself with more time to focus on it, and my proverbial writing batteries were still fully charged at the end of the workday.

The pandemic also served as a grim and constant reminder that this life is short. I found myself no longer caring about the reception others might have to my writing and I just bleeping did it.

Fast-forward two years and thankfully my attitude hasn’t wavered much, but I find those writing batteries have a very small charge by the end of the day.

I appreciate this community and I enjoy hearing all your stories on perseverance in writing, rewriting, finding consistency, and keeping those batteries charged. Thank you!

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A Book About Macaroni and Cheese

August 15, 2022 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as ChildrensLit, MacaroniAndCheese, OriginStory, writerslife, writing inspiration

So, I wrote a book about macaroni and cheese. It wasn’t something I ever planned to do, but like all happy accidents in life, I sure am glad it happened the way it did.

While writing has always been a passion of mine, and a muscle that I frequently flex during my day job, it wasn’t until a daycare pick-up one fateful afternoon in 2019 that propelled me on the path of writing a children’s book.

One sunny afternoon, I picked the kiddos up from school and asked them what sounded good for dinner. They immediately responded with what I already knew they would say, “Mac and cheese, please, please, please”. I turned the words over in my head the whole seven-minutes it took for us to get home.

I decided to give into their demands that day and make a box of macaroni and cheese, because it had been AT LEAST three days since they’d last had it [Insert parenting eye-roll].

I kid you not… In the time it took me to make a box of macaroni and cheese, I had scribbled out a children’s book.

I can still picture it in all its felt-tip marker and wide ruled notebook glory. I read it to my kids while they shoveled the orange noodles into their mouths; giving me nods of approval.

It didn’t come as a total surprise that a random lightening bolt of inspiration had struck me. After all, I’d been creative writing and plotting storylines on paper and in my head for years. I just had never guessed that it would come in the form of a children’s book, much less a children’s book about macaroni and cheese. Yet, here we are!

That’s the origin story of my book, which just celebrated its two-year birthday last month.

The absolute best part of having a book about macaroni and cheese is when I get a picture or Snapchat from my little Mac and Cheese Army out there. I had a friend reach out and tell me that her three-year-old accurately explained that they were having “elbow noodles” for dinner. These moments always serve as a good reminder to listen to those random lightening bolts of inspiration, especially since my little Mac and Cheese Army demands more.