Tag: Childrens Lit

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High School Reunions

October 15, 2024 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as Childrens Lit, dreams, high school, High school reunion, Mac and Cheese

This year signifies that it’s been 20 years since I graduated from high school. I can’t believe it’s been two decades since I sat in English class dreaming of someday becoming a writer. There are so many things I’d tell my 17 year old self, but the most important thing would be that the best is absolutely yet to come.

So of course when a 20 year milestone is upon us, we are faced with the decision to either attend the reunion, or to sit at home and wonder what it would have been like to attend the reunion. I weighed the decision carefully, but ultimately I decided to put my brave girl pants on and drag my husband with me to the townie bar in my hometown to face my high school classmates.

I’m glad I went for a number of reasons, the biggest one being that it was honestly really nice to talk with people I hadn’t seen in a very long time and to make some new connections. But imagine my surprise when I walked in and discovered that reunion organizers showcased the various businesses and crafts of our class, including my book! I was so touched to see that they had purchased a copy of Mac and Cheese, Please, Please, Please to display at the event.

A big thank you to the 2004 Student Council for giving M&CPPP some love at the reunion. It seriously meant so much to me. Go Cougars!

In other news, Mac and Cheese in Outer Space is in the final stages before its release. IT’S GETTING REAL PEOPLE! I have my ISBN number, the book is currently with a layout designer, and I have my beta readers all lined up as we prepare for launch. I seriously can’t wait to share this story with the world.

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A Little Taste of Space

August 15, 2024 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as Childrens Lit, Mac and Cheese, Outer Space, reading, Summer, TOG

Hello friends! How has summer zoomed by so quickly? Thankfully, my family and I have been able to sneak away from life and the softball field where we spent 90% of our summer (I wish I was exaggerating) for a little lake time.

Me sitting lakeside in Northern Minnesota with a local brew, good company, and Sarah J. Maas’ Crown of Midnight. –>

Weeks at the lake always give me the best perspective. I mean, how could it not?! It provides an opportunity to unplug from my day-to-day and focus on me, my family, and my favorite hobbies. While I didn’t get as much writing done this on this vacation as I have in the past (probably had something to do with the fabulous Sarah J. Maas), I have zero regrets about that. 🙂

One writing project that is moving along very well is my next children’s book! I’m excited to share is that the illustrations are completed!

My wonderful illustrator, Winda Mulyasari, finished the illustrations for my second children’s book over the summer and they turned out better than I ever could have imagined. The fact that she is able to take my bulleted illustrator briefing and carefully craft the images to match the crazy world inside my head completely blows me away. She’s so talented and I feel very fortunate to have her as a partner in this.

Mac and Cheese in Outer Space will be available this fall and I’m SO thrilled with how it turned out. I can’t wait to share it with the world. I have a few more boxes to check off before we are ready for liftoff, but it’s coming soon!!

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Big, Cheesy News Update!

March 15, 2024 by Renae Wrich in category Writing tagged as Childrens Lit, Coming Soon, Mac and Cheese, writing

I’m so excited to announce that my second children’s book, Mac and Cheese in Outer Space is coming soon!

I will be working again with Winda Mulyasari, who helped my mac and cheese world come to life back in 2020 when I published Mac and Cheese, Please, Please, Please.

Winda is super talented and I’m excited to watch her take my wild ideas and turn them into beautiful illustrations. My mac and cheese heart is bursting with excitement.

I’m also feeling very fortunate that I get to have my very first official author reading on Monday! Pictures to come!!

Hope everyone has a wonderful St. Paddy’s Day!
Peace, love, and Mac and Cheese,
Renae

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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!