As soon as I had those first sketches in hand, I was ready to lock the story. “Wait a minute,” you might be asking, “I thought the story was already finished back in September?” Well, while about 92% of the words from my very first draft survived my edits, those of my editors, and those of my pre-beta copy readers, it took almost four months to lock the story.

To be fair, during that time, I also expanded the book to include a special message from Macie and Grandpa and a set of interactive questions and activities to extend the reading experience beyond the story. Reviewing and editing all that content was an interesting and sometimes exhausting effort, but not unlike the typical video post-production process, which I know pretty well.

One important addition to the story can be attributed to this review process and ongoing market research conducted along the way. After hearing about Macie’s story, one young girl was so excited to see a book featuring girls growing food because “I never saw that in any of the books I read at my house.” That insightful comment led me to add the line “With Farmer Lundyn’s secret, now I’m a farmer too” to the book, and “I can be a farmer too. And so can you. YES, IT’S TRUE!” as key lines in Macie’s Veggie Song.

Here’s to (Farm) Girl Power!!
Peter Contardo