Wednesday’s Author Showcase – Crystal Bowman | Children's Author

Last week I kicked off a series of posts called, “Wednesday’s Author Showcase” with an amazing new author, Donna L. Martin.

Today’s spotlight is on an author I met at the Write 2 Ignite Conference last year. I had several of her classes and tried to absorb all her valuable advice like a sponge. I was instantly drawn to her writing style, her point of view, and her desire to write good books that children will enjoy! Crystal shows us that collaboration is the key to a successful outcome.

Meet author, wife, mother, grandmother, and my colleague – Crystal Bowman.

Crystal (left) and her daughter.

Crystal is an accomplished children’s book author with many works under her belt. Today I’d like to focus on one particular work entitled, My Mama and Me, which she co-authored with her daughter.

Read this excerpt from Crystal on how this book came to be:

When I became a grandma, my editor at Tyndale asked me to submit an idea for a “Grandma” book. I wrote a picture book called, My Grandma and Me–Rhyming Devotions for You and Your Grandchild. While I was working on this book I often emailed pages to my daughter to critique and proofread. She is very creative and a good writer and I knew her input would be honest. When the editors were pleased with the finished product, I confessed that my daughter helped me a lot with the book. They then suggested that we write a sequel together, and the title of that book is My Mama and Me–Rhyming Devotions for You and Your Child. This was our very first co-authoring project and we had a lot of fun working together. My daughter not only helped with the ideas and the writing, she also added many of the activities that are in the book, as that is one of her strengths.

Being able to write together is a dream come true for both of us. We were thrilled and honored when My Mama and Me received the 2014 Logos Bookstore Award for Best Children’s Picture Book. Our desire is that this book brings parents and children closer to each other as they grow closer to God.

Mother-Daughter writing team with their award.

I am inspired, as I hope you are, by the collaborative spirit that Crystal and her daughter had to turn ideas into a reality – an award-winning book!

Who can you collaborate with to make something great? Maybe it is a craft project? How about sewing? Or how about some baking? Collaboration is the ability to put two great minds together to accomplish one great task! I’m challenging you today – find that “someone” and make something good happen!

I just can’t say (or type) enough about Crystal Bowman as an author, a writing instructor, and friend. I hope that you will take an opportunity to find about more about her work and share it with your family.

Connect with her at http://crystalbowman.com/.

If you are familiar with Crystal’s work or want to share “a collaborative success,” please leave a comment below!