I never know when I write a book if there will be an audience for it, but A Story of Becoming has been lovingly embraced by many with over 8,000 ebooks going out all over the English speaking world in only the past few months. It is now a best selling book on Amazon and my most successful book to date. People often ask me how I come up with the ideas for the stories. If we can just still our minds for a little bit, its amazing what our imaginations can offer us. Generally I take a nice bath with a journal close by, and once I become a little dreamy then if I'm lucky a story comes along and wants to be written. I think of the stories more as files downloaded by the muses. I never decide on the length or the audience or really follow any rules. I try to keep my personality and inner editor quiet so that my imagination can have some real fun. Of course, the work comes after the story arrives. Then there is the seemingly endless editing, the proofs, teamwork with my illustrator Belle Crow duCray (who often dreams the images as I write them) and then finally we have a book.

There is always a story behind the writing of a book. A Story of Becoming was written for my kids in 2003. I was going through a divorce and it was an attempt to help all of our family members understand that although things change, that we can be a stronger and more vibrant community than ever before. The kids read it, illustrated it in their own way and then stuck it in a drawer. It was eleven years before Belle duCray found the book and insisted on drawing the illustrations for it. That marked the beginning of five years of collaborating on books. It took her two years to draw the illustrations for A Story of Becoming, and then was published in 2014.

The book won 15 awards in 2015, and I was thrilled this morning to receive the announcement that A Story of Becoming had won the Spiritual division of the Beverly Hills Book Awards. It has won in both adult and children's categories making it a unique book that we call visionary fiction. This award makes the 16th Literary Award this book has won. I'm really grateful to have been able to bring this book of miracles and hope into the world. It's a message that is needed at this time. I remind myself every day to focus on what is good and true. For more on A Story of Becoming visit my website: 

http://ayncatessullivan.com

On March 31, Belle Crow duCray and I will be signing copies of our visionary picture book A Story of Becoming at the AWP Conference in Los Angeles at the CLC Booth from 1:30-5pm. I hope our fans will come and visit with us. On Saturday we receive gold medals from Children's Literary Classics. We are going through our closets now to find some pretty dresses, which are currently hidden behind stacks of books and drawings. We are very excited to see old friends and make new acquaintances. For more details about the signing or AWP Conference check my website under events:

http://ayncatessullivan.com/events/ 

Our next book, Legends of the Grail is now in the production phase. This is a really important phase, because the now the book -- fully written, edited and illustrated -- takes form as a book. There is a true art to this phase also. It's rather like waiting for a baby to be born and then actually seeing the shining eyes and smile of your new child. Although I'd love to say I really know what I'm doing during this phase, a lot of it is a mystery. We try different colored paper and then often have to color and edit even more. It's a process of listening to how the book wants to be, and there is an intelligence that governs it all. I've learned to stay out of the way as much as possible and just allow the creative intelligence to flow. Eventually a new book surfaces and goes out into the world like a teenager with a new driver's license. We do our best and then visualize the most positive outcome! Stay tuned, this book is massive - over three hundred pages of romantic and empowering ancient tales for modern times.