Children’s author SANDRA WILSON said

Let your imagination soar
by Sandra Wilson


Thanks Richard!

I should tell you about my latest book!

Let Your Imagination Soar!

At the beginning of the pandemic, I started following some painting tutorials through Social Art and Michelle the Painter and I really started to enjoy painting. It was while doing one of these painting tutorials that I was inspired to make a creative writing book for kids.

It was a concept by artist Michelle the Painter. She posted her painting tutorial on YouTube for people to follow along at home. Flight of the Imagination had a bird carrying a person on a swing over some amazing landscape. As I painted, I wondered about how I would feel on this journey, what I would see, what kind of adventure this would be…well my imagination soared with ideas. The painting gave me the idea for the book, Let Your Imagination Soar (and that painting is on the cover!). I thought if the painting inspired my imagination to think of an adventure story perhaps, I could offer paintings to kids that inspired them to write stories.

 I continued to follow more of Michelle’s painting tutorials and continued to be inspired. There were paintings that made me think of characters, of settings, of situations. There were paintings that reminded me of classic stories, that brought memories to mind. These ideas all started to come together into a book that could build storytelling skills in kids.

I started creating lessons to teach kids how a story is inspired and then would offer a painting to illustrate this idea. I would include a painting with questions they could ask themselves and that could lead to a wonderful story idea. These writing prompts helped develop their characters and settings but also would show the importance of emotions and point of view in a story.

Each section of the book offers some insight as to how a story can be inspired by the world around us. Then there is a painting and questions to encourage kids to use the image as a story starter. The goal of the book is to show the reader how to find ideas to help write a story, to encourage them to explore their imagination, and to inspire them to create. (There are even suggestions to inspire them to create paintings of their own!)

The idea is to encourage the reader to enjoy exploring their imagination, learning to see the world a little more differently, and maybe write a story or two. Kids are encouraged to write a bit, leave it alone, and come back and write some more. Most of all they are encouraged to enjoy the process, get excited about writing stories, and celebrate inspiration! I am hoping kids will send me some of their finished stories so I can create a follow-up book that features these wonderful tales.

SANDRA WILSON
Writer and Educator
Founder of the Kindness Kangaroo Project
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