Do you believe in coincidences?

Over the weekend, I had the incredible opportunity to represent Richland County Farm Bureau at the American Farm Bureau Federation Annual Meeting in Anaheim, California. Even more exciting? A project I worked hard on alongside our county staff was recognized as a County Activity of Excellence, which felt pretty surreal in the best way.

My husband was able to join me on the trip to the American Farm Bureau convention!

The conference itself covered everything: the history of Orange County, fertilizer input outlooks for the year ahead, trade updates, ag policy, and even tips for sharing farm life on social media. Anything farm-related, there was probably a session!

Then there was one session that made me do a double take.

“So you want to write a children’s book?”

Oh. Umm. HOW did you know?!

How wild is it that at a farming convention, there was a session about children’s books… while I am literally in the middle of publishing one? Coincidence or a God thing — either way, the timing could not have been better.

The speaker was the managing director of the American Farm Bureau Foundation’s publishing company, which produces children’s books that portray farming accurately. I soaked up every word. My head was spinning in the best possible way. When the session wrapped up, she was immediately surrounded by people — so I made it my mission to track her down the next day.

And lucky me… I found her.

Not only did I get to meet her, I got to pitch my story idea. While my book wasn’t quite educational enough for what they publish, she described it as “rural joy,” which honestly might be my favorite compliment ever. She told me it sounded like a great book.

Then came the best part: the feedback.

She walked me through other children’s books, page counts, layouts, and the printing process - things you don’t usually get a behind-the-scenes look at. I’m still so grateful she took the time to share all of that with me. Not every day do amateurs get to learn from real pros.

I left California feeling equal parts excited and overwhelmed.

Fast forward to this morning, I met with Isabelle, my illustrator, to go through page spreads and overall layout. Based on that feedback, we decided to add a few more pages and talked through what that could look like. And let me tell you… seeing the book laid out like that?

Pure magic.

I can’t believe how close we are to holding it in our hands.

This has been a long process, but I learned that the average children’s book takes at least 18 months to publish, and that’s with full-time staff working on it. Isabelle and I are doing this in our free time, so honestly? I feel really good about where we are. My hope is to publish in spring or early summer 2026.

The full publishing process for a children's book - so many steps!

If you made it this far — thank you. Truly.

And if you’d like to get email updates about the book as we get closer to launch, you can sign up here: https://www.triplecreekcreative.com/coming-soon-03