☕ Grab Your Lavender Latte–Poems for Breakfast is on YouTube

Catch Part 1 of this series (+ bonus writing tip).

Poems for Breakfast has officially debuted on YouTube, thanks to Shane from The Story Rug channel. This video is Part 1 (of four parts) since the book is quite lengthy at 68 poems.

Ready to jump in? Here’s it is:

Wondering how this collaboration came about?

It started with Facebook. The platform I keep thinking I’ll close down and then it becomes very useful again. Shane, the creator of The Story Rug, posted on a group looking for children’s books to feature on his channel, and after seeing his work, I sent him a message. I was still knee-deep in edits for the re-launch—tweaking poems, reworking illustrations—but I figured, why not?

Shane and I share a similar motivation for creating children’s content: we wanted to craft the kind of stories we’d enjoy sharing with our kids. When you’re a parent, you don’t just watch children’s content; you live with it. You hear it in the background, you re-read the same books and quote them unprompted. We both felt the industry could always use more content that is fun for kids and also doesn’t make adults want to hide in another room.

His narration blows me away. It’s like he climbed into my brain and read the poems exactly as I’d imagined them. I’m really just so happy with this production and look forward to subsequent parts.

Writing Tip: Name Your Idea Stash

Did you do it? Make a home for your ideas?

For a long time, I kept meaning to—but didn’t. I was journaling, working on a screenplay, and constantly overthinking where to put my notes. Every idea felt like it needed a perfect place and purpose, which meant a lot of ideas went nowhere.

What finally helped? Giving my list a fun name. Over the years, it’s been “Note Drop,” “Dumb Ideas,” “Idea Dump,” “Hmm…,” “Master Thoughts,” “Interesting Things,” and even “Doopeedoopeedoo.” Eventually, I simplified to one master list called Inbox.

Why “Inbox”? Because after cycling through clever names and forgetting them months later, practicality won. Now, all ideas land in one place, and every so often, I sort through and move them where they seem to fit best. Do I still worry about misplacing an idea? Sure. But once you start collecting them, you realize there will always be more. The key is just writing them somewhere.

If you’re stuck on starting your own list, just name the folder and go. And if you’ve already got one—what’s it called? I might have to steal the name.

The Poems for Breakfast series is an illustrated collection of whimsical children’s poem books that make mealtime an adventure.

Available on Amazon in hardcover and paperback. Join the adventure at poemsforbreakfast.com.