Penny to a Million

Two years ago, Cindy and I were starting to flirt with the idea of writing. Observing the void of quality children’s books that dealt candidly with money, we decided to develop a few concepts together and see what we could do. We agreed to meet a week later and exchange some thoughts.

Seven days passed and stories were born. There were five tales told that night. One about a girl named Promise; the same poem that two revisions later became The Eighth Wonder of the World. Another was about a young boy who discovers the miracle of compound interest while on a fishing trip with grandpa.

A year passed and the story stayed at six pages. Then, last October, when someone close to me told me they were getting their first book published by a major publisher and that they would be happy to pass on anything I had to their agent, I grabbed my pen and got to work. We’d already closed shop at the preschool and the hunger was rolling through my belly. I couldn’t afford to let opportunity pass.

Though I’d already written a book, it was more like 600 pages of brainstorm than it was a page turner. I love that book, learned to write by writing that book, and someday will revel in the chance to revisit that book, but it was a mammoth sized mess I couldn’t afford to get tangled in.

I needed something I could write with jet fuel ink.

I remembered the story about the boy and his grandfather, then paired it with my own experience in elementary school, shilling classroom contraband like candy and Garbage Pail Kids. That book, I believed, would practically write itself.

It did. I rolled right through the rough draft. Each day I’d sent Cindy what I’d written and every night she’d ask for more.

The story came together in no time. It’s about a fifth grade boy, Kelly, who learns a lesson from his grandpa that sends him on an entrepreneurial elementary school adventure. Kelly must steer clear of the school administration, while continuing to think up clever ways of turning the school playground into his piggybank. The book is a lot of fun. It’s twelve chapters, each chapter a month of the year, the entire book taking Kelly from one summer to the next.

I finished a second edit and passed it to the friend just days before she had a meltdown. To this day I’ve no idea whether she actually had a book or agent.

Disenchanted, I allowed the manuscript to lay dormant for nearly a year.

Cindy told me it was good. Really good. But she loves me and it is occasionally difficult for me to endow her compliments with the same gravity as someone who is entirely objective, as unfair as that may be. And the last thing I wanted to do was start the querying process. At the time, I believed focusing my energies on Writer Dad was the smartest strategy, so Penny to a Million became just another one of those things – 90% finished and permanent resident at the Bottom Drawer Estates. Fortunately, about two months back, Cindy convinced me to get feedback from others. I did.

Penny will be in print by the end of this year.

At least if everything goes according to plan. This is Collective Inkwell’s first of many titles and Dave and I will both be learning as we go.

Just as we have serialized Available Darkness, fresh installments of Penny to a Million will be published each Friday at Children Write the Future. Today we published an introduction to the story. Next week is the first installment. Below is the same introduction on the site today. Hope to see you there next Friday!

Kelly McCannlis’s world changed one August afternoon while sitting next to his grandfather in the middle of a lake. It was in that moment that Kelly first learned that anything was possible.

After a lifetime of watching his parents count every penny, Kelly decides he wants a different, better future for himself and comes up with a plan to take a single penny all the way to a million dollars.

• Will Kelly’s parents allow him to carry out his plan?
• Will Kelly be able to keep his principal and the teachers at his school from finding out what he’s up to?
• Will Kelly be able to make all his dreams come true?

Find out next Friday, and every Friday to follow with a fresh weekly installment of Penny to a Million.

Writer Dad