About Valerie R Lawson

I have been seriously pursuing my love of writing since 2003 when I wrote my first picture book. It was over 3,000 words long.  After heavy editing. That’s when I realized that maybe I shouldn’t be writing picture books and maybe I should start learning something about my craft. I joined my local Society of Children’s Book Writer’s and Illustrators (SCBWI) chapter after attending my first schmooze – all jittery with nerves, so sure they would detect me as a fraud and send me packing. Instead I found a family of kindred spirits that have been my saving grace. I joined a critique group soon after that has been the second best thing I ever did. Together, my writing group and I have been through so much growth and so many drafts of terrible and finally inspired writing. I owe them everything. They helped me take off the training wheels with my middle grade novel and get on my big girl bike to write the young adult novel I knew was inside me all along. I now have two completed novels, Night of the Museum Crashers (MG) and Institutionalized: I’m Not Crazy (YA), that I’m actively submitting. And the work continues…