Lucy and Me!
Annette Griessman never dreamed of being an author. Oh, sure, she loved stories, and she loved reading more than anything else, but she never really thought she could write as a profession. Instead of becoming a writer, she graduated from Purdue University with a degree in electrical engineering. She worked for almost 5 years as an engineer, and enjoyed her job very much. But then, her children came along, and Annette decided it was time to change professions. Namely, she quit her job to stay at home and do some *real* work raising kids.
It was during this time that Annette remembered her love of stories, and started filling up notebooks with various story ideas, although she rarely finished any of them. (Hey, it was more fun than scrubbing floors!) But one summer, two things happened to change Annette's life. One: she read about a bazillion picture books to her kids from the local library while her kids participated in the library's summer reading program. Annette particularly noted that some picture books were fun to read again and again, and others…weren't. Two: Annette read an article about writing for children as a career choice. VOILA! The two events spawned a strange, and yet wonderful, idea in Annette's head. Maybe, just maybe, she could write stories for children as a career.
Now, looking back, Annette will readily admit her ignorance of the market for children's stories was the only key to her success. Because the children's market was, and still is, more competitive than she ever could have dreamed. However, Annette was blind to all of this, and started writing with absolute gusto. Strangely enough, after thousands and thousands of hours of writing, revising, submitting to publishers, and then facing piles and piles of rejection letters, Annette has actually sold some work. Annette Griessman is now officially a children's author.
Woo!
An Important Bio Update! April 2008!
In August of 2005, in order to further explore her love of books, Annette enrolled in the Masters of Library Science Program at IUPUI in Indianapolis. She graduated with her masters in December of 2007, and currently works as a reference librarian at IU Kokomo. You can see where she works if you visit http://www.iuk.edu.