One late afternoon in January 2018, sitting snug in an overstuffed reading chair, I watched flames burn brightly in the fireplace of my son’s old adobe home near the Pojoaque River Valley just north of Santa Fe, NM. Off and on I dozed, warm and comfortable. Outside snowflakes whirled like confetti against a deep blue sky while thick rays of sunlight fell across the room’s bricked floor.

I spent some time ruminating on two children’s book manuscripts I co-wrote in 2015 with my granddaughter. I felt the stories were good, but ultimately did not pursue my goal of seeing them in print. When the sun tilted toward the horizon, I rose from the chair to start dinner, nagged by unfulfilled desire,

Days after my reverie, I made the decision to take steps to bring our stories to fruition. By December 2018, the two books plus another completed that same year were printed and I launched Starfeather Publishing on New Year’s Day, 2019.

No formal training has prepared me, but growing up across the street from the Hosmer Library in Minneapolis, Minnesota provided a fortunate beginning. A warm haven during bitter winters, it was a place where whole worlds, vastly different from my own, rested between pages I only needed to open and absorb. I spent the endless hours of my childhood adrift in pure imagination on oceans of prose.

In the summer of 1968, I was twelve years old when my parents completed work on our new home. It was time to move. Heartbroken, I furiously completed my first story (forty-nine pages written in purple ink on lime green stationary), and hid it secretly under our dining room carpet for the new owners to discover. They were to read it thoroughly and come immediately to my rescue. I included specific directions on how to get to the new house.

My story was filled with the tragedy of those days spent packing and leaving my old neighborhood, my library, all my friends. I have no idea whether anyone found it, certainly no one showed up at our new house with a limousine and a box of Baby Ruth candy bars as I had fervently instructed.

Many times over the years, I wished I had held onto my story. I should like to read the words of my impassioned younger self, perhaps improve and publish them now.

Sincerely in the world of infinite ideas and multitudinous good books,

Rose Moore, Founder, Starfeather Publishing