My coloring book story

Did you know that National Coloring Book Day is August 2nd? In honor of this really cool holiday (that should be celebrated by more people, if I’m being perfectly honest), I’m going to tell you my coloring book story. The story of my journey from a little girl who loves to color to an adult coloring book collector and author.

I know I’ve told you before that I’m an only child, so I actually spent a lot of time by myself as a kid. My girls think being an only child would be GREAT (no sharing), but I’m here to tell them that it could get pretty lonely. There are only so many hours that Mom would play Barbies with me before her eyes glazed over and she had to find something else to do. I did have school friends and neighborhood friends too though. In fact, we lived in a neighborhood on the outskirts of town and in the summer I would leave the house in the morning and not come home til dinner. Hey, it was the 80’s… times were different. As long as I had my bike or my little red wagon full of toys and snacks, I was good. But... I’m a homebody and unless I could hear the neighborhood kids playing or unless Mom just MADE me go outside, I was totally happy to lay on the floor with my crayons and coloring books.

There was this shelf in my playroom that was used as storage of games and shoe boxes of Barbie clothes and books, but the entire bottom shelf was filled with coloring books. I remember loving to go to Roses or Sky City to look at the new Lisa Frank and Hello Kitty coloring books, but I also loved getting new coloring books when we were on vacation! I had Disney ones and coloring books from Gatlinburg or the zoo, and sometimes Dad would bring home a new coloring book from his travels. Mom and Dad owned a bookstore for several years when I was a kid and that was AWESOME for my coloring book obsession… I essentially had first dibs on EVERYTHING!

As with every life story, there’s always a dark point, and my coloring book journey has one too. None of my friends enjoyed coloring like I did. In fact, I don’t actually remember one single instance of coloring with anyone other than my Mom or Dad. It may have happened, but I just don’t remember it. Anyway, I came to a point in my childhood where I felt like I was too old to enjoy coloring (I know... it feels wrong even typing that, but I’m TOTALLY baring my soul here) and I turned my attention to a more “big girl” pastime - drawing. I was all of like 10 years old and  WAY too grown up for trivial things like coloring.

SIDE NOTE: you might think I gave up all my old coloring books during that phase, but nope…someone introduced me to tracing paper and I used all those coloring books that I had “grown out of” as guides. My coloring books essentially taught me how to draw! Moving on now.

Back to the story.

So I told you Mom and Dad owned a bookstore. Well, I was there ALL.THE.TIME (hello - only child). I rode the bus to the store after school. I spent weekends there. When I was home sick from school, yep… I stayed at the bookstore. And it was during my phase of being “too grown up” for coloring that Mom hired this high school student to help out at the store - Lori. Our bookstore wasn’t like Barnes & Noble, it was SMALL and there was A LOT of down time after Mom and Lori had dusted, straightened, and restocked shelves. Lori would come after school and bring her homework to do in her down time. I distinctly remember one day I was in the back pestering Mom about walking to Little Caesars for a PIZZA PIZZA and Lori put her schoolwork up and pulled out a Precious Moments coloring book and a pack of colored pencils. WHAAA? This grown up (she was actually only 16, but she was a WOMAN to me) colored? And she wasn’t ashamed of it?!

I can see her as clear as day - standing at the work table with her blonde curly hair coloring in her Precious Moments coloring book. I don’t remember Lori’s last name (maybe Dad would… I’ll have to ask him), but I credit that girl for bringing me back into the light. Back to knowing that it was OK to love coloring - no matter how old I was (remember: I was only 10)! It’s partly because of Lori that I still love coloring books today!

Click the photo to learn more about my Amazing States book series.

I’m a grown-ass woman (much older than that 16 year old girl who helped out my Mom after school), but I LOVE my coloring books. I’m still drawing. I’m still coloring. And I’ve even shown my daughters how to trace (on the iPad, not with actual tracing paper) to enhance THEIR drawing skills… just like I did all those years ago when I thought I was too cool for coloring. 

In fact, my love of coloring and collecting coloring books (yes, I still collect them) is 100% the reason I am a coloring book author/illustrator today. I’ve told this story 100 times, but when I moved to Alabama back in 2014, I started looking for a coloring book about my new state. AND… since I couldn’t find one, I decided to just make one for myself. I figured if I wanted one - someone ELSE was bound to want one too, right? So in 2016, I started researching and traveling and drawing… and 4 years later I have authored 3 coloring books and I have plans for MANY MORE in the future.

I wish I still had some of my old coloring books. I wonder if there are any left at Dad’s house? I’d love to know how many I’ve had through the years… probably HUNDREDS! Coloring books are relatively inexpensive and are a GREAT way to pass the time (when you’re by yourself A.LOT). They’re a GREAT way to fuel your creativity - whether you’re coloring in them or tracing the pictures. Today I don’t color as much as I used to, but I might need to get out some of my books and have a relaxing afternoon of coloring.

So on August, 2nd, join me in celebrating National Coloring Book Day by doing a little coloring! It’s 2 days before we move my oldest into her freshman dorm room at college, so I’m planning on forcing them to sit down and do some coloring with me.