That old saying “When it rains, it pours”? Well, there’s a mini rainstorm going on over my head, very happily.

After signing a contract for my middle-grade novel, I’ve also sold a picture book manuscript. This is a story about a family member who did long-haul trucking with her two preschoolers, driving from the Lower Mainland to Quebec (in the winter!) and Florida. Imagine that with kids in the truck.

When she first told me about this, I asked her to write down as many memories from that time as she could. That formed the basis of the manuscript, with me rearranging, cutting and imagining as needed. (Or as I thought I needed.) But mostly, it’s her memories of that special time in her life.

The working title is Truckin’, and it’s the third picture book I will have published that is about my family’s longtime business. The first was about my Dad’s truck, Number 21. The second was Saturday at the Garage/Samedi au garage, about spending Saturdays with my dad at his garage when I was a kid. And this is the third. I’m becoming a trucking life chronicler! But I’m good with that.