Strong, Bold & Courageous Is Becoming a Series!

Sometimes a book starts as one idea… and then grows into something much bigger than you ever imagined.

That’s exactly what happened with Strong, Bold & Courageous.

I wrote my first book when I was just ten years old, in fifth grade. At the time, I had no idea that the little book I created would eventually become part of a three-book series—or that I would grow and change right alongside it.

Over the years, I grew older, my writing grew with me, and my ideas became bigger and more developed. And somewhere along the way, we realized that Strong, Bold & Courageous had grown into something that deserved a complete makeover.

So… we gave it one!

We updated the books, changed some titles, cleaned up the interiors, added a few new pages, redesigned the covers, and—most importantly—finally turned Strong, Bold & Courageous into the cohesive series we had started to envision.

Book One: From “Words of Wisdom” to the Elementary Edition

My first book was originally titled:

Strong, Bold & Courageous: Words of Wisdom From a Fifth Grader from A to Z

Yep… that was the whole title. Try saying that five times fast LOL. 

I wrote it when I was ten years old, and it was basically the beginning of everything.

But years later, we realized that the original title no longer really fit what the book had become. Since the book was written for younger readers, we wanted the title to be simpler, clearer, and easier to understand.

So it became: Strong, Bold & Courageous: Elementary Edition

We also gave the entire book a makeover—fixing grammatical errors, refreshing the interior, adding a few new pages, and giving it a completely redesigned cover.

I enjoyed going back over something I wrote so many years ago, it was really special to see where everything started.

Book Two: We Realized We Had Put This Book in a Box

My second book was originally called:

Strong, Bold & Courageous: Junior High Edition

And this is where we realized we had a problem.

The content of this book was actually much broader than the title made it sound. The messages were relevant not just to junior high students, but to teenagers, older teens included.

We had basically pigeonholed the book with its title.

Because let's be real… how many teenagers are going to see a book called Junior High Edition and think, “Oh yeah, that's definitely for me”? 

So we changed it to:

Strong, Bold & Courageous: Teen Edition

and it just made sense.

Again, we updated the interior, corrected grammatical errors, added a few new pages, and because we loved this cover so much we used it as our template to redesign the new Elementary Edition and the new upcoming Young Adult Edition cover so the series would fit together cohesively. 

Book Three: Young Adult Edition

And then there is the newest book:

Strong, Bold & Courageous: Young Adult Edition

This one is different because it is a brand-new book written from a much more mature perspective.

By the time I wrote this book, I wasn't the ten-year-old girl who started this journey anymore. I had grown, experienced more, learned more, and developed as a writer.

And that growth shows up in the book.

Having the three books together now creates a progression that we never originally planned—but that ended up making so much sense:

Three Books. Three Stages of Life. One Message.

Seeing all three books together now is honestly pretty amazing.

What started as one book written by a fifth grader has grown into a three-book journey through childhood, adolescence, and young adulthood.

And we wanted the books to actually look like a series, too.

Kate, our cover artist, has been part of this journey for years. She originally designed the cover for my second book about four years ago. When it came time to create the third book, we worked with her again—and then decided to bring her back to completely revamp the first book so all three could have a cohesive look and feel.

The books finally look like they belong together.

We’ve Learned A LOT Along the Way

When I wrote my first book at ten years old, I obviously wasn't thinking about publishing, editing, formatting, cover design, marketing, branding, or any of the million little details that come with putting a book into the world. Hello, I was ten years old. I just knew I had something I wanted to say.

But over the years, we learned a LOT.

We learned about writing and editing. We learned about publishing and formatting. We learned what works, what doesn't, and what we would definitely do differently the next time around. 

And honestly, some of the things we know now are things we absolutely did not know when that first book was published.

That's part of growing, though.

You learn. You change. You look back. You improve. And sometimes you realize something you created years ago deserves another chance to become what you can now see it becoming.

These Books Grew With Me

Looking at these books now, I realize they aren't just three books.

They are little snapshots of who I was at different stages of my life.

The first book came from a fifth grader with a lot of thoughts and a desire to encourage other kids.

The second book reflected an older version of me and the things I was learning as I grew up.

And the third book came from a much more mature version of me stepping into young adulthood.

So while we changed titles, fixed grammar, added pages,  redesigned covers, and made everything cohesive, we weren't just updating books.

We were bringing different chapters of my life together.

Closing One Chapter and Turning the Page

Strong, Bold & Courageous has now become a three-book journey:

Elementary Edition.Teen Edition.Young Adult Edition.

And as special as this series is to me, I also know that this particular style of writing represents a season of my life that is coming to a close.

That doesn't mean I'm done writing.

Far from it.

It just means that what I write next will be different.

My voice is different. My perspective is different. My interests are changing, and I'm excited to explore a completely different direction as a writer.

Strong, Bold & Courageous will always be a really important part of my story. It started when I was ten years old, grew alongside me, and eventually became a three-book series.

And now, as I look at all three books together, I can see just how far I've come.

From a fifth grader with a book idea… to an author closing one chapter and turning the page to whatever comes next. ❤️