It's Time to Tell You

Hi friends. I have decided that I need to tell you about me and about how my precious Little Lilly Polka Dot came to be -as well as my BIG hopes for her.

First, you need to know that I am a horrific overachiever who has always had huge -and we're talking HUGE plans- for my life.  By most people's standards I have lived a life up to this point that is grander than grand. My careers have always been SERIOUS careers-I was an interior designer who designed homes for some pretty important hoity toits; I was an attorney who became the general counsel of a large healthcare system in a relatively short period of time; I built a  million dollar plus business for which I designed and manufactured jeweled and enameled collectible boxes(sold under the name Wendy Reed)( I actually designed a box in honor of the the actress Tippi Hedren- you know, the star of the movie THE BIRDS and Melanie Griffith's mother); and had a jewelry business for which I designed jewelry- (you can still see it on the website-www.wendyreedjewelry.com).

And then there is Little Lilly Polka Dot. The idea for her came to me when I was in bed just about 24 hours a day with severe depression. I would get out of bed and either write a little of her story or do a little bit of illustrating. I managed to self-publish it and get it placed in Barnes & Noble as well as Books-A-Million and Amazon. I visited the schools where I read the book to the kids and we sang the Little Lilly song. It was  a BLAST. And nothing is more fun than seeing the kids' faces as the drama in the book unfolded. But then, I decided maybe the book and Lilly weren't such a great idea after all and I just stopped pushing the project forward altogether. I got a 'real job'(as my husband called it and he, of course, was thrilled I actually had a paycheck) which ended up disastrously since I had worked for myself for way too long. NO MORE BOSSY BOSSES FOR ME!!If you're an entrepreneur you know what I mean! So back I go into the Lilly project. And here I am-blogging my fool head off  trying to interest you moms enough so you'll let your kids play on the website and spending untold hours on FACEBOOK telling anyone and everyone who will listen that I have a fun new website for kids and please let their kids visit it(all the while trying to avoid getting in trouble with FACEBOOK for spammy content-- WHAT THE HECK!!??. ) NEVER MIND that I am up against the likes of Disney, Hallmark and the Cartoon Network. (FACEBOOK could care less, of course. They were NEVER the underdog!! )Their blogs are fabulous, they have tens of thousands of FACEBOOK fans and their websites can keep a kid interested and happy for days on end. But I actually believe that Lilly's site holds its own. Even though I didn't spend a gazillion dollars on it(I did ALL the artwork for the site), mine has had a lot of heart put into it. From the late night hours I spent at my drawing board patiently rendering and painting the artwork to the first time I heard 8 year old Ruby Davenport(the niece of the website developer) singing the Lilly song and narrating the book, I have loved every minute of it. Sure- my dream is that one day we all see Little Lilly Polka Dot on  backpacks and coloring books and every other kid item under the sun but even if I get a quarter of the way there I'll be happy. Heck even if I make one child and one mom happy it will all have been worth it. And that's what the Little Lilly Polka Dot project has taught me that none of my previous careers has- giving joy to the children and making sure they know they are loved by Little Lilly Polka Dot if by no one else is a purpose and destiny worth pursing and never giving up on, no matter how many backpacks(if any) Little Lilly ends up on !!Now THAT's the STUFF REAL DREAMS ARE MADE OF!! :) THANKS FOR COMING and PLEASE PASS THE WORD ALONG!

Love, Wendy