I'd like to start writing children's books.

http://www.etsy.com/shop/eastwitching—art by Alison Fennell (add her to my list of gifted artists!) 

I'd like to start writing children's books, but I've had typical—that is, zero—luck with the sumitting-to-publishers approach. I can spin off a decent little tale in ten minutes; a clever rhyme in five; a GREAT story in 60. I really do think I could be successful with the age 3-8 set. It has crossed my mind, working as I do for a commercial printing shop, to publish myself.

Here's the quandry: I doodle well, and draw passably, but I am not a skilled artist in the sense that Jan Brett and Anita Jeram are skilled artists. I draw better than many children's book illustrators, but that is not a boast—it is a complaint. I don't appreciate mediocre art in the books I read to my children—not when there are artistic geniuses out there doing the same job, and beautifully. I won't add to it. 

So, artist friends . . . want to strike a deal? Give this thing a try? It could be fun.

Marnie