How I Turned My Poem Into a Picture Book in ONE WEEK… and 30 Years!

Thirty years ago, as a young momma trying to master life-with-littles on a PB&J budget, I penned a funny little poem called Grandma’s Hands and Toes. You see, at bath-time—which inevitably involved bubbles, giggles, toys, a wet floor and the better part of my evening—the kids would eventually do a soggy high-five and say, “Look, I have Grandma’s Hands,” followed by more giggles. So that year for Christmas, Grandma got a framed poem decorated with grandbaby hand and footprints.

Twenty-eight years later, now a grandma myself, I remembered my little poem and wanted to share it with my now-adult kids and grandkids. My initial thought after reading it for the first time in decades was, THIS WOULD MAKE A FUN PICTURE BOOK! But alas, my artistic skills didn’t reach farther than pencil doodles. So I polished up my poem, did my best bathtime-doodle at the bottom, framed it, and each of my kiddos got “Bathroom Art” for Christmas.

But I couldn’t quit thinking about The Picture Book.

Fast forward a year and a half. Life seems to be zooming by at break-neck speed. Feels like just yesterday I was 16, and now I’m 61. Wait, what? Just when I’m getting used to the technology of an air-fryer and iPhone, the internet is showing me driverless vehicles, and rockets that launch into space and then land back on their “feet” (for lack of a better description—you know what I mean) at the launch site.

I’m also hearing a lot about Artificial Intelligence—AI. And the phrase that I’d heard multiple times over the past few months was quite simple, “AI is a tool. Use it as such.” I’d also read the following statement by Sudipto Ghosh, “Artificial Intelligence is not a man versus machine saga; It’s in fact, man with machine synergy.” Well, I was ready to harness some of that AI synergy in the form of picture book illustrations.

I’d previously saved some “inspiration images” online—stock photos that corresponded with lines from my poem. So when I was ready to join forces with AI, I downloaded each image along with a description of how I wanted my illustration to look. There was a lot of trial and error, but also a lot of “magic”! As AI and I produced each image, my excitement grew. I was creating my picture book! In a matter of three hours we’d finished almost every illustration. Over the next few days I’d designed the final few pages, text pages, and front and back covers. I must admit that throughout this entire process, YouTube tutorial videos were my BFF. I also hired an artist to tweak a few illustrations. In a matter of 7 days I finalized my picture book PDF and sent Grandma’s Hands and Toes to Amazon KDP to be published. It went live a few days later.

I need to mention one last thing: I did ALL of this on my iPhone. Yup, me—Grammy Tami, 61-year-old master of the Air Fryer, and BFF to YouTube Tutorials. Seriously, folks, if I could do this, then… Well, you finish the rest.

Grandma’s Hands and Toes is picking up speed on Amazon, and reviews have been wonderful and incredibly heart warming to this grandma/picture book creator. It’s never too late to chase your dreams, my friends. Grab onto that synergy—whatever form it takes—and fly high. You’ve got this!

Oh, and guess what my grandkids are getting for Christmas this year?