A local woman has followed her dream of writing a children's book.
Jen Courtney's "Santa Meets His Match: A Tail Of Perseverance" was published by Innovative Print in Harriston and illustrated by Becca Marshall of Wingham.
Courtney, who lives in Listowel but owns a business in Wingham, started her writing journey four years ago.
"We had been stuck in the house for four days during a snow storm," said Courtney. "And the story just came, and the more we kept going, more kept coming."
But Courtney said the writing ended up being the easy part.
"Finding an illustrator took some years and I couldn't be more thrilled with my pair up," said Courtney. "Our illustrator's absolutely talented. And the publishing, you just don't walk in somewhere and someone says, 'Hey, I want to take you under my wing,' so we just had to stay persistent."
Wingham's Becca Marshall illustrated the book and Innovative Print out of Harriston published the work. The graphics were done by Heather Logan of Brussels keeping the creation of the book in the local area.
For Courtney, her family continued to be the driving force.
"My children who supported me the whole time, and my husband who kept us on track," said Courtney.
There are three more books in the series to follow up on Courtney's original work.
Author Jen Courtney reads "Santa Meets His Match: A Tail Of Perseverance", her first book released on September 30, 2017. (Photo by Steve Sabourin)
