I Wrote A Book: “What If You Dare The Dandelions to Sing?”

I’ve always thought that someday I would write a book.
As an English major, Language Arts teacher, and book lover, this idea didn’t feel too out of reach,
but it was a someday, bucket list type of thing … a dream I placed on a shelf to gather dust until I felt ready.

Becoming a Mama brought me back to writing and back to that shelf.
In trying to find meaning and make sense of the evolution I was undergoing, writing became the breath of my story, of our stories, as women in this space. It felt like something within me was fighting for a voice, and that’s probably why I started Mama-ish.

I remember reading somewhere that when we read, we start at the beginning and continue until we reach the end.
When we write, we start in the middle, and we fight our way out.

At the age of 34, a Mama of three daughters, officially retired from my teaching career and embracing my expanding identity,
it feels like divine timing to explore that shelf, dust it off, and fight my way out.


“What if You Dare The Dandelions to Sing?”

A children’s book.
A poem to my daughters.
A love note to little me.

PUBLICATION AND AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE: MAY 1, 2025


If you’re still reading, here is the short story:


THE BEGINNING


I don’t remember how the idea came to me, but I do know I was becoming more and more enthralled with the quality, message, and art of some of these picture books I was buying and reading to my daughters.

They were poetry. They were so many things I wanted to say. They were beautiful.
And somewhere along the way, I decided I would make one for and from my girls.

Knowing this project was for them gave me an immediate and clear message because I knew exactly what I wanted to say to them. I would write about the way my girls use art to explore their limits. I would tell them to be curious, test their wonder and challenge what they know.

So, I started digging through some of my old short poems for inspiration, which are here on Mama-ish in the WORDS category.
A poem I had written about Alba stood out.
“She dances with dawn and dares the dandelions to sing.”
That was it.

THE MIDDLE


Actually writing my book was the easiest, fastest part.
Of course, finding quiet time in a life with three kids, one of whom is only 1 year old, is devoted chaos.
I kept telling myself I’d go sit quietly at the beach to really focus on the words in my book, but that was easier said than done.
This book was written in the hours of Poet’s daily naps and in the dark of night, when the girls were asleep.

I started writing “What if You Dare The Dandelions to Sing?” in April of 2024.
Since then, I have written and read around 200 emails with my illustrator, who lives in Italy.
I’ve watched Youtube videos to teach myself how to use Photoshop to organize my pages.
I’ve researched and taught myself about binding types, coated and uncoated, matte and glossy, gsm, copyright … the list goes on of all the small steps you don’t realize go into publishing a book but actually are the majority of the process.
And there’s so much more behind the scenes and along this road, but I’ll share that story more on my Instagram.
If you’re interested in the process, the journey, and the inspiration behind it all, follow me @byerikajames !



THE END


Self-publishing has been a truly personal and devoted process. It’s even felt isolating, at times, because I’ve kept this it so close.
I have attempted things that felt out of my comfort zone before, and I hesitated or drew back
because they didn’t feel like mine to own.
But this, my book– it has asked a lot from my own confidence, but it feels like mine.
And what started as a passion project for my girls is blooming into something I want to share.
It’s a message and story that I think all of our children need to hear. And the illustrations are beautiful!

“What if You Dare The Dandelions to Sing?” is about a child whose art takes her on a daring adventure. With each question she asks, her possibilities grow. She draws wild lines, splashes color, and thinks so far outside of the box that she ends up creating an entire world. She teaches us what it means to think with our spirit, trust our wonder, and believe that we have the power to dream beyond what we know.

I grew up as and have always been a girl who was confident but quiet
(unless you were my close friend–then I was crazy).
I didn’t trust my words out loud. Now, as a Mama, I find myself overly encouraging my daughters to understand the value their voice holds, that it matters, that they owe it to themselves to share it. I even find myself speaking up for things I never would have before because I’m more than just myself now, I am their Mama.

It’s vulnerable to take something that means so much to me and that I believe in so much, and let it go in the world.
But this story feels ready to breathe on its own.
And it feels like this is only the beginning.

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