Watching her kids play dress-up with green paint on their faces, an aluminum hat and building spaceships in their living room, Marie-Catherine Smith, Pontiac native, found the idea for her first book. An artist by profession Smith self-published A Blargley Day, a kid’s adventure book on March 28.

“That’s how it started. I’m just watching my kids playing and grabbing stories from them,” said Smith.

The 53-page book takes the readers through the mind of a little boy named Declan who . . .

is frustrated that his older sisters do not want to play with him. From there, Declan discovers a mysterious spaceship in his backyard which takes him on an adventure into outer space.

The book explores themes of siblinghood and the bond between a brother and his sisters. It is made for children of mixed age groups ranging from ages two to 15. “It’s such an awesome age where they can play together and imagine. There is love deep down even if they fight, they do have a love for each other. So, I thought it would be an awesome book too for older children to read to their younger siblings.”

It began as a storyboard, with bullet points of the storyline. From there, Smith started sketching out the play-by-play of the story. “The scenes just kind of appeared in my head as I was going through the storyboard,” she said.

Because she decided to self-publish, uploading her work was a learning curve as well. She had to learn how to digitize her book, which she said was the most challenging aspect of putting it together. “That’s a whole other language that I’m not used to so that was the most difficult part,” she said.

It took her about seven months in total from start to finish. Once she had her first draft written, her sister-in-law, Danielle Newman, helped proofread it for her.

In order to get her book well known, she has reached out to children’s book bloggers and promoted it on her social media platforms.

Her kids–Anya, Maayan and Declan Dubois– were the source of her inspiration. “My kids were very much involved, they loved having their names in the book and they’re really happy to be part of it,” said Smith. After working on her first book she mentioned that her kids wrote her a long list of other story ideas. Getting to do it with them was the fun part about working on this project, said Smith.

“I dedicated this to my children because I love their imagination and I love that his sisters took the time to play with their little brother like this. It was pretty cool,” she said.

Although she tried her hand at writing a book some 18 years ago, it didn’t work out. This time around Smith said “it just clicked” and it felt like the right time and with the available resources such as Amazon self-publishing as well as the support from her husband and family. Because her family is also artistic, she was able to lean on them for guidance and advice along the way.

“I had this dream long ago and it’s now coming into form so they’re super supportive,” she said. “They always ask about it while I was doing it.”

Smith said although there isn’t anything written yet, she certainly has ideas for a second book, possibly a part two of A Blargley Day.

Her next step is to translate the book into French and provide a Kindle option. The book can be found on Amazon.

Register or subscribe to read this content

Thanks for stopping by! This article is available to readers who have created a free account or who subscribe to The Equity.

When you register for free with your email, you get access to a limited number of stories at no cost. Subscribers enjoy unlimited access to everything we publish—and directly support quality local journalism here in the Pontiac.

Register or Subscribe Today!