by Rosie J. Pova

I remember vividly the exact moment the title for the book popped into my head.

It was Thanksgiving Day and my family and I, along with some friends, had rented a cabin in the mountains in Colorado.

The turkey was in the oven, the salads and the sides were made, and I was bored. Everyone else had left to go to some hot springs and soak up, but I had stayed at the cabin to cook. On top of that, I had a cold and was quite miserable to go anywhere, anyway.

Luckily, Jack Canfield had a 2-hour pre-recorded webinar coming up for which I had registered. He was being interviewed, talking about his journey, his ups and downs, marketing and other interesting topics for authors.

I had watched that webinar a few times already and was pretty familiar with the content, but never tired of listening to Jack’s amazing journey to such tremendous success with his CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL series.

So, I was ready to soak up his wisdom once again.

As usual, his talk left me feeling inspired and motivated. I was in the mood to write.

I started brainstorming catchy titles for a story that would be fun to write. I asked myself, what would be a title that stands out, is intriguing, memorable, and fun to say all at the same time?

Suddenly, it came: THE SCHOOL OF FAILURE. I liked it! Then I thought of an interesting opening sentence. I was trying to amuse myself… hoping that I’d create one of those classic, memorable opening lines.

What followed was, The school of failure was located in the middle of nowhere, but it was the center of everything! I was delighted with my progress and continued to write the first draft that day.

That was a great feeling, it cheered me up, making me forget I was under the weather. And even though the starting of my day seemed like a bit of a fail, it was well worth it to have this time to myself and end up with a completely new story. I was grateful—maybe this was a divine plan after all.

Fast forward a few years, many, many revisions later, and the story sold!

Many more revisions after that, my precious little opening sentence ended up being cut, but the title stayed with the addition of a subtitle: A STORY ABOUT SUCCESS.

Now finally, I am pleased to share it with the world, and hoping it finds its own success in the homes and hearts of many readers.

Thank you all for celebrating this book with me.

And now, the reveal…the cover by Monika Filipina…

P.S. I did find a way to sneak that opening sentence in to the book—it’s now included in my Author’s note!

Thank you, Rosie, for sharing this cover with us! And some adorable story characters…

Rosie is also giving away a 30-minute consulting phone call (or Zoom, depending on your location) to chat about any writing or publishing questions you have for her.

Leave one comment below to enter.

A random winner will be selected soon!

Good luck!

Rosie J. Pova is a marginalized, multi-published, and award-winning children’s author, poet, speaker, and school presenter. She is also a Writing Instructor for the Dallas Independent School District, an instructor with Writing Workshops Dallas, teaching online picture book courses to children’s writers, and Rate Your Story judge.

Her latest picture book, SUNDAY RAIN (Lantana/Lerner, March 2021), was featured in The New York Times and Parents magazine. Her upcoming picture book, THE SCHOOL OF FAILURE: A Story About Success will be released in 2021 in China and in spring of 2022 in the USA from Yeehoo Press. She has three other children’s books in print as well.

Rosie has been featured on TV, radio, podcasts, and print media, and also speaks on women’s and mom’s topics.

Originally from Bulgaria, she now lives in Dallas, TX with her family. 

Visit her at RosieJPova.com and follow her on Twitter @RosiePOV.