Janet Sumner Johnson
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Lost Resume #5

Feb

28, 2020 |

Filed in:

Books,Help Wanted Must Love Books,Publishing

Welcome to the final day of my special series of Lost Resumes!

To celebrate the release of my picture book, HELP WANTED, MUST LOVE BOOKS (illustrated by Courtney Dawson), on Monday, March 2nd (just 3 days from now!),  I’m sharing 5 Lost Resumes from characters who both did and didn’t make it into my story.

I hope you enjoyed the other Lost Resumes. But if you missed, I’ve included a link to all of the resumes at the bottom, so be sure to check them out.

Drum roll, please, for the final addition! Today, I present you Lost Resume #5: Rumpelstiltskin

I confess, this one makes me giggle-laugh so hard. I know! I totally crack me up. It is so different than all the other resumes, but Rumpelstiltskin is quite the character, and he likes to do things his own way. This is the only version of his that made sense. And secret? Underneath that big black rectangle is his actual name. Yep. I wanted it to be authentic.

Another secret? I had to give Shailey a last name when I created this resume. She didn’t have one before that. I know, I know, characterization and all that. But it was a corner I felt okay with cutting.

The only hard part about this particular resume, was not using the Shrek version of Rumpelstiltskin (either of them . . . you know he’s featured twice, right? Feel free to watch them all again. In fact, I just might do that myself).

Once again, while I don’t know why my publisher didn’t choose this resume, I have my guesses. Rumpelstiltskin is right up there with Grandma Sweets. It’s a bit dark to be thinking about a goblin stealing away a newborn baby, and since HELP WANTED is a book for young children, they probably don’t even want to be thinking about their future children at all! I get that. I do.

But in the mean time, I’m just over here chuckling away.

Now, there are two final notes I need to make:

First, I dressed up these Lost Resumes for this series, but when I sent them to my publisher, they were nothing more than words in a Word document. Just in case you were wondering. 😊

Second, there is the little matter of the replaced characters. For those who have been dying to find out all week, here you go:

Snow White and the Seven Dwarves replaced the Farmer in the Dell. He was my absolute favorite, and I’m so sad he didn’t make the cut. But let’s just say that the stinky old cheese was a big problem for Shailey.

Captain Hook replaced the Pied Piper. Since the Pied Piper stems from a true story, he was deemed too creepy. But he made things a little too lively for Shailey’s liking, anyway. 😳

I hope you enjoyed this series! If you want to see more resumes, you can find FOUR more as the backmatter in HELP WANTED, MUST LOVE BOOKS. The perfect ones to match the rest of the book.

Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win a copy of my book, and a copy of a book by one of my fellow Debut Crew members! You have until Saturday, February 28th, at midnight EST.

And if you want to check out the other resumes, follow the links:

Lost Resume #1

Lost Resume #2

Lost Resume #3

Lost Resume #4

Have a great day!

~~~

You can purchase HELP WANTED, MUST LOVE BOOKS on bookshop.org, which helps support local indie bookstores. Or if you don’t have a local indie, you can always find it on Amazon or B&N.

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Lost Resume #4

Feb

27, 2020 |

Filed in:

Books,Publishing

Welcome back to my special series of Lost Resumes!

To celebrate the release of my picture book, HELP WANTED, MUST LOVE BOOKS (illustrated by Courtney Dawson), on Monday, March 2nd (next week!),  I’m sharing 5 Lost Resumes from characters who both did and didn’t make it into my story.

I hope you enjoyed the first three Lost Resumes. But if you missed, I’ve included a link to all of the resumes at the bottom, so be sure to check them out.

Today we are moving on to Lost Resume #4: King Midas!

I had to do a bit of research for this one. I mean, who didn’t grow up hearing the story of King Midas? But turns out, I was pretty clueless. I’m certain I must have learned his story came from the Greek Myths at some point. But adult me had completely forgotten that tidbit.

When I mentioned this at the dinner table, my kids (ages 16, 13, and 10) went off on a deep discussion of a plethora of minor gods, comparing the Roman versions to the Greek, and I clearly need to start reading more Rick Riordan. My husband and I just sat there with mouths hanging open. Okay, not really, because we were eating dinner, but mentally, our mouths were definitely hanging open.

As I keep saying, I don’t actually know why my publisher did or didn’t choose each resume. But I feel fairly confident that King Midas didn’t make it in because he is from the Greek Myths, and not from the fairy and folk tales they were going for. And I suppose it’s also possible that this resume isn’t as funny as the others. Maybe. But I’ll let you be the judge of that.

Be sure to come back tomorrow when I share Lost Resume #5! The final one. In the meantime, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win a copy of my book, and a copy of a book by one of my fellow Debut Crew members! And if you want to check out the other resumes, follow the links:

Lost Resume #1

Lost Resume #2

Lost Resume #3

Lost Resume #5

Have a great day!

~~~

You can purchase HELP WANTED, MUST LOVE BOOKS on bookshop.org, which helps support local indie bookstores. Or if you don’t have a local indie, you can always find it on Amazon or B&N.

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Lost Resume #3

Feb

26, 2020 |

Filed in:

Books,Publishing

Good morning! This week I’m gearing up to celebrate the release of my picture book, HELP WANTED, MUST LOVE BOOKS (illustrated by Courtney Dawson), on Monday, March 2nd!

For those who were here Monday and Tuesday, welcome back to my special series of Lost Resumes!

As a reminder, I’m sharing 5 Lost Resumes from characters who both did and didn’t make it into my story. I hope you enjoyed Captain Hook’s and Snow White’s Lost Resumes! I’ve included a link to all of the resumes at the bottom, so if you missed them, be sure to check them out.

Today we are moving on to Lost Resume #3: Grandma Sweets!

Wait. You don’t know who she is? No, no, no. Of course you do. She is none other than the witch from Hansel and Gretel! Though really I should have made you guess based on the resume itself. Ahem. But here we are:

This one was a lot of fun to write. I mean, it’s Grimm, but there we are. A lot of fairy tale characters are a bit Grimm. (I know, I know, I’m so punny!) Maybe I shouldn’t admit this part, but it was really fun to put myself in the witch’s shoes and think about what she might do to get the job. We already know she’s pretty cunning just based on the fact that she lives in a consumable house.

Like I mentioned yesterday, I don’t actually know why my publisher did or didn’t choose each resume, but I’m guessing there were a couple of reasons for this one. First, the witch has no real name to speak of. I tried to look it up. But even if I had found something, no one would have known it. “Call me ‘Grandma Sweets'” was the best I could do.

Second, the Grimm factor. Maybe they worried parents don’t want to read a resume to small children about someone who wants to eat them. I don’t know. Just a theory.

Be sure to come back tomorrow when I share Lost Resume #4! In the meantime, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a chance to win a copy of my book, and a copy of a book by one of my fellow Debut Crew members! And if you want to check out the other resumes, follow the links:

Lost Resume #1

Lost Resume #2

Lost Resume #4

Lost Resume #5

Have a great day!

~~~

You can purchase HELP WANTED, MUST LOVE BOOKS on bookshop.org, which helps support local indie bookstores. Or if you don’t have a local indie, you can always find it on Amazon or B&N.

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