About
Welcome!
If you are new here, I'm Sam Candlewick, and I create children's books.
Why?
Because it's fun! Haven't you ever heard of the saying, "Fun things are fun." ?
Okay, okay. We get it. Fun is fun. But your name can't really be Sam Candlewick!
Heh. Well, no, it's not. But isn't it a fun name? Haven't you ever wondered what it would be like to have a different name? Sound it out: Ssssamm Candle - wick! Quite fun to say, if I do say so myself.
Fun names aside, what is your story, oh Sam Candlewick?
Ah, glad you asked.
Ah, glad you asked.
Always since I was but a young whippersnapper, I've loved inventing.
It first started out with trains. I had a blanket with trains on it. My lovely mum even made me a button up shirt with trains on it. I got a gift magazine subscription with trains in it.
Trains, trains, trains. I wanted to be an engineer when I grew up.
But somewhere along the way, though I loved trains, I needed to grow up a bit before that. So it turned to taking things apart. I had a little workshop under the stairs, where I took things apart. I now wanted to be an inventor.
So with a whole lot of hot glue and tape, I invented things under the stairs.
That was a lot of fun. But turns out you need more than tape and hot glue to make your dreams come true. We moved house and I lost the little nook under the stairs.
So I turned to the arts. I began drawing and writing. These were things I could take along with me wherever I went.
I began reading and taking apart stories. I studied how they were told. How they were put together. It was the most fun I'd had since my hot glue and tape days!
Suddenly I no long had to obey the laws of physics and knowledge. If I wanted a drive through a mall and pick up a hot dog (true story!) I could!
My imagination loved it.
So as I grew from whippersnapper to tadpole to slightly bigger sprout, I created stories.
And now here I am, still creating stories.
So Why Children's Books?
Remember those days, back when a stick became a sword, and a cardboard shield your defence against the arrows of the enemy? Or trails of beaten down grass in the ditch, a dusty maze for you to hide in? Or a picnic made of peanut butter and strawberry jelly sandwiches on the other side of the pond, an meal fit for the kings and queens you were?
To me, picture books have always had that taste and tang of long free days spent in the sun and wind and water and muddy handprints of childhood.
So I've decided to write one. Or two. Or three! Maybe I'll never stop! But as much as I like creating stories, I don't want to do it alone.
After all, one of the main joys of a storyteller is having someone to tell it to.
So for my very first book I decided I wanted to include as many people as possible in the story telling process. Over the next few months, I'll be sending surveys asking people to decide what would happen next in the story.
This little corner of the interwebs exists to help tell those stories of what happens next. I would love it YOU would join me in making those stories happen.
Let's do this! Just enter your name and email below, and you'll be kept in the loop on the next surveys!