The Middle String

The Middle String began with my experience growing up as a middle child and how learning guitar helped me find something that felt distinctly mine. I also wrote it with my own middle child in mind.

The story and words are mine, but I had never illustrated or published a children's book. AI helped me turn that story into a finished book, from developing and refining the illustrations to learning how to navigate the publishing process.

I used AI to help me understand Canva and format the book, navigate purchasing and managing ISBNs through Bowker, work through publishing the paperback and Kindle editions using Amazon KDP, and complete distribution through IngramSpark.

AI didn't do all of that work for me. I still had to make the decisions, use the tools, work through the process, and bring everything together. But it made unfamiliar disciplines much more accessible and helped me accomplish something I had never done before.

That's what made the experience so interesting. I started with a story I wanted to tell, and AI helped me learn almost everything else I needed to turn it into a published book.