Posted by Communications staff on 5/3/2021
Willard Elementary’s mental health therapist Jenny Keenan can add a new job title to her resume: published author.
“I've always jotted down stories and read them to my daughters when they were getting ready for bed,” said Jenny. “Then last year, some of my friends were like, ‘Jenny, you really need to turn your stories into books’, so I just decided 'Why not?'”
One year of hard work and perseverance later, Jenny self-published her first children’s book, “The Shades of You." The story is about a little girl who loves ballet but becomes upset when she notices other dancers are better at some of the moves and techniques than she is. The book then follows her as she tries to process her difficult feelings using different colors.
“Her bedroom changes [colors] to match her feelings,” Jenny said, “so when she gets sad, it turns this dark, deep blue and when she gets mad and she's throwing her stuffed animals the room turns red.”
Eventually, the little ballerina learns that life isn’t about whether you’re the best at something, but whether you’re willing to learn and grow in order to become the best version of yourself.
Jenny said the ballerina’s story teaches kids about the growth mindset, which celebrates embracing challenges, learning from criticism and finding lessons and inspiration in the success of others.
“As a therapist, I work with so many little anxious, perfectionists and teaching them the growth mindset versus the fixed mindset (the belief our character, intelligence, and creative ability are static and we can’t change or improve in any way) is very important.”
Jenny added, “What I think is great about books and stories is it's different than just your mom or dad talking to you about something. Because you’re reading about a character, you can take a step back and look at things through their perspective, which can make you stop and think, ‘Hey, I really related to that.’”
Jenny had to tap into her own growth mindset when she set out to publish “The Shades of You” last year. She reached out to several publishers, and while they declined to publish her book, they still pushed her to not give up on her dream.
“Getting those rejections was a little disheartening,” Jenny said, “but they gave me really great feedback about the story. They said, ‘Keep pursuing this, this is a great story!’”
After Jenny decided to self-publish her book, she found friends and friends-of-friends who could help her navigate the unfamiliar process.
“There's so much publishing lingo, like making sure there’s bleed on the page. I didn’t know what that meant!” said Jenny. “But I ended up working with a friend of a friend of a friend who knew what that meant and was super excited to help with the project."
She added that where else but Spokane would you find so much help and support in your own community? “It's so cool that people get excited about each other's projects and get on board to make them happen.”
Now Jenny’s labor of love can be read by people around the world.
“It's just going so much farther than I anticipated,” she said. “This is an opportunity to get inside all these different people's homes and help them have these kinds of these conversations with their kids or their grandkids or whatever. That is the most incredible thing.”
Jenny’s advice for those looking to pursue a passion but aren’t sure if they can pull it off: Just do it!
“We are all more capable than we think we are. If you put your mind to anything, you can make it happen.”
