The Making of "Night Owl and Early Bird"

Welcome back to The Storied Forest Newsletter! 

This is a very special post for me to write, because it is about our very first story and now debut book, Night Owl and Early Bird, and the beginning of The Storied Forest!

And the funny thing about our first story is—it almost wasn’t a story at all! 

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Let me start at the beginning…

Night Owl and Early Bird was inspired by my relationship with my husband, Ed—yes, that’s right, though we don’t have feathers or beaks, I am Early Bird, and Ed is Night Owl. 

I am the early bird who likes to bounce out of bed in the morning to greet the sun and get the day started with a brisk morning walk, yoga, or, living in San Francisco, Tai Chi. I love the pattern the early morning light makes on the leaves, and the controlled beauty just waiting to unfurl as the sun begins its journey across the sky. School days start early, and having been a teacher for so many years only furthered my attachment to the lovely promise that is day.

Ed, however, who’s been an artist far longer than I have, loves everything about the night: the quiet focus that it brings to creative projects, the warm glow of lights, the special time of curtain calls and jam sessions, and the feeling of being cozy inside. The mystery and magic that stirred humans to call midnight the “witching hour” is not lost on my Night Owl partner. But usually, by then, his early bird partner is off in dreamland.

Being with Ed opened up the beautiful parts of evening time to me, and I do hope I have showed him what some of the beautiful glories of the morning can be (especially if that includes a farmers market and a delectable croissant from our nearby baker). 

I thought about how two individuals, no matter how different they are, can be close, and how that difference offers a unique worldview that each can share with the other. Diversity in all ways is important, and we truly are better together. So I sat down to write a story about an owl and a songbird who share unique experiences with each other, and thus open each other up to new perspectives and ways of seeing the world. 

But that was just a little exercise for fun—I jotted it down and left it for Ed to find in the morning. He was delighted. But to be honest, it eventually went in a drawer and was forgotten, to me at least.

It wasn’t until Ed mentioned the story, in—of all places—our wedding vows, that I started to think this story was worth devoting some time to, so it could be shared with friends, with families, and now as part of “The Storied Forest,” the world.

I dug it out of the drawer, illustrated in quick sketch fashion by yours truly, and upon reading it again, I was touched that it made such an indelible mark on my Night Owl. Might there be something there, some inner spark just waiting to be unleashed? Not unlike the feeling when I first met Ed now 10 years ago this June?

The new version of Night Owl and Early Bird had five chapters instead of one, and clearly needed illustrations that captured the beauty of night, day, and the friendships that grow in between. Fortune surely smiled on us when we found the incredible artist and now my dear friend, Xiao. An artist and illustrator who lives in England, Xiao’s work, particularly her hand-painted watercolors have not had a rival since the days of Beatrix Potter. 

When we first started writing to each other about the story, Xiao got it straight away. She said that unexpected friendship is more than just a joy, it’s a gift. I had no idea that the story we were making together would parallel our own friendship, as our friendship and collaborations have grown, and have since become the most wonderful unexpected gift for me to treasure.

As friends do, Xiao helped encourage me to pursue my dream, sharing my stories on my newly-born story channel, which became The Storied Forest. She lent magic to my words and breathed life into our heroes—Night Owl and Early Bird, intrepid creatures on a journey of friendship. She animated the settings I was adamant about bringing to life—the redwood forest outside Ed and my home in San Francisco, the pinks and oranges and reds of the Northern California sunset. Watching her work’s beauty come alive onscreen has been one of the most wonderful moments of bringing this story into the world for me, and now it has finally been done justice in print as our first book.

It is fitting that what was our first story, first video, and first love is now our first book. It comes with a reading guide for all ages so families can share it as a first bedtime story, and so children can discover it over and over again as their reading proficiency grows. To go along with the book, we created a new book edition of the original video, with an added scene and new artwork lovingly rendered by Xiao. 

We hope you and your families enjoy listening and reading along, and that you fall in love with Night Owl and Early Bird again and again.

Love,
Lauren