This story is a story about how I started my journey in book writing. In November of 1999, I wrote a story I thought was cute. It was about two frogs Ted and Raymond in a car race “The Croak 500”. I always thought to myself why kids and people wanted to be first all the time. I had to teach younger kids that you don’t always have to be first to be proud of yourself, as long as you tried hard. This is what “The Croak 500” is about. And my journey began, through trials in my life, and almost 11 years later, my dreams are being fulfilled.