The Short Long Stories

Story #1  “Love is in the Air”

Greg and Sean Marie Long met in Denver in 2004 and it was “love at first sight” for Greg, but not so much for Sean Marie.  Greg was content to be “just friends” with Sean Marie and the two of them would spend hours walking along Cherry Creek.  During these romantic walks, Greg would recite silly little rhymes he had written, and Sean Marie soon realized Greg needed to share these stories with the world.

After half a year of being best friends, Sean Marie came to the discovery that Greg had snuck in and stolen her heart.  They were married on September 3, 2005.

Story #2  “The Write Stuff”

Greg began the tedious process of submitting his stories to all the major publishing houses in 2004.  They sent him rejection after rejection, but he knew in his heart that his stories were destined to be read by thousands of families, so he vowed to never give up. 

Sean Marie got hired as an anchor with Fox News in Columbus, Ohio, so Team Long packed up and headed east.  Greg continued to submit his stories but couldn’t find a publishing house that was willing to take him on as a new author.

In 2006, Greg attended a writers’ conference and was noticed by a senior editor from Random House.  After months of meetings and deliberations, Random House elected not to publish Greg because they felt he was too much like Dr. Seuss—since Random House owns the rights to Dr. Seuss, they didn’t want to compete with their own line of books.

So, once again, Greg began the process of submitting his work to publishing houses.

Story #3  “Ask and Ye Shall Receive”

After 3 years of living in Ohio, Greg and Sean Marie began to pray together every day for God’s will to be done in their lives…and they quickly learned a valuable lesson– BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU PRAY FOR… YOU JUST MAY GET IT!

Sean Marie soon found out she was pregnant.  It was a wonderful gift from God.  But the joy didn’t last long– one month later, Greg lost his job due to the economic down-turn.  Nine days later, Sean Marie was told she was going to lose her job in three months… also due to the economy.  So, they were left pregnant and jobless, and they didn’t know what they were going to do.  It was an awful feeling of hopelessness.

But God is good, and even out of the most challenging situations He can work miracles– it was because of all the pain and suffering in their lives that Greg was inspired to write Today I Found God. It was written in only 2 days.

Eventually, Greg and Sean Marie were forced to sell their home and become homeless.  Selling a house in a couple of months is difficult, but fortunately, nothing is impossible when it’s part of God’s plan.

They sold their house at the eleventh hour when Sean Marie was 8 ½ months pregnant.  They packed up and traveled in separate cars all the way across the country to California and moved in with Sean Marie’s parents.

Despite all their troubles, they couldn’t stop smiling.  They had finally come to realize their purpose– God had revealed His will to them… They were to publish Today I Found God themselves and begin to share the joys of knowing God with kids everywhere…

So with lots of love– and just enough faith to move a mountain– they created Laugh-A-Long Books.

The Beginning…