Category: Author Interviews

An Interview With Tami Charles

3/13/2018

Hosted by Kelly Carey

Tami Charles' debut middle grade novel launches this month and the buzz is already high for LIKE VANESSA (Charlesbridge). The novel is a Junior Library Guild selection and has earned a Kirkus starred review that praises the work as "a treasure: a gift to every middle school girl who ever felt unpretty, unloved, and trapped by her circumstances".

24 Carrot Writing is thrilled to have author Tami Charles join us for a candid interview exploring her path to publication, networking and marketing advice, and some thoughts on how she approaches working in different genres and with different editors.

A big 24 Carrot Writing welcome to Tami. Thank you so much for joining us.

Congratulations on the publication of your debut middle grade novel, LIKE VANESSA (Charlesbridge, Spring 2018)! Can you tell us a bit about your journey from teacher, to freelance writer, to author of a Kirkus starred review middle grade novel? (With ahem…more happy buzz and more books on the way!)

First of all, thanks so much for including LIKE VANESSA on your blog! I was a teacher for 14 years, beginning as a substitute teacher and then an elementary teacher of third and fifth grades. I’d always loved to read and write as a child. As I grew older, I sort of forgot about my dream of becoming an author. Once I became a teacher and started reading wonderful books with my students, my passion was reignited and my students encouraged me to write again. I’m so thankful for them! So, I started writing stories, picked up a few freelance article gigs along the way, which taught me discipline, and once I finished writing LIKE VANESSA, I knew I had to take the plunge.

In an online article, you credited your husband with the quote “If you want to be great at something, you have to surround yourself with people who are doing it and doing it better than you.” How did you act on that advice and how has it made a difference both for your pre-published self and for you now as a debut author?

My husband is one of the smartest (and funniest) people I know. When he told me this, I did the research and found the SCBWI and Women Who Write. Who knew there were organizations out there that supported aspiring writers? I had no clue! Joining these groups put me in touch with critique groups where I had the opportunity to have my work read by other writers. This level of feedback was crucial to improving my craft. I’m certain that being in a critique group played a role in my publishing journey. To this day, I still have online critique partners. The give-and-take is invaluable.

You once wrote “Having the talent is a HUGE part of making it in this industry, but don’t rule out the power of networking.” What is your networking advice? Can you give the 24 Carrot Writing crew a do’s and don’ts list?

To me, networking is everything! My grandmother used to say, “Closed mouths don’t get fed.” And she was right! You’ll get what you need to progress if you have the courage to ask for it. My two cents on networking: A thank you note goes a long way (this can be hard copy snail mailed or a quick email). Study the bios of who will appear at writer’s conferences. Get to know the editors’ and agents’ work to see if they’re the right fit for your work. Last but not least, don’t be pushy. Your work should be able to speak for you. If you get a rejection, take it with a grain of sugar. More craft, more work, and your time will come!

What do you wish to accomplish with LIKE VANESSA?

I’d love for readers to take away that no matter what hardship they may face in life, there’s always something beautiful waiting for them if they stay focused on the journey. This, I feel, is what Vanessa learns in the story.
For a bit more on LIKE VANESSA, check out this Author Discussion video.

At 24 Carrot Writing we are big on goal setting. Do you set detailed writing goals, broad yearly goals or do you fly by the seat of your pants?

How about all three? Ha! I do make it a habit to wake up, Monday through Friday, at 4:30 a.m. This is my best time to write when the whole house is sleeping and no one is bothering me for a snack. If I’m on a deadline, I do set (and try to stick to) my goals. But if not, I absolutely just go with the flow.

How have you approached marketing your debut book? What lessons have you already learned? What are you going to do again and what might you avoid next time? Has your experience as a teacher helped you construct school relevant material and visits?

Being a teacher for 14 years really guided my marketing decisions. Ultimately, I write for children, so I knew I wanted to incorporate a strategy that involved young readers and their responses regarding what they got out of the book. I learned a lot in creating this campaign—how to write a script, secure participants, budget, and edit. I don’t regret a second of it. Moving forward, I’m sure I will come up with new ideas.

In the meantime, I’d love to share a reader’s response video below:

You write both fiction and non-fiction, both PB and MG, and I hear that a YA is in the works. Can you talk about the different skill sets you employ to write in those different genres and for those different age groups?

Let me just say that I haven’t written a new picture book since last summer and I MISS THEM SO BADLY!!!! I’ve been busy writing MG and YA these days. And you’re right, I need a different mindset for those. For my current YA, it’s set in 1984, so I had to research slang, clothes, fads and watch way too many old school movies to capture the essence of the story.

Voice is important no matter what you write. To fully immerse myself, I can only work with one category at a time. I find the voice to be snarkier with middle grade than YA. With YA, I can cross certain lines that I can’t with middle grade. There are times I’ll write a swear word and I’ll cringe just a bit, but then I remind myself it’s totally allowed in YA.

With picture books, I have to become a student to capture the inner child as best as I can. This involves reading lots of mentor texts and Disney watching!

How did you find your agent? What have you found most surprising, most rewarding, and/or most daunting about working with an agent?

I found my agent the old fashioned way. I queried her. I can’t say enough about Lara Perkins. I have no clue how she manages to carry her client load and still make me feel like I’m her ONLY client, which I know isn’t true. She has quite the roster of successful authors! Lara is a cheerleader and she gives me a good kick in the literary butt when I need it. Her advocacy for my work has been the greatest reward!

So many writers spend years writing without the input from an editor. How did you find working with an editor? Did the experience differ between editors? And has the experience with your MG been different from working on your PB, FREEDOM SOUP (Candlewick, Fall 2019)?

Picture books are a different animal from middle grade. A lot of the work is in the hands of the illustrator and that takes time. I find the editing to be heavier with middle grade because there are no pictures to rely on. I’ve done some edits on FREEDOM SOUP and there will likely be further small edits once the art is in place. On the other hand, the edits for Vanessa were pretty ongoing and extensive. May I also add that I adore both Karen Boss and Carter Hasegawa? It’s been a great experience!

What is up next for you? And where can readers find you and your books?

Right now, I am revising the follow up to LIKE VANESSA. This will be a companion YA novel featuring Beatriz Mendez, who is a secondary character in LIKE VANESSA. She comes across as a bully in the first book, but in the follow up, we learn her backstory and see her passion for dance reignited. I also have a middle grade novel, DEFINITELY DAPHNE, publishing with Capstone in October.

Thank you Tami. We wish you continued success with LIKE VANESSA and in all your writing endeavors.

If 24 Carrot Writers would like to purchase a copy of Tami's debut novel LIKE VANESSA, please click on the links below. To learn more about Tami, please visit her website at https://tamiwrites.com/ .

Go To Indie Bound to Order LIKE VANESSA

Go To Barnes & Nobel to Order LIKE VANESSA

Go to Amazon to Order LIKE VANESSA

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Illustrator Spotlight: An Interview with Matthew Cordell

8/7/2017

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~ By Amanda Smith

We are excited to visit with author and illustrator Matthew Cordell at 24 Carrot Writing.

Matthew has illustrated poetry, novels, and picture books for children including Special Delivery by Philip Stead and the Justin Case series by Rachel Vail. He has also written and illustrated several picture books himself, including Another Brother, Hello! Hello!, Wish, and Dream.

Matthew’s books have been recognized as Best of the Year selections by The New York Times, The Washington Post, and The Boston Globe, and his first wordless picture book, Wolf in the Snow, was awarded a 2017 Boston Globe-Horn Book honor award.

Thank you, Matthew, for answering all our questions about the making of a picture book from an illustrator's point of view. We are honored to learn from you.

Tell us a little about your journey to becoming an illustrator.

As long as I can remember, I’ve always been drawing and making art in some capacity. I was never particularly into sports or some of the things other kids grow up interested in. Art and drawing was always my thing.

As a boy, I was really excited by comics and comic art like Spiderman and X-men. But by the time I got into high school, my eyes were opened to fine art and I learned about all different kinds of art-making—painting, sculpture, printmaking, etc. By the time I needed to choose a college major, I knew it would have to be art or something art-related. Trying to be sensible about it, I put my name down for graphic design. (I wasn’t entirely sure what “graphic design” was, but I knew it was a career where I could be creative.)

Throughout college, I learned more about graphic design and came to love it. I also continued taking classes in drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. I loved it all, really. And by the time I graduated, I wanted it all. I wanted a career in graphic design and I wanted to draw, and paint, and show my work in galleries and ultimately museums. And with lots of work and persistence, I was on my way to success in both.

I got my dream design job at one of Chicago’s top design firms. And my drawings and paintings were being represented by an excellent gallery in the city. However… Once I got a taste of what both were really like… I realized neither were for me. The design world was too buttoned-down for me. The art world was too pretentious. I was at a loss. What I’d always wanted, I’d gotten. And I didn’t like it much at all.

Around that same time, I started dating a young woman named Julie Halpern who was a writer and an elementary school librarian. She had an idea that we should collaborate on something. She thought we should do a picture book together.

But I thought that sounded like the most uncool thing ever! To be fair, I’d been out of the picture book game since I was… I guess 6, 7, 8 years old. I had no real idea what picture books were, but in my mind they were wholesome and moral-driven, and not terribly interesting or inventive or inspiring. And, of course, I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Julie started feeding me classic and contemporary picture books from her library. I was blown away by the quality of illustration in these books. I was particularly drawn to the more expressive and loosely drawn illustrations of those like William Steig, Bernard Waber, and Jules Feiffer. And I became excited about the idea of a completely different audience: kids, parents, and educators.

So, Julie wrote a manuscript and I put together some drawings, and we submitted our book idea to 20 publishers at the same time. One by one, we were told “no”, until we had a stack of 19 rejections. The 20th and last letter came from Houghton Mifflin. Theirs was a “maybe” that turned into a “yes.” And eventually, our book, Toby and the Snowflakes was published in 2004.

Once I began working as an illustrator with the folks at Houghton, and later, at one or two other publishers, I was hooked. I was hooked on the kindness and warmth of everyone in the business. I was hooked on the idea of making art that could be appreciated in an intimate setting and acquired at an affordable price. I was hooked on the idea of making art that would be in the hands of and before the eyes of children—a funny, fun, fresh (and not horribly jaded like us grown-ups) audience for me. I was hooked, and from that point on, I did all that I could to eventually make children’s book illustration my full-time job.

When you first receive a manuscript to illustrate, what is your process?

In the very beginning, it’s just some vague planning. And it’s not intense work right away, which makes for a good ice breaker. I’ll work out the trim size and number of pages and page breaks. I print out the manuscript and I read it through several times. Then vague images tend to materialize in my mind and I’ll jot down some notes in the margins. Before I draw anything in detail, I begin with character sketches and share them with my editor and art director. Nothing can or should take place in terms of work, until we’re all in agreement about the look of the main characters. (Which is, by the way, maybe my favorite part of the process—designing the characters for my books. It’s a fun problem to solve. Are they children? Animals? Something else? What are they wearing? Are they wearing clothes at all? What are the colors? The proportions? What else?) Once the characters are hammered out, I’ll go through and sketch out all the pages in the book. The first dummy is sent to the publisher and there will be several rounds of notes, and changes, and back and forth until we’ve got an approved sketch dummy that’s ready for final art.

From WOLF IN THE SNOW

You have written and illustrated your own books as well as illustrated books authored by other writers. Can you speak a little to the pros and cons of illustrating someone else’s story, versus a story you’ve written yourself?

I consider myself an illustrator first, who’s occasionally given permission to write my own stories. Writing has never been super easy for me, I guess mostly because I haven’t spent the better part of my life trying to uncomplicate it (unlike drawing). So, writing my own books is often a struggle, in one way or another. But it is extremely validating when it works (when something I write gets published). I do love having 100% ownership of a book. In terms of the finished piece and the assemblage of the thing. As I’m writing, I’m also aware, in some respect, of what the pictures are ultimately going to look like. The two different parts of assembling this puzzle are coming together organically and somewhat simultaneously. And having control over both the words and pictures is a rather satisfying thing to have.

Working on someone else’s manuscript is also validating and challenging in its own ways. I like to collaborate with like-minded individuals to put some squished-together piece of art into the world. There is not a lot of direct contact between author and illustrator in most cases, but the collaboration is still intact. Two names are on the book and two different skill sets have been combined to bring this new book into the world. There are some worries. Like, “is the author going to like how I bring her/his story to life visually?” What if someone really didn’t like what I did with her/his words? That would be pretty unfortunate. It’s always a possibility. But, like it or not, the magic of combining two things by two people is a pretty cool thing to be a part of. It’s also nice when it comes to marketing and promotion. Promoting my own books can feel a little lonely and egocentric. When there’s an author friend involved in this part of the process, it can make it more bearable and more fun.

How much interaction, if any, do you have with the author of a manuscript you are illustrating? If you do work with the author, what make those collaborations successful?

It’s pretty rare, in my experience, for an author and illustrator to have direct communication regarding the writing and/or the illustrating of their book. A book’s editor, or art director, or both are usually the connective tissue between the author and illustrator as the book is coming together. This has always made sense to me, mostly because the book is ultimately being produced by the publisher that has invested in it. So, the folks who work at the publisher and are involved in the project generally have final say in many aspects. It’s also helpful to have a person in the middle who can filter any communication between the author to the illustrator, so that no feelings get hurt, and to be a sounding board for any ideas that may not even be worthy of making the jump from the author to the illustrator or vice versa.

The sole instance in my career where I’ve collaborated directly with an author, has been on my books, Special Delivery and The Only Fish in the Sea, by author Philip Stead. Phil and I are friends and were so before we came to work on these books together. We’re both authors and both illustrators too, and we have strong feelings on both matters. Knowing all of this, it would’ve been incredibly weird not to speak to each other about what was going on in the making of these books as they were coming together. So, lines of communication were wide open with Phil and me and our editor Neal Porter, throughout the production of both of the books. I think it really needs to be a special circumstance for this to happen. Not only do the author and illustrator have to be close in some way, but the editor of the project must also be close and willing to open the doors to free and complete collaboration. But when it works, it works. I had so much fun making these books!

You illustrated Lost. Found. (Roaring Brook Press, 2015) a picture book, written by Marsha Diane Arnold, which consists of two words only, repeated throughout. Picture book writers are often intrigued, and a little intimidated, by the process of writing a wordless book, or book with minimal text. What does such a manuscript look like when you get it?

Lost. Found. (by author Marsha Diane Arnold) is a very different manuscript from any other I’ve ever been offered. There are only two words in the entire story, which are (you guessed it) “lost” and “found”. In a nutshell, it’s a story about a bear who owns a big red scarf that one day gets taken away by a gust of wind on a snowy day. The scarf is then found by a couple of quarreling raccoons who ultimately lose it themselves. The scarf is repeatedly lost and found by all different types of animals until it’s found by every one of them and battled over until it’s ripped to shreds. There’s more to it, obviously, but I won’t spoil the ending. So, there’s no narration or dialogue to tell the story. Just “lost” and “found.” In principle, it’s pretty close to being a wordless picture book. When my editor, Neal, sent me Marsha’s manuscript, there was some general description of the actual story. Some explanation of how the scarf is lost, what animal finds it, and what happens next. (Otherwise, no one but Marsha herself would’ve known what in the world was happening among all of those losts and founds!) I followed much of her outline, but did end up changing a thing or two once I started with the visuals. Even with proper planning, one never really knows how a thing will play out until the actual visuals are put in place. It’s a really clever and heartfelt book and I’m super proud of that one.

Do you collaborate more with the writer in the making of such a book?

Despite the unconventional nature of this book, I still had no actual discussions with Marsha about the text or the pictures as I was illustrating. Any questions I had were put to Neal and if he couldn’t answer, it would be asked of Marsha. Then I’d get answers back through Neal. That’s really just how it goes.

From LOST. FOUND.

What advice do you have for writers who are walking around with a wordless book in their hearts?

I imagine it must be an unusual undertaking to be a writer and envision, write, and even pitch a story like this. Much less one with no words at all. But I know it can be done, obviously, and done well. One of my favorite recently published picture books is a wordless book, Sidewalk Flowers written by JonArno Lawson and illustrated by Sydney Smith. If any author is ever on the fence about doing a wordless picture book, I say get off the fence and go for it. Some picture books simply function better with no words at all, and there’s really no better way to do it.

Yes, the dreaded illustration note question: We’ve read agents’ opinions on illustration notes. As an illustrator, what is your take?

When a manuscript is on submission, I think illustration notes are quite helpful. A picture book text, in the end, should not spell out every single twist and turn that is meant to be seen in the book. If it did, it would be working overtime and be terribly redundant as the pictures are already doing some of this work and filling in gaps. As an illustrator, I don’t mind the occasional illustration note, especially if there is no text to describe a critical element to the story. But if a manuscript is riddled with notes, I think it can be a bit overwhelming and stifling to my own interpretation and decision-making I’ve been hired to deliver. But most editors I’ve worked with strip the manuscript of most, if not all, notes to see how I might interpret the story. Unless, again, there is some critical description that must be seen by the illustrator.

When you are not working on an assignment, what do you do to grow your craft/art?

If I’m not on deadline, I like to use any free time to develop any story ideas that have been sitting around, or simply just to draw for fun. I think it’s important to continue to draw when there’s no pressure of contracts and timelines and expectations for specific books or jobs. Whenever I work on a book, there is a lot of extended planning involved: Image research, sketches, sketch revisions, pencil drawing, and then by the end, I break out my pen and bottle of ink.

When I’m drawing for my own pleasure, a lot of the pressure and expectations are stripped away and I can sometimes stumble upon new ways to solve problems and use the pen and line to do what I never knew it could do. I like to skip any time and labor involved with sketches and the pencil and just attack the paper straight away with the pen, which can be a little intimidating, considering ink is incredibly unforgiving. But often times the best drawing is the very first one that’s been put to paper. Sometimes the very first sketch has so much more energy than a final drawing—one that’s been drawn 3, 4 or more times. So it’s fun to just go at an ink drawing with no planning at all. It’s fun to just draw without limits or expectations.

No pencil

At 24 Carrot Writing, we pay a lot of attention to goal setting and planning. Do you set illustrating/ art goals? If so, what do they look like?

This is a great point, one I probably haven’t thought much about in a while. There definitely have been many times in my career where I’ve stopped and set goals for myself. For instance, to get my first book published as an author and illustrator. Or to do everything I could to become a full-time illustrator. Or to stick my neck out and do more public speaking and appearances. I’ve been really fortunate, in that many of the goals I’ve set for myself have been met over the years. And in recent years, I think I’ve gotten a little slack about this sort of thinking. I think goal setting is a great way to make sure we’re all moving forward in some way and not getting too comfortable or sedentary. So, now that you mention it, I think my new goal is to think on this and set some more goals!

From DREAM

What does your typical work day look like?

Julie and I have two young children (4 and 8) and we evenly split up responsibilities and child care duty. On top of kidcare, we both work from home, so no two days tend to be the same. But our typical setup is that Julie takes the AM shift of the day for her work (she’s a Young Adult author) and I stay on top of the kids’ needs during that time. Then around lunch, we do a sort of virtual high five, and I start work and she takes over with the kids. So I work from mid-day through 5 on most days. And if I need to get caught up, I have to stay up late, when everyone else is off to sleep, and work into the wee hours of night. Someday, when both kids are in school full time, there will probably be a bit more normalcy to the work day, but it’s hard to imagine it that way right now.

What has been your greatest joy in your career as an illustrator so far?

I love connecting with kids who have read and appreciated my books. It’s incredibly satisfying and inspiring to meet and hear from these kids and to hear that I’ve even maybe had something to do with them wanting to draw and learn more about drawing. The most satisfying instance of all, is to see my own daughter taking a big interest in art. I might be biased, but she’s a terrific artist and she loves to draw. To be perfectly fair, I don’t know how much credit I can take for her talent and interest, because she is very much an individual and her own person. But I’d like to think I had a LITTLE bit of something to do with it.

No pencil

What has been the biggest surprise?

I used to be terribly afraid of public speaking. I think many of us who make books are probably just more at home by ourselves and just being with the ones we love. I used to think that, no matter what, I would never be comfortable talking to large groups of people—kids or adults. I thought I would never agree to doing it, no matter how often I might be asked or by whomever was asking. But I realized, at some point, that I would only get so far in my career if I was holed up at my desk. And I would only be so content with myself if I never faced my fears.

So I started seeking out and accepting appearances at schools, book festivals, book stores, etc. And now, it’s, like, no big deal at all. I’m pretty much completely comfortable with talking to groups. I mean, there’s still some small bit of uneasiness about it, that I’m sure will never go away. But I never thought I’d be able to perform, speak, or draw in front of big crowds of people, and now I do it all the time. I’m happy that it’s something I overcame. And I’m glad I did too. The rewards of connecting with people face-to-face are endless.

To learn more about Matthew visit him online at matthewcordell.com.

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Marketing Outside the Box - An Interview with Donna Mae

7/18/2017

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By Francine Puckly

Last year we featured an interview with picture book author, Donna Mae (the-wooly-adventures-of-self-publishing-an-interview-with-donna-mae.html). Donna had so many interesting promotional ideas for her books that we’ve asked her back to answer some marketing questions for our readers!

How do you market your picture books? And do you have any marketing advice for other authors?

I’m fortunate that being shelved in Barnes & Noble has given me access to in-store readings and posted events. But out-of-the-box thinking is crucial to promote your books. New and unique ideas for events and school visits make the difference. Here are a few ideas I’ve used:

Local gift shops will sell your book. (My personal hairdresser sells my books!) Because I am a local author, I have sold and signed books in her shop. People love signed books.
Approach Indie bookstores for readings.
Approach local libraries for author visits.
Explore having interviews on local cable T.V. or radio stations. (A local radio station helped me promote my newest book launch.)
Donate books to non-profit groups. (I’ve sent books to Milk & Bookies in California.)
Advertise! Running ads in local newspapers about your readings will bring more awareness to library author visits or radio station broadcasts.
Figure out unique distribution channels for your books. (I’ve become friends with the on-line marketing manager for Kraft Jet-Puffed Marshmallows, and she recently ordered books from me to distribute to her bloggers as gifts.)

Stay positive! Miracles happen in common hours!

Let’s talk about book-specific marketing for your two picture books. How have you adjusted promotional events and items for each book?

Well, Marshmallows Galore is the story of what a little boy does with giant marshmallows that fall from the sky while he’s sleeping, so those events are going to center around marshmallows!

I have a large apothecary jar full of giant marshmallows (guess the number!). Everyone loves marshmallows and that jar is always the hit of the event. It adds fun and excitement.
I give away badges. I created a PLEDGE to accompany my story. One of the activities after my reading is that we all take The Marshmallow Pledge and everyone gets a pledge badge.
Customizing your book display is a good idea. A friend has made felt s’mores for my displays.
A simple craft is another good marketing tool to accompany your event or school visit. I have done countless Barnes & Noble readings coupled with a craft. The craft I have the children make for this is a helium hot air balloon (because in the book the kids travel by hot air balloon to feed the whole world). Everyone gets a giant marshmallow to put inside. You should see the smiles!

Marketing for The Wooly Adventures of Purl, (a story of a little girl who learns to knit and chaos ensues!) is a little different:

I have a poster of the book cover displayed on an old wooden easel. I’ve knitted a very long scarf that hangs from the poster, a plush lamb from my story, and a 1950’s lamb vase for holding my signing pens. Also, a doll is being made for me which resembles the little girl in my story. So, these fun display items add more visual.
I’ve recently come up with a simple craft—a lamb on a popsicle stick—which I’ll be using at school visits. (A cardboard circle for the body, precut head and legs from construction paper, cotton balls, pink foam nose and googly eyes—all glued to a popsicle stick!) Once we’re done, I gather the kids in a circle, wrap them in a very long scarf, and take the cutest picture.
Publishers create book launches for authors to help promote their books. I recently held my own book launch for The Wooly Adventures of Purl at a local yarn store. It was so much fun creating and advertising the launch. As I mentioned above, I called a local radio station, and they were more than happy to have me come in and talk about my launch. You have to be creative and take risks if you want to succeed.

You pulled together a book trailer for Marshmallows Galore. What was your process? How did you go about doing it?

Once again I delved into the abyss. I decided to make a YouTube video first. I knew I wanted local help, and my brother had mentioned that a friend’s son had a lot of video-making experience. We talked on the phone and I viewed some of his work. We set up a time and place to do the filming. A local farmer that had bales of hay wrapped in white plastic. They look like giant marshmallows. (Score!)

I then set about writing multiple scenes I wanted to reenact. I gathered 10 children and pulled some props together. A friend sewed and stuffed a giant marshmallow for my campfire scene. My husband is very creative, and he made a very realistic campfire from poster board. All the children wore tee shirts with my book cover printed on the front (a small expense).

We did three scenes from inside and outside my house. My granddaughter and I read the book with scenes from the book to coincide. The children recited The Marshmallow Pledge and held individual signs. The videographer even wrote the music. It took weeks of planning and getting everyone on the same page. In the end I was happy with the outcome. I thought, “Next year the Oscar!” HAHA!! Once again, so much fun.

You can see Donna’s video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F7AMRRsRCc

Do you have plans to create a book trailer for The Wooly Adventures of Purl?

As this book was released in November 2015, I’m still trying to catch my breath.
Instead of a video, I would like to have a trailer for this book. I’m thinking the abyss is now looking for me!

Do you have any last additional advice to give our readers on marketing?

Although I have no formal marketing background, I have owned a few businesses over the years and worked in retail. It helped me to know and understand what people like and don’t like and how they respond to different things. It’s a full-time job and as I’ve said, some out-of-the-box thinking goes a long way!

Thank you, Donna! Good luck to all of you who are stepping into the book marketing world. Be creative and put all of your experiences to work for you!

~ Francine

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Lauren Scheuer Shares Marketing Tips

7/12/2017

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24 Carrot Writing is pleased to present a guest blog by the wonderful Lauren Scheuer.

Lauren is the author and illustrator of Once Upon a Flock: Life with my Soulful Chickens, published by Atria Books (US) and by Souvenir Press (UK). Her work can be found in American Girl, Birds and Blooms Magazine, at the Roger Williams Zoo in RI, and in her blog ScratchandPeck.blogspot.com.

We know you will enjoy Lauren's marketing tips.

Your Online Identity ---or---Marketing is Fun!

By Lauren Scheuer

I’m neither a great author nor a great illustrator.

But I do have success as author and illustrator because I have an edge: I LOVE Marketing.

Your appeal to publishers is measured not only by your creative work but by your public persona. Your publisher expects you to do a good amount of marketing, and your social media account is an essential platform. A strong online following is something publishers look for in an author.

Here are some simple guidelines for marketing yourself on Facebook and beyond:

Choose an identity. This one little chicken image is the icon that represents me in all social media, and I never change it. I may not always be writing about chickens, but that’s fine. It’s my art, it’s me. It’s on my business card too.

To come up with your own identity, make a list of things you love, or things you write about. Think of a simple image. It could be a cute animal, a a bottle of tequila, a dripping dagger… sketch it yourself or hire an artist to do it.

A simple photo portrait would work as well.

Maintain a flavor. On Facebook you can post photos, quotes, recipes, whatever you write about. But stay on subject. You are, or may one day be, a public figure.

Things I post:
•Pictures of my chickens and other critters, and pictures of my artwork. Also, links to my Etsy page when I add a new product, and photos of me being amazing

Things I don’t post:
•Drunken party-selfies
•Family photos at the beach
•That amazing plate of nachos I had at the restaurant last night

Join groups of like-minded people.   If you write about drag-racing, then join all the related Facebook groups you can find: Grannies who Drag, Draggin’ Dragons, Greased Lightning Gals (…to name a few.) Post images to those groups and comment on other posts there. It’s a great way to make new friends.

Post regularly. When I’m in enthusiastic marketing-mode, I post to my own Facebook page daily. Otherwise, every few days keeps me on people’s radars.

Link to your other social media. For example, you can link your Twitter and Facebook accounts to make it look like you’re tweeting even when you aren’t. *

This is only the tip of the iceberg as far as social media marketing. I also use Linkedin, Instagram and Pinterest. Because every bit counts, and because it’s not a waste of time!

*I un-linked my Twitter account after November 8, for emotional reasons. Now I use Twitter only for unbridled political rage, while on Facebook I remain a mild-mannered chicken-lover.

•••••••••••••••••••
To learn more about Lauren visit her website at laurenscheuer.com/ or visit her on Facebook at www.facebook.com/lauren.scheuer .

You can order a signed copy of her illustrated Memoir, Once Upon a Flock: Life with my Soulful Chickens, in her Etsy shop at www.etsy.com/il-en/people/lscheuer .

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An Interview with Nancy Tupper Ling

5/9/2017

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by Francine Puckly

I am pleased to host an interview with author and writing colleague, Nancy Tupper Ling. Nancy’s books for adults include the poetry collections, Coming Unfrozen and Character, and, for those of you at a loss for the right words on special occasions, Toasts: The Perfect Words to Celebrate Every Occasion. Her picture books include Double Happiness, The Story I’ll Tell, and My Sister, Alicia May. Nancy is the founder of Fine Line Poets (www.finelinepoets.com) and winner of the prestigious Writer’s Digest Grand Prize and the Pat Parnell Poetry Award. Nancy and I had the chance to catch up this past winter, and in honor of Mother’s Day I wanted to talk a little bit more about her most recent picture book, The Story I’ll Tell.

Thank you, Nancy, for joining me for this interview!

The Story I’ll Tell is a tale of a mother and how she will share her child’s arrival with her family. You said in a recent conversation that this book is much more than a story about adoption. What is the heart of The Story I’ll Tell? What readers, beyond adoptive families, will enjoy this story?

The idea for this story came to me in a daydream as I was driving along the highway. I had an image of a child arriving on a family’s doorstep in a basket, and I began to wonder what kinds of stories a parent would tell that child about how he came into their lives. Gradually it grew into an adoption story, but I hope it reaches all families. When I sign a book for a child, I often write “for all the stories you’ll tell.” Everyone has a family story or two, and sharing these stories draws us closer.

Did you interact with the illustrator for this book, and, if so, what was your working relationship?

Typically publishers like to keep the author and illustrator apart during the creation of the book. This way the author doesn’t try to influence the illustrator’s work. That said, I love connecting with my illustrators along the way. Shortly before our book was about to launch, Jessica Lanan and I found each other on social media. Now I bring some of her storyboard sketches with me when I visit schools to show a bit of her process as well as my own.

Tell us a little bit about the process of working with your editor. How long did The Story I’ll Tell take, from start to finish, once it was acquired by Lee & Low Books?

I like to think of The Story I’ll Tell as one of those “gift” stories. Surprisingly, it didn’t require much revision, and I believe Lee & Low was the first publisher to see it. With my book Double Happiness, I revised and submitted many, many times. The whole thing took about ten years! So my experience with The Story I’ll Tell was very different. My agent, Ammi-Joan Paquette, told me she’d found a new editor at Lee & Low in July 2013. Shortly after that, I was in the middle of a California conference called Build a Better Book when I got the good news. It had been accepted. I worked with my editor, Jessica Echeverria, but the edits were minimal. It was a little over two years after signing with Lee & Low that it was published (November 2015)—right in time for National Adoption Day.

What lessons have you learned as a writer throughout your publishing career?

Two of the biggest lessons I’ve learned along the way are: 1. Listen. This may seem easy but few people master this. They have their story. They want to sell their story. They don’t need the advice of any peers or editors along the way. And thus, they miss out on the chance to improve. And 2. Always have 5 or 6 stories in your back pocket, written out and ready to go. This is not a one book wonder industry. My agent is constantly sending several of my stories out simultaneously. And I’m never sure which ones are going to be picked up and which will fill a void in the publishing world. I can’t predict. So it’s best to bring several to the table.

How important has the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators been to your writing career?

Initially, winning the Writer’s Digest Grand Prize helped to launch my foray into the world of children’s writing. Shortly after that amazing win, I discovered SCBWI and it’s been a partnership every since. From my local critique group to the big conference, SCBWI has had my back. My latest venture with SCBWI was when they supported a visit I made to the Joseph P Tynan School in Boston. While the school didn’t have funding to invite a local author for a visit, SCBWI made this possible.

What has been your most difficult promotional or marketing challenge?

I have learned that even starred book reviews and various awards don’t guarantee massive readership. My books tend to be quiet. Sometimes they are niche books, fitting into certain pockets of the world and library shelves. It’s always a struggle to get the word out about my books. Kirsten Cappy with Curious City helped me to create activity kits for my books, and that was helpful in reaching teachers and librarians. Even with the best publishers, much of this work is on our own.

Which picture book writers have inspired you and your creative work?

When I was at a writer’s conference, an agent once compared my work to Charlotte Zolotow’s. I think that was one of the best days of my life. In my opinion, her books are classic, amazing and enduring. I also love those children’s authors who are poets too, like Nikki Grimes, Linda Sue Park, Janet S. Wong, along with my writer friends Nancy Poydar, Pat Zietlow Miller, Liz Garton Scanlon, Jean Reidy and so many more.

What advice do you have for beginning writers?

Write everything. Don’t restrict your writing to one genre. You never know. A poem can win a contest that may lead an editor to check out your children’s manuscript. It happened to me. It’s possible.

Can you tell us about your newest book, The Yin-Yang Sisters and the Dragon Frightful, to be released in 2018?

Thanks for asking. Told like a classic Chinese folktale, this book has a dragon, Frightful, who makes the villagers’ lives miserable. It’s also the story of Mei and Wei, twin sisters who complete one another like yin and yang. They were inspired by my own daughters, who are opposite in many ways. While Wei is determined to rock Frightful’s world, Mei spends her time researching all about the lives of dragons. It’s only by combining their skills that these two sisters figure out how to change Frightful into a Delightful dragon.

What’s up next?

My mentor and coauthor, June Cotner, and I have completed another anthology called Family Blessings. Hopefully that will launch into the world soon. I’ve also finished my first middle grade manuscript about an orphan in Russia who must choose between finding her lost sister, Anya, or being adopted and leaving the country she loves.

For more information about Nancy and her books, visit www.nancytupperling.com.

Tidbits about Nancy:

Currently reading: Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick and The True Adventures of Homer P. Figg by Rodman Philbrick. Wow, both Revolutionary War books and the authors have the same last name. Interesting!

Favorite Motivational Phrase: In the dedication for all my books I include the Latin phrase Soli Deo gloria. It reminds me to use the gifts I’ve been given for God’s glory.

Favorite books for kids(short list!):
The Story of Ferdinand by Munro Leaf
Crow Boy by Taro Yashima
Mike Mulligan and His Steam Shovel by Virginia Lee Burton
Any Cynthia Rylant books, but especially the Mr. Putter series

Favorite Books for adults (at this time):
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Moby Dick by Herman Melville
To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by James Ford
Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel

Favorite film: The Scarlet and the Black (with Gregory Peck and Christopher Plummer)

Remedy for writer’s block: Seize pockets of time, wherever and whenever you find them!

Relaxation trick: Hula hooping

Coffee or tea? Tea, iced

Vanilla or Chocolate? Chocolate

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An Interview with Janet Fox

4/4/2017

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by Francine Puckly

I am pleased to host an interview with friend and writing colleague, Janet Fox, author of student self-help book Get Organized without Losing It, three young adult novels Faithful, Forgiven, and Sirens, and most recently the middle grade novel The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle.

In addition to Janet’s writing career, she has worked as an oceanographer and taught English at both the middle and high school levels. She serves as assistant regional advisor for the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in Montana. I recently had the chance to catch up with Janet at the SCBWI Winter Conference in New York City in February. Here are just a few of the many questions that bubbled to the surface after visiting with her!

Thank you for joining us, Janet!

Thanks so much for having me here, Francine!

In NYC, we discussed landing a literary agent, a process that for many is a long (and often discouraging!) process. What was your process to finding the best representative for your books? What is the key piece of advice you’d offer writers on that quest?

I'm actually working with my second agent. My first agent and I parted company amicably when she no longer loved the direction my work was taking (she likes YA romance; I wanted to write MG fantasy). But I met her through a critique at an SCBWI conference. It was not my first critique, and I had been writing for several years trying to polish what became my first novel, so that's my first piece of advice: polish and revise, polish and revise, until your manuscript glows, before you submit. And my second piece of advice: take chances with critiques, especially those offered through SCBWI. Even if you don't land an agent you'll gain valuable experience in being critiqued. And my third piece of advice: don't be discouraged! If you learn and apply the craft, and you keep writing and submitting, one day you'll find a match with an agent.

Last note - the author/agent relationship is like a marriage. Your agent needs to be your biggest cheerleader and should love your work without reservation. Don't sign with someone because you're desperate. Sign with an agent who believes in you and will be your advocate.

“Pre-published” writers have the flexibility on deadlines. They may or may not be drafting a new novel while submitting revisions for the manuscript under contract. How do you organize your work, as drafting a new story and revising a completed story use very different parts of the creative process?

Great question. There's a lot of down time in publishing, and I don't want to rest on my laurels. Besides, I love to write, so I write every day regardless of where I am in the process.

For example, in early January my agent sold my next novel (a MG fantasy titled THE LAST TRUE KNIGHT) to my editor. My editor asked me to work on it based on a phone conversation. I did, and completed that draft in early March, and sent it off to her. While she wrote her edit letter I had almost a month to wait, so I began working on notes and early pages for what I hope will be my next-next novel.

As for the different parts of the process, they really aren't so different for me. Each time I sit down to write I feel like I'm learning a new craft element, and each creative moment I'm in feeds all the others that wait. Early drafts are hard for me, and I love revision, but it's still all a generative process.

When working with your editor, how long does she give you to complete revisions for each stage of the process? For example, do earlier revisions require bigger changes to the manuscript and need more time? Or are you marching to a tight timeline always?

That depends on the project and on the editor. For THE CHARMED CHILDREN, I had about 4 weeks after the first edit letter because my editor was taking a sabbatical and needed to push the process. For THE LAST TRUE KNIGHT, my editor said there's no timeline right now because she wants to see a really deep next revision and doesn't want me to feel pressured to do less than my best. (Needless to say I'll be working under my own self-imposed deadline, because I work better that way.)

But generally, yes, the first edit letter addresses the big, global changes that need to be made, so that round takes longer, and each successive round is shorter and shorter.

At this point in time in your career, do you write full-time or part-time?

Full time, lucky me! I have a very supportive husband, my son is in college, and we're pretty settled.

What does a typical workweek look like for you?

I write every day, including Thanksgiving, Christmas, and my birthday. Sometimes that doesn't amount to much - maybe some notes, maybe a few hundred words; but I usually try for at least 500 new words a day, or a certain number of pages of revision a day.

Of course, I do spend a bit of time marketing - writing blog posts, posting to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, generating marketing and publicity materials. And I spend time reading craft books, attending conferences and webinars, and giving lectures or doing school visits, and all of those things take lots of time, too.

But the main thing I try to do is write. Every day. And read, every day.

Do you have a special time to write or how is your day structured?

I don't have a special time that is really cast in stone. I just scan my day and try to fit the writing in first, but if it takes me until 3 in the afternoon to get to being creative, that's all right. I used to be only a first-thing-in-the-morning writer but life gets in the way so I give myself flexibility.

But I won't let myself off the hook if I can help it!

Do you work to an outline or plot or do you prefer to just see where an idea takes you?

I'm an avowed pantser (seat-of-the-pants writer). I've tried often to write to an outline, from the most rigid to the most vague, but that approach kills my creativity. I just can't outline. I love to see where my subconscious will take me. My worst writing comes when I've planned, so I've learned to honor my personal and very organic process.

How long on average does it take you to write a book?

My first draft takes from two to four months. Every draft after that takes from one to two months, and the process gets shorter with each revision, so for me to write a full novel with a draft I feel is ready to send to my agent takes in total almost a year.

But I hit the reset button when I get my first edit letter because that edit always takes me to new places which takes a bit more time.

I should add here that my agent is an editorial agent, meaning she wants to see the full draft of whatever I write before she'll submit, and she makes extensive editorial comments on my work, to which I must respond before she'll submit. And she's excellent at it, so I completely trust her. The proof of her ability is that many of her clients are not only multiply published but receive starred reviews and more. My editor told me that when Erin (Erin Murphy) sends her a manuscript, she puts it at the top of her queue, because even if it's not something she can sign, it's always a polished piece.

Which writers have inspired you and your creative work?

Oh, wow, that's always such a hard question because I love so many and it changes so quickly with what I've read most recently. But here are a few. Kathi Appelt is my primary mentor - I wouldn't be published without her friendship and example. Laurie Halse Anderson, Julie Berry, Linda Sue Park, Jandy Nelson...I love Adam Gidwitz's INQUISITOR'S TALE, and Kelly Barnhill's THE GIRL WHO DRANK THE MOON, and anything by Grace Lin, Laura Ruby, MT Anderson, Rita Williams-Garcia, E. Lockhart.

But my first and earliest inspiration was C.S. Lewis, followed by all the old fairy tales, and then by Agatha Christie.

Which social network has worked best for promoting your work and/or creating a supportive writing community? Why?

I think I have to say Facebook. I have a lot of author friends there, and this is such a supportive community. I learn something new almost every day from people on Facebook. And I have an author page (www.facebook.com/AuthorJanetFox/) although I don't update it as often as I should - perhaps once every couple of weeks. After that I'd say my blog (janetsfox.com/), which I update every week, and then Twitter (@janetsfox). I'm trying to be better about Instagram (www.instagram.com/janetsfox/) because I know that's a terrific way to interact with especially younger fans.

But I also have a way for readers to follow my blog and/or my occasional newsletter here: bitly.com/janetfox

What has been your most difficult promotional challenge?

Hmm. Well, I'm not very good at self-promoting in person. Just the other day I was traveling through a city on a trip, and saw that a well-respected indie was right around the corner from where we were having dinner. I had to steel myself to go in and ask if they had my book, to sign stock. Not only did they have it, it was on a special display (hence why I didn't see it on the regular shelf) with a terrific review tag, and they were thrilled to meet me. While I felt sheepish and embarrassed, they were more than excited. So I obviously need to get over my embarrassment.

What is the hardest thing about writing novels from start to finish?

Definitely it's not getting discouraged when you think your work stinks. It's so easy to hate what you're writing, to feel like you haven't said what you want to say, and to feel like giving up.

For me, the creative spark - before I've set pen to paper for the first time - is brilliant. The idea shines like a supernova. Translating that brilliance to mere words, well, it's never perfect. As a writer I can only approach perfection, I can never achieve it. So I have to write through my mortal failure because to do anything else would mean giving up altogether.

What’s up next?

Next is THE LAST TRUE KNIGHT, from Viking. My own one-sentence blurb: "A novel about gender identity and alternative facts in a magical Elizabethan England." We're aiming for a fall 2018 release. Stay tuned! You can follow along on any of my social sites.

What would you like to say to writers who are reading this interview and wondering if they can keep creating, if they are good enough, if their voices and visions matter enough to share?

This is what I say to kids every time I'm in the classroom:

Everyone has a unique vision. Everyone has a unique story to tell. You, and you, and you have your own story, one that belongs to nobody else. Tell in your own voice, in your own time, with your own full heart, and don't be afraid to give it away, for you'll be giving the world the greatest of human experiences.

Your unique story is a bright light that has the power to change the world.

For more information about Janet and her books, visit www.janetsfox.com.

Tidbits about Janet:
Currently reading: Linda Sue Park, FOREST OF WONDERS

Favorite books (short list!): The Narnia books; THE UNDERNEATH; BONE GAP; THE PASSION OF DOLSSA; BECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE; LORD OF THE RINGS; HARRY POTTER...I could go on!

Favorite quote: "Art is a lie that makes us realize truth." Pablo Picasso

Favorite film: Casablanca

Manuscripts composed/edited in: Scrivener and Word

Remedy for writer’s block: BIC! (Butt in chair. Works every time. I promise.)

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Throwing a lifeline and building empathy: An interview with Kate Messner

7/12/2016

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~ by Amanda Smith
Kate Messner is passionately curious and writes books that encourage kids to wonder, too. Her titles include award-winning picture books like Over and Under the Snow, Up in the Garden and Down in the Dirt, and How to Read a Story; novels like Capture the Flag, Wake up Missing, All the Answers, and The Seventh Wish; and Scholastic’s popular Ranger in Time chapter book series about a time-traveling search and rescue dog. Kate lives on Lake Champlain with her family and is trying to summit all 46 Adirondack High Peaks in between book deadlines. Follow her on Twitter @KateMessner and check out her website, www.katemessner.com.

We asked Kate about her new novel, THE SEVENTH WISH (Bloomsbury, 2016), her writing process, and her goals.

Charlie, the protagonist in THE SEVENTH WISH, is a well-rounded, fully developed character. Can you give us some insight into how you develop characters? What techniques do you use?
As human beings, we all play lots of different roles in the world. I’m Kate the writer, Kate the family member, Kate the hiker, Kate the child of two educators, Kate the traveler, and I could go on and on. All those elements meld together with all the people who have passed through my life and all the things that have happened in my life history (and the ways in which I’ve reacted to those things) to make me who I am. People are made of lots of complicated bits, and characters – good ones, at least – should be the same. Knowing a character means exploring all the different parts of that character’s life, so I spent time thinking not only about Charlie’s hobbies, her family, and her backstory, but also the things she wished for herself and for the world, and the things she feared.
I often use a character-building activity where I design my character’s bedroom, going into more and more detail. So what starts with a simple floor plan evolves into a description of every little detail. What color is the bedspread, and when was it purchased? Does she still like it? What’s displayed proudly on the bulletin board? What’s hidden under the bed or shoved in a box in the back of the closet, and who gets to see those things? You can learn a lot about a character that way.

I love how you have certain threads that run through the book, such as the word game, the ice, and the serenity prayer. I am always curious about a writer’s process. Were these threads mapped out from the beginning and or were they organic?
Mostly, those kinds of threads appear as I’m writing, and then I go back to strengthen them during the revision process.

What prompted you to write a MG novel that includes heroin addiction?
This element of the story was sparked by a personal experience. I was floored a few years ago when a neighborhood friend told me that her beautiful, smart, joyful daughter was hooked on heroin. My neighbor’s daughter got help and survived, and she’s doing well now, but I still struggle to understand how it could have happened. When I struggle – when something really scares me – I write. That’s where this theme in THE SEVENTH WISH came from.

What did you wish to accomplish with this book?
Before anything else, my goal is always to write a great story that kids will love and to create characters who feel real to them. But beyond that, I hope Charlie will be a particular comfort to families in situations similar to hers. Kids who have family members struggling with cancer or heart disease or diabetes get all kinds of support, but addiction is something many families still keep secret. We haven’t overcome that stigma yet, and as a result, the thousands of families affected by opioid addiction are often left feeling alone. They’re not, though, and I hope knowing Charlie helps kids to understand that.

Exactly. This novel is so timely. Substance abuse affects families on all levels and many young children carry hidden anger and shame because of a family member’s addiction. You addressed those feelings spot-on in Charlie. How did you conduct your research for such a sensitive subject?
I spent a lot of time talking with my neighbor’s daughter after she got clean. I was nervous to ask her for help at first. I didn’t know if she’d be open to talking about her experiences, but when I approached her, she said, “I’d LOVE to talk with you. We all need to talk more about this to help end the stigma.” And she told me everything – how it started, how she slipped further into addiction, how she lied to her family, and how she eventually told her mom the truth and asked for help. It was a sobering conversation for me, particularly when I asked her how she could have made that choice, knowing all that she must have learned about heroin addiction in health class at school. “All my friends were doing it,” she told me. “I know that sounds like a cliché, but it’s true. They were all doing it, and they were fine.” Until they weren’t. And then it was too late.
I also spoke with an admissions counselor at a drug treatment center in Vermont. She talked me through the process of checking in to a rehab center and explained what that kind of help looks like for both the addict and the addict’s family. We talked about what might happen when a younger sibling came to visit, what questions kids often had about loved ones in recovery, and that was tremendously helpful as I wrote Charlie’s story.

The problem of substance abuse is a hard reality, and yet you included a fantasy aspect to the novel with the wishing fish. What was your motivation for the fantasy element?
Sometimes, I think fantasy gives us the distance we need to look at things that might be too scary or controversial without that lens of magic as a bit of a filter. We see this a lot in the Harry Potter series, which addresses all kinds of issues – from violence and hate in our world, to the persecution of groups of people based on their heritage. I feel like magical stories often give us a way in to explore those tougher issues in our real world – and a way to talk about them more openly.

Even as you deal with sensitive subjects, the information you share is age appropriate. I recognize an educator’s hand and heart in your novels. How did your background as a teacher influence your writing?
This was something my editor and I talked about a lot as I revised THE SEVENTH WISH. I wanted to tell this story in a way that was honest and true, without sugar coating the realities of opioid addiction, but also in a way that was age appropriate for readers aged 9-13. I think my roles as educator and parent both played into that. Kids can often handle so much more than we think. We knew that kids who had been through similar experiences might find a lifeline in this book, as it reflected back their emotions, but we also knew that the book would probably be a window for many other readers, giving them a glimpse at a family experiencing a crisis that might not be familiar. This is how we build empathy, how we think about what it might like to be someone else, and also how we might react if we were in a similar situation some day. Given all of that, my editor and I had to work hard to make sure the depiction of drug use wasn’t over-the-top scary. All of the heroin use, for example, takes place out of Charlie’s sight, and therefore, out of the reader’s sight as well. So the story really ends up being about the experience of a family member who loves and worries about an addict and has to deal with her own emotions swirling around the family crisis as well.

You use a traditional fairy tale device with the wishing fish. It works in this modern setting because, unlike old-time fairy tales, Charlie realizes the absurdity of it. She even refers to her English classes about wishing stories, and the difficulty in wishing right. If you should ever catch a wishing fish, what would your wish be?
I’d think long and hard before making any wishes. The temptation, of course, would be to find just the right words to wish for world peace, but like Charlie, I’ve read enough wishes-gone-wrong stories to know that even the most kind-hearted wishes can backfire.

At 24 Carrot Writing we are big on goal setting. Do you set detailed writing goals, broad yearly goals or do you fly by the seat of your pants?
I keep a bullet journal, so I have pretty detailed lists of my monthly writing goals as well as daily to-do lists. Also, I am geeky enough that I love talking & writing about how I organize my writing life, so if you’re interested, I have a whole blog post about my bullet journal here: http://www.katemessner.com/bullet-journaling-childrens-author-version/

You are such a prolific writer, yet you do school visits and many other public appearances as well. How do you structure your writing time? Do you write on specific days or do you write every day?
Hahahhaha!!!! Oh, sorry…. You’ve asked this question about balance on a day when I haven’t been home in three weeks and I’m staring down a full in-box as well as two manuscripts that need revising, and all of that is buried under two suitcases full of laundry. I hope you’ll forgive my maniacal laughter.
In a perfect world, I do try to keep some balance. Typically, I try not to travel more than a few days a month, and on the days that I’m home, I do write every weekday, usually from around 8am to noon. Then I take a break to work out and have lunch, and I’ll either deal with email and business things after that or get another hour or two in after lunch, before my daughter gets home from school. On my travel days, the writing is more sporadic and tends to come in quick bursts, over dinner at the airport, on the plane, or scribbled in a notebook in the car.

What is next?
Right now I’m working on a novel called BREAKOUT, about what happens in a small town when two inmates break out of the maximum security prison, launching a massive, two-week manhunt that changes life for everyone. It’s a thriller in some ways, but it’s also written in all different documents that show how everybody in town sees the situation a little differently. And I’m also working on the seventh book in my Ranger in Time chapter book series, about a time traveling search and rescue dog. This time, he’s going to Normandy during the D Day Invasion.

Thank you, Kate for giving us a peek into your fabulous writer's mind, and for being brave enough to write a book that provides support for children with family members caught in addiction.

For a review of THE SEVENTH WISH, click HERE or visit our Book Picks page.

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Guest Blogger Pat Zietlow Miller Talks Sequels

6/28/2016

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Guest Blog by: Pat Zietlow Miller

Readers who adored Pat Zeitlow Miller's debut picture book, Sophie’s Squash, will be running to the bookstore today (June 28, 2016) to pick up a copy of its sequel, Sophie's Squash Go To School.

Writers who adore Pat's work will enjoy this behind the scenes look at her path to first time publication and the sometimes scary route to a sequel.

When I first wrote and sold SOPHIE’S SQUASH, I never envisioned I would write a sequel.

Why?

Well, SOPHIE’S SQUASH was the very first book I had sold, and I was thrilled just to have that happen. And I knew that most books by debut authors glow quietly rather than burn brightly.

My hope was that SOPHIE would sell enough copies to earn back the advance I’d received and to ensure Schwartz & Wade wasn’t sorry they’d taken a chance on an unknown author.

Also, while I know some authors write a book and already have future sequels mapped out in their head, I didn’t. I had no other adventures planned for SOPHIE, as charming and quirky as I thought she was.

But then, then … SOPHIE’S SQUASH started doing better than anyone had expected. It never reached bestseller status, but it did fine. More than fine. Quite well indeed. It got four starred reviews, won or was a runner-up for several very nice awards and became something of a book darling.

I started getting pictures from parents of their children holding butternut squash. Schools read the book and planned units around squash. One school even added a butternut squash as an honorary classmate. The squash had a name, a nap mat and several outfits and accompanied the class everywhere.

I heard from parents whose children planted their squash and grew new squash plants and from several people who read the book to their elderly parents suffering from dementia and found it calmed them.

Interestingly enough, when the book first was published, I worried that it would be too quiet and not stand out enough to make an impact. I remember asking myself, “But what’s its hook?” I didn’t realize the squash itself would become the hook.

So when Schwartz & Wade asked if I had any sequel ideas, I said I didn’t, but I would think about options. That ended up being a lot harder than I anticipated.

The first SOPHIE’S SQUASH had – if you’ll pardon the gardening pun – grown organically from my youngest daughter’s real-life infatuation with a butternut squash. All the pieces of the story were there. I just had to take some literary license to put them together.

My youngest daughter is, if I do say so myself, a very funny kid who has had a dry, offbeat way of looking at life from the very start. So I went back through our favorite family stories about her looking for another gem – and found it.

When she was in preschool, she came home very distraught because of a little boy who repeatedly tried to hug her and told her he was going to marry her. Three-year-old Sonia wanted no part of this plan and described to me everything she’d do to prevent a wedding from happening.

I knew I couldn’t write a picture book about preschoolers’ marriage plans. But what if the annoying classmate just wanted to be friends, but Sophie felt that she already had all the friends she needed with her two squash, Bonnie and Baxter and had no interest?

That might work.

First, I had the story set around Valentine’s Day, but it quickly became apparent that a first-day-of-school angle worked much better.

While I’m extremely happy with how the final book, SOPHIE’S SQUASH GO TO SCHOOL, turned out, it was much harder to write than the first.

Why?

First, I was writing on a deadline with not as much of a fully formed idea as the first time.

Second, there was pressure. When I wrote SOPHIE’S SQUASH, I was unpublished and not sure I ever would be. When I wrote SOPHIE’S SQUASH GO TO SCHOOL, the first book had done well and I felt an obligation to not let Sophie’s fans, Schwartz & Wade or myself down.

There were times I wasn’t sure I would pull it off. But, fortunately, I loved Sophie and her family. I knew them. And getting back inside their world and remembering all the great things about it made it possible for me to write a story I like as much as the first one.

Whether others feel the same way remains to be seen, but I hope they do.

Pat Zietlow MIller has also published The Quickest Kid in Clarksville, Sharing the Bread, and Wherever You Go. To learn more about Pat, her new projects and upcoming publications please visit her website http://www.patzietlowmiller.com/my-books by clicking the link below.

A big 24 Carrot Writing thank you to Pat for being a guest blogger and sharing her wonderful insight.

I'm off to my independent bookseller to pick up my copy of Sophie's Squash Go To School!

Pat's Website

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The Wooly Adventures of Self-Publishing - An Interview with Donna Mae

3/2/2016

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by Francine Puckly

24 Carrot Writing welcomes picture book writer Donna Mae, author of MARSHMALLOWS GALORE (illustrated by Brandon Fall) and THE WOOLY ADVENTURES OF PURL (illustrated by Valeria Issa).

Thank you, Donna, for taking the time for this interview and congratulations on the release of your second book, THE WOOLY ADVENTURES OF PURL. Can you start off by telling our readers a little bit about the development of this story idea?

Certainly. The idea for the story blossomed while I was knitting. It’s a very focused and present-moment hobby, almost like meditation. I recalled how difficult knitting seemed when my Mom taught me. When I got the hang of it, I didn’t want to stop. I loved it. The idea of a little girl being obsessed with knitting (as most knitters can be) seemed like such a fun idea for a children’s book. So we see what happens when a little girl receives knitting needles and a pet lamb for her sixth birthday!

Why did you choose self-publishing over the traditional publishing route?

I am in the 6th decade of my life, and I knew getting traditionally published could be a lengthy process. Actually, someone at my critique group said she knew an older writer who wanted to get published but decided to do it herself because “she needed a book before she died”! It was funny but at the same time it resonated with me.

Self-publishing isn’t for everyone. What do you feel has been the key to your success as a self-published author?

People want to try self-publishing because they think it’s an easy road. Print on demand gets them on Amazon without a lot of out-of-pocket expenses. My intention, however, was to have a hardcover children’s book with jacket. I knew Barnes & Noble could pick it up if it was worthy and looked professional. On-demand sites only print paperback, so that was not an option for me.

I really believed that for me, taking fear and doubt out of the equation would make everything work smoothly. I took a whole visualization approach--I visualized my book on the shelves of Barnes & Noble. Together with my intention as well as meeting the requirements, it has worked for me.

But self-publishing is not for everyone. You have to be willing to do the work. Staying open to possibilities is key. I think my thoughts and attitude jettisoned me through the process. One example is that this fall I was part of a vendor/craft fair at a school in Holden. My sales were so-so, but I looked at it in a positive way. I accepted the day and knew anything could come from it. One of the teachers from the school bought my books and loved them, and a week later I got an opportunity to showcase my book for an author visit! Put yourself out there. Don’t allow frustration to stop you. Keep a positive attitude. Believe in yourself.

How did the publishing process for THE WOOLY ADVENTURES OF PURL differ from that of MARSHMALLOWS GALORE?

I took the same steps with both my books, yet different illustrators and their expertise made each process unique. My first book, MARSHMALLOWS GALORE, was illustrated by Brandon Fall, an experienced, talented illustrator from Colorado. His work background had been in film illustration at Disney. He had illustrated many children’s books before mine and was able to give me some much-needed advice and direction. I learned about page turn and illustrating excitement and all about single- and double-page spreads. My second book, THE WOOLY ADVENTURES OF PURL, was illustrated by Valeria Issa, a young professional woman living in London. The language, of all things, created a little challenge. We did a lot of laughing as some of the terms we use are not translated the same in England versus the United States. Also, the five-hour time difference was a little tricky. Additionally, sending my books to print proved a different experience. When you, your illustrator, and the printing company are all on different time zones, it takes patience and persistence to get the product finalized.

How do you market your books? And do you have any marketing advice for other authors?

Out-of-the–box thinking is crucial. New and unique ideas for events and school visits make the difference. True, being shelved in Barnes & Noble has given me access to in-store readings and posted events, but the possibilities to market a book are endless. Here’s a short list of what I’ve done and would recommend:

Approach Indie bookstores for readings.
Ask local gift shops to sell your book. (My hairdresser sells my books. Because I am a local author, I have signed books in her shop. People love signed books!)
Set up author visits at your local libraries. (Advertizing ahead of time in local newspapers about your readings brings more awareness.)
Cable T.V. (I’ve done interviews for both of my books.)
Radio. (A local radio station helped me promote my newest book launch.)
Donate books to non-profit groups. (I’ve sent books to Milk & Bookies in California.)
Find your book’s niche. (I’ve become friends with the on-line marketing manager for Jet-Puffed marshmallows. She recently ordered copies of MARSHMALLOWS GALORE from me to distribute to her bloggers as gifts.)
Organize a book launch. Publishers create book launches for authors to help promote their books. I recently held my own book launch for THE WOOLY ADVENTURES OF PURL at a local yarn store, and a local radio station was more than happy to have me come in and talk about my launch.

You have to be creative and take risks if you want to succeed. Stay positive! Miracles happen in common hours!!!

How is your writing week structured? Do you set weekly writing goals or targets?

I take a very gentle approach to my writing and try not to beat myself up if I don’t meet a target goal. Meditating helps me focus and come up with story ideas. When I get ideas I write them down, and I revisit them often to see what might make more sense to me this time compared to last. I come up with ideas often. I write weekly. And I’m always working on the next project. Staying focused has become second nature. (Finally!)

You said in a recent radio interview that you had an epiphany in 2005 to “make your life work.” Can you tell us a little bit about how that impacted your life and your writing?

As a person, I was quiet and shy on the inside but a little loud and bold on the outside. My inside and outside didn’t match. My epiphany was the realization that my life needed fine-tuning. I needed to make my life work. I wasn’t sure what that meant but I was so filled with joy that I started writing. I wrote every day. I wrote sweet rhyming poems about my husband and my children and everything in between. I wrote a funny poem about the Red Sox and it got published. I wrote a poem for a famous roadside lobster shack in Maine and sent it to them. A year later, the senior editor at Downeast magazine emailed me to ask if they could put my poem in a book. It was at that moment I revisited an old dream of mine. A “knowing” that had been told to me when I was a young mother. “Someday you will write children’s books.” Just like that. I know it sounds crazy but that is exactly how it happened for me.

I joined SCBWI, read books on writing for children, read blogs and turned to social media to see what other authors were doing. I was welcomed into my critique group. I felt like a duck out of water but forced myself to keep at it no matter what. My new self was blossoming and I needed to find where it might take me. So, thanks girls for believing in me when I wasn’t sure I believed in myself!

I know that you are a member of SCBWI and participate in an SCBWI critique group. How does peer feedback factor into your writing process?

My peer feedback is essential to my writing. They offer up all their years of knowledge and expertise. So, from having zero books to self-publishing two children’s books, you can say they are my lifeline.

I get so much more than I can give. I’m still in awe of the fact that they have welcomed me into the group. We all come to this wondrous world of writing with many different backgrounds. Some have been writing for 10 years while others have been writing as far back as they can remember. But we all have something of value to offer.

Which picture book writers have inspired you and your creative work?

As a young mother reading to my own children, we loved Shel Silverstein, Dr. Seuss, and anything that rhymed. For whatever reason, it’s rhyming that I write and love. It’s comfortable. It’s like putting a puzzle together—you have to make the pieces fit.

What advice do you have for beginning writers?

Read, read, read. Join SCBWI, go to conferences, listen and learn. Know that everyone has his/her own special voice in which to tell a story. But most of all, remember there’s room for everyone. Stay positive, work hard, believe in yourself and never look back!

Find out more about Donna Mae at www.donnamaeauthor.com.

Donna will be back later this spring to talk about book videos and trailers and other forms of book promotion. Check out her MARSHMALLOWS GALORE video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8F7AMRRsRCc

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An Interview with Josh Funk

11/23/2015

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by Annie Cronin Romano

Josh Funk resides in New England and is a writer of children’s picture books. His debut picture book, LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST (Sterling) came out in September 2015. Josh has kindly agreed to talk with 24 Carrot Writing about his books and writing process.

Congratulations on the publication of your debut picture book, LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST (Sterling 2015)! Can you tell us a bit about your journey to the printed page? How long was your process from idea to print?
Thank you! And thanks for inviting me to 24 Carrot Writing!

I wrote my first picture book manuscript in the summer of 2011 (not Lady Pancake, a different story that will never see the light of day). My wife found a class in the adult education catalog taught at our local high school by author Jane Sutton and signed me up. I quickly realized that I had a lot to learn, but I was excited and the members of the class became my first critique group. Through the class I was introduced to SCBWI and I attended the 2012 New England SCBWI Conference. As soon as I walked into the conference center in Springfield, MA, I knew that this was the place for me.

By 2013, I felt that my writing was in a pretty solid place. I even had the courage to read an early version of Lady Pancake at the NESCBWI Spring Conference Open Mic. But I was getting virtually no response from queries to agents. So that summer, I decided to send my manuscripts directly to publishers.

And I got a few hits. Scholastic was interested in PIRASAURS!, DEAR DRAGON garnered interest from a couple of small publishers, and in early November of 2013 I got an email from Sterling Children’s stating that they’d like to publish LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST. By mid-January, 2014, I had signed with an agent, PIRASAURS! was acquired by Scholastic, and my agent sold DEAR DRAGON to Viking/Penguin. It was quite an exciting two months!

Did you always want to be a writer? What led you to focus on picture books?
No. I used to write poetry when I was very little (like 6 or 8). Apparently my play-by-play poems about Larry Bird and Roger Clemens were a hit in my family. In college I played guitar and wrote songs – however, the lyrics were more fun and quirky than ‘poetic.’

When I began reading picture books to my children, I found some really awesome ones that I loved. I often credit the following four books as my inspiration to be a writer:

Iggy Peck, Architect by Andrea Beaty and David Roberts is written in rhyme, using clever and advanced language, about a relatively obscure topic (architecture) and I always thought that was cool.
The Curious Garden by Peter Brown is simply beautiful art with a poignant (but not preachy) story.
The Gardener by Sarah Stewart and David Small, written in epistolary format, evokes incredibly strong emotions (especially the wordless spread when Uncle Jim finally sees the rooftop garden).
Vunce Upon a Time by Siobhan Vivian and J. Otto Seibold is about a vegetarian vampire. If you can write an awesome picture book about that, you can write a picture book about anything.

And like many people, I thought that if I read a lot of picture books, surely I’d be able to write one. And like all of those people, I quickly realized how wrong I was.

Aspiring writers often are unsure whether to submit to agents or editors. What advice do you have for writers wrestling with this submission decision?
My advice is this:

Work on your craft. Don’t think about submitting until your readers are telling you that your writing is ready. Don’t submit too early. Again, work on your craft. And once you’re sure your writing is ready…
Query agents. Having a good agent on your side is huge. The three biggest things an agent can do for you are:

a. The legal stuff. A good agent will handle your contracts, negotiations with editors, etc. And depending on the agency, they may have a foreign rights or film/TV rights person to handle that stuff, too.
b. They have access to all publishing houses. A good agent will know what editors are looking for which types of stories and try to match your manuscript with the right home. No more unsolicited submissions. No more slush piles.
c. An experienced editorial eye. A good agent will be able to help round your manuscripts into the right shape before sending off to editors.
I recommend querying agents for at least six months to a year before you...
3. Send directly to publishers. If you don’t have success finding an agent (like me), use SCBWI’s The Book, The Children’s Writers’ & Illustrator’s Market, and Google to see who is accepting unsolicited submissions and go from there.

Many children’s writers are discouraged from writing in rhyme. You have had success with rhyme in Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast. Were you ever encouraged to write a non-rhyming version? Why do you prefer to write in rhyme?
I was never encouraged to write a non-rhyming version. For a while, I thought that my stories were only any good because of the rhyme. But I have branched out a bit and I have started writing in prose lately.

I do think that rhyme, when written well, adds a certain element of charm to a picture book. But it’s very hard to rhyme well – which is why many people are discouraged from writing in rhyme. Frankly, I could talk about this all day, but if you want more of my thoughts on rhyme, check out this page in the ‘References for Writers’ section of my website.

You are a participant in PiBoIdMo and a contributor to the PiBoIdMo daily posts. Have you turned any of your PiBoIdMo ideas into full manuscripts?
I just looked back through all my lists and the answer is actually, no. For some reason, November is not my best month for coming up with ideas.

At 24 Carrot Writing, we discuss setting writing goals. Do you set writing goals for yourself?
Hmm, I don’t think I do. (Note: these last two questions are certainly making me question myself. Ha!)
I think for me, and this goes back to the PiBoIdMo question, too, that I write when I’m inspired. When I have an idea that I love, I’ll spend a ton of time working on it. November hasn’t traditionally been that month for me, I guess. But when I do think of something good, I’m all in until it’s finished.

There are times when I feel like I haven’t written a new picture book manuscript in a few months. Then a few weeks later I’ll have first drafts of a couple new ideas, and maybe even something worth sharing with critique partners or my agent.

The children’s writing community is wonderfully supportive and offers many resources to aspiring and published writers. You are actively involved with The Writers’ Loft in Sherborn, MA as well as NESCBWI. How important has your involvement in the writing community been to your writing success?
The kidlit community is awesome. Not only have I been able to learn a lot from the Loft and SCBWI in regards to both the craft and the business of writing, I’ve made incredible connections with people that have helped me on personal and professional levels.

At SCBWI conferences, I’ve met critique partners as well as authors who’ve given me valuable and timely advice about querying and submitting. I met my agent through a referral of one of her existing clients, a friend I met at NESCBWI. I also met Heather Kelly, founder and empress of The Writers’ Loft.

I joined the Loft about two months after it opened in the spring of 2013 and helped start its first critique group. Now I’m on the executive board, helping to plan events, run the website and newsletter and more. I’m also co-coordinating the 2016 and 2017 New England SCBWI spring conferences (alongside Heather Kelly in 2016). So, yeah, I’d say NESCBWI, The Writers’ Loft, and the kidlit community have been pretty critical to any success I may be having.

Kids can be our toughest critics. Can you give one or two examples of your favorite kid feedback on your debut book?
In the small amount of fan mail I’ve received, I have to say that there are a lot of kids who would like to know if Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast ever get married. I’m going to be honest in saying that I haven’t really thought that far ahead in their lives yet. But one student made the wise suggestion that if they were to get married and have children, it would probably be a crepe (as it is a French pancake).

Crepe! That is one clever student. I love it!
Any final words of wisdom for aspiring children’s book authors?
My best piece of advice is to keep writing. My first book is never going to see the light of day. So don’t get hung up on the first one. Write a second. Then a third. Assuming you’re taking workshops and getting feedback from critique partners, each story you write will be better than the last. So keep on writing.

Thanks, Josh! Please share with us any events where readers (and writers!) can meet you in the upcoming weeks!
Thank YOU again for inviting me!
On December 5th at 10am, I’ll be at Wellesley Books for a Pancakes & PJ’s event.
And all the rest of my upcoming events for December can be found on my schedule of appearances page here.

Bio:
Josh Funk is the author of LADY PANCAKE & SIR FRENCH TOAST (Sterling), as well as the forthcoming picture books DEAR DRAGON (Viking/Penguin 2016), PIRASAURS! (Scholastic 2017), THIS ISN’T JACK AND THE BEANSTALK (Two Lions, 2017), and more.
Josh grew up in New England and studied Computer Science in school. Today, he still lives in New England and when not writing Java code or Python scripts, he drinks Java coffee and writes picture book manuscripts. Josh is a board member of The Writers' Loft in Sherborn, MA and the co-coordinator of the 2016 and 2017 New England Regional SCBWI Conferences. Find Josh Funk at joshfunkbooks.com and on Twitter at @joshfunkbooks.