When You Open a Book

Via Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating blog, https://kathytemean.wordpress.com/2023/01/12/book-giveaway-when-you-open-a-book-by-caroline-derlatka/, I was the lucky winner of the lovely book displayed below.

When You Open a Book, written by Caroline Derlatka and illustrated by Sara Ugolotti, is filled with beautiful images of familiar childhood fantasies and some imaginative and enchanting new ones. Its prose is engaging and works seamlessly with each illustration and page turn to a satisfying ending.

This picture book is one that parents and children will enjoy and want to read again and again. Bushel & Peck Books, a children’s publishing house with a special mission, published it. Through their Book-for-Book Promise, they donate one book to kids in need for every book they sell. You can even nominate a school or organization to receive free books. Check out their site at https://bushelandpeckbooks.com/; the following is a link to their school/organization nomination form https://bushelandpeckbooks.com/pages/nominate-a-school-or-organization.

After receiving When You Open a Book, I contacted Caroline about doing a blog post and author interview, and she kindly agreed.

A lover of all things fairytale, Caroline Derlatka has always believed in magic. She grew up creating fantastical worlds in her head – places filled with unicorns that would give her rides over ribbon rainbows, giant hares that would lead her through cotton candy clouds, and mermaids that would swim with her into the deep. She is a constant dreamer with a million ideas and about eight hundred big plans.

After living in Los Angeles for twenty years, she now splits her time with her husband, son, and 2 cats between the shores of Flathead Lake, Montana, and the green hills of Nashville, Tennessee.

To find out more about her and her other projects, which all benefit various charities, visit her online at carolinederlatka.com. You can also find Caroline on Instagram @amusedcaroline.

Author Interview:

Caroline, when did you start writing, and what drew you to write?

I started writing when I was about 8. I was fascinated with fairytales. My dad was sick when I was younger so I was in and out of hospitals a lot and became a very anxious child. I quickly learned to escape my worries through the fantasy worlds I created in my head. Soon after I began writing stories in notebooks. It would be 30 years later before I showed a story to anyone.

Just as I turned 40, Covid hit, and I realized I should just send one of my completed projects to a few publishers. The manuscript I settled on was ‘When You Open A Book’ because it is an ode to the magical places you can go when reading a book. It felt like the obvious choice to start with that one. My publisher, Bushel and Peck, liked the project and the charity I wanted it to benefit (The White Feather Foundation), so they gave me a book deal.

For readers who might want to find out more, the mission of The White Feather Foundation is to raise funds for indigenous, humanitarian, environmental, and clean water projects. Click on this link to find out more about it https://whitefeatherfoundation.com/.

Do you have a special writing space?

My favorite place to write is in my bed with a cup of coffee.

What was the best writing advice you’ve ever received?

Write every day. It just gets you into a habit and prevents you from procrastinating!

Do you have a writing routine?  If you do, please describe it.

I am constantly jotting down notes on my phone throughout the day as ideas hit me. There really is inspiration everywhere. That being said, I try to set a time every day to write in some way.

What suggestions do you have for writers looking to publish picture books?

Don’t give up. Keeping sending your work out until you find an agent or publisher that you / your work connects with. After that, it will get a bit easier. 

Caroline, I noticed on your website that you are involved with a number of charitable projects. Would you share with us a bit about each of them?

I am currently working on an in-school reading program for kids that will be throughout the country. I created the program for kids to light the fire for reading, but to also help raise funds for one of the largest literacy organizations in the country.

I also created a line of handmade-in-Peru dolls called PocoKins (pocokins.com) that help benefit my dear friend’s In a Perfect World charity https://iapw.org/. IAPW helps create the next generation of leaders through its programs which build schools across the globe, and bring clean water and food to communities that need it. The founder, Manuela Testolini Jordan, is doing amazing things in the world for kids, and I wanted to contribute in some little way. The doll line recently got endorsed by UCLA’s Director of Child Psychiatry for having great social-emotional benefits for kids. 

These are a few of the available dolls-

• 

  Beatrice and Bella

• 

  Barnaby and Benson

• 

  Liesel and Lexi

• 

  Leopold and Lorenzo

I also have an organic cookie line currently in shelf-life testing. I’m hoping it can help feed hungry children.

You’re incredibly involved, Caroline. Do you have any writing projects going on at the moment?

My next picture book is in the works. I also have 4 completed projects that I have yet to send in, and about 3 or 4 that I am writing now. I like to jump between different books when I write. My goal is to have a different charity associated with each one.

Thank you for taking the time out of your schedule to share with us about your debut picture book journey, your writing process, and your other creative and charitable endeavors, Caroline. Best of luck with all of them!

• Who? What? Where? Why?
• Food for Thought
• Random Acts of Reading
• When You Open a Book
• On Reflection

Advertisement

Storystorm Success!

January is over and February has begun. The groundhog has seen his shadow, and it’s a perfect time to hunker down in front of a cozy fire. There’s no better time to take a second look at all the picture book ideas I came up with and pick one to turn into a story.

Before I do, I’m going to re-read some of the many excellent posts that were shared during Storystorm’s month of creative encouragement. There were so many ideas and perspectives that could help me generate even more ideas or help me focus my writing. Kirsten Pendreigh’s post on “Ideagrients” was definitely one I’m going to refer to when honing in on exactly the story I want to tell.

https://taralazar.com/2023/01/28/storystorm-2023-day-28/

Ideagrients™: distinctive fragments and descriptive sparks that elevate ideas. May include—but not limited to—gorgeous words, evocative images, sensory details, original names, and clever language devices. According to experts at PBIU (Picture Book Idea University), good ideas require a minimum of five Ideagrients before story writing can begin.

Kirsten’s suggestion is to search for specificity and clarity in who your character is, what they want, where their setting is, and what the language is that you want to use all before you commit to any writing time. She recommends assembling your ideagrients in order to have an easier time creating a compelling pitch, enjoy a smoother writing process and create a better end product. Who’s ready to sous-chef up a story? Me!

Another great post, this one about finding ideas to make into a story, was provided by Ebony Lynn Mudd who suggested literally scrolling for them. Here are some of the scrollable accounts she suggested.

Scrollable Account #1 – @Goodable on Twitter and Instagram

What is it: The world’s happiest and healthiest daily news—when you need it the most.

Scrollable Account #2 – @sambentley on Instagram

What is it: Content about sustainable living and good news you may not have heard about.

Scrollable Account #3 – @livefromsnacktime on Instagram and @livefromsnackti on Twitter

What is it: NYC teacher Alyssa Cowit,was so fascinated by the questions and comments from her students that she started to chronicle them online.

https://taralazar.com/2023/01/27/storystorm-2023-day-27/

Then there was CK Malone’s post on following or, more exactly, not following directions, but just writing from your heart.

https://taralazar.com/2023/01/26/storystorm-2023-day-26/

And there was Marzieh Abbas’ post on mining for memories in which she wrote about how photos and the memories they bring to mind can be a source of inspiration.

https://taralazar.com/2023/01/25/storystorm-2023-day-25/

So many great recommendations from so many fantastic creators, I know I’m going to keep going back to them.

Finally the last guest post of Storystorm, written by Corey Finkel, delivered a dose of hope.

https://taralazar.com/2023/01/30/storystorm-2023-day-30/

In that post Corey spoke about his writing journey which was one I could definitely relate to as I’m sure many other Storystormers could as well.

• Who? What? Where? Why?
• Food for Thought
• Random Acts of Reading
• When You Open a Book
• On Reflection

The Eye of Storystorm!

It’s the mid-way point of Storystorm 2023! And so far, so good, I’ve been keeping up with this month long picture book brainstorming challenge created by Tara Lazar.

To me, brainstorming is like like taking a journey with a somewhat vague destination in mind, but no set directions for getting there. Since I’m a big LOTR nerd, that idea connects me immediately to Bilbo Baggins’ warning to Frodo about embarking on a journey, “If you don’t keep your feet, there’s no telling where you might be swept off to.”

Storystorm, in order to encourage participants creativity, provides daily blog posts written by a multitude of picture book creators.

One of the posts that captured my attention, this Storystorm, was written by Kathleen Doherty. Her post was about intertextuality. Though I had never heard it called by that title before, I was familiar with its theory which says that whatever you create is influenced by something you’ve heard, seen or read before.

Kathleen wrote about borrowing ideas from another piece of literature and morphing it’s shape into a new and different text. As I’m in the middle of a manuscript in which I’m trying to do something similar, I found her post inspiring. Click here to read her post https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/#inbox/FMfcgzGrbvFGhGCqFDZDxcjsXwFtnMpp.

Kathleen embraced intertextuality in each of her picture books. Her first, Don’t Feed the Bear, came from her memories of watching Yogi Bear and Ranger Smith’s cartoon high jinx.

It’s a super fun read that demonstrates the power of written communication and it definitely tickles the funny bone.

Kathleen described her second picture book, THE THiNGiTY-JiG, as a reworked version of The Little Red Hen with a dash of creative BFG word-play added to the mix. I think it’s so much more!

The THiNGiTY-JiG has a pleasant repetitive refrain that gets the story going and keeps its transitions flowing. The prose is active, full of onomatopoeia. Each attempt of the main character to achieve what he has set out to do, cleverly builds upon the one before it. Lastly, it has a very satisfying ending. I’d recommend this book to children, as well as to picture book writers in search of mentor books.

There is more Storystorming left to do in the remaining weeks of January, and I’m up for the challenge. I’ll let you know how my efforts pan out at the start of February.

Magical Moonlight

Like many of you, not only do I write a blog, I follow blogs. One of them is Vivian Kirkfield’s blog, Vivian Kirkfield-Writer for Children, Picture Books Help Kids Soar blog on wordpress at http://www.viviankirkfield.com.

After reading Vivian’s blog about the debut picture book Mending the Moon, written by Emma Pearl, and illustrated by Sara Ugolotti, I entered a giveaway to win either a copy of the picture book, or a manuscript critique by the author. I won!

As I had already purchased Mending the Moon, I chose the picture book critique as my prize.

Emma provided me with an insightful and thoughtful review of the present state of one of my manuscripts. She acknowledged its strengths, pointed out its weaknesses and shared thoughts on how it could be improved. She’s even offered to reread it after I complete my revisions!

While in email contact with Emma, I asked if she would allow me to interview her. Emma graciously obliged.

As it’s easier to give attention to shorter posts, at this time of the year, I decided to devote this post to Emma’s beautiful debut book and will follow up with a post that shares Emma’s writing insights.

Mending the Moon, is a lovely tale of inter-connections. It shares the story of a child’s relationship to her grandfather, and their relationship to and with the natural world and its inhabitants.

When the full moon falls from the night sky, Luna wakes her grandfather to help her fix it. Together with the animals of the mountain, from the biggest to the smallest, they search for its broken shards. And when faced with the difficulty of putting the moon back together, the insect world lends its talents to the task. Finally, it takes all the world’s birds to hoist the moon into its proper space and make the world feel right.

MENDING THE MOON’S BOOK JOURNEY as shared by Emma Pearl

I have always loved reading and writing. Something about the magic of immersing yourself in a brand new world, whether it’s of your own creation or somebody else’s, never fails to get me tingling with excitement. It’s the anticipation of what might happen, all those possibilities. Stories are the ultimate human experience, allowing us to live through all kinds of extraordinary events and emotions that may or may not happen in our real lives. They allow us to learn, to believe in magic and to imagine.

I think I was three or four years old when I wrote my first story, a fully illustrated tale about a kind frog who befriended a lonely tree. I never really stopped after that. I’ve written countless stories, plenty of poetry and even a novel in my 20s. But it wasn’t until I had children of my own that I began to think about writing for young people, and it wasn’t until they had both started school that I had the time or the brain capacity to start getting serious about it. So in 2017 at the grand old age of 44, I set about learning how to write properly.

There’s such a wealth of information and resources available online for aspiring writers, and I quickly became immersed in the writing community. I was constantly amazed by the kindness and generosity of other writers – so many people at all levels of experience willing to give their time and knowledge freely to anyone who needed it. And I definitely needed it! 

In that first year of learning, I flitted between novel writing and picture book writing. This particular story started with a silly question – what if the moon fell out of the sky? From that start point, out tumbled four whole stories about Luna – a feisty, kind, brave little girl with a grandfather who guided and supported, allowed her to find answers but never took over. Together, they solved all kinds of natural mysteries and problems, helping to put the world back to how it should be. I knew instantly that the world I was creating filled me with excitement and wonder, but I never dreamed I would even share these stories with anyone else, let alone that Mending the Moon would end up being my publishing debut.

I wrote the four stories over a couple of days in 2017 and then forgot about them. I wrote a couple of novels and many more picture book texts. I began to enter online pitch contests with my PBs, not because I ever expected anything to come from them but because I enjoyed it and it was a great way to connect with other writers.

In 2020 I applied for the WriteMentor summer program with my MG novel and was surprised and delighted to be accepted for a 4-month mentorship with UK author Lu Hersey. It was a wonderful experience and an enormous boost to my confidence as well as my craft. In October that year I entered #PBPitch with several picture books. Again, I did it for the interaction. I didn’t truly believe that anyone got agent likes from those things. Well, I didn’t get an agent like but I got something even better – an editor like! Kayla Tostevin from Page Street Kids had seen my pitch and liked it. I could hardly believe it.

I sent her my manuscript, which in hindsight was still in need of some serious revising, and a week later she replied, saying she had some feedback and would love to see a revised version. We went backwards and forwards a few times. Revisions were hard, but Kayla’s vision was superb and I knew I was making the story stronger with her guidance. She had a quiet confidence that we could get it to a point where it could make it through acquisitions, but even if we didn’t manage to, the manuscript would be in great shape to submit elsewhere. And then, just before Christmas, I received the official offer of publication – a perfect way to finish a year that had otherwise been fairly horrendous on a global scale.

It’s a long path from contract to publication, but the whole process has been an absolute delight and I’m thrilled with how the book has turned out. Sara Ugolotti’s illustrations are out of this world and beyond anything I could have imagined. And best of all, one of the other Luna and Poppa stories, Saving the Sun, has also been contracted and will be out next Fall. It’s a dream come true.

A Litttle About Emma Pearl:

Emma writes fiction for all ages and is represented by Sera Rivers at Speilburg Literary. Mending the Moon is her debut picture book, and Saving the Sun will be published by Page Street Kids in September 2023. Emma is a picture book mentor for WriteMentor (2021/22) and a freelance editorial consultant for picture books. She lives with her family in New Zealand.

emmapearlauthor.com

Twitter/IG: @emmspearl

Purchase Mending the Moon through the links below:

Barnes and Noble

Bookshop.org US

Indiebound

Amazon US

Waterstones

Bookshop.org UK

Amazon UK

• Who? What? Where? Why?
• Food for Thought
• Random Acts of Reading
• When You Open a Book
• On Reflection

DEAR RAINBOW BABY

Today on National Rainbow Baby Day, recognized annually on August 22nd, it is my pleasure to celebrate the book birthday of Dear Rainbow Baby, written by Samantha Gassman, illustrated by Timothy Lange and published by Spork, an imprint of Clear Fork Publishing.

Dear Rainbow Baby is available for purchase @ https://linktr.ee/sgassmanbooks

Samantha Gassman, the author, is an Air Force veteran, military spouse, and mom to two kids and two cats. Her debut picture book DEAR RAINBOW BABY arrives on August 22, which is also happens to be the birthday of her own rainbow baby. Her next book PEANUT AND BUTTER CUP is slated for publication in 2024.

Samantha very graciously agreed to an interview to discuss her writing and the very personal and emotional journey that led to the creation of Dear Rainbow Baby.

In regard to your book’s journey, I read that Dear Rainbow Baby came about as you processed your grief over your miscarriage. How were you able to step away from the rawness of your emotions to realize that your written expression of them could become a book which might have the potential to inspire hope among others going through a similar loss?  

I wanted to let other parents know they are not alone in going through it. Pregnancy is an emotional experience at the best of times. But following a loss, those emotions can be overwhelming and no one should deal with it by themselves. I hope that the book will humanize the experience and that people will see themselves within the story.

I wrote through all the stages of grief following the miscarriage. Writing down my emotions was a great way for me to work through them. As I wrote, the words “Dear Rainbow Baby” appeared, and I started writing a letter to a baby we didn’t even know we could have. This letter helped me look forward with hope and start the healing process.

When I switched gears and looked at the letter as picture book manuscript, I realized the benefit the text could have on others who had been through a similar experience. That’s when I knew I had to try and get it out there.

Even though my own rainbow baby is now a grown self-sufficient woman, I still remember the loss and the overwhelming sense of being alone after I miscarried during the second trimester of my first pregnancy. Do you have any suggestions for mothers who are grieving a loss of a child, or pregnancy? 

I would encourage them to reach out to their family and friends or a support group. It’s so important to have people to lean on. I held my husband Ryan and our son Jake very closely during that time, and both of them helped me get through it.

I would also encourage mothers to allow themselves to feel all the emotions that come with a loss like this, rather than bottling it up. It’s okay to feel however they feel. Find a way to memorialize the loss in some way. My husband and I have the first and only ultrasound picture framed with the baby’s name and dates.

Because the creation of Dear Rainbow Baby was so extremely emotional for you, did that make hearing and addressing critiques of its manuscript that much more difficult? 

I was very fortunate to have my rainbow baby just before the book was acquired, which made going through the revisions easier.

What has been harder more recently (even though my baby is now an independent, sassy 2-year-old), is the notes I get from people sharing their experiences with me.

Their stories bring me back to the emotional turmoil I went through and several of them have had me in tears. One lady said that she is comforted by the thought of our angel babies playing together in heaven, which was such a beautiful sentiment.

In another blog I read that reading to your son fostered your desire to write for children. What steps did you take to make that desire a reality?  How long did it take you?  

First, I wrote some really terrible picture book manuscripts and shot them off to agents without learning the industry! Then, I got smarter and joined SCBWI and a critique group, and wrote and read a lot more picture books.

After dozens of rejections, I landed my first agent, who only signed me for one project. That project was rejected by 30 publishers and my contract with her ended.

I pitched DEAR RAINBOW BABY and PEANUT AND BUTTER CUP during #PitMad on Twitter and was lucky enough to land another agent, Erica Christensen. We’ve been together for two years and we’ve sold both of those original manuscripts. Now, we’re out on submission with newer projects and I have my fingers crossed those are acquired too.

I understand that your writing time comes pretty much at the end of a full day of work and child care. Is there a special nook that you like to go to gather your thoughts, or to get your creative juices flowing? 

Haha, I wish! Since we move so often with the military, I’m lucky if the house we live in has an office for my full-time job! In our current house, I usually write at our kitchen table, which is normally covered with crumbs or other morsels left over from the kids throwing their dinner around.

I noticed that besides for your full-time jobs you’re also a freelance writer. First of all . . . wow, second of all . . . wow and third of all, what drew you to take up writing? At what age?  Did you ever think you’d be an author growing up?  What was your first published piece? What was the first piece you earned any money off of?

Thank you, thank you! My son drew me to writing when I had him at 31. I loved how his face lit up when we read picture books together. I have so many treasured memories that involve books, and I want to help create special moments for other parents and their kids.

Growing up, I never thought I would be an author. I was always a decent writer, but I was mostly focused on academic papers, not creative writing.

My first published piece was a story I wrote about an open house at our local fire station in Dixon, CA. I sent it to the local paper, the Dixon Independent. My first paid writing gig was my work for hire contract with Benchmark Education. They bought my debut book on the educational market HONOR FLIGHT, available for classes and libraries now!

Samantha, you’ve had several successes with two stories that went nationwide. Would you share with us what you’ve learned as you sought to publicize and market your work?

Even if you sign a contract with a “big 5” publisher, a lot of the responsibility for marketing and publicity will be on you the author. Here are my top tips to help you market your book:

• Know your audience and figure out where they are: for Dear Rainbow Baby, I knew that parents and expecting parents of rainbow babies were my audience. Fortunately, there are several organizations that address pregnancy after loss and miscarriage support, so I reached out to individuals there to help spread the word about the book.

• Pitch your local paper (and anywhere you have a tie-in): Think about: your school magazine or newsletter, church newsletter, local radio and TV stations, etc. and send them your pitch!

• Post authentically and post often on social media. No, you’re not talking about your book too much. Share the story behind the idea, the revision process, the inspiration, writing tips, etc… with your social media audience. This helps your book stay top of mind and can help you build a fan base.

Are there any suggestions you could pass on to readers who might also want to become a picture book writer?

The only difference between an unpublished author and a published author is the latter never gave up. So, don’t give up!

Thank you, for sharing your and Dear Rainbow Baby’s journey, Samantha. I wish you all the best and to your daughter, a very happy birthday!

• Who? What? Where? Why?
• Food for Thought
• Random Acts of Reading
• When You Open a Book
• On Reflection