My Journey to Becoming a Picture-Book Author

My Journey to Becoming a Picture-Book Author

In a few weeks, my debut picture book will be published by Owlkids Books. I’m counting the days!

It’s a journey that began years ago, when I first fell in love with picture books as a child and, later, when I fell in love again as I read them aloud with my daughters. I adore how picture books are kind of like poetry—simple and short, yet layered and deep. How they’re a read-aloud delight of rhythm and patterns, repetition and humour, colour and wonder. How they’re a way to connect to a child reader, heart to heart, with great authenticity and emotion.

I began my quest to become a picture-book writer by analyzing picture books I adore. How did they work their magic? Later, I started critiquing the manuscripts of friends, applying what I was learning to understand how they were written. I’m grateful, in particular, to Frieda Wishinsky, who patiently taught me much during our coffee dates. Finally, I began to write my own tentative picture-book manuscripts, celebrating my messy experiments and learning from trial and error.

I became more and more excited by the possibilities of the picture-book format, so excited that I enrolled in an MFA program at the Vermont College of Fine Arts (VCFA). My first semester was a Picture Book Intensive with wonderful faculty advisor Liz Garton Scanlon, and it was an explosion of growth and learning.

I read and analyzed over 220 picture books during that semester, and I wrote critical essays to gain more insights. You can read my articles on “How to Revise a Picture Book” (Part 1 and Part 2), which I first wrote at VCFA and later published in CANSCAIP newsletters.

And I wrote and revised 12 picture books during my first semester, including metafiction, fiction, narrative nonfiction, concept books, rhythmic/lyrical, dark/difficult topics, and wordless. I explored how to limit my words so that the illustrations could take up more space in the story. How to set up highly illustratable moments with my text. How to build a frame for my story that supports the characters and plot. How to hold a manuscript lightly so it can grow and change into what it wants to be. How to write narrative nonfiction using fiction techniques. How to rewrite a single spread twenty or thirty times until I found what works. How to play with strong verbs, rhythm, and repetition. How to cut, cut, cut words to distill my manuscript into its essence.

One of my manuscripts during this semester was titled If I Wrote You a Poem, and it went on to become Sour Cakes, wonderfully illustrated by Anna Kwan.

This manuscript began as a collision of two ideas: writing about creativity and a sibling who supports another during a low time. When I let go of it being a manuscript about creativity, it became a conversation between the siblings. I wrote the first six lines and had to let it sit. Then I wrote the next twelve lines and let it sit. Then the whole story emerged. I needed to respect the creative process, not force it to be about a theme I’d predetermined, and I needed to find the characters’ voices. I did plenty of exploratory writing on the characters so I could deepen the story.

It’s been an honour to collaborate with Owlkids and Anna Kwan on Sour Cakes. It’s become all I’d hoped for when I first typed my tentative words into a blank file – a conversation between two siblings, a big one who wants to play and a little one who feels sour. Sour Cakes is told only in dialogue as Big and Little navigate how to acknowledge one’s difficult emotions and how to support someone who’s feeling those big feels. It springs from my family experiences with mental-health challenges, and it’s a deeply personal book.

I look forward to writing picture-book manuscripts for years to come, some that will find a publishing home and some that will not. In fact, I have two more picture books under contract, which I’m excited to share. Still, it’s the writing journey that calls to me. The open-hearted wildness of writing in this format that I treasure for a child audience who I value.

New Book Deal: My Second Picture Book

New Book Deal: My Second Picture Book

A year ago, I announced my debut picture book – a story of two siblings told in just 230 words to be published by Owlkids Books in Fall 2021. Yesterday, I reviewed the illustration roughs for it by Anna Kwan, and they were brimming with life and emotion. I can’t wait to share more about this book!

Now, I’m excited to announce that I’ve signed a contract with Owlkids Books for a second picture book! I’m thrilled to be working with the talented Owlkids team once again. This time, it’s a nonfiction picture book, and I’ll share more about it later. The germ of the idea began when I was watching a documentary, and after much research, I wrote my first draft in my third semester at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Fifteen drafts later, it was accepted for publication, which is scheduled for Fall 2022.

A special shout-out to my critique partners who patiently read many drafts, to VCFA faculty William Alexander and Cynthia Leitich Smith for critiquing early drafts, and to my agent Ginger Knowlton of Curtis Brown for her support.

Time to celebrate!

New Book Deal: My Debut Picture Book

New Book Deal: My Debut Picture Book

I’m thrilled to announce that I just signed a contract with Owlkids Books for my debut picture book!

Picture books hold a special place in my heart. They’re a joy to read aloud. You can share them with any age. We are never too old for picture books! They create magic in only a few words. And to see my words illustrated? Priceless.

This picture book began as a germ of an idea that I finally put to paper when I needed to write a lyrical story during my Picture Book Intensive semester at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Nineteen drafts later, it landed a contract. Who says picture books are easy to write?

A special shout-out to my Picture Book Intensive faculty advisor – Liz Garton Scanlon, author of the Caldecott-honoured picture book All the World. Liz is an inspiration.

My critique partners – both at VCFA and in the Great White North – read this manuscript more than once. Thanks to you all!

And of course, I need to thank the talented folks at Owlkids Books, who saw the potential in this manuscript. I am so grateful!

More about the book later, but for now I’ll tell you that it’s scheduled for publication in Fall 2021, and I can’t wait!

Now where did I put that bottle of champagne?