Miranda Paul: Will Write for Cookies

Posted on July 25, 2015 by viviankirkfield

WILL WRITE FOR COOKIES

INSIGHT – INFORMATION – INSPIRATION

FOR WRITERS

TODAY’S GUEST

MIRANDA PAUL

I met today’s Will Write for Cookies author a couple of years ago when I first discovered this incredible kid lit community. Friends told me about a website called RateYourStory that was run by a writer named Miranda Paul, where you could get a manuscript looked at by professionals – for free! I went, I saw, I fell in love…with the site, the service and Miranda herself. A passionate advocate for literacy and leader in the movement to encourage diversity in books, Miranda is a doer, not just a dreamer. She’s published more than 50 short stories for magazines and digital markets, and is the author of One Plastic Bag: Isatou Ceesay and the Recycling Women of the Gambia, and Water is Water. Both were named Junior Library Guild selections. She is kind and generous and loving and a super smart mentor!

I’m so happy to have her here to share her thoughts with us.

Welcome, Miranda!

ME: Who were your favorite authors/illustrators when you were a child?

Miranda:

Shel Silverstein, Lois Lowry, and Roald Dahl. But seeing as how I never grew up, I think my current favorites also apply to this question. There are too many to name, but Jacqueline Woodson, Kevin Henkes, Kat Yeh, and Kadir Nelson come to mind. Or maybe those are just the ones that have “k” sounds in their names…

ME: What do you know now that you wish you had known when you first started writing for children? Continue reading →

Suzanne Williams – Will Write for Cookies

Posted on June 20, 2015 by viviankirkfield

WILL WRITE FOR COOKIES

INSIGHT – INFORMATION – INSPIRATION

FOR WRITERS

TODAY’S GUEST

SUZANNE WILLIAMS

FLASHBACK!

It’s 2009. My book is almost ready to go to the printer. I try to get in touch with the authors of the picture books I am recommending to see if they would like to read an advance copy and give me an endorsement. One of the books is Mommy Doesn’t Know My Name. The author is Suzanne Williams. She has an awesome website. I go there. I connect with her. She says…YES!

Fast forward to this year! I thought, wouldn’t it be great to shine the Will Write for Cookies spotlight on this wonderful author? So I contact Suzanne and she says…YES! That’s right…she’s a pretty special woman!

Suzanne Williams lives in Renton, WA and is the author of nearly 60 books for children, including the award-winning picture book Library Lil (illustrated by Steven Kellogg). Together, she and Joan Holub write the Goddess Girls, Heroes in Training, and Grimmtastic Girls series.

I’m so happy to have her here to share her thoughts with us.

Welcome, Suzanne!

ME: Who were your favorite authors/illustrators when you were a child?

Suzanne:

I was one of those children, as writers often are, who read constantly as a child. So picking a favorite is difficult. That said, I remember with special fondness, the I Can Read book, Little Bear by Elsa Minarik (illustrated by Maurice Sendak), a gift from my grandparents when I was seven years old. Later favorite reads included Strawberry Girl by Lois Lenski, the Pippi Longstocking books by Astrid Lindgren. P.L. Travers’s Mary Poppins books, and series like Nancy Drew, The Bobbsey Twins, and Trixie Belden. I was definitely more of a fiction reader than a non-fiction reader, so it’s no surprise that’s what I’ve chosen to write. Continue reading →

Julie Rowan-Zoch: Will Write for Cookies

Posted on April 18, 2015 by viviankirkfield

WILL WRITE FOR COOKIES

INSIGHT – INFORMATION – INSPIRATION

FOR WRITERS

TODAY’S GUEST

JULIE ROWAN-ZOCH

Most of my Will Write for Cookies’ guests – in fact, most of the people I’ve connected with in this incredible kid lit community – are ‘just’ internet friends. But a very special few I have met in person – and Julie is one of those!

A few weeks before my departure from Colorado, there was an author event at the Tattered Cover Bookstore in Denver. I actually got to listen to Peter Brown read Mr. Tiger Goes Wild. And while that was an honor, the biggest thrill for me was going to lunch with several Colorado writers including: Julie Hedlund, Stacy Jensen, Sheri McCrimmon, and our featured author/illustrator, Julie Rowan-Zoch.

Julie grew up chasing hermit crabs on Continue reading →