How Much Say Do Authors Have in Cover Design?

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on November 4th, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Earlier this week, MarcyKate's and my editor for The Thirteenth Circle sent us an email with cover art updates. This was a surprise to us—but also to our editor. Apparently, she hadn't expected to discuss the design for our book yet, but someone brought it up, and so the discussion happened right then and there. Two artists were selected (a first choice and a backup). Our editor sent us links to their portfolios, explaining all the rationales behind why they were the team's top picks.

Why is this noteworthy?

Well, maybe to some authors, it isn't! But for me, it is absolutely the most communication I've ever had about cover design—and it's been both fun and enlightening.

Cover design is one of those areas where, in general, authors get little input. (Unless you're a Very Big Name, i.e. a celebrity or a New York Times Bestseller.)

For my two YA novels, I saw and heard nothing until there was a close-to-finished cover layout. The emails landed in my inbox with language like, "Here's what we've decided on. Hope you like it as much as we do!" I was able to offer tiny suggestions. For instance, I had a few comments about the model in the photograph chosen for the How It Feels to Fly cover: I asked that her nail polish be removed and her makeup be toned down, because she looked much older than the character's 16 years. But overall, I was given the impression that this was what was happening, and I'd best get on board.

(One story I do like to tell about the HIFTF cover is that I was completely caught off guard by those balloons! The image had been chosen because the floating balloons made the designer think of flight. But...there were no balloons *anywhere* in the book. So, rather than argue about the cover not really tying into the story, I added a scene with balloons into the manuscript.)

For Class Critters, I was brought into the process a bit earlier. I learned that they'd be using two different artists: one for the books' covers and one for the interior illustrations. I was told that the sales and marketing team wanted a more photorealistic animal on the cover, with a few quirky illustrated details. I was sent links to portfolios as well as sketches by the artists who had been chosen, and I was able to offer comments on the proposed artwork. (For instance, both the interior and cover artists for Tally Tuttle Turns into a Turtle initially drew tortoises, so I had to send back descriptions and sample images showing the differences between turtles and tortoises!)

But even though I was looped in earlier, I didn't have much say in the actual direction the cover designers chose. I love my Class Critters covers! I'm super lucky! But this was definitely still a situation where things were happening outside of my purview as the author.

Which is why the process with The Thirteenth Circle has been so interesting! Back in September, our editor emailed with some requests. MarcyKate and I were asked for scenes from the book that we thought might be good to feature on the cover, as well as for major symbols and elements that could be included. We were asked to describe the main characters' appearances and general styles. (This is the step that would have saved the Tally Tuttle artists from first drawing tortoises!) We were also asked to share some covers from recent books that we were drawn to, to give the design team some jumping-off points in their brainstorming discussions.

Obviously, I don't know if the finished cover will end up showing the book scene we suggested, but the characters should look the way they are described in the text. Plus, the artists that were chosen for consideration are absolutely fantastic; either one will do an amazing job. And sure, maybe those artists would have been selected even without the authors' suggestions. Maybe they were already on the designers' radars. But it felt amazing to be included in the conversation!

There is so much in this business that is outside of the author's control. Really, the only thing that is ours is the words on the page (and even then, we have an editor and a copyeditor and a proofreader making suggestions). Everyone involved in publishing books wants the best—and most marketable—finished product. There are definitely times when I, as the author, have to let go of something that isn't being done the way I would do it. I have to hope and trust that the people who made the decision did it for good reason. Cover design falls under that umbrella, because cover trends ebb and flow. My job is the words.

But wow, I can't wait to see this Thirteenth Circle cover. I am so excited by the possibilities we've discussed and by the portfolios we've been shown. And of course, I'll share it with you as soon as I'm able!

Fingers crossed we love, love, love it. :)

~Kathryn

What I'm:

Reading: I am currently reading a YA manuscript for blurb consideration! It's been a long time since I was asked to blurb—a.k.a. write up a nice promo statement for marketing and/or the book cover—but this author reached out to me after being moved by How It Feels to Fly. I'll let you know if I decide to blurb her book, so you can check it out when it releases!

Cleaning: I've been on a bit of a home improvement streak lately, working on updates to my office area and my kiddo's room. Do you go in and out of phases where you absolutely must do something to freshen up your living space?

Watching: The kiddo has been home sick for a couple days, so our TV has been set to her current faves: "Doc McStuffins," "Mickey Mouse Club House," and "How It's Made."

Loving: Luckily, she wasn't sick on Halloween! (The germs really hit her on Tuesday...) As promised, here's the two of us: a spooky princess and her skeleton sidekick.

Let's Talk About "Writing for Hire"

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on October 21st, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

This week, for the first time in a very, very long time, I started writing something completely new. I opened a blank Scrivener document. I wrote "1" at the top of the first page. And then I stared at the blank screen.

And stared. And stared.

Starting a new book from scratch is a bit daunting. It's hard to know exactly where to begin—and in many cases, writers begin at the wrong spot entirely and end up cutting the first few pages or even chapters down the line. I've heard this referred to as "clearing your throat," a.k.a. getting some stuff out of your system and out of your way before reaching the nitty-gritty of the story. Some level of throat-clearing is necessary, of course. Chances are, you aren't going to write the perfect first line on Day One, so you might as well write forward. It's better to get words on the page than to be paralyzed from the start.

If I were working on something that's entirely for me, this early-drafting phase would be like messing around. Playing in the sandbox. Seeing what feels right.

But, as it turns out, this new thing I'm starting is not entirely for me. It's an audition for a write-for-hire project, a sample chapter that will help the editor and the creator of the project decide whether I'm the right writer to make their vision a reality. So, strangely, a lot more is riding on this first chapter than if I were starting a book of my own. Even if it were to change entirely in edits, it has to be solid enough now to land me the job!

I've auditioned for a write-for-hire gig before, and I've also done some freelance ghostwriting. The previous WFH tryout was back in 2018, and it was for a chapter book series about animals that had various jobs. I wrote a sample about Chef Cheetah and his search for his missing mozzarella. (I think I can talk about this now because, as far as I know, this series never actually became a thing? At least, not in the way it was described to me at the time...) After I'd turned in my sample, I found out that at least one other children's book author in my immediate network had also auditioned for the job. Neither of us got it...and, as I said, I don't know if the series ever saw the light of day.

But! My agent loved what I'd written. She suggested I try my hand at an original chapter book idea. I was into that suggestion—and what resulted was Tally Tuttle Turns into a Turtle. So, while that particular WFH audition was a bust, it did ultimately send my career in a new direction!

On the ghostwriting front, I spent 2019-2021 working with an adult science-fiction writer who self-published a series on Amazon. Some ghostwriting jobs involve writing books from scratch, but in this case, he wrote first-drafts that I then edited and enhanced, in some instances almost doubling the word count. I worked on seven books with him, over three years, and each time he trusted me to fill in more story and characterization. (The first book was already published when I got my hands on it; it hadn't been selling well and he wanted someone to beef it up. By book seven, he was sending me slim chapters one or two at a time, as he wrote them, and I fleshed them out into a full story arc!)

With the ghostwriting gig, my name is not attached to the work. I was hired in a strictly behind-the-scenes role. And that's fine! These books are this guy's thing, and I don't need credit! I was paid for my time and effort.

With writing-for-hire, there are a number of ways in which the writer can be acknowledged and/or credited (or not). You might be working with a celebrity author, and that's whose name will be on the cover. (Yours won't.) Or you might be published under a pseudonym. Or you might be listed as a "with"—i.e. BIG NAME AUTHOR, with Kathryn Holmes. Or you might get to be the actual author, on the cover and title page! Contracts (and fees) will vary.

What matters with writing-for-hire is that the concept and outline/story are someone else's intellectual property. Someone else—a celebrity, a book packager, the publisher—has an idea that they are hiring you to execute. You might have some freedom within that template, but the book is not your baby. Someone else has the final say on what gets sent to print.

A lot of authors do write-for-hire work in addition to publishing their own books, and a lot of books are published each year that you might not know are IP projects! (IP = intellectual property, for those paying attention.) It's not just Star Wars and Marvel novelizations—some books that have original concepts fall into this category, simply because the publisher or a book packager had an idea that they hired a writer to write.

So back to my sample chapter! I can't say what it's for, other than that the client is a nonfiction writer who wants to branch into fiction. I don't know if I'll get the contract, and if I do, whether I'll be able to speak about it publicly. But I wanted to write about it here because WFH is an increasingly large part of the publishing game—and a great way for authors to earn some extra money in between solo deals.

That said, I really do want this—the subject matter and ethos of the project are a great fit for me—so please cross your fingers the client likes what I've done!

Until next week...

~Kathryn

The Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators is running its BookStop promotion until December 5th! I've got pages up for all three Class Critters books. You can check them out here:

Chances are, if you're a regular reader of this newsletter, you have already bought a book or two...but if you're so inclined, you could share these BookStop links with your friends and family! You can also leave a comment in the Guest Book on each page, to tell anyone who browses the BookStop how great the Class Critters kids are.

We're launching into holiday gift-giving season, and BOOKS are one of the best gifts any kid can receive!

What I'm:

Reading: As promised last week, I'm reading the third American Royals book, Rivals. (To be honest, I've been too busy to do a ton of reading this week, so I'm not very far into it! But that has nothing to do with the quality of the book.)

Watching: "Floor is Lava" inexplicably has a third season on Netflix. Even more inexplicably...my husband and I have already blazed through it. ;)

Dancing to: Who remembers Ray LaMontagne's peak in the 2000s? My dance teacher brought another blast from the past (i.e. my mid-20s...) into class this week by setting choreography to "Duet," sung by Rachel Yamagata and LaMontagne. I definitely felt some feelings to this song circa 2008...

Loving: It finally feels like fall!

Are You Good at Being Lazy? (I'm Not...)

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on October 14th, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Last weekend, I flew to Nashville to visit my sister, brother-in-law, and niece. Unusually for me, it was a trip without a specific purpose. What I mean by that is, it wasn't for work. It wasn't a major holiday. I wasn't going to see a show or attend an event. At most, it was a birthday present to myself: a weekend away from home, away from responsibilities. I went to spend time with family. I went to be a little lazy.

I'm not very good at letting myself be lazy.

My niece still naps for a couple hours in the middle of the day. Normally, when my daughter is having "quiet time" (in quotes because she does not nap anymore, and is generally far from quiet...), I find myself scrambling to be productive. I can do an hour of work! I can unload and reload the dishwasher! I can chop vegetables for dinner later! But this past weekend, while my niece was napping...I was lazy. My sister and I watched many, many episodes of "Nailed It: Halloween" on Netflix. We snacked. We lounged.

Not doing anything was really nice. It also made me sleepy. It also made me antsy. (I contain multitudes.)

I'm writing this because, now that I'm back in Brooklyn and back to my busy routine, I can't stop thinking about those relatively lazy days. Those days when I wasn't asking anything of myself other than to be.

I feel so much pressure to go, go, go. There is always work to be done. There are chapters to write and emails to send and appointments to schedule and chores to finish and errands to run and far too often, what I call downtime is actually the precious minutes in between the to-dos. Does the walk to school pickup actually count as a break? Is showering between big work tasks actually as much of a reboot as it sometimes feels? What would happen if I just...sat?

Not sat and folded laundry. Not sat and scrolled Instagram, thinking about book promo. Just...sat.

Could I do that more often? Should I?

Another thing that's been on my mind is that, for the past two weeks, I've kind of fallen off the Instagram wagon. For reference, since about March, I've been trying to post multiple times a week, on a schedule. I've got my book recommendations. My daughter's book recommendations. My book promo posts. Non-bookish content. Thoughtful selfies. Reels. There's a spreadsheet. When I started ramping up my social media efforts this spring, it was about further establishing my brand. (A phrase I cannot read without hearing it in the contact lens commercial guy's voice...) It was also about becoming comfortable trying new things, like sharing videos. It actually wasn't that hard to get into the rhythm of posting more, especially once I had the spreadsheet and could plan ahead. Maybe you noticed my uptick in grid posts and Stories. Or maybe you didn't, because Instagram's algorithm is increasingly hard to crack. ;)

Regardless, I was doing great! Until the past two weeks.

And I've been beating myself up a bit about not following my schedule. About letting things slip. About being...lazy.

I'm going to try to get back to regular postings next week, because I do think it's good for my author life to be relatively active online. But—and this is a big but—I also want to take the time to notice that okay, maybe I burned out a little. Maybe my sudden lack of enthusiasm or motivation meant something. Maybe, just maybe...I needed a break!

(I definitely needed a break.)

Are you good at being lazy? What are your signs that you need to take some steps back? How do you Get Stuff Done without running yourself ragged? These are some things I'm thinking about as we head deeper into fall, and as I hopefully shift from wearing my author hat more than my writer hat to the opposite. Perhaps, in the months ahead, I can find a new kind of balance—one that makes room for a bit of laziness.

~Kathryn

(Below: The "Batman Building" in Nashville.)

What I'm:

Reading: I read the next two books in the Roni Loren romance series I started last week: What If You & Me and For You & No One Else. Super fun, super romantic. My sister also gave me Rivals, the third book in the American Royals series by Katharine McGhee, so that's next in my queue!

Watching: Nothing I haven't mentioned before, but can I say that both "Rings of Power" and "House of the Dragon" are killing it right now?

Eating: I have a hankering to bake something pumpkin-spice-y... if you have a good recipe for pumpkin cake or cupcakes or something similar, please let me know! Especially if there is cream cheese frosting involved.

Loving: The skeleton onesie I bought for Halloween, to match my daughter's spooky princess costume (complete with rib-cage on the bodice). But you're going to have to wait for Halloween to see those pictures, so in the meantime, here is a picture of my daughter's stuffed pup, Pup, on the plane last weekend. She sent him with me in case I missed her and needed a snuggle. :)

Being a Writer vs. Being an Author

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on October 7th, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

One of my professors in grad school, author and editor David Levithan, used to say that being a writer and being an author were two different hats.

Back then, circa 2008-2010 and several years before I would sell my first book, I was desperate to become an author. I saw my writing life as a clear before and after, with publication as the turning point that would, since we're using this metaphor, finally give me that new hat I'd been coveting. But David's point wasn't that before publication you are a writer, whereas after, you are an author. His point was that they are actually two different jobs.

A writer's job is to write. To dream. To create.

An author's job is, well...everything else. The author shows up to book events. The author does social media. The author writes email newsletters. (Hi! *waves*) The author creates marketing graphics. The author orders swag, like bookmarks and stickers, and hands them out to anyone who seems even a tiny bit interested. The author visits bookstores and signs books. The author emails school librarians to set up school visits. Unless you're in the context of a creative writing class or workshop, it's the author who's speaking to readers.

This year, I have been wearing my author hat a whole lot more than my writer hat. That's partially been by design: I had two new books release in 2022, and I'm trying to get my series off the ground. In general, authors these days have much more marketing work on their plate than in years past. (Thanks, social media...) Publishers highlight a few titles a season—generally those by big names, with proven track records, or else books with undeniable public appeal—and the rest of the authors are given the bare minimum. It can feel like sink or swim. That author hat I longed to wear...it's heavier than I imagined.

That doesn't mean it's all bad! Connecting with readers is the absolute best. I'm loving doing school visits for Class Critters. Visiting stores and signing books and talking to booksellers—it's so rewarding. But the work of an author is work.

And it's a different kind of work than the work of a writer.

Since MarcyKate and I turned in our latest revision of The Thirteenth Circle right before Labor Day, I've done very little creative writing. I've been focused on Class Critters promotion and then an array of freelance article deadlines. In fact, other than a few picture book manuscripts, I haven't written any new fiction this entire year. And lately, I've really, really missed it.

But last week, I took a walk with my friend Lance (check out his amazing YA books!) and we chatted about one of my middle-grade manuscripts. He'd read it back in March/April, and had offered me some tricky feedback. At the time, I'd had neither the hours in the day nor the energy to devote to fixing the problems he'd pointed out. Well, after our walk last Friday, that book was back on my radar. And a few days ago, while staring out the window...I suddenly knew how to solve the issue he'd pointed out. Seriously, I just knew.

And I immediately opened that document. And I started from page one, with Lance's notes and my solution in mind. And it felt so good.

I had on my writer hat.

Since that morning, I haven't wanted to take that hat off. (I've had to, though—re: the aforementioned freelance deadlines and Critters promo.) In fact, I'm setting a goal for myself for the remainder of the year: don't let the creative work fall by the wayside. I know we've got another Thirteenth Circle revision coming, but when I'm not doing that, I want to see if I can finish revising this other middle-grade manuscript. And then maybe, just maybe, I'll try starting something entirely new.

To bring this metaphor to a close, there has to be a place for multiple hats on my hatrack. I'm a writer and an author. (And a mom, and a wife, and a freelance journalist, and a dancer, etc.)

Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to put my writer hat back on. After all, this book won't revise itself.

~Kathryn

Below: Wearing my (invisible) author hat at the Maplewood South Orange Book Festival this past Sunday! I had a wonderful time talking to young readers—and sold a lot of books!

What I'm:

Reading: Well, I officially DNFed (Did Not Finish) the book I wasn't enjoying last week. I tried for a few more days, and just couldn't keep going. (This is rare for me!) I cleansed my palate with a couple romance novels I had in my library queue. As I write this, I'm reading Yes & I Love You by Roni Loren.

Watching: "The Great British Bake-Off" is back, huzzah, but I've also been watching the junior version on Netflix. These kids are adorable and amazing! Some of them seem like genuine baking prodigies, while others might not be as polished but have a love for baking that is undeniable. Plus, the judges are so warm and kind. It's possible that I want all of the contestants to win. (Though I do have a favorite! Or, as this is British TV, a favourite??)

Loving: My street had a block party last Saturday afternoon. My daughter strolled out our front door with confidence, saying, "I'm going to get my face painted. I'm going to be a tiger." I told her I didn't know if there would be face-painting, but...sure enough, there was. She found the booth, sat down, and made her request. May all our wishes so easily come true.

Here's to Turning 40!

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on September 30, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Tomorrow is my 40th birthday.

I'm turning forty!!!

I know, I can't believe it either.

All joking aside, I've been feeling really thoughtful this week, leading up to the big day. I love birthdays. I'm not scared to turn 40. It doesn't loom over me. And yet, it does feel like a milestone. Like a time to sit back and take stock.

My thirties have honestly been pretty great. (Aside from that pesky global pandemic...) In the past decade, I became a mom. I've had the joy of watching my daughter grow into a fun, curious, silly, chatterbox of a kindergartener. Meanwhile, although I got married at 29, over the past decade, my relationship with my husband has only deepened. Professionally, in my thirties, I achieved my dream of becoming a published author; I released five books and have another on the way! And I know myself better than I did in my twenties. And I live in a neighborhood that I love, in a city that I love.

So what does it mean to turn over a new leaf? To enter a new decade? Is the goal just...more of the same?

I mentioned that I've been feeling thoughtful, in the lead-up to the big day, and that's partly because nothing about this week has felt particularly momentous. My daughter was out of school on Monday and Tuesday, for Rosh Hashanah. She's also had a cold, so no one in our house has been sleeping well. Work-wise, I've been bogged down with emails for various freelance articles I've got coming up. I've also got a few book festivals on the horizon, so I was promoting those. In a nutshell, this week included lots of administrative work, but none of the creative tasks that fuel me. And then, of course, there's been laundry to do. Dishes to wash. Meals to prep. Groceries to order. Toys to pick up. Errands to run. Standard keep-the-household-functioning stuff.

Doesn't the universe know my birthday is coming up—and that it's a big one?!

I took my usual dance class on Wednesday, and my teacher, Laurie De Vito, said something that stuck with me. She was talking about how to move through her fluid, spiraling choreography with the correct dynamic. Many students were hitting the poses, but forgetting about the transitions. "This," Laurie said, making two imaginary points in the air above her head, "isn't the dance. This"—and now she drew a big arc from Point A to Point B—"is the dance."

The dance isn't the milestones. The dance is what comes in-between.

Don't get me wrong—marking milestones is important! (Even little ones, like I talked about a few weeks ago.) But milestones aren't everything. The dance happens—life happens—in the in-between.

My husband and I are going out for a nice dinner tomorrow, to celebrate my birthday. But that's not the only thing I've got going on this weekend. I'm also supposed to stop by the Brooklyn Book Festival's Children's Day, to promote my Class Critters books at the New York Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators booth. And there's a block party on our block in the afternoon—I know my daughter will want to go to that. And on Sunday (10/2), I have another book event: the Maplewood South Orange Book Festival. And after the festival, we might get to see some friends who moved to New Jersey during the pandemic. And somewhere amongst all that busy-ness, I'll need to do a load of laundry, and pack my daughter's backpack for school on Monday, and clean the bathroom...

All of that is the dance. All of it. Every moment.

And I suppose, as I look toward the next decade, my goal is to keep dancing.

~Kathryn

What I'm:

Reading: Lest you think I love everything I read, this week I started a book that I am just not that into. But! I try not to bash books publicly, especially now that I am a part of the author community, so I am going to keep the title to myself. (If you really want to know, I'm happy to tell you privately, haha.) They can't all be winners...

Watching: "Andor," "She-Hulk," "The Rings of Power," "House of the Dragon"...it really is sci-fi and fantasy almost all the time in our house! That said, we watched the first episode of the new season of "Abbott Elementary" this week. That show is just the loveliest warm hug (and especially funny given that my husband grew up in Philly!).

Listening to: My dance teacher used an acoustic version of Damien Rice's "Cannonball” in class this week, and speaking of decades, wow did it take me right back to my twenties! There was a period of time in the mid-2000s where every contemporary dance teacher was using Damien Rice, and I was listening to his albums "O" and "9 Crimes" on repeat, and feeling all the feelings.

Loving: Raising a city kid. Here she is on the subway, the last time we went into Manhattan. The subway would have blown my mind at her age!

Behind the Scenes: Signing the Contract

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on September 23, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Remember when I promised to give you all the behind-the-scenes details about producing The Thirteenth Circle, which will be my sixth published book when it comes out in 2024?

Well, this week, I signed the contract!

Wait, you might be saying. Didn't you announce The Thirteenth Circle weeks ago? And sell it back in April? And already do a full revision with your editor?

Yes, yes, and yes.

Here is something you may not know about the publishing industry: everything moves at its own pace. (And that pace is, generally, SLOW.) It is not at all uncommon to sign a contract having already done the bulk of the work.

After the publisher makes an offer and the author accepts it, the contract has to be drafted and submitted to the author's representative for approval. The literary agent generally asks for tweaks to the language to make it more favorable for their client. Those revisions must then be approved by the publisher's legal team...and so the contract goes back and forth and back and forth until everyone is, well, if not completely happy, then at least satisfied. In the meantime, if the book is going to be published within 1.5-2 years (the average time from offer to publication), the author and the editor have to get to work doing their part!

So, if MarcyKate and I are already hard at work with our editor, why is officially signing the contract actually a big deal?

Because now we can get paid.

Hooray!!

Here's a little bit more you might not know about book contracts: one of the things they specify is when payments will be disbursed. In traditional publishing, you are generally offered what is called an "advance." This is money you are paid before the book releases, i.e. in advance of publication. The advance is divided into multiple payments. For The Thirteenth Circle, we are being paid 1/3 of the advance upon contract signing, 1/3 upon delivery and acceptance of the final manuscript (a.k.a. when our edits are done), and 1/3 on or around publication day.

For my first book, which published in 2015, the advance was split in half, with payments on signing and delivery/acceptance; a 50/50 split is now rare. Some publishers are even dividing advances into fourths, with the final payment occurring months after publication! Which makes it no longer an advance...but I digress.

Getting paid is one big, exciting reason to be happy about signing the contract.

But there's also an emotional component, at least for me. Signing the contract means this thing is officially happening. This book that I love will, barring an unforeseen disaster, hit shelves. Everyone is committed. Contract-signing is a moment that feels full of potential. Where will this book take us? How will we reach and connect with readers?

Last week, I talked about celebrating the small things. Signing a contract isn't so small—but given that we've already announced the book and begun revisions with our editor and even started talking with our team about possible cover illustrations, it can feel like just another step in the journey. So, I wanted to take a moment to commemorate the milestone! My fourth book contract; my sixth published book. What an amazing feeling.

~Kathryn

Pictured below:

Top: contracts for The Distance Between Lost and Found (left) and How It Feels to Fly (right)—back when they were mailed on paper! Bottom: Digital contract signing for Class Critters (left) and The Thirteenth Circle (right).

What I'm:

Reading: Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys. Sepetys is a YA author who primarily writes historical fiction. She often tackles historical events that are lesser-known. This book is about the evacuation of East Prussia at the tail end of World War II, and the sinking of the Wilhelm Gustloff—one of the worst naval disasters in history. Sepetys tells the story through multiple narrators, including Lithuanian, Polish, and German points of view. Her prose is beautiful and her research is impeccable. What's your favorite work of historical fiction?

Watching: "Andor," the prequel series to Rogue One featuring rebel Cassian Andor's backstory. It dropped this week on Disney+, and it surprised me: first, that it was already releasing, and second, that it was good! Episodes one and two are a slow burn, but episode three was amazing. I initially questioned whether this show was even necessary, and now I am all in.

Craving: Red velvet cake. This is a favorite of mine. It made an appearance on the newest season of "The Great British Baking Show" last week, and now I desperately want some. My birthday is coming up...

Loving: Getting as much sunshine as possible before the days get short and cold and dark. I love fall, and it's nice to be cozy indoors in winter, but oh, how I miss the sun...

On Celebrating the Little Things

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on September 16, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

I got some good news on Monday.

It wasn't good news of the life-changing variety. (At least, not yet...) I didn't land a new book deal, or a movie deal, or find out I was going on tour, or any of the other big, amazing things that happen ever-so-rarely in an author's life. This was a tiny bit of good news, and yet it brightened my entire week.

Last year, right around this time, I wrote a picture book manuscript that I absolutely loved. It poured out of me, the idea almost fully formed from the start. Once the basic premise was there, I spent hours upon hours tinkering with the language, making sure every beat and accent fell just so. It was a story inspired by my neighborhood and by my daughter. Each year, the houses in my part of Brooklyn decorate for Halloween—and in a lot of cases, the spookier (and more gruesome), the better. My kiddo, then only four years old, found these scary decorations fascinating. She had particular stoops she wanted to walk past again and again, so she could say hello to the skeletons and zombies and ghosts and spiders and bats.

And so I wrote a picture book in which a fearless child leads the reader on a tour of their neighborhood Halloween decorations. I sent the manuscript to my agent last October...and she wasn't terribly enthusiastic. It wasn't that the book wasn't good, per se, but rather that she wasn't seeing much interest in new Halloween picture books. There didn't seem to be much of a market, especially given that spooky season only lasts about a month and a half each year. And so, with sadness, I put the manuscript—which I really, really loved—away in the metaphorical drawer.

On Monday, out of the blue, my agent emailed me to say that she'd just met an editor who was very interested in acquiring a Halloween picture book. Would I be interested in sending the one I'd written last year over for consideration?

Would I?!

Yes, yes I would.

I don't know what will happen next. My manuscript may not be what this editor has in mind at all. Holiday/seasonal books still aren't the easiest sell.

What I do know is that I read over the book again before sending it to my agent, and it still made me smile. I know that my daughter loved hearing me read it aloud to her. I know that pulling a book out of the metaphorical drawer and giving it another chance feels wonderful.

I also know that in a business that is often difficult and demoralizing, it's vital to celebrate the small wins. The moments where the writing feels easy. The times when the story comes into crisp focus. The instances when a reader truly gets what you were trying to do. And yes, the out-of-the-blue emails that might not lead to anything...but oh, what if they do?

Are you celebrating any small wins this week? I hope so!

~Kathryn

Reading: I read the final book in Sonali Dev's series of adult romances based on Jane Eyre's novels. The Emma Project follows the youngest member of the Raje family, Vansh, as he tries to fix everything for everyone around him...and ends up falling in love with an unlikely partner, someone who's actually been there all along. I really loved this whole series! I think Recipe for Persuasion was my favorite, but then, Persuasion is probably my favorite Austen novel.

Watching: Do you watch "Cobra Kai" on Netflix? I was not a hard-core fan of the original "Karate Kid" movies, but this series is an utter delight. It's silly and soapy and significantly higher-stakes than you would think would be warranted for what is basically a small regional karate competition. There are five seasons of drama at this point! It's amazing.

Writing: Mostly freelance dance articles. I've been interviewing dance teachers about their philosophies and methodologies for DanceTeacher+ (the online community that used to be Dance Teacher magazine—a.k.a. my first job out of college!). I've also got a story coming up for Pointe magazine about balancing big performances like The Nutcracker with final academic exams...

Loving: My daughter starts ballet class this afternoon! As a lifelong dancer (I started at age 3), I have so many emotions! Here she is practicing her twirl:

What Happens on an Author School Visit?

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on September 9, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Also, you can read more about my author school visits HERE.

It was T-minus two minutes until students were set to arrive, and my presentation was still not showing up on the big screen. We'd tried connecting my laptop to the school's system. Their devices didn't like my Macbook, so we'd switched to a school laptop...only for me to have trouble logging into my Google drive. I changed my password, and the confirmation was sent to my husband's email. (He was at a nearby park/playground with our kiddo.) The school's technology coordinator was the picture of patience and persistence, with myriad solutions—and USB cords.

As the first eager faces appeared in the doorway to the gymnasium, my first slide finally popped up onscreen:

We were in business! 

The rest of the day went much more smoothly than that harried half-hour before the students came in. (Even with one more TV glitch that forced us to switch monitors between presentations...) Despite not having done a school visit in person since probably 2016, and never for elementary schoolers, I found my footing. I left at lunchtime so very ready to visit more schools and to talk to more kids about the process of creating stories. 

So, what actually happens during an author visit? 

The Nuts and Bolts

Sam Houston Elementary School is a K-3 school in Maryville, TN, the town where I grew up. (I didn't go to Sam Houston myself, but I know many people who did—and some of them have kids there now!) I did two separate presentations, first for the entire 3rd grade and then for the entire 2nd grade. Each period was an hour long, so I'd prepared to present for about 45 minutes, including Q&A time at the end. (More on what I prepared vs. reality in a bit...) 

My Class Critters books are aimed at kids ages 6-9, so 2nd and 3rd grades are really the sweet spots. That said, now that I've got these two presentations under my belt, I can see how I could offer a simpler version for 1st graders or even kindergarteners, as well as a more complex version for 4th graders. The basic framework I came up with—Recipe for a Story—really does work for a variety of ages. In fact, I may create a version of the same presentation for middle-schoolers in 2024, using examples from The Thirteenth Circle instead of Class Critters! 

These are the ingredients that I use to create my stories: 

  • Ideas

  • Questions

  • Research

  • Imagination

I began by talking to the students about the initial spark that led to the Class Critters series (the title of book one: Tally Tuttle Turns into a Turtle), and how I knew it was an idea worth pursuing because it made me ask questions. Some of those questions led me to do some research. Other questions required me to use my imagination to fill in the blanks. And each answer I found or came up with gave me more ideas and/or led to more questions. 

Each ingredient feeds the others, and the story begins to take shape. 

Once we'd gone over the recipe, I asked the kids to mix together some story ingredients of their own. I gave them their idea: what if you turned into an animal for a day? We dove in from there. 

The Surprises

I rehearsed this presentation over and over before the big day. Honestly, I was pretty nervous about it. Elementary schoolers can be a tough audience! All of that practice did pay off—but I still had to be flexible. A couple things surprised me and forced me to think on my feet: 

  • I'd been worried about not having enough material. About finishing too soon. About awkward silences. Instead, I found that I'd prepared a bit too much! The kids were so engaged in the writing activity that it took longer than I'd planned for—meaning that we had very little time left for Q&A at the end. I adjusted in the moment by skipping parts of my script that seemed extraneous. 

  • The difference between 2nd and 3rd graders was eye-opening! I began with the older kids, who were generally able to write with confidence in response to my prompts. They had tons of ideas and, although the teachers and I were walking around to help, they were pretty self-sufficient. Then I had the 2nd graders, a lot more of whom needed help thinking of an animal that started with the same first letter as their name, and then spelling that animal, and then thinking of things they knew about that animal...basically, they needed more guidance and hand-holding. Which is totally fine and normal! It just took more time, which again caused me to have to adjust and trim on the fly. 

So, what am I thinking in response to these two surprises? I'm going to go through my script and my slides and see if there are any places that definitely should be streamlined—anywhere where I simply gave too much information. Then, I also want to highlight tidbits that are optional—a.k.a. things that could be cut for time if necessary. I know that the more I do this, the better I'll get at responding to the specific group of kids in the room in that moment, but I also want to be prepared. 

One other thing, which wasn't so much a surprise as an unexpected perk: the school's principal told me beforehand what their "quiet signal" is: a raised hand and the words "Give me five." This was invaluable information! The writing activity encouraged collaboration. The kids really enjoyed talking to each other about their animal and their questions and ideas about their story...which meant the gym got pretty loud at times. Knowing what quiet cues the students were accustomed to following helped me keep order and bring everyone back to focusing on me so I could move forward. I am definitely going to ask about this at every school I visit from now on. 

The Highlights

Without a doubt, one of the highlights of the day was how excited and invested the kids were in doing the creative activity. Their imaginations were really working hard, and it was a joy to see! I asked their teachers to let me know if any of them actually end up writing a story about their animal day, and I really hope they do. I spoke to nearly 300 kids, so the odds are good that at least a few have the writing bug!

Another amazing thing about this particular visit was that the school purchased a paperback of either Tally Tuttle or David Dixon for every child in the 2nd and 3rd grades. The kids didn't know about this beforehand, and when their principal made the announcement at the end of my session, well...it was the closest I'll ever get to being a celebrity. The squeals of glee! The shocked faces! The happy dances! I am over the moon that the school was able to support both me and their students' love of reading in this way.

I walked out of the school building at noon absolutely exhilarated. (Also, exhausted. All that extroverting is hard work.) I couldn't wait to talk to more students. I would have gone straight to the other local elementary schools that afternoon, if it could have been arranged. Hopefully, it will be soon!

Which brings me to the part of all this where, perhaps, you come in. Do you have kids in elementary school, or connections to an elementary school? Let's chat! I would love, love, love to come talk to your students about how stories are created, and to ignite their imaginations with a fun, stress-free writing activity. I can do this presentation in person or virtually, depending on your location and needs. I can also offer free casual Zoom chats, if budget is an issue. It's not just about spreading the word about Class Critters. It's also about inspiring the next generation of readers and writers.

What I'm:

Reading: Lauren Magaziner's brand-new young middle-grade novel, The Mythics: Marina and the Kraken! This is book one in a new five-book series set in a world where every kid bonds with an animal on their 10th birthday. Marina and four other girls are the exceptions: they are destined to bond with mythical creatures, like Marina's kraken! Each book will follow one of the five girls as they find their "Mythies" and learn to work together as a team. I thought book one was full of humor and heart. If you have a 7- to 10-year-old, definitely give this series a look.

Watching: It's fascinating to have the new Game of Thrones series and the new Lord of the Rings series airing at the same time. (What a time to be a fantasy nerd!!) After two episodes of "The Rings of Power" and three of "House of the Dragon," I think I'm leaning toward middle-earth at the moment...but really it could change from week to week. Are you watching one or both series?

Loving: Look at this kindergartener! I am so very proud of her.

What's Going on Now and What's Ahead

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on September 2, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Are you someone who wakes up extra early, before the rest of your household, to get things done? I am...usually not. But I got up this morning as soon as I woke up to make sure I had time to finish this newsletter for you. (The main problem is coffee; our kitchen is next to the kiddo's room, which makes early-morning coffee prep a ninja-like endeavor, stealthy and slow and silent. Make a sudden noise, and all is lost!)

Anyway, I wanted to check in today, at the start of this long weekend, the tail end of summer, with what's going on with me and what you can expect from this newsletter in the months ahead.

What's going on with me:


As you know, Madison Morris is NOT a Mouse! is out now, and I'll be continuing to do various promotional things in the coming weeks. Two important dates/events to note:

  • I am participating in a virtual chapter book panel hosted by Books of Wonder tomorrow—Saturday, September 3rd—at 3pm! After the event, I'll be signing orders at Books of Wonder; order your signed and personalized copy of Madison Morris by clicking here.

  • You can meet me in person at the Maplewood South Orange Book Festival in Maplewood, NJ, on Sunday, October 2nd! If you're in the region, please come by and say hello—and bring your kiddos. Sunday is the festival's children's day!

As for my various writing projects, my coauthor and I are turning in our latest revision of The Thirteenth Circle (the middle-grade crop circle book) today. MarcyKate and I are so happy with how this book is shaping up! I seriously can't wait for you all to read it. We'll likely have one more round of line edits this fall before the manuscript is sent to copyedit and then to design.

Also happening in September: my first picture book manuscript is going on submission to editors! The submission phase is when a literary agent shares a manuscript with a select group of editors for consideration. Please cross your fingers for me that someone on my agent's list likes my picture book!

What's next for this newsletter:

Next week, you'll get a recap of my school visit from this past Monday. (Spoiler: it went great!) I'll fill you in on my favorite moments from the day, what surprised me, and how you can get in touch to schedule a visit at your school or your child's school!

To stick with the back-to-school vibes, I was thinking I might also try to interview a couple elementary school teachers about how they encourage a love of reading in their classrooms and what books their students can't get enough of. (Are you an elementary school teacher? Maybe I'll contact you!)

I also thought, since The Thirteenth Circle sold to Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan shortly after I launched this newsletter, it would be fun to give you the inside scoop from sale to publication. So, as each next step in the process happens (like turning in a round of revisions today...), I'll keep you in the loop!

As always, if there's something you want to hear more (or less) of, feel free to email me! If you reply to this newsletter, it will go straight to my inbox.

Have a great Labor Day weekend!
~Kathryn

What I'm:

Reading: I just finished Yolk, which I mentioned starting last week; it was a good but difficult read. For something a little different, I've picked up Just Another Love Song by Kerry Winfrey (the author of Very Sincerely Yours, which I gushed about a few weeks ago). This one is a second-chance romance about high school sweethearts (one of whom is now a country music star) reconnecting and falling back in love.

Watching: Almost done with "The Sandman"—it's so wonderful! Very, very excited to start the new Lord of the Rings series, "The Rings of Power," next.

Listening to: Well, technically not yet, but did you see that there's a new Taylor Swift album coming soon??

Loving: Being home after a long road trip. Here's the kiddo at a playground near us yesterday. She couldn't get enough of this slide!

Greetings From Vacation!

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on August 26, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

On Monday, it was supposed to rain all day long. Not just rain—thunderstorm. I was awoken at 6:00 a.m. by a clap of thunder so loud and so close, it shook our entire beach house. As the sun rose, it continued to rain so hard, we could barely see past the porch railing.

Then, mid-morning...it started to clear up.

And so, we decided to be optimistic. We got into our swimsuits, grabbed our beach bags, and headed out to see what the day would bring. When we arrived at the beach, it was still overcast. The wind was gusty. The water was cold. Not exactly the fun in the sun you hope for from a beach vacation.

But the clouds blew away. The sun came out. By the afternoon, it was HOT. I sat in a rented beach chair letting the high tide wash over my ankles (and occasionally up over my knees, into my seat) and stared at the ocean, so very glad we'd decided to show up.

I've been thinking a bit about choosing the path of optimism. I've written about this before, in a sense, when I talked about writing for publication being an act of radical hope. The thing is, the weather might not have improved on Monday. We might have gotten caught in another storm. We might have had to turn around and go home. We took a risk, and ended up having a wonderful day...but it could just as easily have turned out differently.

Last week was release week for Madison Morris is NOT a Mouse! I threw just about everything I had at that book launch. I organized giveaways. I bombarded social media. I did podcast and blog interviews. I emailed my friends and family. I visited and contacted bookstores. I shared link after link after link. Will any or all of those things move the needle? Will Madison take off and help Class Critters become the successful series I so very much want it to be?

I don't know.

I don't know, any more than I knew whether the weather would work out for us on Monday. But I choose the path of optimism. I tried my hardest and will keep trying to let as many people as possible know about this book I love and believe in. I'm hoping for fair skies ahead for my Class Critters kids.

That's all for this week. I am, after all, on vacation.

~Kathryn

What I'm:

Reading: I brought two new paperbacks to the beach: the historical romance A Lady for a Duke by Alexis Hall, and Yolk by Mary H.K. Choi. Both were recommended by the bookseller at my local indie, Terrace Books! I've finished the romance, and it was a perfect beach read. I'm about to start Yolk, which is a coming-of-age sister story set in NYC, and which Goodreads says is a tearjerker.

Watching: We started "The Sandman," and it's so good so far! We also watched the "House of the Dragon" premiere on Sunday. It was...fine? Curious to see if it comes to feel like must-see TV in the weeks ahead...

Loving: This donut. Hello, gorgeous. *heart-eyes*

Creating While Parenting: Abbi Crutchfield

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on August 19, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

Before we jump into this week's interview, a few pieces of business:  

  • This is the last Creating While Parenting interview I have scheduled! If you've enjoyed reading these, let me know. Or if there's some other demographic you'd like to hear from in future interviews, let me know that as well. 

  • The mega chapter book giveaway I organized continues through tomorrow, 8/20, with a winner being chosen on 8/21. Enter for a chance to win 10 new books for readers ages 6-9! 

  • I was so thrilled to be a guest on two podcasts this week! The conversation on Reading With Your Kids was about Madison Morris is NOT a Mouse! and how parents can help kids, particularly young girls, feel confident and empowered to make a difference in their communities. The conversation on DIYMFA Radio was more focused on the craft of writing, including how I transitioned from writing YA to chapter books and how the Class Critters series came together. I hope you'll give one or both a listen! 

  • If you've already read Madison Morris, would you consider reviewing it on Amazon and other retail sites? Reviews help a book find more readers! 

Now, without further ado...

This week's Creating While Parenting interview is with comedian and actor Abbi Crutchfield! I've been lucky to know this funny lady for over a decade, since before we both became parents. Now our daughters are friends, which is very cool!

Follow Abbi on Twitter and Instagram for jokes and updates on where you can catch her live and on your screen.

Here are her answers to my three questions!

1.     How would you describe yourself as a creator/artist/maker? 

I am a comedian, which means I write and perform comedy. The other titles I have had that fall under that header are stand-up, host, and comedy writer. As a performer, I am a stand-up comedian, a voiceover artist, a television actor, a commercial actor, a host of live events, and a host of television shows like "Up Early Tonight" on Hulu. I have also been a house sketch team member at UCB, an improviser, an actor in digital shorts with SNL cast members, and an actor on late night shows like "Full Frontal with Samantha Bee" and "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." I provided guest commentary on music video shows for MTV and VH1, I have been a guest panelist on comedy game shows, and I have even hosted a couple of game shows. With comedy writing, I have been a social media manager at College Humor, a contributor to funny websites like SomeEcards, I have been published in comedy compilation books, and I even helped create a party game in the style of Cards Against Humanity.  

Everything I do today is something I dreamed of doing as a kid, and some of the jobs I have had exceeded the hopes I had as a kid! 

2.     How does being a parent impact and interact with your creative life? 

Being a parent has brought out my creative side, but I usually channel it into entertaining my daughter and helping her learn rather than using my experiences to inform a sitcom pilot. A lot of our interactions do end up in my stand-up, so parenting is helpful for generating new material! But mostly I make all of the objects in our house talk to motivate her throughout the day or help her problem solve, I turn chores into games, and I look up new crafts to make with her. My favorite was sewing felt into play bow-tie pasta. A lot of toys she has are fun for me to secretly play with. Shhh. Don’t tell her. 

3.     What keeps you most connected to your creativity these days? 

One way I stay creative in my spare time besides jotting down ideas for jokes is by engaging with nail polish enthusiasts on my nail art Instagram. It’s a hobby that I feed every day so I can learn about new nail art techniques, try and showcase new designs, or just socialize with fellow nail polish nerds.

Back to School Already?!

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on August 12, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

It's the moment you've all been waiting for: giveaway time!!! The subscriber who will win a trio of Class Critters hardcovers, chosen by Random.org, is...

Kathy Daugherty!

Congratulations, Kathy! I will email you at the address you gave me when you subscribed—a.k.a. the account you're reading this email in now! If I haven't heard from you in a week, I'll choose another winner, so keep an eye out for a message from me. :)

If you didn't win today, stay tuned for more giveaways—including a massive group chapter book giveaway featuring ten (10!!) new titles from some big names (including me...am I a big name?). The group giveaway goes live this Sunday, August 14th, and will be open for one week. Check my social media starting on Sunday for all the details!

It may be over 90 degrees as I write this, but it's back-to-school time in many parts of the country. My own kiddo goes back after Labor Day, and her first big-kid backpack just arrived in the mail. (She chose a Frozen design, with her name monogrammed in purple.) But my daughter's impending kindergarten launch is only one reason I have back-to-school on the brain. 
 

I mentioned two weeks ago that I have a school visit on the horizon! I'm super excited, because this will be my first in-person school visit since Covid...and thus my first in-person visit about Class Critters ever! I'll be at Sam Houston Elementary School in my hometown of Maryville, TN, speaking to 2nd and 3rd graders, all of whom will receive a paperback copy of either Tally Tuttle or David Dixon. (Yay, books!!!) 

Over the past two weeks, I've been polishing my presentation, which I'm currently calling "Recipe for a Story." What are the ingredients needed to write a story? How did those ingredients come together for me as I created Class Critters? After I talk about my process, we'll do an exercise together, using a prompt: What if you turned into an animal for a day?  

After an admittedly stressful and emotional summer, it's been really nice to get back to the basics of my craft. What are the ingredients of my storytelling process? How can I clearly and engagingly convey to elementary schoolers how I build a story, giving them tools that they might be able to use to get creative on their own? 

Here's where I've landed—at least, for this particular presentation. Boiled down to bare bones, the ingredients of my creative process are: 

  • Ideas

  • Questions

  • Research

  • Imagination

The idea is the story's first spark. It's the thing I jot down in a notebook or in the Notes app on my phone while I'm doing other things. It's what grabs me. But like every writer, I have a lot of ideas. How do I know that this one is meant to become something more? 

It makes me ask questions. Who, and what, and where, and when, and how, and why? Questions make ideas bigger, and when each question I answer leads to more questions—more ideas—I know I'm onto something. 

Some questions can only be answered through my own ingenuity (or through trial and error, a.k.a. writing things wrong repeatedly until finally finding the right solution...). Other questions require research. For Class Critters, I did a ton of research. In order to help my characters move through their environment as animals in a realistic way, I needed to know a lot about how painted turtles, dachshunds, and mice behave. Research is also great for generating...you guessed it...more ideas! 

Imagination is where all the pieces come together. It's where the magic happens. (And here's where I'll talk a bit with the kids about things like plot, character, setting, and motivation.) How can I use the ideas and questions I have and the research I've done to create a compelling story with a beginning, middle, and end? 

I want to leave the kids who attend my presentation feeling ready to write a story of their very own, whether it's one about being an animal for a day or something else they come up with that sparks their creativity. 

I also want this to be the first of many school visits this year. So, if what I wrote above sounds interesting to you, and you work in a school, have school-aged kids, or simply have connections with a school that brings in authors—please reach out for more info! I want to offer in-person visits where it's feasible, such as within driving or train distance of Brooklyn, but I can also do virtual presentations. (Here's the School Visits page on my website.) 

Did you ever get to meet authors when you were young? What did you want to ask them? When did you first learn about the ingredients that make a story? 

~Kathryn 

Next week, you'll get the sixth and final (for now?) installment of Creating While Parenting, the short interview series I've been running this summer with fellow parents who work in creative fields. Did you enjoy reading these interviews? Did you want more? Or are you glad the series is over? Feel free to send me some feedback!

And don't forget, Madison Morris is NOT a Mouse! releases on 8/16/22. Have you ordered your copy yet??

What I'm:

Reading: I read two romance novels I really enjoyed over the past week: Something Wilder by Christina Lauren and Very Sincerely Yours by Kerry Winfrey. Something Wilder is a romantic adventure about two people who broke each other's hearts a decade ago and end up reconnecting on a wild west outdoor adventure–turned–treasure hunt. Meanwhile, the premise of Very Sincerely Yours is basically, "What if Mr. Rogers was hot?" It's about a woman who's feeling aimless after a breakup who falls for a children's TV show presenter who is a little too committed to his work. I think you should read both of these books!

Watching: As I write this, we've just finished "Umbrella Academy" season 3, which means we're starting either "For All Mankind" season 3 or "The Sandman" next...

Listening to: I'm in a slump. I need recommendations. Something fun and poppy, perhaps? But with clever lyrics? Or maybe a wailing indie chick? Argh, I don't know. Who are you obsessed with listening to right now?

Eating: I scored a free ice cream machine from our local Buy Nothing group a few years ago, and it ended up in the back of our hall closet. I finally dug it out and put it into action! The result was DELICIOUS. Can't wait to make more.

Loving: Soaking up the last rays of summer even as we prepare for school in the fall.

Creating While Parenting: Stephanie Kate Strohm

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on August 5, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

This week's Creating While Parenting interview is with Stephanie Kate Strohm, a YA/MG author and mom to a four-year-old son. Stephanie's next book is a YA graphic novel Shakespeare retelling—Twelfth Grade Night, the first book in the Arden High series, cowritten with Molly Horton Booth and illustrated by Jamie Green—and it looks like so much fun.

Here's Stephanie's website, and here's where you'll find her on Instagram and Twitter. Don't forget to BUY HER BOOKS!

Read on for Stephanie's answers to my three questions.

1.     How would you describe yourself as a creator/artist/maker? 

I'm a writer! These days, what kind of writer I am feels like it is ever-changing, but the one constant is always the words on the page. After a decade of writing contemporary YA romance (the kind that makes you smile, not cry), last year I released my first middle-grade book (Once Upon a Tide: A Mermaid's Tale), and this year sees the release of my first graphic novel, Twelfth Grade Night, the first book in the Arden High graphic novel series of Shakespeare retellings! When I first became an author, I never anticipated writing graphic novels, but in the past few years, between Arden High and adapting Disney's Twisted Tales series into graphic novels, I've spent the vast majority of my time working on graphic novels. 

2.     How does being a parent impact and interact with your creative life? 

Molly Horton Booth and I first started working on the pitch for the Arden High series while I was pregnant...and that baby bump will be a four year old kid when Twelfth Grade Night comes out! I was learning how to write a graphic novel at the exact same time I was learning how to be both a writer and a parent. Learning to write a graphic novel meant poring over other people's scripts to learn how to write not only the dialogue, but the panel descriptions as well, and understanding the immense freedom that comes with using images as well as words...but also the limitations of the genre, like being aware that there are only so many words you can fit in a speech bubble, and only so many panels you can fit on a page. (And so many exact page numbers to hit...who knew I would be so bad at counting...) Learning to write as a parent meant utilizing every single minute of free time I had—no more waiting for inspiration to strike. Especially after Covid hit and I no longer had any sort of childcare, inspiration had to strike at naptime, or it wasn't happening.

3.     What keeps you most connected to your creativity these days? 

As hard as it was writing only during naptime and bedtime during that first Covid year, it felt like the only thing that kept me connected to my creativity—that connected me to any sense of self or identity I had outside of "mommy"—was the time I spent at my computer. And these days, even though I have much more time to write now that my kid's in preschool, I find I connect to my creativity the exact same way: when it's just me, my laptop, and the blank page.

Class Critters Giveaway Alert! (Plus a Few More Thoughts on Disappointment...)

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on July 29, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

This week, I got finished copies of Madison Morris is NOT a Mouse!

There is something so very special about holding the physical version of a thing you created. This book existed as an idea in my head. Then it was a draft on my computer. And another draft. And another. Then it was a PDF with illustrations. And now it's a hardcover book! (And an ebook, but holding that isn't quite as exciting; I hold my phone every day.)

Madison Morris releases on August 16th. That's so soon!

To celebrate my series hitting three books, I'm going to do a giveaway just for newsletter subscribers. In two weeks, I'll randomly choose a subscriber to win the trio of hardcovers pictured above. If you're someone who already bought Tally and David and plans to buy Madison—well, first of all, THANK YOU. And secondly, I hope you'll consider gifting the three books to a teacher, librarian, or young bookworm in your life.

I won't pick a winner until just before sending my newsletter on Friday, 8/12, so if you have friends who might want a chance to win, now's the time to get them to sign up! Here's the direct link for people to subscribe:

www.KathrynHolmes.com/newsletter-signup

Hooray!

When I sat down to start drafting this week's newsletter, I'd just taken my first yoga class in almost a month. That's rare for me; I prefer to do yoga once or twice a week, in addition to my weekly dance class(es). But between our family's Covid stint and my regular yoga teacher going out of town right after my daughter was released from quarantine and then our family going to South Carolina last week, it just didn't happen. Sure, I could have done a yoga video at home by myself...but I didn't. Things got in the way. To be honest, I was tired.

On the mat the other day, everything hurt. My hamstrings were tight. My tree pose was wobbly. My plank pose was shaky. Even holding my arms in the air for an extended period of time was uncomfortable. A decade ago, I could take a break and bounce back pretty easily. Not anymore. These days, I lose flexibility and strength more quickly and have to work extra hard to get it back.

The other thing I did that same morning was start edits on the new book I told you about two weeks ago—the crop circle one, now titled The Thirteenth Circle. (The deal was just officially announced in Publishers Weekly!) Prior to the video-call MarcyKate and I had with our editor in mid-July, it had been months since I'd even opened that document. I popped in twice last week to move a few chapters around, basically the equivalent of pushing the furniture away from the wall you're about to paint. This week, I dove in.

At first, I couldn't nail down my main character's voice. I kept wanting to check social media on my phone. I paused to answer some emails. Eventually, I found the groove and did some good work...but it wasn't easy. I was out of practice.

Being a writer and a mover have always dovetailed for me. I am a more creative thinker when I take time to work my body. I can more easily focus and relax into a movement class when I've spent time using my brain in other ways. The absolute best day for me is one that includes both creative writing time and dance or yoga. So it was strange to feel rusty on both counts. Yes, I just came back from a week away, after an extremely stressful month prior, but I couldn't help feeling a little...disappointed.

How could I have let my body get so stiff? Why wasn't I able to pick up right where I left off with a writing project I absolutely adore? Never mind the extenuating circumstances, when something doesn't feel as good or as natural or as easy as I'd like it to (or even as hard, but the good kind of hard, which is totally a thing), my first instinct is to blame myself.

I should have, I could have, why didn't I, what if...?

Do you do this to yourself?

More importantly, how can you (or I) stop?

Next week is August, a.k.a. the slowest part of the summer. Or at least, it would be the slowest part of the summer, if I didn't have two book releases (David Dixon paperback and Madison Morris hardcover), followed by a week-and-a-half-long trip to pack for, concluding with my first in-person school visit of the new year (and thus a new presentation to prepare and rehearse). Plus, the new book edits are due around Labor Day, so I know MarcyKate and I will be busy with that. And I have to get my kiddo ready for kindergarten, and, and, and...

I'm going to have days where nothing feels smooth. I'm going to feel overwhelmed and disappointed in myself. But a lot of the things that are happening next month are good things! A book launch! A beach vacation! My first in-person school visit for Class Critters...ever!!! (And it's in my hometown, which makes it extra meaningful.) I want to try to stay positive. I want to think about how good and easy and natural the things I love doing can feel, rather than how tough they are sometimes.

Two days after my painful yoga class, I took a dance class. My body still felt stiff, but it wasn't quite as bad.

I've kept working on book edits, and each time I enter the document, it's easier to jump in. Every day, my brain is a little more on board.

Sometimes doing the things I love is easy. Sometimes it's hard.

Either way, I've got this.

Whatever you're working on or striving for this week, you've got this, too.

Next week, you'll get the fifth installment of Creating While Parenting, the short interview series I'm running this summer with fellow parents who work in creative fields. Stay tuned to meet another great kidlit author and mom!

What I'm:

Reading: My sister loaned me By the Book by Jasmine Guillory, the second title in the Meant to Be romance series, in which each story is based on a classic Disney animated film. By the Book is a retelling of Beauty and the Beast, featuring Isabelle, a book editor and aspiring author, and Beau, a reclusive celebrity who's been commissioned to write his memoir. When Izzy ends up moving into Beau's house to help him finish (or rather, start...) his book, sparks fly. I will admit, I didn't like this one quite as much as the first in the series, If the Shoe Fits (a Cinderella retelling by Julie Murphy), but if you're looking for a few pleasant reading hours, check it out.

Watching: Lots of things. "Westworld," "Only Murders in the Building," "What We Do in the Shadows," rewatching "The Umbrella Academy"... Oh, and I can't wait to jump into season 3 of "For All Mankind" soon!

Listening to: My daughter loves dance parties, and her musical tastes tend toward the pop songs that run over the credits of animated films. We even had some car dance parties on our road trip. I still have "When Can I See You Again?" by Owl City, from the end of Wreck-It Ralph, stuck in my head...

Loving: It was a delight to see my kiddo interacting with her cousins last week. Playing, hugging, tickling, just chatting about things... Here she is with my brother's six-year-old son, doing sparklers. (This family trip was supposed to happen over 4th of July. Instead, we set off fireworks on July 21st...)

Creating While Parenting: Corey Ann Haydu

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on July 22, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

This week's Creating While Parenting interview is with Corey Ann Haydu, who is the author of an assortment of wonderful books for kids and teens. I first met Corey through the New School's MFA in Creative Writing program. We weren't in the same cohort, so we met as alums...and then she moved into my neighborhood! These days, I'm always happy to see her smiling face when we cross paths.

Corey is the author of the Hand-Me-Down Magic series. Her most recent middle-grade is One Jar of Magic, which comes out in paperback on August 23rd. Her newest YA is Lawless Spaces. She also has a picture book on the way.

Corey has two daughters: Fia, age 4, and Thisbe, who was born in July! (Corey sent me her answers three days before giving birth, so you'll see a reference to being pregnant below...) Congratulations!!

Here's Corey's website and her Instagram and Twitter. Don't forget to BUY HER BOOKS.

I'm thrilled to have Corey participating in this series, because she writes so eloquently about being a writer and being a parent on her own social media and newsletter! Read on for her answers to my three questions.

1.     How would you describe yourself as a creator/artist/maker? 

I am an author of children's books for all ages, picture book through YA. I've been working in children's publishing for almost 15 years, publishing for almost ten years now, and I have both evolved and stayed on theme I think! I've sort of slowly made my way into different age categories and different genres, but thematically I tend towards battling the idea of perfection as something to strive for, and finding hope and joy in challenging circumstances. I think those are sort of my areas of interest as a writer, and I seem to be able to return to both of them again and again. A few books in, I started playing with magic as a way to get at these themes more precisely, and that's become a really central part of my work—using magic as a way to unveil what is real and tangible and important and meaningful in our ordinary lives. 

I'd like to think I write for the readers, and I do on some level, but I also really, really write for me. I myself am in a constant search for hope and joy in the midst of challenges—not by pretending the challenges away but by seeing both the difficulty and the light clearly. I like honesty—not everything's fine! but instead everything's not fine, but here are some anchors of beauty to hold on to in the midst of all this not-okay-ness. And I'm also in a constant battle to stop holding myself to impossible standards, trying to resist the allure and the lie of perfection that I grew up with. So I think I write for me most of all, to keep trying to center myself on these ideas, to keep trying to relearn how to be in the world, to keep trying to understand these big ideas and how to survive what is hard both out in the world and inside myself. 

2.     How does being a parent impact and interact with your creative life? 

More and more every day, I find that the intersection of parenting and creativity is HUGE. Just in a really literal way, I have been exposed to different age ranges of children's literature through my own child, and because of that I've pushed myself into new spaces. The child experience is so front and center in my world at all times. My daughter, Fia's concerns and struggles interest and engulf me not only as a parent, but also as a writer. In the same way as I write to try to figure out my own relationship with hope or perfection, I'm also writing to try to figure it all out on her level. I have a picture book coming out in 2024 that is really directly related to parenting challenges I faced in her toddlerhood. It was written as a way for me to sort out my own complicated relationship with being a big personality, a person with big feelings, and how to find that self-compassion and acceptance so that I could ultimately give her bigness and emotional landscape compassion and acceptance too. I mean, it's honestly a really beautiful thing for me, to have this new place to draw inspiration from, and I feel really lucky that my work lets me sort of unwind what is hard for me to understand in the world. 

Logistically, of course, it can be tough, but for me, writing is generally a refuge—a place I get to go and not a place I have to go, if that makes sense? So there can be stress, especially in Covid times of balancing parenting and writing, but usually writing is like my little gift to myself when real life and parenting life feel messy and hard and exhausting. I know that's not the case for everyone, but that's my relationship with my work, and it's stayed pretty consistent even in parenthood.

3.     What keeps you most connected to your creativity these days? 

What a tough question! You know, I think right now, friendships are what keep me connected to creativity. I've discovered over the last few years what a legit extrovert I am, something I don't think I knew about myself at all for many, many years. I really need to be connected to people in order to connect to creativity. I'm super curious about people and their lives and their feelings and choices and relationships with one another, so being around that energy and in the world in that way helps me come up with new ideas and new ways of seeing the world. I have a group of friends who are also moms who I see every week, and honestly that weekly 2-hour meet-up is something that both grounds me and lets my brain move more easily, more airily. 

I've found walking is also something that helps my creativity. I'm very pregnant, so that's gotten trickier these last few months, but long walks either with others or alone really help my brain loosen up, and I often find myself getting new ideas and jotting down little bits and pieces of thoughts on those walks. 

The Books That Didn't Sell (And One That Did!)

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on July 15, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

You may or may not have noticed (especially if you're a newer subscriber here), but I've been following monthly themes with this newsletter. In May, I wrote about ideas. In June, it was routine. And in July...well, I'd had other plans, but my newsletter two weeks ago ended up being about disappointment. I think it's healthy and important to talk about disappointment! So, I'm going to meditate on that a bit more today.

But never fear! This missive won't be all doom and gloom.

To kick things off, I have some Very Exciting News to share with you!

I've sold another book!

It hasn't been formally announced yet, but I expect the announcement to go out soon—and I did promise that my newsletter subscribers would be among the first to find out when I had good news.

This new book will be my middle-grade (ages 8-12) debut! It's a riff on "The X-Files," about two 7th-grade girls, one a true believer in the paranormal and the other a science-minded skeptic, who team up to investigate a crop circle phenomenon in their hometown for a regional science fair. I co-wrote this book with MarcyKate Connolly, an amazing MG fantasy author. She wrote the chapters from the point of view of Cat, the true believer, while I wrote from the point of view of Dani, the wannabe scientist. The book was acquired by Feiwel & Friends, an imprint of Macmillan, and is scheduled to hit shelves in early 2024. (We're about to start our first official round of edits with our new editor.)

If you've known me for any length of time in real life, you probably know that I was an "X-Files" fanatic as a teenager. I came up with the idea for this book while rewatching the entire series in anticipation of the new seasons being released a few years ago. I reached out to MarcyKate, who I knew from being in a debut group together in 2015, and she agreed to give co-writing a shot. Turns out, much like our two protagonists, we make a great team!

I believed in this idea from the very start. But, as I shared two weeks ago, believing in something doesn't guarantee that it will happen. I've been thinking recently about the two books I tried to sell in between How It Feels to Fly and Tally Tuttle Turns into a Turtle. Books I believed in. Books I loved writing and was sure people would love reading.

Like my grad school thesis—the YA-turned-MG about living subway trains (and, in later versions, a host of other magical creatures as well). My husband and I have recently been taking the kiddo on the subway a bit more often, and she finds the whole experience so exciting! Last weekend, I watched the headlights of an approaching train brighten the dark tunnel, and I remembered writing those headlights as glowing eyes. I remembered my main character's astonishment at learning that the train's resting rumble was actually a living creature's contented purr. I remembered her feeling the pulse of its blood pumping beneath her feet and how, when she touched its shiny silver side, its skin would twitch beneath her fingertips.

I miss that book.

I've also been thinking about the book I hoped would be my third YA novel, a ghost story set in Venice, Italy, about two sisters—one living, one dead—finding their way in a new city and a new, unhappy reality. It was the darkest thing I'd written, and still is. I also think it's probably the most beautiful. There are passages of prose in that story that I am so very proud to have written. There are pages that made me cry.

In retrospect, I can see reasons both books didn't sell. The subway book—especially the rewritten-from-scratch version I tried to sell circa 2018—has some world-building issues. Meanwhile, the ghost story wasn't intended to be scary, but still had a tinge of horror; I'm not sure I ever got the balance quite right. The market certainly played a role in those projects not getting acquired, but I don't think the rejections were solely market-based.

When the magical subway book and the Venice book didn't sell, I was horribly disappointed. Living subway trains were such a fun idea! My ghost story was so well-written! Why weren't editors lining up to make me an offer?! Years later, I can see the cracks in both projects—flaws an editor may or may not have been able to help me fix. Hindsight is 20-20.

There are a lot of shades of disappointment when a project doesn't work out. Of course, there's the disappointment of spending years on something that will never reach bookshelves (or, frankly, garner a paycheck). But there's also the disappointment of knowing an idea didn't fully reach its potential. Of wanting, desperately, to see it through. There's disappointment in letting go.

I don't know if I'll ever return to the ghost story. I look at it now and see something that is flawed, but at the same time, complete. It is what it needed to be—even if what it needed to be isn't something that's ever going to be published. I told the tale I set out to tell. I became a better writer in the process. I dug deeper.

But the subway book...looking at my daughter's lit-up face as the R train pulled into the station last Sunday made me think maybe that idea still has life in it. Maybe it won't look at all like what came before. Maybe I scrap 70,000 words and go back to the blank page and the idea and see what new magic I can make.

One book feels done. At rest. The other still beckons to me. Maybe one day, I'll find a way to listen to its call.

Next week, you'll get the fourth installment of Creating While Parenting, the short interview series I'm running this summer with fellow parents who work in creative fields! I've got another amazing author on deck...

What I'm:

Reading: I just finished Katie Cotugno’s adult debut, Birds of California, about a former child actress who left Hollywood behind...only to find out her show is being rebooted. A visit from her former costar—and crush—brings her back into the spotlight, whether she likes it or not. This is a wonderfully told story of trauma and recovery, on top of being a great romance. Two thumbs up.

Watching: Okay, who's started the new season of "Westworld"? Unlike season 3, so far season 4 is both consistently compelling and actually makes sense. Imagine that! I'm really curious to see where it goes in the next few weeks... (Also, "Ms. Marvel" stuck the landing! Huzzah!)

Eating: So many cupcakes. When we had to postpone my daughter's birthday party due to Covid, we lost a bunch of guests, but the supplies had already been ordered! Not that I'm complaining too much about having a lot of leftover cupcakes in the fridge...

Loving: Exploring the city I love! Here's my daughter at the Irish Hunger Memorial in Lower Manhattan last weekend. (Also, is it just me, or does she practically look like a teenager here?!)

Creating While Parenting: Rachel Feinerman

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on July 8, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

This week's Creating While Parenting interview is with Rachel Feinerman, an amazing dancer, choreographer, and dance/Pilates instructor. I'm lucky to have taken class both beside her and from her many times over the past decade.

Rachel has been teaching dance in NYC for more than 20 years. She has performed for Laurie De Vito & Dancers since 1999, and also for Daria Fain, Ricardo Gomez Dance Theatre, Aynsley Vandenbroucke, Wilson Mendieta, Sita Mani and many others.

She has done a variety of film, photo, and art projects including Julie Taymor’s Across the Universe, and co-founded a performance workshop company for adult dance students. Certified in teaching the Simonson technique, an injury-preventative and scaffolded dance teaching methodology, Rachel also studied qi-gong and Pilates for many years before her love for anatomy and creative somatic work finally drew her to the Kane School in 2021, where she is honored to be part of the Kinected residency program.

Rachel has two sons, ages 13 and 10.

Here's Rachel's website. Here's her Instagram; you can also get a glimpse of her in action on Vimeo. (And, if you're in or near NYC, you can book a Pilates session with her HERE.)

Read on for Rachel's answers to my three questions!

1.     How would you describe yourself as a creator/artist/maker? 

I describe myself, first and foremost, as a dancer. That title includes a lot of different types of work and exploration within it–teaching dance classes, performing with Laurie De Vito & Dancers for 20+ years and other choreographers throughout that time, choreographing pieces for individual productions, co-creating a performance workshop company for adult dancers, collaborating with visual artists, Pilates teaching, anatomy lectures… But it all comes back to my engaging with the world and making sense of the world through the lens of the body and movement as a language. 

I feel that our bodies innately hold and transmit information about the world and ourselves, from the emotional to the mathematical to the environmental. Dance is the exploration of those concepts and the practice of a dancer is to refine our ability to express those ideas where, perhaps, words may not be sufficient. I continue to do what I do not just because of the love for movement and teaching, but also for the satisfaction and high I get when my brain kicks into this “next gear” engagement and thinking. It makes me feel alive and centered.

2.     How does being a parent impact and interact with your creative life? 

Being a parent was a whole new world of emotions and actions and ideas! So, of course, I wanted to and had to explore that through dance. I have been lucky enough to teach pretty consistently throughout my pregnancies and throughout my kids’ lives. The benefits were both physical and creative. 

Physically, my changing body provided plenty of insight into my teaching and understanding of everyone’s bodies. I gained greater awareness and capability in teaching different bodies at different stages of life. Continuing to teach and perform also kept me connected to my identity as an artist and dancer. I know many new parents can often experience a loss of identity, so I was very lucky to have been able to continue to work and even perform 9 months after having my first child. At the same time, it was also a struggle as I had to adapt my thinking about my strong and capable physical abilities to a new reality. That can be pretty emotionally-charged for dancers.

Creatively, I have benefited from having consistent weekly classes to teach because I got to, rather, I had to find the time to choreograph combinations for my classes. This allowed me to explore everything choreographically, and I have to say my students are awesome because they really came along on all the emotional and physical journeys that I was exploring. But that really is the point of dance–while the initial creative spark may come from something specific to my interest, as soon as it is part of the body, I feel it becomes universal. 

3.     What keeps you most connected to your creativity these days? 

These days, I continue to connect to my creativity by taking weekly classes with my longtime teacher, mentor, and friend, Laurie De Vito. Every time I start her warm-up, I feel like I am returning to home base. I still teach and choreograph, but I recently decided to challenge myself and become certified to teach Pilates through the Kane School at Kinected. It is a wonderful Pilates studio with deep connections to the medical community, has an incredible staff, and a curriculum that is equally rigorous in its anatomy training and its somatic problem-solving creativity. I feel lucky to have been hired there. This summer I will also begin to give anatomy lectures to dancers, which is honestly a dream come true for me. While not easy to go back to school at my age, it was a challenge I really needed.

Some Thoughts on Disappointment

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on July 1, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, click HERE.

At some point last week (who knows exactly when; the week was a blur...), I was sitting alone on my building's front stoop. I had an N95 mask around my neck, ready to be pulled up over my face the moment I stepped back into my apartment. I could hear the happy shrieks of kids at the playground across the street. My own kiddo was stuck indoors. So was my husband. I was sure I was soon to follow in their footsteps, but for now, I was able to be outside, breathing in the fresh air.

Sitting there, I had a Very Dramatic Thought:

Nothing the publishing industry can do to me will ever be as painful as the gut-punch of my daughter finally testing positive for Covid.

Yeah, it was Very Dramatic. I spent most of last week feeling Very Dramatic.

I knew Covid would land in our household eventually. I also knew that at this point in the pandemic, the odds were good that our cases would be mild. But last week was supposed to be full of the joyous moments that the pandemic had robbed from us for years. My daughter managed to get sick just in time to be in isolation on her 5th birthday. Her birthday party had to be postponed. (So did her first Covid shot appointment.) She missed her PreK graduation celebration, as well as the entire last week of school—her last days with her amazing teachers and several friends who were moving out of the city. She missed her first dance recital. We also had to postpone tickets to her first Broadway show. I'd bought them, optimistically, in February. If she'd tested positive literally any other week of the year, it would have been stressful and inconvenient; having it happen precisely when it did was epically disappointing.

But there's another piece of the puzzle that accounts for my Very Dramatic Mood: I'd been dreading this exact scenario for weeks. I'd had bad dreams about it. I'd felt intense anxiety. I told myself I was overreacting. Catastrophizing, even. There was no way that after we'd dodged the virus for 27 months, it would hit our household on this particular packed, exciting week.

When my nightmare played out just as I'd imagined it would, it messed with my head...a lot. I hadn't been overreacting. I'd been right to be anxious. And if my anxiety about this situation turned out to be correct...what else was my anxiety right about??

Phew. Let's pause. This is supposed to be an author newsletter. What does any of this have to do with writing and publishing books?

Writing for publication is an act of radical hope.

A lot of folks write. They fill notebooks with snippets of poetry and journals with musings and memories. They tell stories because they enjoy it, and they're satisfied with sharing them with the people in their lives.

Writing with the goal of being published—of seeing your books on bookstore shelves, of being widely read—isn't always so rosy. Very few people are able to traditionally publish one book. Even fewer publish two, or three, or more. There's rejection and disappointment at every turn, both pre- and post-publication. Being optimistic is hard, especially once you know all of the ways you could be let down. And even when you think you're prepared for everything, publishing can let you down in a new and entirely unexpected way!

One example: I love visiting my books at bookstores. The day Tally Tuttle Turns into a Turtle released, I was so excited to walk to our local Barnes & Noble and take a picture with Tally Tuttle on the shelf. But something told me to call the store first, just in case they hadn't unboxed their copies yet. When I called, they told me they weren't going to carry the hardcover in stores. They wouldn't have it on shelves until the paperback release, six months later. This was news to me! I was disappointed...but at least they were going to carry the paperback, right?

Six months later, I was once again excited to walk to Barnes & Noble to visit my book. Just to be safe, I called the store first. Surprise! They weren't going to have Tally Tuttle in stores after all. It would be online-only. When I wrote to my publisher to ask what was going on, I learned that between the hardcover and paperback release, Barnes & Noble had changed its policies on chapter books: they would now only have series in stores that had three or more titles.

For me, that added up to no Tally Tuttle and no David Dixon at Barnes & Noble—at least, not until Madison Morris is NOT a Mouse! released. (Will it happen this summer? Who knows...) Not having my books in B&N, where kids and their parents/grandparents/other grownups could browse and discover my series, felt like a huge blow. I'd taken for granted that my books, published by a well-known traditional publisher, would be there.

At this point in my career, I know there are disappointments on the horizon, because I've had so many along the way. I've had manuscripts not sell. I've had my agent not like ideas I felt incredibly confident about. I've done book signings for two or three readers next to authors with hour-long signing lines. I've been on panels where the audience consisted only of the panelists' significant others. I've wanted to attend book festivals and not been invited. I've waited for trade reviews that didn't come.

If I'm going to keep moving forward, I can't let all of that disappointment win.

Writing for publication requires radical hope.

Hope that you've made the story the best it can be. Hope that an editor falls in love with it, and is able to convince the rest of the team that it's worth taking a chance on. Hope that the book finds the right reader at the right time, that it makes a difference in someone's life. And yes, hope that this book will be the one that breaks out...but that's not the be-all-end-all. It can't be.

I can't sit down to write expecting the worst—even when I know what some of those future "worsts" might look like. That's not a creative place. It's not a healthy place. I can't write out of desperation, either. I have to write with hope.

So back to my stoop. Back to how having my daughter finally catch Covid three days before her 5th birthday felt like face-planting three steps from the finish line of a marathon I'd started running in March 2020. Back to the disappointment—the sharp ache of it beneath my sternum.

I'd spent a month focusing on the worst that could happen, dreading it, and I got exactly what I'd feared. That could make me a more anxious and fearful person. I could move immediately on to the next worst-case scenario, the next anticipated disappointment...and the next...and the next.

But I'm trying not to. Just like I write from a place of hope, I need hope to get through this oh-so-challenging time in all of our lives. Things are bad out there. We need to have radical hope, and then we need to act on it.

My daughter is fine now. So is my husband. I managed to not get sick. Our summer is moving forward, and I'm trying not to look back.

Want an image that encapsulates the last two weeks of my life? This is it... (Love that single line for me!)

Next week, you'll get the third installment of Creating While Parenting, the short interview series I'm running this summer with fellow parents who work in creative fields! The next interview isn't with an author. I can't wait to introduce you to an amazing dancer and choreographer/teacher, instead.

What I'm:

Reading: In the depths of my Very Dramatic Mood, I wasn't reading. To break out of the slump, I asked Twitter for recommendations of books they would describe as "delightful." My crew came through! (Well, except for one friend who suggested I read the IKEA catalog...) First, I read Linda Holmes's second book, Flying Solo. It's about a woman on the verge of turning 40 who, in cleaning out her great-aunt's house after her death, discovers a hidden object that sets her off on a path of self-discovery...and rekindled romance. Currently, I am reading another suggestion from Twitter, Kate Milford's Greenglass House. This one's a magical middle-grade with a modern folklore feel, about the power of storytelling. I'm really enjoying it so far!

Watching: "Ms. Marvel" continues to impress. We also started season two of "Only Murders in the Building," and it is just so charming. Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez together are magic.

Writing: I think my alphabet picture book may go out on submission to editors soon...cross your fingers for me! Aside from that, I've had a sudden burst of freelance dance articles, so I've been busy interviewing dance teachers about their work. Oh, and I'm expecting editorial notes on the exciting not-yet-announced project I teased a few weeks ago (crop circles) any day now...

Loving: Being outside! The kiddo and I have gone to the playground at least once a day every day this week. After being cooped up indoors, she can't get enough of that summer sunshine—and neither can I!

Creating While Parenting: Janae Marks

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on June 24, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, use the form on my homepage: KathrynHolmes.com.

This week's Creating While Parenting interview is with my amazing friend Janae Marks!

Janae lives in Connecticut with her husband and 7-year-old daughter (as well as an adorable dog). We've known each other since graduate school; we both started the New School's MFA in Creative Writing (with a concentration in Writing for Children) in 2008 and graduated in 2010. Janae has always been a talented writer, and it has been such a joy to cheer her on as her career takes off!

Janae currently has two middle-grade books out in the world: From the Desk of Zoe Washington and A Soft Place to Land. Next up is On Air With Zoe Washington (the sequel to From the Desk...), releasing February 14, 2023.

Janae's website is JanaeMarks.com. Connect with her on Twitter and Instagram. Buy her BOOKS!

Now, here are Janae's answers to my three questions:

1.     How would you describe yourself as a creator/artist/maker? 

I'm an author! I currently write books for middle-grade readers. I've been published since early 2020, but worked toward becoming a published author for more than a decade before that. 

Up until recently, I juggled my author work and parenting with another part-time job. I had that job for seven years, but finally got to the point in my author career where I could leave that other job behind. So now I'm juggling writing and parenting, which is still a lot but feels much more manageable. I love what I do!

2.     How does being a parent impact and interact with your creative life? 

When my daughter was born almost seven years ago, I had to reconfigure my creative life. I couldn't write whenever I wanted to anymore. Instead I could only write during certain pockets of time, which in the beginning was whenever my daughter was asleep. When she was a few months old, I started writing the manuscript that eventually turned into my debut novel. I wrote when she slept, either in the early mornings or during her naps. Since my time was more limited, I learned not to waste a single second, so I was still pretty productive. 

Now that she's in school, I have more time during the day to write, but there are still other author, parenting, and household responsibilities that I need to fit in. But it feels much more manageable. So if anyone reading this has young children: it gets better!

The hardest part has been when I've had to write or attend author events when my daughter is not at school on the weekends. Fortunately, I have a very supportive husband who takes care of everything when I can't, but I've had to learn not to feel so guilty about taking that time! This has also gotten easier as my daughter has grown, because now she's used to it, and also has her own life and friends to spend time with when I'm away.

3.     What keeps you most connected to your creativity these days? 

First and foremost, reading books. I don't only read middle-grade novels, but also books different from mine, and I'm always inspired after reading a good story. I also try to stay connected to other writers, through coffee shop writing dates, writing retreats, conferences, and group chats. Writing can be such a solitary activity, so I love any opportunity to chat with other authors. Being part of this community, cheering other writers on, makes me want to keep creating myself. 

Making Creating a Priority

This post was originally sent through my author newsletter on June 17, 2022. To subscribe to my newsletter and receive up-to-date news, musings, and more, use the form on my homepage: KathrynHolmes.com.

When it comes to productivity, are you an early bird or a night owl?

I've never been someone who gets my best work done at the end of the day or in the middle of the night. I prefer to start strong so that I can relax (or collapse...) later. That said, I wouldn't necessarily call myself an early bird. I admire writers who get up at 4:30 in the morning to work while everyone else in their household is still sleeping, but that's not me. My sweet spot is from about 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. That's my daughter's school day—hooray!—but I've actually preferred that work schedule since before I became a parent. Mid-morning to early afternoon is simply when my brain is at its best.

Now, before I go any further, I have to state that I am lucky. As a full-time freelancer, I have more flexibility than someone who is fitting in creative pursuits around a 9-5 job. I have the luxury of being able to build a schedule that works for me.

(Barring surprises, of course, like I talked about in my last newsletter. For example, my daughter woke up on Tuesday with a puffy eye. Luckily, after an 8am trip to urgent care to get it checked out, she was on her way to school with a doctor's note and some prescription ointment...)

So, in many ways, my lifestyle is a gift. It still took some finagling to figure out.

I left my last full-time office job, managing editor of Dance Spirit magazine, in the summer of 2008, just before I started graduate school. I knew I would freelance during school. The question was, would I return to a more structured job after graduation, or would I stick with the freelance hustle?

I stuck with the hustle. In the past fourteen years, I've been a dance journalist, a marketing copywriter, a copyeditor and proofreader for fiction, nonfiction, and academic manuscripts, a ghostwriter, and of course, a novelist. I've done work I loved. I've also done work that bored me to tears (but paid either too well or too steadily to give up).

When I first committed to freelancing, I hadn't yet sold a novel. I was confident a book deal would happen eventually, but I was also very aware that until it did, I was getting paid zero dollars for every hour I spent on my manuscript. Thus, I told myself I had to complete my paid work first each day; fiction would be my reward for finishing everything else.

Creative writing as dessert. Seems reasonable, right?

What ended up happening was, many days, by the time I got around to opening up my novel manuscript, I was already burnt out. I'd given my prime brain hours to writing SEO-optimized press releases and website copy about appliance repair and HVAC installation (yes, this was a job I did for several years). My creative work got the dregs of my focus and care.

One day, I realized I'd gotten things backwards. Creative writing didn't have to be merely dessert; it could be the appetizer, the main course...maybe the entire meal! (Did this metaphor get away from me?) Basically, if I cared about my creative writing, I had to put it in a place of importance in my routine. It had to come first.

And so, I switched things around. I started each day with an hour or two (or three) of fiction-writing before I jumped into the day's paid writing or editing gig. To fit everything in, I learned to budget my time more effectively. I had to really think about how long each activity might take. If I had a lot of freelance deadlines coming up, maybe my manuscript would only get 20 minutes in the morning—but it would still come first.

Sometimes, I'd have to switch gears before I felt ready, which was inevitably disappointing, but often ended up being a blessing in disguise. I'd find myself thinking about my plot and characters all day, and I'd be raring to go the next morning. (Author and editor David Levithan, who was one of my professors at The New School, actually gives this piece of advice: stop each day's writing or revising in the middle of a scene or sentence, so the next time you sit down to work, you can pick up right where you left off.)

Putting my creative writing first has become one of my guiding philosophies. When I jot down to-dos for the day or week, my creative work sits at the top of the list. Then—unless I'm so busy that it's absolutely not possible—I work on my writing before tackling anyone else's. And yes, some of my fiction writing is now under contract, meaning I have been or will get paid for it—but those projects that haven't (yet) sold don't get short shrift. Giving my best, most productive hours to my creativity pays dividends in every part of my life. I feel happier and more whole when I make time for the work that matters most to me. When I put it first.

This is something you can think about no matter what shape your life takes. When are your most productive times of day? (If you have a full-time job, are you at your most creative in the early morning, on your lunch break, or before bedtime?) And then, what matters most to you? How can you create a routine that allows you to come as your best self to those things that matter most?

Photo from a recent trip to Riis Beach, which is our go-to summer spot these days. Can you believe that is still technically New York City?

I wanted to remind you that next week, you'll get the second installment of Creating While Parenting, the short interview series I'm running this summer with fellow parents who work in creative fields. I hope you enjoyed hearing from Lauren Gibaldi last week. I've got another amazing author lined up to answer my three questions next Friday!

What I'm:

Reading: Rainbow Rowell's Attachments, which is a reread for me. Attachments was Rowell's adult debut, before she became a YA sensation with books like Eleanor & Park and Fangirl. It's about Lincoln, who works in IT at a newspaper in 1999; his job is to monitor his colleagues' emails and to prepare for Y2K. While scanning messages, he encounters multiple conversations between friends Beth and Jennifer. Not only do those candid conversations shake him out of his rut, but he also finds himself developing feelings for Beth. The problem is, she doesn't know he exists. (Never mind the rather blatant invasion-of-privacy issue...) This book is quieter than Rowell's more recent work, but I like it quite a lot.

Watching: "Ms. Marvel" on Disney+ is amazing so far. We finally started the newest season of "Stranger Things," and whoa...it's dark. To bounce back from the darkness, we're also watching the new episodes of Netflix's "Floor is Lava," which is a game show where teams have to cross a room along a series of slippery, wobbly obstacles without falling into...well, you can probably guess. It's mindless, silly fun.

Listening to: I can't seem to get Harry Styles's "As It Was" out of my head.

Dwelling on: My daughter turns five next week. She has one more week of PreK. I almost have a kindergartener! My mind is blown.

Loving: This drawing the kiddo made. It's a cat named Sadie. I am completely obsessed with it.