Inklings

Here’s an interview with my dear friend and author Christy Monson, whose new book Love, Hugs and Hope is just released. Lori Nawyn is the illustrator.

How did you meet Lori? How did your collaboration work?

Lori Nawyn did the art and I wrote the script for this picture book, Love Hugs and Hope, and we are both very happy about it. However, we didn’t start out to work together. Lori and I knew each other from a couple of SCBWI Conferences. We had formed a picture book critique group that met each month so we were friends. But it was the publisher that teamed us up. Lori is a darling, and I love her art. We never collaborated on the book at all. I turned in the manuscript and Lori and the publishers did the rest.

How long have you been writing?

I have been writing about 7 years and loving every minute of it.

Did you draw on your own experience as a mother in writing this book?

My experience as a mom has really helped me in writing this book. Children just need to talk things out a lot of times. They want love and reassurance.

You’re a retired family counselor. How did your training and/or years of practice help you with this book?

I kind of had a sense about how to process with kids from being a mom, but my training as a therapist really gave me the knowledge I needed to help children heal. In my practice I saw a lot of kids that were dealing with tragedy of some kind or another. Talk therapy is good for kids, but art is a wonderful way for them to release feelings.

How long did this book take to create?
It took me about a week to write the first draft of this manuscript. I felt so sad for those who had experienced loss in the school shooting at Sandy Hook. Shortly after that a gunman shot up the Clackamas Towne Center in Oregon. Our daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters live about three miles from the center. The parents monitored the events carefully, but turned off all media to protect the kids from knowing about it. However, the next day at school the children were all talking about it, so you can’t protect children from knowing about tragedies like this.
As I thought about these two catastrophes, I felt something needed to be written to help parents and children look at disasters like these, be able to share their feelings, and find hope in the world around them.

Do you have other book ideas along the lines of children’s self-help/picture books?

I love writing picture books. I have many other book ideas I’m thinking about, but right now I’m focused on  a series about children’s feelings.

How did you find a publisher for the book?

I am so fortunate to have found my publisher, Christopher Robbins, and Familius. At LDS Storymakers Boot Camp, Rick Walton was conducting  out picture book section. He began talking about Familius and what a great new company it was. When he found out I was a retired therapist, he suggested I contact Familius, and I’m so happy I did.

Buy Love, Hugs, and Hope on Amazon

Becoming Free

I see you have another book coming out for electronic book format. How is writing for ebook different from a regular “paper” book?

Writing an ebook is the same as writing a paper book. In fact, I didn’t know that Becoming Free would be an ebook at first. But I’m excited for the new experience. I’m looking forward to promoting it.

What gave you the idea for this women’s self-help book?

My clients were the ones who inspired me to write Becoming Free. I learned so much from them and was so impressed by their hard work in therapy, I wanted to share their stories and their healing process with everyone.

How do you envision women use this book?

Understanding the concepts in this book can benefit all of us. The discussion on motivation and work ethic (First Section) is something I think we all need to review often. The chapters on understanding of self and communication (Second and Third Sections) are skills everyone uses daily. I love the last part (Fourth Section) on healing techniques. It a compilation of the most effective concepts and procedures I have gathered together over the years–methods that will lead us all to live a life full of peace and positive energy.
You can read the book straight through, but it’s really designed to create change by being used slowly over time to alter your habits and establish positive thinking skills. Enjoy! Happy Reading!.
Here are the links to buy the book on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.
Becoming Free on Amazon
Becoming Free on Barnes and Noble

There is a giveaway for each book below…enter both!

Enter for a free $25 Amazon gift card: Love, Hugs, and Hope
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Enter for a free $25 Amazon gift card: Becoming Free

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Today on Inklings, I’m excited to interview author pal Jenny Proctor. We met a few years ago when we were both writing for Mormon Mommy Blogs, and I’m super happy to have her as a sister author at Covenant.

Here’s Jenny. Isn’t she pretty?

Here’s her book:

How did you come up with the idea for your book? The House at Rose Creek is about a woman named Kate who reconnects with her family history. I actually wrote a short story about Kate’s ancestors first, and then her story evolved from there. The short story, in many ways was based on my own family history and has a few parallels to things that actually happened to my ancestors. For example, I have a great, great, great grandfather that sailed to America from Scotland, where he lived for six years before he could afford to bring his wife and children across. Nine months after his wive arrived in America, another son, my great, great grandfather was born. He was named after George Washington, in honor, I expect of him having been the first born in the United States. The idea of families separating for long periods of time all to try and make a better life for themselves is what originally inspired my writing.

How long did it take to write? The first draft took three months. After that, I edited and tweaked for six more before I was ready to look for a publisher.

How do you find time to write with little ones? Many days, I don’t! I have to be forgiving. I read a lot about authors who commit to write a certain number of words everyday. I’ve tried it, but I generally end up feeling very frustrated with myself when it doesn’t happen. I have six kids… from age 1 all the way up to age 12. I write when I can, but I try really hard not to stress when it doesn’t happen. For the most part, if writing does happen, it’s either really late night, or super early in the morning.

Did you pitch your book in person at a conference or did you cold-query? I knew so little about the LDS Publishing world when I first started writing. I’d never been to a writing conference and had no idea what querying even involved. I did a little bit of research, then sent the book to Covenant through their online submission process, and they said yes. Not a very dramatic story, huh?

How did you feel when you saw your book cover? Okay, so a little bit of back story . . . the novel is about a house. A BIG old, white farmhouse. Because the title of the book is The House at Rose Creek, I just assumed that the cover would include a picture of a house! When I saw the cover, I loved it right away, but I was totally surprised because it wasn’t at all what I expected. In retrospect, I’m glad it doesn’t include the house. Because I know in my mind what Kate’s farmhouse looks like, and had the lovely graphics team at Covenant gotten it wrong, I would have been disappointed.

Are you working on a follow up book? Is it a sequel? The second book is written and submitted to Covenant. I’m just waiting to hear back on whether or not they want to publish it. It’s not a sequel, but it is set in the same small town and has a few characters in common. If you didn’t read the first one, you could still read the second book and not miss anything, but if you DID read the first one, you’ll recognize a few things, and (I hope) will be pleased to get a little update on what Kate is up to.

Here are some purchase links:

Amazon

Seagull Book

Deseret Book