e: What inspired you to start writing?
Beryl: Remembering when I was young and how my grandfather told me stories in an old, rocking chair by the fireplace, I began writing stories for my own grandchildren. My granddaughter, Zoe, was afraid of a dinosaur in her closet and I decided to write her a story about a friendly dinosaur, entitled The Blue Dinosaur. This was to be a once-in-a- lifetime adventure. I soon found I enjoyed writing this kind of story and had many more story ideas. Soon I began to write for the general market. Me: Tell me a little bit about yourself, in brief. Beryl: I have been an artist for many years. In the past six years, I also have been writing and illustrating children's books. My stories are picture books for young children, ages two through eight. I have produced over 35 titles, illustrated with my drawings and photographs. A traditional publisher, Oak Tree Press, has published five of my books and the rest are published by Blurb.com and CreateSpace.com. I hold a Master's Degree from UCLA and taught high school English and Social Studies in the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles. I have lived most of my life in California. I am a member of the SLO County NightWriters, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators and the National Storytelling Network. I am on Facebook, Wordpress.com, Google Plus, Amazon Central Author's page and Linkedin. All of my books are listed on Amazon.com or Blurb.com. My Oak Tree Press books are also listed on www.oaktreebooks.com and Ingram. Me: Tell me about your latest book. Beryl: "When Caterpillars Dream" is a book that introduces children to the life cycle and migration patterns of Monarch butterflies in a fantasy format. It follows a Monarch caterpillar in her chrysalis as she dreams of the incredible journey she will take, flying south for the winter once she emerges as a butterfly. As she emerges, she meets other Monarch butterflies and takes that journey. Me: Tell me more about the hand made baskets and books that are found on your website. Beryl: I started my art career in ceramics but found that not satisfactory because of difficulties with glazing and finding a kiln. I turned to paper as a medium but still continued my interest in three-dimensional shapes, in the form of paper baskets and Book Arts. Now, I am producing silk baskets as well. Me: Is there a particular book that you enjoyed writing the most and if so, what is that book about? Beryl: I think I enjoyed writing the first book for my granddaughter. It was exciting to be learning something new, and there was a definite learning curve. Most of all, it brought me closer to my grandchildren and to my memories of my grandfather. Me: Is there anything else you would like me to mention? Beryl: I am an avid reader both of children's book and adult books. One of my first books as a child was Now we are Six, a poetry book with Christopher Robin. I still have my copy. Now I have a collection of children’s books from the U.S. and other countries. I try to buy books whenever I travel, both picture books and folk tales. My adult reading covers a range of fiction and non-fiction, depending on my mood: sometimes mysteries, spy or historical novels; histories or novels about China, Japan or places I’ve visited; or biographies about famous historical characters. There is always a book on my bedside table. Thank you Beryl for speaking with me! I wish you the best of luck with your books. Make sure to look for Beryl's books to see those awesome pictures! I know I will!
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Me: What inspired you to start writing?
Ray: Well, I really loved Dr Seuss when I was growing up. I had no idea that his books were educational. At the time I just liked the stories. Then, when I was in college at Southeastern Oklahoma State University, back in the 80’s, I had an English Professor who complemented my writing style after he read one of my essays. I was all ready to be cut to ribbons as English had never been kind to me--In fact I was only in his class because I had to take the class. He shocked me by telling me that he liked the way I wrote. Of course he noted that my spelling & punctuation could be improved, which had plagued me since third grade, but he also pointed out that I didn’t write short choppy sentences like most others did. That complement felt very good and I decided then that I would one day write a book about nothing in particular. I guess I am sort of fulfilling that decision now. Me: Tell me a little bit about yourself, in brief. Ray: I grew up in Southeast Texas having the forest and fields as my playground. Though I really did not excel in school, I knew a couple of years after High School that I wanted to do something more with my life. (I was an auto mechanic at that point.) So I went off to Oklahoma to become an Aircraft Mechanic, and earn a degree in Aviation Management at Southeastern Oklahoma State. After graduating I worked as an aircraft mechanic for about 4 years and though that was enjoyable I still felt my life was lacking. Well, long story short I got involved in education and have stayed in that field for many years. I have mainly worked with professional adults but have been working with elementary kids the last couple of months; which is way different than adults. I have been pursuing my writing off and on for about 10 or so years with stories going back earlier than that. Me: Tell me a bit about your latest book. Ray: “In the Land of Rhyme” was a story I would tell my young daughter to entertain her in the car as I drove her to school. It kind of grew and grew with each telling till I finally wrote it down. It is the tale of what good can come of being different. This book started a chain of stories to come that are just as fun and entertaining each having a good basic message. Me: Where do your ideas for these stories come from? Ray: That’s a good question, they just sort of come. Often I will have an idea pop up and I sit down and start writing but it starts as the first couple of lines of something that develops as I write. Other times I will set out to write a story on a specific subject like Halloween or Christmas or something but I never start with a predetermined plot. I just sort of go wherever the writing takes me. This I believe keeps it fun, a story can take several turns as it comes out. I just go wherever it takes me, if I don’t like where it is going I just change its direction. Me: Tell me a little bit about the poems on your website. Ray: One day I was sitting at my computer writing what would become “Tommy McCoy And The Christmas Toy”. I was having a bit of a rough go that day and spouted off something, one of those “open mouth and insert foot moments”. Amanda, who was about 6 at the time, came into the room, put her hand on my heart and sweetly said, “It’s alright Dad. Family lives here in your heart.” That cured me on the spot and became “Eyes of A Child.” “When Children Grow Up” was a result of two things: 1) Watching my kids grow up and experiencing that moment when you realize they aren’t kids anymore and 2) Some study I had been doing on children & parents. As it turns out there is a natural line of affinity, love, liking etc. that exist between parent and child that remains intact regardless of any other factor. In this poem I am telling the story of the above two things--Yes it can be difficult raising kids, yes there can/will be upset between parent and child, yes when you hear they grow so fast it’s true. But at the end of that phase of your life you can be sure that the line of affinity between parent and child will be unbroken and you will have moments you cherish forever. Me: On your site, you mentioned that you made up crazy stories for your daughters. Do you still do this? Ray: Not so much these days. I have three daughters. One is 20 living in NY, one is 21 and soon to be married and Amanda will be 12 in a matter of days. She still sometimes ask me to tell her a story and always likes whatever I make up--a forgiving audience to be sure. Me: Is there anything else you would like me to mention? Ray: I would like to give a plug here to my Illustrator, Sue Donze. I think I mentioned already she has a way of just taking my story and bringing it to life with her art. She is a true professional and I am lucky to have her illustrate my books. Other than that, read books to your kids and encourage them to read. Have them read lots and lots and lots of books at their reading level. Be sure that they understand the words in the books they are reading and let them know that it is perfectly OK for them to ask you what a word means. This is probably the best educational boost you can give a child-- If they don’t like what they are reading they either are trying to read at too advanced a level or have gone past too many words they did not know the meaning of. Just handle those two factors and watch them win with reading! Thank you Ray for talking with me! It seems your family runs the same as mine when it comes to the book business. I wish you the best of luck and I look forward to seeing what you write next! Please keep me up to date. For those interested in Ray's story, be sure to check out my review as well as Smashwords where his e-book can be found for a very good price and in a variety of formats.
Me: What inspired you to start writing?
Ashley: I have always loved telling stories, so writing was just something I enjoyed. It took me a while to let other people read my work. Now I love hearing what people (especially kids) think of my books. Writing is my release, it’s my passion outside of my family and work. Although my kids love my stories and they certainly inspire a lot of them. They even help! Of course their idea of help can be to fill me with more ideas than I have time for. Still I will never run out of material with them around! Me: Tell me a little bit about yourself, in brief. Ashley: I am a mum, who works as the Curriculum Manager for Labs ‘n Life. We work with at risk youth to train Labrador Retrievers as companion dogs for children on the Autism spectrum So basically I work with kids and dogs. Yes, I am crazy. It’s a fun job and certainly helps with my writing. My two dogs, Obi and Stitch work with me and they have given these young people such a sense of self worth. It is amazing. Me: Tell me a bit about your latest book: Ashley: My latest book is The Homework Goblin. It’s a short chapter book for young readers. Before I worked for Labs ‘n Life I was a primary school teacher. I used to love hearing the excuses for not doing homework. Sometimes I would even help my students make up a few. So I wrote The Homework Goblin! Me: What inspired you to name a book about your one dog and a blog after another? Ashley: I guess I had to share it around. Obi was my first Lab and the book (Obi the Super Puppy and the Mystery of the Red Mist) came from all the crazy things he did as a pup. This was written before I had Stitch (published after, which is why Stitch is in my author photo). When I decided to start a blog for interviews and reviews Stitch Says just came to mind. Both dogs will appear in other stories. It might sound funny, but I love sharing them with other people and now they can live on in my books and on my blogs! Me: Tell me more about Labs and Life. Ashley: Labs ‘n Life is a not for profit organization. We basically want to give young people a chance to do something for someone else. So they train our dogs (Labradors) as companion dogs for children on the autism spectrum. The young people learn a lot about dogs, dog training and of course themselves during the course. Its lots of fun and every day we see young people and their dogs do amazing things. Me: How did you get involved with them? Ashley: Funnily enough I got involved by playing volleyball. My senior manager was a coach and I used to play and referee. She also bred Labradors. So we started talking. Sue organized me getting Obi (I can never thank her enough for that one!), later she bred Stitch! We were both teaching and really wanted to do something for the young people that really don’t engage in schools. Sue came up with the concept and it has grown from there. I have been lucky enough to be a part of Labs ‘n Life since the start! Me: What is your favorite animal? Ashley: Well the Labrador of course. Still there are others I like. My girls always take me to see the otters at the zoo, they are lots of fun. We also enjoy watching the giraffes, monkeys and big cats. Actually we just love going to the zoo! I love animals, they are always fun to watch and interact with! Me: Is there anything else that you would like me to mention: Ashley: Thank you for this opportunity. As I have become more involved with social media to promote my writing and books I have found some fantastic authors. It’s great to be able to help each other out and it’s also a lot of fun! Thank you Ashley for talking with me! I wish you the best of success with your new book! For those of you reading this, be sure to check out her other books on Amazon as well as her website. Ashley's site has links to her review blog, "Stitch Says," her books and other social media. Be sure to check out my review of Ashley's new book, on my other page! |
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Author Vickianne Caswell interviews other children's authors. Archives
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