It’s not the first time my words have been repeated back to me, but it may have been the most pleasant. About fifteen years of life had happened since I first said them to my friend, Karen Konnerth. At the time, she was an experienced puppeteer but a beginning children’s writer. I had a few published magazine stories and had a contract for writing church curriculum for children. As roommates at a writer’s conference, our conversation naturally turned to the joys and difficulties of our chosen passion. We rehashed what we had heard at the conference, and she asked some questions since I was slightly more experienced.
The first “hint” I gave her for starting a writing journey was the importance of loving the act of writing. With the chances of being published about equal to winning the lottery, even for really good writers, I sought an analogy to make my point. I told her that writing, if you loved doing it, was like having cake. Getting published was like icing for that cake – desirable, but not necessary.
My friend Karen is no longer a beginner. With two picture books that have come out in 2022, she now has icing. She used one of her puppets to star in Pelican Kate and the Voice of the River with Pelican Publishing as Kate, in a tall tale, defeats the oncoming hurricane. In The Snowman Waltz with Sleeping Bear Press, waltzing snowmen collide with marching penguins and cheerful chaos ensues.
When she learned that my first book was scheduled for April 2023, she reminded me of what I had forgotten about telling her long ago. I still hold that my advice is true. There were no guarantees as I began and stayed on task that any publication would come from my work. I loved the research and the writing (even especially the rewriting) so the “cake” was tasty and satisfying. Now I’m in countdown for three months to the time when I hold a copy of Becoming Ezra Jack Keats by Virginia McGee Butler in my hands. That icing will surely be sweet!
