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July 13, 2023Jean Rae Baxter on Bringing Canadian History to Life in a Captivating Coming of Age Tale
It's hard to imagine anyone asking a 14 year old to strike out on their own now, but in 1837, when Dory Dickson leaves his Niagara home, he's asked to shoulder all of his family's most desperate hopes. ...
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July 12, 2016Service Industry Hell (Part 2): Sinatra's Wake and a Cup of Vomit
A lot of the inspiration for my new book, Congratulations On Everything, came from the things I saw while working in bars, restaurants, and hotels, and from the experiences of friends who did the same. ...
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November 22, 2018Calling All Aspiring Authors: Never Ask an Illustrator to Illustrate Your Picture Book for Free
A few weeks ago, I was in a local tavern with some friends—a few of them are professional illustrators. They were drinking overpriced mocktails and commiserating about the emails they get from aspiring ...
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February 05, 2019Who I Think About When I Write … It’s Probably You: A List of Questions to Ask Yourself About Audience as You Write
I find it really challenging to write a picture book without imagining its audience. In whose hands will the finished book end up? What will make them pick it up? Will they find my story satisfying? To ...
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February 18, 2020What Do You Wish You Had Known Before Becoming a Children's Book Creator?
I’ve worked in children’s publishing for nearly fifteen years and I’ve been writing children’s books for about five years. All this to say, I learned a lot about the realities of publishing children’s ...
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October 26, 2020You, Too, Can Be a Mediocre YouTube Star
A few fun facts about me: When I was about five-years-old, I starred as Dopey in a production of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs at camp and killed it. Everyone was laughing. I also studied improv for ...
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August 31, 2020How to Be Exceptionally Editable
When I first started writing children’s books, I possessed the strength and virility of a thousand strong and virile men. I believed in my ideas and held fast to them. While I was open to the editorial ...
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November 26, 2020Children’s Book Gift Guide for Little (and Big) Bookworms
I love buying children’s books for my niece and nephew. They all have such different personalities and interests and it’s so fun for me to find books I think they’ll enjoy. And I also love buying ...
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April 03, 2019Small Victories: How to Keep Writing When the Odds Seem Stacked Against You
Everyone thinks that once you get a book deal it’s all sunshine and rainbows: a beautiful book, great reviews, book launches! … But it’s not. Getting published often introduces you to a host of ...
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May 06, 2019Moving On and Holding On: Writing Picture Books as Therapy
Is it just me or is closure overrated and nearly impossible to achieve? It sometimes feels like the more you try to shut out painful experiences, the more they wave their hands around and yell, “Look ...
