Interviewing Children's Author Aileen Stewart 2017
Q 1. When did you decide you were going to write a Children's book?
A. I’ve enjoyed writing since I was nine years old, but I didn’t really think about writing actual children’s books until I had my daughter. When she was about three, we were watching our favorite cartoons, and I realized they were based on books. I mentioned to my husband that I thought I could write a cartoon worthy children’s book, and he said to me, “Well, why don’t you.” After I thought about that for a bit I decided it was worth a try and that is how the first book in my Fern Valley Series was born.
Q 2. How did you come up with the name of your children's books?
A. I’m not really sure how I came up with the name for my first book. The name, Fern Valley, just popped into my head, and I thought it would be a perfect name for a small farming town. When I started to write the next book I decided to choose, Return to Fern Valley, because the readers would be revisiting the Fern Valley Kids and seeing what new adventures they were up to. When I added recipes in the third book, it just seemed natural to call it Cooking in Fern Valley. When I started my picture book series, I called the first book, Quack, and Daisy, after the two main characters. Quack seemed an obvious name for a duckling and Daisy is the name of one of our family’s three cats.
Q.3 How long have you been writing?
A. Like I mentioned before, I have been writing since I was nine years old. My fourth-grade teacher entered everyone in the class in a poetry contest and I won an honorable mention. That, along with the fact that my dad was a freelance author for hunting and fishing magazines, led me to realize I had a love of words. Before my first book published went into publication in January of 2011, I wrote my own poetry for family Christmas cards.
Q. 4 What are you currently working on?
A. I just finished a Middle-Grade manuscript called Anchovia’s Quest. Anchovia’s Quest is the story of thirteen-year-old Anchovia Melekhov, in the foster system since she was three, who only wants two things in life, to find her true identity and to find unconditional love. As she sets out on a journey to locate her unknown parents, with the help of her foster parents and her new friend Josh, she eventually discovers both. And in the process, she learns that she is stronger than she ever imagined
Q. 5 Do you plan on writing any more children's books?
A. Yes. I am constantly writing picture books, I have just revised two manuscripts in a chapter book series called The Fanny Rothbottom Mysteries, and of course, I am working on the sequel of Anchovia’s Quest. Hopefully, I will be able to secure an agent soon, and one or more of these manuscripts will become published books.
Q. 6 What advice would you give other authors?
The publishing industry often seems to move at a snail’s pace, so if you don’t have patience you will go mad. It takes time for agents, editors, or publishers to go through the mountains of slush they receive on a daily basis. Because of this, an author needs to learn to play the waiting game without becoming discouraged.
Establishing yourself takes time as mentioned in point one, but it also takes persistence. You have to stick with your writing, your marketing, your social networking, your pursuit of an agent or publisher, your pursuit of excellence, or any other numerous tasks related to being an author. You cannot give up just because the journey is long and difficult.
Q. 7 Where can people find you online?
A. I have a website called Fun With Aileen where people can learn about me, can purchase copies of my books, and can contact me. I also have a Facebook Page under the name Author Aileen Stewart, and you can find me on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/AileenWStewart.
I enjoyed interviewing Aileen she surprised me with the last question and I liked it it's a good Question.
Enjoy reading Angelika
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