Happy Thursday Critters! I hope you are all staying healthy and keeping yourselves busy. I’m so excited to feature a DOUBLE interview today with Kelly Carey and Qing Zhuang, whose debut picture book, HOW LONG IS FOREVER, came out with Charlesbridge this week. Please give Kelly and Qing a warm welcome!
Where do you live?
Kelly: I live in Massachusetts in a rural town with one stoplight.
Qing: I live in Manhattan but might move soon to some place not too far away.
Kelly: I’m the country mouse and Qing is the city mouse!
When did you know you wanted to write/illustrate picture books?
Kelly: When I was in grade school I used to make up bios and backstories for the teddy bears on my bed. Yes, while my friends were learning the dance moves on the latest MTV videos, I was deciding that one of my stuffed bears was a fifty-one year old retired physicist who enjoys salmon fishing and coin collecting. I even typed that up on a typewriter! It’s still embarrassing now and I told no one about it then! But looking back, I think that was me wanting to make up stories and be a storyteller. I got serious about writing picture books about 15 years ago. I took a correspondence class through the Institute of Children’s Literature and I’ve been writing ever since. (Oh my gosh, I just realized that I am now the same age as that retired physicist bear who liked salmon fishing!)
Qing: As a lonely kid with busy parents, I found a lot of comfort and entertainment in drawing, writing and reading. When I was in 6th grade, I won a book writing and illustration contest and got $250 for it. I so enjoyed making the book and the prize made me feel excited and seen. Foolishly or fatefully I started pursuing this career.
Tell us about your road to publication, what did that involve for you?
Kelly: I took my first real step on this journey when I took the correspondence class through the Institute of Children’s Literature in 2007. That class made me ravenous for more workshops and classes that could help me improve my craft and understand the industry. I was very lucky to have a magazine fiction story published that same year and I’ve had a magazine story published every year since. I funneled the payments for those stories into more conferences and workshops.
I joined The Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators (SCBWI), participated in Julie Hedlund’s 12x12, Tara Lazar’s Storystorm, and ReFoReMo. All offered a wonderful way for me to get feedback on my work and to improve my craft. It was through SCBWI that I met my first critique partners and we started a blog for writers, 24 Carrot Writing, that has been offering help and advice to fellow writers for almost 6 years. I think pushing back from the desire to write, alone, and in isolation, and really getting out into the community of fellow writers made a big difference in my success. Going to all those conferences and workshops allowed me to find writing buddies, critique partners and this whole amazing KidLit community. I thought I was going to learn about craft and become a better writer, who knew I was also going to find colleagues and friends! That has been a wonderful bonus.
I joined The Writers’ Loft in Sherborn, MA and took classes offered by Karen Boss, Editor at Charlesbridge Publishing. Karen is now the editor for How Long Is Forever?. I could argue that How Long is Forever? would have found its path to publication on its own merits, but I think connecting with Karen and forming a professional relationship through that class, and applying her excellent teaching to my manuscript, certainly helped speed up the process.
I wrote the first draft of How Long Is Forever? in 2013. It went through major revisions over the course of two years with the help of my critique group. I took two classes at The Writers’ Loft taught by my future editor Karen Boss at Charlesbridge. The MS went through more revisions and was under contract in 2017. This book was four years from first draft to contract and seven years from first draft to published book. But my journey to publication was fourteen years. Persistence is key.
My advice to other writers, based on my journey, would be to get out into the writing community. Meet fellow writers, take classes and workshops, offer your own help and advice, listen to editors and agents, and become a part of the community. I think the community will reward you for your efforts – it did for me.
Qing: For many years, I had to grow as a person in more ways than I can list here before I could even build some level of confidence. I worked many odd jobs and saved up to pay for SCBWI conferences. Every year I would hear a little more feedback but no more than that. It was always so mysterious to me how people find their agents and editors, but I did know that I needed to keep getting better and continue to get my work out there so I kept showing up.
I love working as a teacher and it was essential in my understanding of children and their world. I think many of us who make children’s books are very in tune with our own childhoods, but it is so important to observe all kinds of children today. One year, I decided to venture out of NYC over to the great state of NJ for their summer SCBWI conference for the first time. That turned out to be an excellent decision since the NJ conference was where I got to display my work more intimately and even won a juried show for a piece I had submitted. I also got to meet many editors, including the one I have the fortune of working with at Charlesbridge for my debut book. Kelly saw more of my work online and referred it to the editor.
What do you do to shake the rust off or get new ideas?
Kelly: I find that one of the best ways to shake the rust off is to move on to a new project. Usually, if I can’t find the right way to revise a problematic manuscript or tease the story out of a kernel of inspiration, it’s best to put that manuscript aside for a week or two and pick up a different one.
Of course this only works if you have some ideas and manuscripts on standby that can jump in during an emergency. That’s why I jot down ideas all the time. I’m always grateful to have those backup stories to work on. I pop ideas into a note on my phone the minute they come to me and then I transfer them over to a computer file titled “story ideas”. I love being able to lean into those files when I feel stuck.
Another great resource to fight through writer’s block is a critique group. If you really want to bust through a blocked moment with a manuscript and the thought of putting it aside for a few days seems tragic, I reach out to my critique partners for help. Often they offer up just the right piece of advice or ask the perfect question to reset a blocked moment.
And if none of this works – I call it a day and go grab a good book to read or go do laundry. There is always an abundance of both in my house!
Qing: A lot of it is to just get started. Get it all out on paper or on the computer and deal with the mess later. Listening to music and doodling until a sketch excites me. It’s always a surprise when you hit your groove or when a creative solution comes, I think the key is to calm down and not be afraid of this messy process.
Tell us about your debut book.
Kelly: In How Long Is Forever? Mason is waiting for the first blueberry pie of the season and it’s taking forever. At least that’s what Mason thinks, until Grandpa asks him to prove it and sends Mason searching the family farm to find the meaning of forever.
Every child and adult has been in a situation where something feels like it is taking forever. This story is an invitation to really think about how we throw around that word and what things really deserve to be labeled forever.
I hope Mason’s search encourages kids to go on their own hunt for their forevers. It’s a wonderful gift when you notice and call out those people, places and things that will forever hold a special place in your heart. It might be a flavor of ice cream, a grandparent, or a favorite slide on a playground. Whatever it may be, I hope kids take a moment to pause and feel good about the forevers in their lives.
Interior Spread from HOW LONG IS FOREVER, Written by Kelly Carey, Illustrated by Qing Zhuang
Qing: For me, How Long Is Forever? is really about how not forever everything is. The closest thing to forever is the memories and love that gets passed down, in the case of this book, through a scrumptious homemade blueberry pie. When my editor first sent me the manuscript, I read it with my now husband, who was very moved because the relationship between little Mason and Grandpa reminded him of his own grandfather who had passed when he was a teenager. For my husband, his “blueberry pie” is the humble Chinese scallion pancake his grandfather used to make for him whenever the fridge was empty. The memory of his grandfather cooking this treat is simple and mundane, but it held something special just like our sweet story.
Interior Spread from HOW LONG IS FOREVER, Written by Kelly Carey, Illustrated by Qing Zhuang
And last, but not least, favorite 80s movie?
Kelly: Star Wars and Princess Bride. I don’t care if the love story takes place in space or in the days of castles and knights, if the princess is strong and independent and the prince is brave and hunky – I’m happy.
Qing: The Goonies! Or Beetlejuice!
Huge thank you to both Kelly and Qing for stopping by Critter Lit today! We are so excited for you and your debut book HOW LONG IS FOREVER! Congrats!
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Visit Kelly Carey at www.kcareywrites.com
Visit Qing Zhuang at www.qingthings.com.
To order an author signed copy, click here.