Happy Thursday Critters! Today we have an interview with an author whose debut board book, EVERYONE’S SLEEPY BUT THE BABY, illustrated by Adele Dafflon, will be released on April 13th with Familius. I love original board books and this one is very funny— especially for all you fellow parents out there who know the struggles of getting a baby to sleep. I’m thrilled to have her with us today, so without further ado, please welcome Tracy C. Gold!
Where do you live?
I live in Baltimore City, Maryland, in a tree-lined neighborhood full of houses from 1900.
When did you know you wanted to write picture books?
I actually never even considered it until I had a kid of my own! After she was born, I started reading tons of picture books and getting ideas for my own. I jot down ideas on my phone whenever they come to me and one of those became Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby!
Tell us about your road to publication, what did that involve for you?
Oh goodness, it has been a long and winding road indeed. I’ve been writing novels for ten years and haven’t had one published yet. Despite getting into big contests like Pitch Wars and getting lots of interest from agents, ultimately, I faced down hundreds of rejections from agents across four different novels. At an SCBWI MD/DE/WV conference, my friend Kathy MacMillan raved about her picture book publisher, Familius. So when I had a draft of a picture book I thought was special, I just sent it straight to them as a cold query, without mentioning Kathy. I was utterly shocked when they wrote to me only ONE WEEK later saying they wanted to publish it as part of their board book line. That book is Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby. For my second book, Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat, the path was a bit more “traditional,” though still twisty. Somewhere in my novel writing education, I interned for literary agent Carrie Pestritto for a year or so. I wrote to her to tell her about my deal for SLEEPY, and that I was looking for an agent for other picture books. She said she’d represent me herself! It wasn’t until many months later, after we’d submitted 3-4 other picture books, that Sourcebooks said they wanted to publish my Halloween book about bats, Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat.
Can you share a bit about your process?
All of my books, novels and picture books alike, are inspired by real life. That could be looking around my house and noticing that my dog and my husband were snoring, and I was exhausted, while my child was wide awake, for Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby, or seeing a million bats fly out from under Congress Bridge while traveling in Austin, TX, and turning it into a picture book years later. I’m also working on a historical novel about a ship of Jewish refugees turned away from the US, Cuba, and Canada in 1939 that was inspired by a friend posting about her relatives who were on the ship amidst revelations of poor treatment of refugees in the US during the Trump administration. So, I never know whether I’ll get an idea right away or if something needs to marinate for a while, but the whole world is full of amazing stories.
What do you do to shake the rust off or get new ideas?
I try not to stress too much about it, really! I like to take breaks between heavy writing periods to refill my well. So if I’m not writing, or if I don’t have good ideas, I consume lots of media—reading books in many genres, watching great tv shows, and especially paying attention to interesting stories in the news. I play close attention to media coming from The Maryland Zoo and the National Aquarium, near me, as I love writing about animals. When I’m in the middle of an intense writing project, I close myself off to a lot of outside media, because if I’m reading a really good novel, I won’t put it down to work on my own writing. So I’m very aware that my creativity goes in cycles. Natalie Goldberg, who has a great craft book called Writing Down the Bones, compares this process to composting. Sometimes you’re loading the compost heap with all the raw material, and sometimes you’re taking out that rich soil to plant your garden.
Anything you can’t live without while you write?
I am actually quite flexible especially now that I am a parent—sometimes the only time I have to work all day is when my daughter is in the bath. I pull up a chair and open my laptop and hope I don’t get splashed! But if I had my way I would have my ergonomic keyboard and chair, huge monitor, black coffee in the morning, and peppermint tea at night. Plus lots of dark chocolate!
Any authors and/or illustrators who inspire you?
Well, Kathy MacMillan who I mentioned earlier is such an inspiration because in addition to being a wonderful writer of picture books and YA, she gives back to her community so much as the Co-RA of our region of SCBWI. I also admire Linda Sue Park, who also writes stories based in non-fiction, from the sparse yet stunning A Single Shard set in ancient Korea, to the hard-hitting A Long Walk to Water about the Lost Boys of Sudan, to Gondra’s Treasure, a sweet picture book about a dragon who’s a mix of different mythologies.
Dream project to work on?
Hello, Universe, hire me to do a Star Wars picture book? I would also completely flip out if the WWII refugee novel I am working on was published and *gasp* turned into a movie. I love working on picture books because of the collaboration with artists and think film would take that to a whole new level. I also think the message of this refugee story, and any refugee story, really, is so important. The United States needs to do a better job of living up to that Emma Lazarus poem in the Statue of Liberty: "Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free." Any US Citizen could have been a refugee if we had been born into different circumstances.
Tell us about your debut book.
Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby, illustrated by Adele Dafflon, is a short, sweet and slightly sassy book about a baby who will just not sleep! It is directly inspired by my exhaustion as a new mother and I’d like to think it’s a version of Adam Mansbach’s “Go the F**k to Sleep” that you could actually read to your child. It will bring laughs as a baby shower gift book, but also actually help soothe fussy babies and toddlers to sleep.
Interior Art from EVERYONE’S SLEEPY BUT THE BABY written by Tracy C. Gold, illustrated by Adele Dafflon
What’s up next for you?
After Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby is well out in the world, I will be focusing on launching my second picture book—technically my debut hardcover picture book, as SLEEPY is a board book. I have an additional book contracted with Sourcebooks as well, but I don’t know what it will be yet, so that will be fun to work out! I have a ton of ideas and drafts already!
And last, but not least, favorite 80s movie?
I’m going to have to say The Breakfast Club! When John Bender comes in, he goes out of his way to knock little things over because he just has so much energy and wants attention, and that makes me laugh so hard because it reminds me so much of my very hyper little brother. (Who is an adult now but just as full of energy as he was as a teen.) The whole movie is hilarious with an ultimately sweet message. Plus random 80s dance scene?!
Huge thank you to Tracy for stopping by Critter Lit today! Congrats on your debut!
TRACY C. GOLD loves bringing characters to life. She is a writer, freelance editor, and mom living in Baltimore, Maryland. She has two picture books forthcoming in 2021, Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby from Familius in March and Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat from Sourcebooks in August. She also writes short stories, essays, novels, and poems. Her work has been published in several magazines and anthologies. Tracy earned her M.F.A. in Creative Writing and Publishing Arts at the University of Baltimore and earned her B.A. in English from Duke University. When she’s not writing or editing, she’s playing with her toddler, or hanging out with her horse and dog, both rescues. You can find out more about Tracy or sign up for her newsletter at tracycgold.com or follow her on social media:
Twitter @tracycgold
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