\nHi Janet. Welcome and thanks for taking the time to chat with us about the writing process. After I read a children\u2019s book I always have questions floating \u2018round my head regarding the creative process. Here are just a few that I\u2019d love to pick your brain about.<\/p>\n
How do you choose the right artist to bring each character and scene to life? Do you use storyboards to define each page or do you use a more loose structure when working with an artist?<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Janet Halfmann<\/p><\/div>\n Janet:<\/em> Laurie also wrote very entertaining posts about the entire process (7 chapters, I think) on her blog:<\/p>\n http:\/\/www.lauriekleinarts.com\/blog\/?m=201001<\/a><\/p>\n Two of my recent books, \u201cStar of the Sea: A Day in the Life of a Starfish\u201d and \u201cEggs 1, 2, 3: Who Will the Babies Be?\u201d use collage art. The first is illustrated by Joan Paley and the second by Betsy Thompson. Not only is the art fabulous, but the books lend themselves so well to be inspiration for a child\u2019s own collage art.<\/p>\n Mary:<\/em> Janet: I like to write nonfiction as well as fiction, so I usually have more ideas than I have time to research and develop them. Besides nature and animals, I like to write about people who have achieved something great but who for the most part have been lost to history. For example, my book \u201cSeven Miles to Freedom: The Robert Smalls Story\u201d is about a slave who stole a Confederate gunboat in Charleston Harbor during the Civil War and delivered his and the crew\u2019s families to freedom, and the boat to the Union navy.<\/p>\n Mary:<\/em> Janet:<\/em> Mary:<\/em> Janet:<\/em> Mary:<\/em> Janet:<\/em> Mary:<\/em> Janet:<\/em> Mary:<\/em> Janet:<\/em> Mary:<\/em> Janet:<\/em> Mary:<\/em> Well that does it for the first of our Blog series \u201cIn the Muse\u201d. \u00a0Stayed tuned for our delightful conversation with Janet\u2019s cohort in crime, Laurie Allen Klein.\u00a0\u00a0You can catch up with Janet on her website at and on\u00a0Twitter and Facebook here: Or better yet, let’s listen in as she reads an excerpt from “Little Skink’s Tale”. Meet Janet. Happy storytelling!<\/p>\n![\"Janet](\"https:\/\/betherebedtimestories.files.wordpress.com\/2013\/12\/janet-halfmann.jpg\")
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\nThe publisher almost always chooses the artist. Artists submit samples of their illustrations to the publisher. Then when a publisher buys a story, they decide which artist they think will work best for the project. The artist for two of my Sylvan Dell Publishing books, \u201cFur and Feathers\u201d and \u201cLittle Skink\u2019s Tail,\u201d is Laurie Allen Klein. She talked about her process when \u201cFur and Feathers\u201d came out in 2010: http:\/\/kayespenguinposts.blogspot.com\/2010\/08\/giveaway-guest-post-laurie-illustrator.html<\/a><\/p>\n
\nDoes the beginning spark of a story come from a character you imagine or a life experience you want to write about? Does the inspiration come easy to you?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\n<\/em>My inspiration comes from many places: what\u2019s happening around me, my grandkids, what I read, places I visit, and on and on. Sometimes the character comes first. For example, I got the idea for \u201cLittle Skink\u2019s Tail\u201d while writing a book about all kinds of lizards. I was fascinated by skinks, a kind of lizard, which usually have bright blue tails when they\u2019re young. Skinks can snap off this tail to escape danger, and it keeps right on wriggling! Other stories come from life experience, such as \u201cGrandma Is a Slowpoke,\u201d coming out from Star Bright Books, probably in 2014. This story is about going on walks with my grandkids, and how I always make them stop and look at every thing in nature that I find fascinating\u2014with a twist at the end.<\/p>\n
\nSounds like you navigate all borders in your writing. I love historical books for kids.\u00a0How did you hone your writing skills? Was it practice, practice, practice or was there a book or a teacher that helped you realize your talent?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMostly it was practice, practice, practice. I have been writing most of my life\u2014I was a newspaper reporter, a magazine writer and editor, and a creator of coloring and activity books for Golden Books before I became a children\u2019s author. Creating coloring books was very helpful for my career in creating picture books now. Golden Books did coloring books for all the major characters like Batman and Sesame Street, plus all the Disney movie characters, like Lion King. So as an editor and writer, I had to rewrite entire movie scripts very simply with a great picture to color on every page. That was great training for writing picture books, where the art tells half the story.<\/p>\n
\nI agree. Art and story. It\u2019s always about that perfect pairing.\u00a0I have to ask a couple of questions about one of my favorite books that you\u2019ve written, \u201cFur and Feathers”. Where was the jumping off point for the story? Was it Grandma\u2019s huge sewing box or the animal coats? \u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n
\nIt was the animal coats. I saw on the publisher\u2019s website that they wanted a book on animal coats. So I came up with a fun story that would feature the coats of a large variety of animals. The idea for the sewing box came from the big box of sewing odds and ends for creating costumes, etc. that I always kept handy when our four kids were growing up. I found out later that the artist\u2019s mom loved to sew, and the grandma in the book is actually modeled after Laurie\u2019s mother.<\/p>\n
\nCan you talk a little bit about why you decided to sneak an image of Little Skink, from your book \u201cLittle Skink\u2019s Tail,\u201d into the howling, windstorm? Do you fit little secrets into all of your books?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nLaurie Allen Klein (the illustrator) snuck Little Skink into the windstorm. She also put the Little Skink book on a shelf in Sophia\u2019s room later in the book. In \u201cLittle Skink\u2019s Tail,\u201d Laurie also added a special touch. She put a caterpillar\u2019s chrysalis early in the book. So all through the story as Little Skink is growing back her tail, the caterpillar is turning into a monarch butterfly. I love these special touches, as do the kids!<\/p>\n
\nThe holiday season is in full swing. Do you have a favorite Christmas story that gets you in the mood for Jingle Bells, chestnuts roasting, mistletoe and the like? Have you ever written a holiday story or ever thought about it?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI love the story of \u201cFrosty the Snowman,\u201d and the song as well. Yes, I have written a Christmas story, but I\u2019m still trying to sell it. The story was inspired by an Australian Christmas carol about kangaroos. I just recently had the story critiqued by an editor at a writer conference, so I\u2019m reworking parts of it to make it even better\u2014hopefully some day an editor will fall in love with it and kids will be able to read it at Christmas!<\/p>\n
\nAnd here is my final question, which I am sure gives us great insight on what makes you a great writer. What is your favorite sandwich?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nMy favorite sandwich is a bit strange\u2014I like roast beef ground up and mixed with mayo and sweet relish, stuffed into homemade just-baked rolls. Yum!!!!<\/p>\n
\nYou had me at “homemade just-baked rolls”!\u00a0Thanks so much for sharing the behind the scenes of your creative talents, Janet. Before you leave us can you tempt us with any current project ideas you have marinating?<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nI have two new books coming out in 2014: \u201cRainbow of Birds,\u201d an original legend about how the birds gave the world the rainbow, from Guardian Angel Publishing; and \u201cAnimal Teachers\u201d from Blue Apple Books. I have another book, about a slave who was an amazing teacher both before and after the Civil War, coming out from Lee & Low Books in Fall 2015. I\u2019m currently working on another story from the Civil War period about another daring female hero.<\/p>\n
\nSounds enticing. I\u2019ve got my eye on the daring female hero story.<\/strong><\/p>\n
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