Episode 15: How do you celebrate after you’ve written a book? With Heidi E.Y. Stemple
Welcome to Episode 15: How do you celebrate after you’ve written a book? Please join us with author Heidi E.Y. Stemple.
TRANSCRIPTS:
Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books including the middle grade novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and the picture book A Big Mooncake For Little Star. Today I'm here with Heidi E.Y. Stemple, the author of Counting Birds and Eek, you reek! - Poems About Stinky Animals. Hi, Heidi.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: Hi, Grace.
Grace Lin: Okay. Are you ready for today's question?
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: I am.
Grace Lin: All right. Today's question is from a young girl named Wren. She asks:
Wren: How do you celebrate after you've written a book?
Grace Lin: How do you celebrate after you've written a book?
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: This is such a good question because there's so many layers to this. When exactly do you finish a book? Because there's so many finishes in a book. The first time you get the first draft done, so that's one finish. And I'll tell you, when that is finished, my celebration usually is not nearly as exciting as you think. Because when you're a writer, you oftentimes are working in your home. So when I finish a draft of a book, often I need it to sit for a little while before I can send it to a critique partner or to my agent or an editor who's waiting for it. So those celebrations often look like cooking dinner or doing the laundry or making my bed. Woo, exciting.
Grace Lin: That sounds like what I do before I write a book.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: Same, or in the middle. So that's one way of celebrating.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: But then, when I'm done with a revision, that sort of gets to be more... As soon as you get sort of closer to the actual ending of writing a book, those celebrations are often a little bit better. Oftentimes, I will call a best friend or my boyfriend or my mom and we'll go to dinner, maybe some champagne, that sort of thing. So those are a little bit better.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: When my agent says she likes a book and she's going to send it out, that's a different kind of celebration, but always moving back onto another project because there's always, as you know, Grace, there's always another project that needs your attention.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: The biggest celebration is when an editor loves your book and tells you that she wants to purchase it. And for me, that always involves champagne because that's a really fun one.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: And honestly, the best celebration is when you get that first copy of the book. But I don't usually do something special with that because getting that first copy is the special thing. So I don't say that I'd ever really mark that with a celebration, because that book itself, that first copy that you get to hold is all the celebration you need.
Grace Lin: That's so interesting. And I think I do similar. I always, for every step of the way-
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: The laundry too?
Grace Lin: Well not the laundry, but similar in the idea that every step of the way, I always kind of give myself something. I think it's kind of like goal setting. It's like, when I finish this draft, then I will get that dress I want. Or I'll have like a pair of shoes or something like that that I've been coveting, and I'll be like, "Well, when I finish this book, then I'll get this."
Grace Lin: Like I remember from my last novel, I was coveting this milk steamer because I really wanted to have like steamed milk.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: I have a travel milk steamer with me when I'm writing there. Like I have to have steamed milk. So spoiled.
Grace Lin: See, and I really wanted to have steamed milk and I really wanted to have a milk steamer, but I told myself, "You can't get that milk steamer until you finish that novel." And so I finished it and I bought that milk steamer.
Grace Lin: But I think my biggest celebrations are usually when the book is published. I usually try to give myself a big book party. And I started doing that around the time of my novel Where The Mountain Meets The Moon. And the reason why is because before I wrote Where The Mountain Meets The Moon, I had seen a publisher give an author a huge book party. And it was a big deal, they had given him like cake and like they'd rented out this room. And I remember being so jealous.
Grace Lin: And then I remember after, I remember thinking, "Well, I don't want to spend my time being jealous of another author. If I want a party, I'll just throw myself a party." And so I did. And ever since then, I've always thrown myself a party for every book that I've authored and illustrated because I'm like, "I'm going to just throw myself a party."
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: I loved that. That's so good. Do you buy like themed stuff? I remember I was working on a manuscript about a moose and I was in a shop and there was a scarf with moose on it, so I absolutely bought that. And those are sort of motivational things for me because I hadn't finished it and then I knew that I needed to revise it. So I now have the motivational scarf. I will be going out to buy something with toucans on it. Shh. That's my neck [crosstalk 00:05:32] celebration.
Grace Lin: I do like themed stuff. Like when I was doing A Big Mooncake for Little Star, I bought myself a star dress with little stars on it and that's what I wore to the book launch. Things like that. Those are the things that keeps me going.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: I love that. That's fun.
Grace Lin: So thanks so much for your awesome question and thanks so much for answering it, Heidi.
Heidi E.Y. Stemple: Thanks.
Grace Lin: Wasn't that great? If you would like to learn more about today's author, please to our website kidsaskauthors.com for more information. Special thanks to the High Five Books and Art Always Bookstore and Miss Carlton's second grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.
Grace Lin: Grownups, remember, if you know a kid that has a question, a book review, a short story, a poem, or even a joke they would like to share on this podcast, please submit it to kidsaskauthors.com.
Grace Lin: And if you would like to reach me, you can sign up for my authors newsletter by clicking on the little link icon the top of the kidsaskauthors.com page or follow me on Twitter and Instagram where I use the handle @PaceyLin.
Grace Lin: Also, if you enjoy this podcast, please spread the word. Tell your friends and colleagues to listen, and of course, please leave a review on iTunes. That really helps me know that you like what we're doing so we can keep doing it. So let's end today's episode with a book review from Alison Morris, the senior director of title selection at First Book.
Today’s Book Review: Lift, by Minh Le and illustrated by Dan Santat.
Alison Morris: Raise your hands out there if you love to push the buttons in elevators. Now raise your hand if you have ever had someone beat you to push the buttons in the elevator, making you very frustrated. That is what happens in the book of Lift written by Minh Le and illustrated by Dan Santat.
Alison Morris: In this book, a kid is in the elevator and her younger brother beats her to the punch and pushes the button for the floor they're going to. So she gets frustrated and then she pushes all of the buttons, which results in a problem, which results in her getting a button that she can hang on the wall next to her own closet. What do you think happens when she pushes the elevator button next to her closet door? You're going to have to read the book Lift to find out. It is a terrific adventure and I hope you love it as much as I do.
Alison Morris is a nationally recognized children's book buyer with an infectious enthusiasm for reading and 20 years' experience matching books to readers. As the Senior Director of Title Selection for nonprofit First Book, she oversees the curation of children’s and young adult books on the First Book Marketplace, hand-selecting a diverse range of titles that speak to and address the needs of kids in underserved communities, with a keen eye to inclusion, authenticity, and kid-appeal. She previously served as Senior Editor at Scholastic Book Clubs, Children's Book Buyer for Wellesley Booksmith and The Dartmouth Bookstore, and was the founding blogger of the ShelfTalker children’s book blog for Publishers Weekly. She'll be joining us from her home near Washington, DC where she spends LOTS of time discussing books with her husband, illustrator and graphic novelist Gareth Hinds.
More about today’s author:
Heidi didn’t want to be a writer when she grew up. In fact, after she graduated from college, she became a probation officer in Florida. It wasn’t until she was 28 years old that she gave in and joined the family business, publishing her first short story in a book called Famous Writers and Their Kids Write Spooky Stories. The famous writer was her mom, author Jane Yolen. Since then, she has published more than twenty-five books and numerous short stories and poems, mostly for children.
Heidi lives and writes on a big old farm in Massachusetts that she shares with one very small cat who lives inside, and a dozen deer, a family of bears, three coyotes, two bobcats, a gray fox, tons of birds, and some very fat groundhogs who live outside.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
Special thanks to the High Five Books & Art Always Bookstore, Ms. Carleton’s 2nd grade class at Jackson Street School for their help with our kid questions and reviews.
