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Author Update: Rachel Bate

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Author Rachel Bate is a retired elementary and special education teacher who writes stories that encourage children to follow their dreams and to care about others and our planet. Her fifth children’s book release, Hatch Chile Willie (Mascot Kids, June 2024), is “an engaging, magical book celebrating New Mexico’s prized state vegetable.” You’ll find Rachel on her Amazon author page and on Facebook. Read more about her work in SWW’s 2023 interview.

What would you like readers to know about the story you tell in Hatch Chile Willie?
Hatch Chile Willie is a magical tale with the setting taking place in Hatch, New Mexico. The tale celebrates the state’s prized vegetable, Hatch Chile. The story whimsically narrates the relationship and beautiful bond that builds between a Hatch Chile farmer and a Spanish flamenco-dancing musical half-red and half-green pepper named Hatch Chile Willie.

Who are the main characters in the book and why will readers (young and old) connect with them?
Farmer Pablo and Hatch Chile Willie are the two main characters in the story. Farmer Pablo is a hard-working Hatch Chile farmer who recently lost his Esposa, missing her very deeply. In the beginning of the story, Farmer Pablo rests in his rocking chair after a hard day of work, suddenly a musical half-red and half-green chile pepper magically appears in his greenhouse. My book explores the unique friendship and bond that develops between Farmer Pablo and Hatch Chile Willie, which I truly feel will resonate with both young and old readers alike.

Why is New Mexico the perfect place for the story to play out? Do you incorporate recognizable New Mexico landmarks or icons?
The tiny town of Hatch, New Mexico, located in the heart of the Rio Grande farming community, is considered the Chile Capital of the world. I included the annual Hatch Chile Festival, occurring every Labor Day weekend, as one of the settings where the story transpires. At the end of the book, I devoted two collage pages of photographs that I captured while attending the 2023 Hatch Chile Festival. I also researched and included fun details about Hatch chiles grown in Hatch, New Mexico, for children to read about, enjoy, and discuss following the tale.

What topics or themes does your book touch on that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?
I think an interesting theme that may be used in a classroom setting are the cultural influences of the tale pertaining to New Mexico. Teaching about the prized vegetable of Hatch Chile and how many farmers, workers, etc. create many useful and delicious products from the Hatch Chile that you can find all over the world (may be an early introduction to Economics!). I also included a little flamenco dancing that Hatch Chile Willie performs for Farmer Pablo with his basic step of “Toe, heel, heel, toe, stamp!” Hatch Chile Willie also enjoys singing Spanish music with homophones used in his amusing riddles to the delight of Farmer Pablo.

How did the book come together?
The idea for my story transpired from a road trip to Las Cruces, New Mexico, for a book signing event, traveling with my husband and our German shepherd, Bliss. As we were nearing Las Cruces, I was gazing out the window and immediately became inspired by the luscious green valley of the tiny town of Hatch, New Mexico. It was from that moment that my story evolved, taking most of the summer to write. After completing my story, I collaborated with the illustrator, my sister Rebecca Jacob. I always let her create illustrations based on what story I write. This is the first book that Rebecca used watercolors for the illustrations which created a playful and visually engaging storyline, especially with Hatch Chile Willie.

What makes this book unique in the children’s market?
I think what makes this book unique in the children’s market is the inclusion of Spanish words throughout the story with a Spanish English Glossary at the end. The book also celebrates the unique culture of New Mexico, with Hatch Chile Willie being both red and green, a flamenco-dancing chile pepper, an enchanting magical character as enchanting as the landscape of New Mexico.

Do you have a favorite character, image, or page spread from Hatch Chile Willie?
Throughout the book, illustrator Rebecca Jacob truly captured the playful character of Hatch Chile Willie that I imagined in my writing. I enjoyed creating Hatch Chile Willie as an inspiration to cheer up Farmer Pablo after losing his beloved wife. I feel that having a special friendship in difficult times gives us that extra needed push and empathy that we need to move on and confront certain hardships in life.

What do you love about this book?
I love the characters, the magical experience, and the heartwarming tale of friendship that I strove to create for all readers to hopefully enjoy and reread numerous times.

Of the five picture books you’ve released, which one did you enjoy writing the most and which was the most challenging?
Of the five picture books that I have written, I feel Desert Bliss, my first children’s book, was the most enjoyable yet challenging to write. It was a very new and thrilling experience for me to finally sit down, create, write, revise, publish, and finally fulfill my lifelong dream of writing books for children.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kat has a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



An Interview with Author and Poet David L. Harrison

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David L. Harrison is a best-selling, award-winning author and poet who has also been a musician, a scientist, an editor, and a businessman. He is the former poet laureate of Drury University and the current poet laureate of Missouri (2023-2025). His 106 published books include poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers and educational books for teachers. In 2022, he published This Life: An Autobiography (Ozarks Book Series) that “chronicles the fits and starts, professional rejections and redirections, the inevitable personal life conflicts and tragedies, as well as the breakthroughs and triumphs in a career that has spanned seven decades…and is still going.” You’ll find David on his website DavidLHarrison.com, his blog, and on Facebook. His autobiography is available through Missouri State University at Ozarks Book Series, but the rest of his books can be found on his Amazon Author Page.

David, you’re an award-winning author. You even have a school named after you: The David Harrison Elementary School in Springfield, Missouri. And now, you’ve written This Life, An Autobiography. Please tell us why you wrote this book and why you choose this time in your life to write it.
Thank you for offering me this chance to say hello to friends and colleagues in SouthWest Writers. I’m delighted to be a member of this group of talented writers.

I didn’t plan to write a memoir. I sat in a theater audience one night and was highly entertained by a gifted young musician who told about his journey from a child who was attracted to music to the professional musician he had become. I wondered if I should do something like that. I, too, had taken a long, sometimes difficult journey from the time I wrote my first poem to become a well-published author and poet. Forty pages into a play script, I knew that the effort was headed toward disaster. I don’t have a playwright’s instincts. But rather than throw out weeks of work, I decided to go forward with a book about my writer’s journey. Someone, I hoped, would like to know how one person managed to go about it. This Life, An Autobiography was the result.

Having successfully written so many books of poetry, fiction, and nonfiction for young readers, as well as educational books for teachers, is there a genre you haven’t tackled but are eager to try?
Now and then I wish I could write a series of stories, but my brain isn’t wired that way. I exhaust my supply of energy, originality, and patience for a given subject in a single effort. After that, my mind moves on to something else.

Were there any unexpected moments for you when writing This Life? Did you ever feel vulnerable revealing so much about yourself?
The first challenge was setting the boundaries of what I would include in the narrative of my life. Once I decided that this was to be an effort to trace my development as a writer, I passed on many memories that were important to me but which didn’t seem to touch on the main theme. Had I written the story of my life, instead of the story of how I became a writer, the vulnerability issue would have been more of a problem. In other words, I left out some of the good stuff. (:>

Tell us about your experience as Missouri’s Poet Laureate and what this experience means to you.
The Missouri Poet Laureate program, which began in 2006, features a new state poet laureate appointed by the governor every two years. I’d been nominated four times previously and this time I made it. I’m the first who identifies as a children’s poet to be chosen, so I’m delighted with the honor and the opportunity to meet people across our state. My first official appearance in my new role took place on September 8, 2023 in David Harrison Elementary School, which was named after me. Coming up are events in Kansas City at the Heartland Book Festival on October 6–7 and in St. Louis on April 6 to give a 2-hour poetry workshop for the St. Louis Writers Guild and general public. I expect to do a lot of traveling but will also take advantage of Zoom and other technology to reach as many as I can to read and write poetry and talk about how it enriches our lives.

I read that you started writing poetry at the age of six. Do you remember what inspired you to write your first poem and what it was about?
I wrote my first poem in a snit. We lived in Ajo, Arizona, a town not far from the Mexican border. My dad had come home from a fishing trip in Mexico and my mother was frying his catch on a skillet in the kitchen. That fish smelled SO good and I was SO hungry and I am sure I was SO much in her way. I found myself banished to the living room until she called me for dinner. I made up a poem to show how I felt.

Sometimes I wish
I had a fish
Upon a little dish.

How did you feel the first time you saw an illustrator’s interpretation of a story you created?
The first time you see how someone else imagined what you’ve imagined is a highlight in a writer’s life. For some reason, when I write about human characters, they don’t always materialize in my mind as whole people. They are symbols, personalities, metaphors. It takes an artist to be practical and say, “Come on, they have to look like something. How about like this?” I almost always love the surprise of meeting my characters face to face. I’m more at home with animals. I know what they look like!

After a six-decade writing career, is there anything you’d do differently if you started your writing and publishing journey today?
The easy answer is to say I would have avoided becoming a scientist, head of a block manufacturing company, and co-owner of a gift store specializing in crystals, porcelains, and china, and gone straight into writing, but I might not have wound up here. If I hadn’t touched those other bases along the way, I might have ended somewhere else, and, since I have few regrets about anything that happened down that rather crooked path, I think I’ll say I would walk it again.

Can you tell us about a time when you didn’t know if you would make it as an author and how you persevered?
The low point for me was toward the end of six long years of rejections. Only one guy — a professor at Drury who taught a writing course — had told me he thought I could become a writer. No one else had said that. Ever. To the contrary, editor after editor had told me by their actions that I was definitely not a writer. On one rejection letter, an editor had scribbled, “Are you kidding?” I came to feel like an utter failure. I was wasting my time. I was not a writer, was never going to be one. I simply didn’t have the talent for it. In This Life, I hesitated to describe those dismal years, filled with self-doubt and a growing sense of futility and failure. My decision to include the experience was based on two considerations: 1) it was the truth; it happened; it was part of my journey, and 2) I thought there might be other struggling writers out there who would understand what I went through and take heart.

With such a varied writing background, who are your favorite authors and how have they influenced your writing?
Among my favorites are Annie Proulx, Barbara Kingsolver, Joan Didion, John Irving, E. B. White, and Kurt Vonnegut. They’re all masters of knowing what they’re talking about before they start talking, and when they do begin, their voices are so distinctive that they hold our attention from beginning to end. My favorite authors of literature for young people are too numerous to mention here but my choices all have one thing in common. They use words like a palette of endless colors and they paint images with them that remain with us long after the printed story or poem or narrative ends. They bring literature to life. I try not to compare my developing manuscript to the so-so writers in the world. I hold my work up to the very best, sigh, and try harder to come closer.

Can you give us an update on when This Life: An Autobiography will be available more widely online?
Although the book is available through the Missouri State University site in Springfield at OzarksStudies.MissouriState.edu, ongoing efforts to connect with a major distributor for wider distribution through Amazon and other traditional outlets look promising. By the time you read this, terms may have been agreed on and become operational by the end of the year.

Su Lierz writes dark fiction, short story fiction, and personal essays. Her short story “Twelve Days in April,” written under the pen name Laney Payne, appeared in the 2018 SouthWest Writers Sage Anthology. Su was a finalist in the 2017 and 2018 Albuquerque Museum Authors Festival Writing Contest. She lives in Corrales, New Mexico, with her husband Dennis.



Author Update 2023: Sue Houser

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Sue Houser is an award-winning author who weaves New Mexico’s history and traditions into her children’s books, as well as her nonfiction and historical fiction releases. Her latest book, Amelia and the Magic Ponies (Irie Books, 2022), was inspired by a wooden carousel found abandoned in Peñasco, New Mexico. You’ll find Sue on her website at SueHouser.com and on Facebook. Read more about her writing in SWW’s 2017 and 2020 interviews, and visit Amazon for all of her books.

Amelia and the Magic Ponies is written for children ages 4–8 years old. What do you hope readers will learn from the story you tell in the book?
I want to remind readers of the innocence of children and that by believing in dreams and possibilities, amazing things can happen.

When did you first hear about Los Caballitos (The Little Ponies), and what compelled you to begin working on the story?
Several years ago, a column in the Albuquerque Journal caught my attention. I read that a carousel in Taos, New Mexico is over one hundred years old. The antique merry-go-round, owned and restored by the Lions Club of Taos, is in operation during Las Fiestas de Santiago y Santa Ana every July on the historic plaza. I have always loved carousels, and I was curious. So when July came, I went to the fiesta and observed the wonder and delight on the faces of the children as they rode on the wooden ponies.

Who are your main characters in the book? What challenges do you set before them?
Amelia is eager to ride Los Caballitos and runs ahead of her grandfather to get in line at the fiesta in Peñasco, New Mexico. Abuelo falls and injures his leg. They return home – before Amelia has a chance to ride. The next fiesta, the ponies are not there. Amelia learns they are in an old barn and finds them in a deplorable condition. She wants her grandfather to fix them, but he is somewhat crippled. Amelia often visits the ponies. One day, a thunderstorm rolls in. Unable to return home, Amelia spends the night in the barn with the broken ponies.

How did the book come together?
I actually started it about 15 years ago. First, I wrote the non-fiction version of Tio Vivo (the name given to the restored carousel) but felt it needed more magic. The carousel’s turning and the ponies’ swaying felt like poetry to me. I tried, but I’m not a poet. So, next, I wrote the story from the point of view of one of the wooden horses. I liked that version, but my publisher/editor Gerald Hausman (of Irie Books) thought children might not connect with a wooden horse. He was right. A child needed to be the main character.

If you had input into the cover and interior artwork (illustrated by Mariah Fox), what was that experience like?
The cover reflects something magical is going to happen. I like it. But in the illustration where Amelia spent the night with the ponies, Mariah showed the wooden ponies to be in good condition. We discussed the narrative about the ponies’ damaged and broken state. Mariah created distress in the scene by adding rain coming down and putting bandages on the ponies. That was rather clever! I especially love her illustration of live musicians serenading the carousel riders, which is historically accurate.

What topics or themes does your book touch on that would make it a perfect fit for the classroom?

  • Something old does have value and may have an exciting story to tell.
  • When an activity is shared, it can be more enjoyable.
  • Don’t give up on your hopes and dreams.

What was your favorite part of writing Amelia and the Magic Ponies?
I enjoyed the research and even visited the National Carousel Museum in Leavenworth, Kansa. A highlight was watching delighted children ride the simple, colorful wooden ponies as they rode around and around.

Are you working on any projects now?
I am querying two picture books: Benjamin, The Eager Beaver―about a beaver who doesn’t want to grow up and Juanita’s Heavenly Bizcochitos―about a young girl who saves the day for her grandmother by baking the Las Posadas cookies. Another book, Walter Steps Up to the Plate (Artemesia Publishing), is a middle-grade historical fiction with a release date set for October, 2023. I can’t wait!

What else would you like readers to know?
Amelia and the Magic Ponies won 1st place in the 2023 New Mexico Press Women Zia Children’s Book Award. I will be giving a talk and signing books at Treasure House Books on Sunday, April 16, 2023 from 1:00 to 3:00 pm.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kat has a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



An Interview with Author Kathy Louise Schuit

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Former journalist Kathy Louise Schuit is an author/illustrator of children’s books with characters who become heroes of their own stories. Dance Cat, published in October 2022, is her second picture book release. You’ll find Kathy on Facebook and on her website at OpenWithDesign.com. Look for Dance Cat on Amazon.

What would you like readers to know about the story you tell in Dance Cat?
Dance Cat is a story about the value of practice. The Dance Cat practices every day to dance his best in every way. The second part—about HIS best—is also essential. Practice to be the best YOU can be.

What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
When my last book for children, Where Does This Line Go?, was critiqued by judges from the NMPW Communications Contest one of the comments that really stuck with me was that some of the rhymes simply didn’t work. I went back and read through the book taking a very deliberate look at the quality of the rhymes and found the critique was absolutely correct. With this book, I spent many more hours working on the rhymes. I also consulted with a teacher whose PhD is in early childhood learning. She worked with me not only on the rhyming but on the rhythms used by adults when reading to children. It’s important, she said, to make sure that devices are used in the writing—punctuation, certainly, but also line divisions, bold words for emphasis, italics and artistic treatments of the word to create connotations—to guide the adult reader into the proper emphasis and/or discussion with the child of what is happening in the story. I learned so much from working through this process.

Did the spark for the book begin with an idea, a line of prose, an image?
This book was inspired decades ago by my sister—a choreographer and dance instructor—who had a cat in her studio that she called her dance cat. The idea of a cat dancing with the students stuck with me.

Tell us how the book came together.
I started collecting images of cats in different poses in 2017 and was sketching dancers shortly after that. But it was Covid isolation that really gave me the time and incentive to get serious. I have hundreds of illustrations of cats in my sketch libraries now—so sick of drawing cats! It wasn’t until 2021 (after a trip to a Laguna, California art show) that I decided the cat should be painted blue. After that, the illustrations got much easier. I also attended a conference hosted by the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) in Albuquerque. The speaker was Molly Idle, author/illustrator of Tea Rex and Caldecott Honor-winning picture book Flora and the Flamingo. This was one of the BEST conferences I’ve ever attended, with Molly sharing an entire day’s worth of her trade secrets. One thing she said that really stuck with me is that she limits her color palettes. This helped me with my color selections for Dance Cat—I decided then and there to pretty much limit the colors to shades of pink and blue. That choice led to a lot of pictures that resembled baby shower gifts! The key was in increasing the intensity of the colors, and it all came together after that.

Who is your main character and why will your audience connect with him/her?
The dance cat is the main character and is only ever referred to as the dance cat. He is a he because I wanted to create a story that held interest for young boys as well as girls. Dance studios around the country are mostly populated with girls dancing in pink tutus. Even in today’s world of greater inclusiveness, boys can be easily discouraged from getting involved with dance. The dance cat will appeal to anyone who loves to dance (and a lot of people who like cats). Teachers of any kind should find Dance Cat a useful story for presenting the idea of the importance of practice to develop your skill.

Do you have a favorite image or page spread from Dance Cat?
I DO! While I’ve sold several prints of the coyotes signaling the start of the Dance Cat Show on page 15, my favorite is the cityscape on pages 11 and 12. I had so much fun drawing the buildings tilted around the dance school, getting the street to angle just right and adding the plants, park and lighting. It’s one of my favorite drawings ever.

What did you love about putting this project together?
So many things! Like I’ve already said, the education on the rhyming and reading of children’s books was priceless, as was the SCBWI conference. Once I got started, the creation of each image became its own labor of love. Getting the text to work better also helped me to “see” the illustrations more clearly before I even started to sketch them—I wanted the illustrations to tell the story just as well as the text. It was so satisfying when I could make illustrations that looked just like what I had imagined in my own thought bubbles.

What have you had to learn about creating a picture book’s narrative?
One of the most valuable things I learned about writing for young children is that, while they may have messages of their own, at their core picture books are about sparking interest in the child for learning to read. With that held in mindfulness, I take seriously the advice of seasoned writers about holding the entire book close to 350 words (the average attention span of children 4–5 years old) and have made it a rule for my children’s writing. If the child loses interest in the story, it’s not just one reading that suffers, children can easily connect one boring story to a mindset of ALL stories are boring. It’s a big responsibility writing for young children. Tight, exciting writing that moves quickly from event to event is essential. And get an editor, I can’t say that enough. A book with only 350 words deserves the attention it takes to make sure every one of those words is the exact right one to get a child to beg for more reading!

What kind of creative patterns, routines, or rituals do you have?
When I’m in the middle of a project, I have a truly hard time pulling myself away. I’ve always been one of those people who likes to work straight through to the end of most all activities without stopping. My brain understands this isn’t practical when working on lots of illustrations and page designs. And yet, I still find myself surprised at midnight after I’ve been drawing since 8 a.m. The muscle stiffness and shallow breathing those days cause has made me enforce more breaks and daily exercise on myself, but I’m not as successful as I need to be. Being able to create any form of art is a gift for me. Losing myself in it is something I never thought I’d experience in this lifetime.

Do you have a message or a theme that recurs in your writing?
I’ve always been a big fan of Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey storytelling style. I like my characters to overcome obstacles and to become the hero of their own story in the end. I did have concerns with Dance Cat that there were not enough challenges for the cat to really emerge as victorious in the end. That’s when the last couple pages were added, to show that he has dreams, and the way to make them reality comes from within himself and his decision to practice.

What writing/illustrating projects are you working on now?
In January, I started work on a 32-page illustrated marketing booklet for a Real Estate Company in Texas. It’s an exciting project. The text has been provided and the company wants the illustrations to have a feel similar to that of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie. It’s already clear that it will afford me lots of room for further education and artistic growth—my favorite!

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kat has a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



An Interview with Author Linda Wilson

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Former elementary school teacher Linda Wilson has written over 150 articles for children and adults, along with short stories and books for children. Her dream to be a children’s book author came true in 2020 with the publication of Secret in the Stars: An Abi Wunder Mystery, the first book of a ghost/mystery trilogy. You’ll find Linda on her website LindaWilsonAuthor.com and her Amazon author page. Visit the Writers on the Move blog where she’s a contributing author.

What would you like readers to know about the story you tell in Secret in the Stars.
My fondest desire is to create entertaining stories for young children about nature and the great outdoors. I would like readers to get swept away with the story and come away with a desire for adventure and exploring sports and outdoor activities.

What unique challenges did this work pose for you?
My biggest challenge in attempting to write a novel was living in a small town with no critique partners. I was a member of the Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), but because of distance, couldn’t be involved. It took about eight years to finish Stars. The biggest help was moving to Albuquerque and finding critique partners. Thanks to my connection with the New Mexico chapter of SCBWI here in Albuquerque, I finally learned enough to publish the book. I have since finished Secret in the Mist and two picture books.

Who are your main characters, and why will readers connect with them?
In the beginning of Stars, eleven-year-old Abi is anxious to get home from a camping trip with her grandfather. The first day of Summer Art Camp starts that afternoon. But her plans are dashed when her grandpa’s car breaks down and she becomes stranded at an old country inn. Abi, who lives in an apartment two hours away and is not athletic, meets eleven-year-old Jess, who lives in the country and is good at sports. A friendship blossoms based on the girls’ interest in solving the mystery in the story, and also on how much they admire each other. As a budding artist, Abi is aware of the world around her and uses her memory to create sketches of all that interests her. By Secret in the Mist, book two, she has awakened an interest in art in Jess. Jess is a fast runner, a good swimmer, and in Mist she takes Abi horseback riding. By the end of Stars, Abi finds that she can run faster than ever before. In Mist, she finds that she’s good at horseback riding, too. My hope is that Abi and Jess become role models for my readers.

Why did you decide to use the particular setting you chose?
I love this question because Stars and Mist both take place in fictional Pine Hill, a town based on Purcellville, Virginia, a beautiful town where we lived in the heart of horse country near where Jackie Onassis rode horses. In book three, Secrets of the Heart, we go to Abi’s apartment, which I think many readers will be able to connect with.

The country setting is deliberate, written for children who know and love the country, and also for children who do not have the opportunity to spend time in the country. There are personal reasons, too, which include the inn in Stars (based on an 18th century B & B a mile down the road from our house), and in Mist, horseback riders trotting their horses on our road and a marsh across the road where a bullfrog lived.

Where did the story idea come from?
We had so many guests for a wedding once that some needed to stay at the B & B down the road. Before our guests arrived, I paid the B & B a visit. The 18th century white-washed stone building loomed high on a hill, down a long, winding dirt road. Along the way, cows grazed on lush green grass and flowers bloomed in gardens, completing the Virginia country charm.

The proprietress sat me down in the old-fashioned parlor and regaled me with tales of the many renovations her husband had recently completed. On our way upstairs to see the bedrooms, I thought she said, “Oh, here’s my husband now.” I turned, expecting to see her husband climbing the stairs behind us. But I saw no one. Her eyes fell on a silhouette stenciled on the wall. I followed her gaze of a man in overalls and straw hat, lantern in hand, appearing to hurry up the stairs. Without another word, she continued to the second-floor landing. I followed, perplexed.

Where was her husband, I wondered? I asked her, still expecting to see him. She looked surprised and said, “Oh, he died a year ago.” Died? But he’s here. I can feel his presence. He hadn’t yet left her side. I knew that, though how I’ll never know. But I felt the truth of his presence in my bones. She tilted her head in the oddest way and added, “Why, I lost my Herbert a year ago, to the day!” She added, “I painted Herbert’s silhouette on the wall, as he so often looked on his way to bed.” Color rose to her cheeks. “I suppose it’s silly, but it’s my way of keeping him close.” I went home with the idea of her husband’s ghost dancing in my head and then finding his way into my heart. I still get goose bumps every time I think of that eerie encounter.

What was it like working with a cover designer and Tiffany Tutti, the illustrator for the book?
I gave Tiffany my vision of what my characters looked like and the scenes I wanted to see portrayed. I used two to three traditionally published model books because I wanted Star to look professional. I think we succeeded. As a self-published author, I was able to find two terrific companies to format Stars and create the cover using the manuscript and illustrations by Tiffany Tutti, Formatted Books, and 100 Covers. In addition to the book cover,100 Covers also created a beautiful media image, which I’m very proud of.

Tell us how the book came together.
By the time I retired, I had written many articles for adults and children, had been editor of a newsletter, and helped a fellow author interview and write biographies of people who grew up in Westford, Massachusetts where my family lived at the time. I had always wanted to write fictional stories for children. I began by writing and publishing short stories. Stars is my first book. Though like many writers, I have partially written manuscripts stashed away in my drawer.

The illustrations for Secret in the Stars, and the completed book, were accomplished with what is known as a “vanity publisher.” I worked with a terrific editor, staff, and illustrator while the book was in production. Just days before the book was to be published, I read 10 Publishing Myths by W. Terry Whalin, a fellow contributor to www.writersonthemove.com. From the get-go Whalin advises googling any company you’re about to do business with to check for complaints: “company name + complaints.” Was I in for a shock. I was directed to a private Facebook page of authors numbering forty-nine at the time, who had not received any royalties for their books for over two, sometimes, three years. I was lucky. When I cancelled my account, I was able to retrieve my files right away, both the illustrations and the interior, and was able to publish the book on Amazon. Other authors weren’t so lucky. Today there are many more authors involved and some were never able to retrieve their files. We have retained an attorney who has been helping the authors as well as finding ways to put this company (one man) out of business.

What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you began your writing/publishing journey?

  • How much revision is needed to create a polished manuscript.
  • How important knowledgeable critique partners are in editing things I can’t see, and also how much I’ve learned and enjoyed by critiquing their works.
  • How long it would take to feel competent in writing fiction. I knew it would be difficult and I had read that an overnight success takes fifteen years. I suppose I’m about at that mark, fifteen years! However, I wouldn’t change my experience as a writer for anything in the world.

Is there anything else you’d like readers to know?
A Packrat’s Holiday: Thistletoe’s Gift is available in eBook, and the September 2021 paperback copy is available in full color on Amazon. Discounted and signed copies of Packrat’s Holiday and Secret in the Stars are available by ordering from LindaWilsonAuthor.com. Chris Eboch, prolific author and editor from Socorro, New Mexico, says of Packrat’s Holiday, “Children will love this story, where the littlest creatures have adventures and become heroes. Fun language and cowboy slang make for a great read aloud.” My next picture book, Tall Boots, features a 4-H Horse Show complete with the official 4-H name and emblem. Tall Boots will be available soon. You can read about the books on my SWW author page.

KLWagoner150_2KL Wagoner (writing as Cate Macabe) is the author of This New Mountain: a memoir of AJ Jackson, private investigator, repossessor, and grandmother. Kathy posts to a speculative fiction blog at klwagoner.com and writes about memoir at ThisNewMountain.com.



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