Part of a series introducing the Mentors for the 2019-2020 SCBWI-WWA Mentorship Program. This post introduces two picture book Mentors, Peggy King Anderson and Rae McDonald . To learn about the mentorship program, visit here: https://wwa.scbwi.org/2019-mentorship-program/. Applications have been submitted and mentees for the 2019-2020 season will be announced in the early Fall.
Mentor: Rae McDonald
Rae McDonald has viewed life from many bridges as teacher, librarian, author, and artist. For Rae, creating books is wonderful work, and a good day is always a creative day whether it’s working out the bones of a story or digging into art. Rae’s picture books, often nature inspired, include A Fishing Surprise, a buoyant mystery, and Gran, Gran, Granny celebrating an ancient fir tree. A rascal Northern Flicker is soon to debut in Wicky. SCBWI, a long-standing critique group, and numerous classes guide her travels in writing and illustrating for children. Web: raemcdonald.com Blog: http://bluebirdchirpings.blogspot.com Facebook: RaeMcDonaldauthor Instagram: RaeMcDonaldaut
Q: Why do you like to mentor aspiring writers?
The mentoring process is exciting and reignites my own passionate fire for creating children’s books. I love to pass a flame along to others who have that spark in their eyes. Sharing my skills and enthusiasm is fulfilling, a real heart-to-heart process. Creativity is a tender and fragile entity, and I love to watch it bloom.
Q: What does being a successful published professional look like to you?
Having felt the joy of seeing my work published, out in the world to lead a life of its own, is exhilarating. I get a bit of an inner glow that comes from accomplishing a huge and important task. In any writing professional I look for passion, persistence, and a good dose of respect for the process, their team, and their audience. The process of writing for publication takes a great deal of patience, an open mind, a willingness to learn, and a good dose of humility..
Q: What can a mentee expect from your mentorship?
I consider myself a careful listener, someone willing to be a scaffold to a new place. I am steeped in the world of children’s literature from my career as a children’s school librarian and as a children’s writer. I hope I can pass some of that insight on. I also respect questions, goal setting, and research. Together we will find a pathway to success. And, you have got to know that I love revision. Oooo – la – la on that.
Q: What are you reading?
Lately, I have been reading Mary Oliver’s nature poetry and essays. The well of inspiration for my own children’s writing often comes from the natural world. I am also mining tidbits on the creative process form Still Writing: The Pleasures and Perils of a Creative Life by Dani Shapiro. Dani is easy for me to identify with, a partner in my creative quests. I also try to get my eyes on all the children’s books newly nominated for the upcoming children’s choice reading lists.
Q: What are you working on these days?
My studio is a busy place with multiple projects underway. I just finished a full sketch 10”x10” dummy for FUZZ, my tale for the very young told mostly with onomatopoeia for the antics of little fuzz, a bit of a whirlwind character, who makes way in the world to discover his true nature. I am adding short poems to my Dog Smarts collection, and I am always working on picture book and biography submissions, marketing my latest book Gran, Gran, Granny, and continuing my search for an agent to take my writing career forward. My mind is always buzzing!
Mentor: Peggy King Anderson
For 35 years, Peggy King Anderson has taught writers of all ages. She loves it! She was awarded the SCBWI (W. WA) Lifetime Achievement award in 2012. She’s taught creative writing both in colleges, and in conferences ranging from SCBWI, to the Highlights Foundation Writers Workshop in Chautauqua, New York. She has four published books, including The Fall Of The Red Star (co-author, Helen Szablya), featured on Children’s Book TV. Her MG historical fiction novel, Two Moon Journey, is due for publication in fall of 2018. She writes a monthly fiction series, Tree Frog Trail, for Pockets Magazine. Check out Peggy’s website at www.peggyking.com.
Why do you like to mentor aspiring writers?
Love to mentor! so much fun getting to know my mentees, not just their writing, but their personalities, their families, especially their kids who so inspire their writing. I seem to have lots of new moms, and it’s amazing and wonderful to see what they are achieving creatively both with their kids and their writing!
Q: What does being a successful published professional look like to you?
Well, of course, being published, which in itself is wonderful! But successful published professional? To me that is taking great joy in seeing a book or story I love having a chance to be loved by others as well. I so love going into the classroom, sharing my books and stories with the kids, and seeing their own creativity take off as they springboard stories from ideas in one of my books, taking it in their own direction. This is one of the joys that I love to share with my mentees as well, as they tell me their goals about being published.
Q: What can a mentee expect from your mentorship?
I will stay in touch with them via email, phone calls and (usually) at least one in-home consultation. I love working with them back and forth as they send the story they are working on, as i provide a written substantive edit, and we then talk via email or phone, and the excitement and joy as they rework the story, new ideas sparking to bring their vision, the underlying passion of their story to its best fulfillment. So much fun to see those Aha! moments as we work together. Aha moments for them, but also for me, as I suddenly grasp something they’re trying to convey in the story and we brainstorm ways to make that happen. Typically this back-an-forth happens at least 3 or 4 times, and sometimes quite a bit more! (Depending on how extensive each stage is. I just went back and looked for this last mentorship, and one of my mentees and I went back and forth 15 times on 2 picture books she is working on. Some were quick read-throughs, with just a few suggestions, others more extensive.
Q: What are you reading?
Just finished reading Home Of The Brave by Katherine Applegate, loved it!
Recently re-read The One And Only Ivan, one of my favorites.
And I love bringing home piles of picture books and easy readers to read with my granddaughter Anika. She and I are both thoroughly enjoying the Owl Diary series, by Rebecca Elliott.
Q: What are you working on these days?
Finishing up my last story for the Tree Frog Trail Series (Pockets Magazine), developing some creative writing workshops to go with Two-Moon Journey, and getting ready to leap back into a revision of my young Middle grade novel, The Secret of Dogtown Mine. I love the writing life, including my everyday journalling! It makes every other part of my life come vibrantly alive, helps me notice and discover so much that I might otherwise miss.