I tend to focus on writing fiction picture books that incorporate humor and heart. I had never really thought much about writing nonfiction. I enjoyed reading nonfiction and thought that is where things would stay. Until…
a webinar changed everything.
I am part of 12×12 — a community that encourages picture book writers to write 12 drafts a year. Each month there are amazing webinars that discuss about picture books from all different angles — illustration, rhyme, how to hook the reader, satisfying endings, etc. I am always amazed how much there is to learn about the art of picture books. In May 2023, 12×12 was hosting a Book Chat on Woven in the World, the late Katey Howe’s award-winning nonfiction picture book. I wasn’t sure how much I was going to get out of the webinar since I only wrote fiction picture books up to that point. Once Katey started talking about her stunning book, I was instantly mesmerized. I didn’t realize nonfiction could be so beautiful! Katey wove beautiful, lyrical language on every page. I also was drawn in by the description of the research she did for the book. It was fascinating how she immersed herself into the world of weaving. I was inspired and came away from that call with a new goal — I was going to try and write a nonfiction story.
But what would I write about? There are so many subjects to choose from. I decided to start with a subject I know kids love — animals! After some brainstorming the phrase Hail the Tail popped into my mind. I searched online as well as went to my library to do some research on picture books about animal tails. The only problem? My librarian said they didn’t have any books on animal tails specifically — but I realized that was more of an opportunity than a problem. I found a potential hole in the market! I got started right away. I checked out as many books about animals that I could and jotted down any information I could find about their tails. After I collected my research, the words flowed pretty quickly. Writing in rhyme is really exciting to me and I was surprised to find that writing lyrical non-fiction was a smoother process for me than lyrical fiction. I think because for non-fiction I had the overall framework to work with already (the existing information on animal tails), instead of creating the whole story from scratch with fiction and making it rhyme! I couldn’t believe all the different ways animals can uses their tails and loved creating a lyrical portrayal of their tail-ents.
HAIL THE TAIL was sold to Andrea Welch at Beach Lane Books/S&S in Spring 2025 and will be coming out in February 2027! The amazingly talented Elisa Chavarri will be illustrating. I can’t wait to see what she does with it!
So I guess my point is to be open to new things. Even if it is something not currently on your radar screen. Challenge yourself. Push your boundaries. If I decided not to branch out, I never would have known that I actually love writing non-fiction. *I actually just sold a companion story to HAIL THE TAIL to Beach Lane Books called CHEERS FOR EARS (a lyrical non-fiction story all about the amazing things animal ears can do!) and am working on some more non-fiction ideas.
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