NaPiBoWriWee Day Eight (Prize Drawing): Guest Author Blog – Lisa Wheeler
Good morning! Welcome to the Day After NaPiBoWriWee! Can you believe we finished 7 picture books in 7 days? Or at least tried to? I hope everyone slept in this morning… you deserve it!
The prize drawing announcement of the winners will be posted by 5 PM (PST) today. Please come back to see if you won! I will be drawing names from a hat at random. The prizes will include autographed copies of my two picture books, the IRA Notable Sixteen Years in Sixteen Seconds: The Sammy Lee Story (Lee & Low 2005) and Shining Star: The Anna May Wong Story (Lee & Low 2009) and goodies from our NaPiBoWriWee store (http://cafepress.com/napibowriwee). Other prizes will include signed books from all the authors who were interviewed for NaPiBoWriWee (Erin Eitter Kono, Ken Min, Katie Davis, Hope Vestergaard, Don Tate, Carolyn Crimi, Dan Santat, Janie Bynum, Lisa Wheeler, and Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen) plus a free manuscript critique from author Tara Lazar.
Before we post the winners of the 2011 National Picture Book Writing Week Prize Giveaways Random Drawing Contest, I will be posting two final Guest Author Blogs to inspire everyone to KEEP WRITING even though NaPiBoWriWee has ended for the year.
9 AM (PST) GUEST AUTHOR BLOG: This morning’s Guest Author blog features kid lit veteran LISA WHEELER, who has graciously offered to autograph a copy of her book, Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children for this year’s prize giveaway. Thank you Lisa!
12 PM (PST) GUEST AUTHOR BLOG: The next Guest Author blog will be posted at noon (PST) and will feature SUDIPTA BARDHAN-QUALLEN. She will autograph a copy of Chicks Run Wild for our drawing as well. Thank you Sudipta!
So please come back for Sudipta’s guest blog at noon (PST) and the Prize Announcement at 5 PM (PST)!
(Keep reading for the rest of our Q&A with Lisa Wheeler after the jump…)
Q&A WITH LISA WHEELER
Welcome LISA WHEELER, our guest author for 2011 NaPiBoWriWee Day Eight – the big Prize Drawing day!
Lisa Wheeler is passionate about children’s books. “I love everything about them, including the smell.” To date, Lisa has thirty titles on library shelves, with more to follow over the next few years. She’s written picture books in prose and rhyme, an easy reader series, three books of poems, and creative nonfiction for the very young. Awards include the 2004 Mitten Award for Old Cricket, given by the Michigan Library Association, the 2005/06 Great Lakes, Great Books Award and 2005 Missouri Building Blocks Award for Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum, the 2006 Bluebonnet Award for Seadogs , the 2006/07 South Carolina Picture Book Award for Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum and most recently, the 2008 The Theodor Seuss Geisel Award forJazz Baby given by the American Library Association. Her newest titles include Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children, illustrated by Sophie Blackall (Simon & Schuster) and Dino-Basketball, illustrated by Barry Gott (CarolRhoda). Lisa shares her Michigan home with one husband, one dog, and an assortment of anthropomorphic characters. Check out her website at www.lisawheelerbooks.com
Lisa graciously agreed to autograph a copy of Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children for this year’s prize giveaway. Thank you, Lisa!
–Where is the best place for you to write your books?
I am a kinetic learner. I think better while in motion. Most idea come to me while I am walking or driving. I have even written parts of a book or speech while riding on a lawn tractor, swimming laps in a pool, and at a Spinning class.
— If you weren’t a writer, what would you be?
I would have to be involved in children’s books in some way. Prior to being an author, I had a job working in a children’s book department. I loved it! I’d go back to that or try and get a job in a library—children’s section, of course.
— What was the most unusual job you ever had?
In high-school, I liked to go fishing with my boyfriend. We caught our own night crawlers. I was so good at it, I decided to catch and sell worms. My parents had to be the easiest-going folks on Earth. They let me keep dozens of worms in Styrofoam cups in our refrigerator. I eventually let the business go, but I kept the boyfriend. He’s been my husband for 30 years.
— In addition, we have a NaPiBoWriWee “Flashback” post from May 5, 2009 posted on my NaPiBoWriWee blog featuring a fun poem Lisa had written about picture book writing. If you’re curious to check it out, please go here: https://paulayoo.com/napi/?p=26
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Thank you so much Lisa for your generosity in answering our questions. For NaPiBoWriWee participants, you might win an autographed copy of Lisa’s Spinster Goose: Twisted Rhymes for Naughty Children at this year’s drawing, too! We look forward to your comments on Lisa. Until then… Happy Writing! WRITE LIKE YOU MEAN IT!
Lisa Wheeler is my hero. It used to be when people asked me to name a favorite children’s book I scoffed. How could anyone attempt to compare or choose just one? Now I can honestly say I have a favorite book in the library where I work. It is without hesitation, Jazz Baby. I have read this book aloud and the rhythm is infectious. Kids start clapping and stamping their feet. This is the book I look to when I want something I know will be a hit. I am never disappointed. Not only that, when I read it a few months ago. a child who I had never heard speak before was yelling “Go man, go!” Every adult in the room had tears in their eyes.
That’s as good as it gets.
Lisa, it was a pleasure to learn more about you. Bubble Gum, Bubble Gum has to be my favorite. (Though I haven’t read Jazz Baby.) Will go get it tomorrow, thanks to Lynda’s^ recommendation. 🙂