My students come from all levels of the continuum. Some come to me when they have just started writing or have collected a few rejection letters, while others are published and come to study a new genre or format.

Today, Jean Reagan answers just three questions about her first book!

Q: When did you start writing?

A: I started writing seriously about five years ago. My first step was attending a picture book workshop taught by a local author. Four of us attendees formed a critique group, and now we are all published authors with seven books between us.

But, it wasn’t easy. Together, we received three to four hundred rejections on forty-plus manuscripts! To improve our chances of success, we joined the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, attended conferences, organized writing retreats, and read tons of children’s books. We also took online classes to hone our writing skills. (Let me put in a plug for Anastasia’s classes. I completed three. They were excellent!)

Along the way I entered local and national writing contests which encouraged me to keep going, despite the rejections. My first acceptance was a magazine story for Boy’s Quest, two years after I had started writing. My first picture book contract was a year later.

Q: Describe your writing process.

A: My first step is to generate an idea and determine if it has potential. So far, my most successful and fun way to do this was a “picture book marathon” that a fellow writer and I organized last fall. We challenged ourselves to write twenty-six (hence “marathon”) picture books in one month. The pressure forced us into a daily routine of generating and completing stories, some of which had churned in our heads for years. This routine also opened our eyes to the possibility of story ideas everywhere. We felt hyper alert.

Once I have a very rough, first draft I submit it to my critique group almost immediately. I trust their input on whether a story is workable.

Taking a bath, hiking alone, and doing dishes are my best contemplative times for resolving problems in a story. So I intentionally schedule interruptions in my writing time with these activities.

When I think my manuscript is polished, I seek a professional critique. Either I sign up for a critique at a conference, or I pay for an on-line critique service with someone I admire. Now that I have an agent (Jamie Weiss Chilton of the Andrea Brown Literary Agency), I follow up our email critique exchanges with a phone chat. Then, it’s back to more revising.

Q: Tell us about your latest book.

A: Always My Brother (Tilbury House, June 2009) is a picture book about sibling loss told from the perspective of the younger sister. This book does not exactly mirror our own family’s story. Yet it does tap into the emotions and experiences of losing our son in 2005. (For the story behind the book, visit www.jeanreagan.com.)

One challenge in writing children’s books is that in the story, the child–not the adult–has to solve the problem. But, how can a child possibly solve such an overwhelming problem as losing a brother? I grappled with this dilemma for months and finally came up with the idea of focusing on a small part of the sister’s life–soccer.

My other challenge was I wanted the book to convey authentic emotions and realistic hope. I did not want to offer a false, tidy “we planted tree, so we’re all better now” ending. But, I didn’t want the book to be gloomy, either. The positive book reviews make me think, perhaps, I successfully walked the fine line between these two extremes. I lightly sprinkled the story with humor, too.

If I only had one book published, this is the book I wanted because it’s dear to my heart. But, fortunately I just signed a contract with Knopf for my second book, How to Babysit a Grandpa (June 2011). It’s wonderful to send a purely happy, silly book into the world, as well.

Congratulations, Jean!

Blog Tour BONUS!

Blog Comment Prizes

We will draw 7 lucky winners from all of those who leave comments on the participating tour posts (Nov.1-13) to win one of the following prizes:

- A copy of Always My Brother signed by author Jean Reagan (5 available)*
- A set of 10 winter notecards with art by illustrator Phyllis Pollema-Cahill (2 available)

* Winners are welcome to designate a grief center, school, or library to receive their signed copy in their place.
All winners will be announced after the tour. US/Canada addresses only, please.

Twitter Prize
Everyone that tweets about the tour using the hashtag #AlwaysTour from November 1-13 will be entered to win a set of three children’s books from Tilbury House — your choice! Winners will be announced after the tour, US/Canada addresses only, please.

Copyright © 2009 Anastasia Suen All Rights Reserved.