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Hi, Mark! Welcome to the PBPeekaboo author interview series! Congratulations on your debut picture book, Cinderelliot: A Scrumptious Fairytale, which arrives May 3rd from Running Press Kids.  Where did you get the idea for Cinderelliot and what was it like to collaborate with your co-author Rachel Smoka-Richardson? I came up with the idea after reading the book PRINCE & KNIGHT by Daniel Haack which was published on May 1, 2018. This is a picture book about a prince and knight who fall in love and get married. Soon after I read it, I thought about Cinderella and wondered what it would be like to write a gay version. I wrote the first draft in July 2018. After I wrote the first few drafts, I sent it to Rachel for feedback as we were friends and had met through volunteering at Minnesota SCBWI conferences. We had given each other feedback on other stories before CINDERELLIOT. Rachel gave me feedback and I revised. I sent it back to her and then she suggested the idea of collaborating. I said yes, as I thought it was a great idea. The collaboration was a wonderful experience! We kept sending the story back and forth through email to each other from July/Aug 2018-Spring 2019. Each time we got the story more focused and tightened it up. Why did you add in the baking twist? Are either of you bakers? The first few drafts of the story had Cinderelliot competing in a sporting competition where he did wood carving, and his two brothers swam and hunted. This version just wasn’t working, and I couldn’t figure out how to get around the hunting aspect. I didn’t think that would go over very well in schools or with parents. Rachel came up with the idea for the baking competition. I thought it was a great idea and so we spent months reworking that aspect of the story. We added in more baking vocabulary and a variety of baked goods. What other projects are you currently working on? I am working on a Ghost/Halloween story. I have another project that I just revised for my editor. But I can’t give any details yet until it’s announced. What advice would you give to aspiring authors? My advice would be to read lots of picture books. Check out stacks of the latest ones from the library and see what is being published today. Join a critique group. Join SCBWI and attend their webinars and conferences. They have many resources and offer many opportunities to learn the craft, hear an editor speak, or get feedback from an editor or agent. I would also encourage others to keep writing stories. Don’t worry if they aren’t perfect. Just keep at it and try and revise and make it the best story you can. Take some children’s writing classes. Learn all you can about the craft. Above all, don’t give up! Be persistent, patient, and professional. Thank you, Mark, for making the time to speak with us about your book.
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