In this episode of Getting to The Heart of Why We Write, I had the pleasure of speaking with Leah Moser whose book, I AM A THUNDERCLOUD illustrated by Marie Hermansson, came out with Running Press Kids on April 2, 2024 (also her birthday!!!).🎈🎂
I had so much fun connecting with Leah and talking about the welcoming world of kidlit, the reality of writing as a human person, and more.
Here are some highlights:
The college class that sparked her love for kidlit.
How an ideal writing day differs from the reality of how we get the writing done.☕
The overwhelming support we can find in kidlit among professional organizations and debut groups, like her very own PBSoar24.
Why Write: “Writing itself can be healing or therapeutic but for me it’s also an outlet to express myself in different ways. And I always go back to that line that I’ve heard a bunch, ‘there’s room for everybody at the table.’ My words matter, my stories matter, just like everyone else’s stories and words matter.”📖
And final words of advice: “When you’re waiting on something, work on something else.”
The Reality of Writing
I really appreciated Leah’s take on the reality of writing versus what we could have in an ideal world. For most of us, the idyllic steaming mug of coffee (or tea) on a clean desk facing a large open picture window with a beautiful view in a quiet home is far from attainable. For one thing, as Leah put it “the coffee is always cold.”
Having everything taken care of and all loose ends tied up for us to calmly sit down and craft some words is simply impossible. Living inherently is made of loose ends and finding the space within those spooling threads to create the stories of your heart is what each of us writers do.
Yes, it can be hard when our tea has been reheated for the fifteenth time. No, it isn’t easy to focus on a sentence when there is a toddler on your face. And of course there are times when writing isn’t an option and those words must wait. But, we always return to them. Some seasons are more about living the stories, some focus on writing them. However, in every life we are walking the balance between two.
I hope you enjoy today’s episode as much as I did. Listening back through these interviews has been such a joy and always inspires me to find a few minutes amid the chaos to return to my own stories.
Links:
Leah’s website–check this out for the latest list of book events
Leah’s Freelance Editing Services
I Am A Thundercloud illustrated by Marie Hermansson on Hachette, Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes & Noble
The 12×12 Picture Book Challenge
Leah on Instagram, Threads, X, Facebook, Link.tree
Book Recommendations📚📚:
The Lion Queen: Rasila Vadher, the First Woman Guardian of the Last Asiatic Lions by Rina Singh illustrated Tara Anand
Our Pool by Lucy Ruth Cummins
The Push by Ashley Audrain
Thank you for listening and stay tuned for next week’s episode with Laura Bower! 🎧🎧🎧
While you’re waiting for the next interview, make sure you’re all caught up on past episodes of Getting to The Heart of Why We Write like this one with Marzieh Abbas.
