Story Cravings, Wonder Walls, and A Little Bit of Everything with Meghana Narayan

Today we’re in for a treat with abstract artist and children’s book author Meghana Narayan, of the newly released A Little Bit of Everything illustrated by Michelle Carlos.

Meghana and I cover a lot of ground from what apps we use to catch random ideas to the magic of sharing parts of yourself through your writing. 

Grab a cup of tea, settle in and enjoy the episode! 🙂

• She’s spent a lifetime crafting stories, since she was a child.

• The origin of her debut picture book as a love letter to her future children, embracing every part of themselves and their unique identity.

• How she journaled her way through different ideas, turning them into stories.

• Her experience with her unique identity as one spread between two worlds.

• “I feel like I’m writing those stories that I so deeply craved as a child–that I didn’t really realize I needed. In a lot of ways, I’m writing for–the children out there who are also waiting to see themselves in a book.”

• How different real writing life is compared to the ideal we all like to live in on Instagram: “that ideal setting never happens. Mostly one child is napping and the other is screaming in the background or tugging on my leg. I realized writing is going to have to come out in these little bursts. I don’t really have the time to sit down and have two hours to revise this draft or start on a new story.”

• Teach for the Change–Meghana started this originally as a blog after her first daughter was born in 2020 and later turned it into an Instagram account and more. With all the heaviness in the world at the time, she felt incredibly disconnected from her passion (as a teacher), working alongside young children. Through this she found a way to stay connected to education and create a space that offers resources for “raising racially and socially conscious children who are compassionate and care about this world.”

• The power of pause–pausing and acknowledging you don’t know the answer to a big question when a child asks it. Not knowing the answer is okay and important in making ourselves vulnerable with our children. You can even create a wonder wall like she talks about!

• The magic of picture books, especially when shared with older children (middle and high school).

Links:

• Meghana’s website

• Meghana on Instagram

• A Little Bit of Everything through Sleeping Bear Press (Cherry Lake Publishing), Amazon, Bookshop, Barnes and Noble

I had such a blast talking with Meghana, I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did! 🙂Up next, we have writer, spoken word poet, performance artist, and educator LD Green. While you’re waiting for that, make sure you’ve had a chance to listen to last week’s episode with author C.S. Boyll. Until the next time! 🎧❤️🖋️📚