Why We Write with Heather Pierce Stigall

Hello, everybody! I’m excited to tell you in about 2-3 weeks, Why We Write interviews will be coming to you in podcast form!! 

Today’s guest is Heather Pierce Stigall, author of Paisley’s Big Birthday illustrated by Natallia Bushuyeva and Gilbert & The Ghost illustrated by Jess Mason. Enjoy!

When did you start creating books–whole stories from start to finish?

I was a closeted writer for a while; I didn’t really tell anybody. I mostly jotted down ideas or dreamed up ideas and didn’t write them down. Sometimes I had Post-it notes and napkins, anything I could write on. I still do that, actually.

Around 10 or so years ago I admitted out loud to a few people that I really thought I might want to do this. 

I had more than one idea of something that I’d been thinking about longer than just a quick idea. I was forming a plot in my head and thought it would make a good book. Then I kept hearing about joining SCBWI. First I bought a book on writing picture books, read it on my own. Later, I joined SCBWI and 12 x 12.

I’ve always loved picture books. I love the medium. I love the art, the illustrations with the words. I’m kind of a wordy person when I talk and if we had a choice in school of writing a paper or doing an oral presentation, I wanted to do the paper because I’m not as good at thinking on my feet.

Writing allows me this time and space to make it messy first. I found that the picture book was such a great art form and like a puzzle for me to figure out how to tell a whole story in few words. Then having the art do part of the storytelling. I just always loved that and I’ve always loved kids–all my jobs have always been with kids. Any chance I could get to read to kids, I’d pull out a picture book. 

Picture books will always be my first love.

Awesome! Was Paisley’s Big Birthday your first manuscript that you finished or were there other ones before that?

I had one really horrible one that’s still in the drawer. Then another one I worked on for a really long time that I was having trouble with. At that point I had joined a critique group and it was the first story I was working on with them.

That changed so many times I was like, ‘I need to work on something else.’ This was the first one I felt was polished, the plot structure worked, it seemed to fit all the rules for picture books. 

But because it was the first one I felt was polished, even though it wasn’t the first one I wrote, it sat in a drawer. For picture book people, if you want an agent you’re usually told the advice that you need to have 3-5 manuscripts.

It sat in a drawer for a while. I continued to write more and once I started submitting to agents–I felt that other stories were stronger or might have more appeal–it got in the backlist.

Interesting, I love when the books come back like that. You’ve been working on it for this long time and then it’s like, ‘this is the time for that story.’

Yeah and that’s what happened with this one. During COVID I was suffering from withdrawal from my regular library haul. I check out stacks of books–my poor librarians, their backs–I feel bad for them. 

So, I was not able to go to the library to check out my regular books and of course I have a lot of picture books but I’ve read those lots of times. I was craving new things. 

Sometimes authors would have virtual book launches and I could go to those and hear them read their story. Some publishers were allowing some of their authors to do read alouds and Clavis was one of those publishers. 

I started getting a taste for their books and I got on their mailing list so I would get an email about new books coming out. And I thought, ‘You don’t need an agent to submit to them and I have this story that I wrote a long time ago that I’m not sure would catch an agent’s eye but it’s kind of cute.’

It seemed like it might be a fit for them so I took my chances. I pulled it out of the virtual drawer, I cleaned it up a little more, tweaked it here and there. And I sent it to them and they responded and said they wanted to publish it. 

It was the only person I’d ever sent it to, after all the rejections for years I was looking around like, “Can somebody read this and tell me if this is real?” 

That’s so exciting!

Yeah! So, that was during the pandemic. Then it came out this year, 2023. 

It was the very beginning of 2020 that I sent it in–I think it was January or February–and a month or two later, they responded. 

Wow! That’s so exciting and so quick compared to most response times! And you’ve got another book coming out, too, next year, right? Gilbert and The Ghost?

It was supposed to come out next year, yes. After Paisley, I signed with an agent and that agent went out with the story that she signed me on–Gilbert and The Ghost.

It took a few months but we got an offer with Beaming Books and they told me it would be coming out in Fall of 2024. 

This past spring they let my editor go. We had already done all of our edits except for copy edits which come at the end. But there were not that many. She asked me to change some very small things and we worked on the title, they didn’t want to use the original title. 

So, we agreed on a title. We had a couple little tweaks, and went back and forth. I had seen cover art because they had an illustrator signed on.

Shortly after that they let my editor go. Then a few weeks later they told me because the editor was no longer working there, they had to redistribute all of her books and that meant they were going to have to change the launch dates of some of the books.

They pushed mine to Fall of 2026. I signed that contract in the spring of 2022 and now I have to wait 4 years from the time I signed the contract to it coming out. 

When you hit an obstacle like that–I mean, that just sucks. Yes, they love the book but it’s not the way you pictured it when you first signed on. What do you do to keep going when you hit those obstacles? 

Rely on my critique partners. In this case, just before they told me they let my editor go, my agent decided not to represent authors anymore. So, I was losing my agent and then lost the editor and then they pushed the book.

But my agent–a lovely woman, for personal reasons decided not to represent authors anymore–she’s still my agent for that book.

And we have another book on submission and she told me she would represent me through that book, but that would be our last project together. So, I still felt like I could go to her so even when they let my editor go, I right away emailed her.

She’s still there for me so that’s good. 

I also, of course, commiserated with my critique partners which is a great help. The kidlit community, I find, is really a very nice place. It’s full of a lot of really nice people and I belong to a bunch of Facebook groups–authors, agented authors, or authors who were on submission, or 12 x 12, or whatever.

That’s always helpful and my family, they don’t quite get it because they’re not writers but they still support me however they can.

One of my things, and I cannot take credit for this, is I have what I call a ‘rejection jar.’ Every time I get a pass on something, I put a dollar in the jar. When I get a ‘yes,’ I get to spend the money in the jar.

I’ve never heard of that before! 

Why do you write?

Besides connecting to my own inner child, I’m hoping to connect to the children who need or want to hear the stories I write. I know my stuff is not going to be right for everyone but hopefully there’s somebody out there that will connect to something I write.

Yeah, definitely! It’s a very compelling part of it. If you could go back in time and give yourself one piece of advice when you first began your writing journey, what would it be?

Well, this is advice I still hear and I have been a believer in: just keep going. The only guarantee to failing is to give up. 

You just have to keep going and as you’ve heard, I’ve hit many obstacles–more than I’ve mentioned–and if I didn’t believe that someday something would happen for me, I would have given up a long time ago.

It only takes one yes. You have to work on the things you can control and then let the other stuff go.

Yeah, that’s what I hear, too. A lot of the time it’s, ‘it just takes one yes,’ but the 250 ‘nos’ are pretty exhausting.

Yeah, they’re pretty exhausting. I agree. Then even when you get an agent or you get the book deal or whatever it is, there are more rejections along the way. It never stops.

You have to know that going into this. You have to develop a thick skin. Some of them hurt more than others. 

There’s some that you really had your heart set on, that story getting published or that publisher or that agent or whatever. Some of those sting more than others but put $5 in the jar for that one. 

Tell us about your latest book, where it’s available and the best place for readers to connect with you?

Paisley’s Big Birthday which is written by me and illustrated by Natallia Bushuyeva, published by Clavis. It’s a story about having patience as you grow. 

Paisley is the name of a bunny rabbit who hops out of bed the morning of her birthday and she thinks she’s gonna be all things Big Bunny. She’s gonna be able to do everything a Big Bunny can do. But then as the day goes on, she’s thinking, ‘Maybe it’s not my birthday because I can’t do all of the things that I wanted to do. 

It’s available through your local independent bookstores. That’s where I would send you first. It’s also available at all retailers; you can get it through Barnes & Noble, Amazon, Walmart, Target. You can order it online at any of those places and connect with me through my website. 

I can’t thank Heather enough for sharing her time and experience in the writing world. Make sure to stay tuned for next week’s Why We Write with Colleen Olle. In case you missed it, check out Donn King’s interview on Why We Write here. 

Also, if you want to hear more about Nia’s Rescue Box, listen to my interview on Donn’s podcast, The Alignment Show, here. And make sure to check out the new free printable activities under the Nia’s Rescue Box tab on my website. Until next time!