Three Times A Charm With Kelly Hashway

Three Times a Charm is a weekly feature that spotlights authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from children's publishing.

This week we are joined by Kelly Hashway, author of May the Best Dog Win. Here is more about Kelly:
 

Kelly Hashway writes short stories and books for children of all ages. Kelly’s debut picture book, May the Best Dog Win, released April 30, 2011 through FutureWord Publishing, and she recently signed a contract with Guardian Angel Publishing for her second picture book. Her middle grade and young adult works are represented by Lauren Hammond of ADA Management.

Wow, Kelly, it sounds like you are on fire! Tell us about your current title.

May the Best Dog Win is the story of Dash, a mixed breed dog who has the perfect life until the Super Sweeper 5000 shows up on his doorstep. Sweeper runs all over the house sucking up the leftover food scraps, and he even gets his own room! But Dash won’t give up his place as the favorite dog without a fight.

Sounds adorable! I can think of several kids I know who love dog books.

Now, for the Threes. Share with us your top 3’s to help us know you a little better.

  

• Top 3 books you’ve read in the past year.

            Hush, Hush and Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick are two great books I recently finished. I devoured them both. I wasn’t even a fan of angel books, but these kept me interested and before I knew it, I was in love with the characters and the story. I can’t wait to read Silence, the next book in the series. For the third book, I’d have to say Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy by Ally Carter. This was just a fun read. Who doesn’t love a good spy book, especially when the spy is a girl?

• Top 3 pieces of advice for people just starting in your business.

            First read everything you can get your hands on because the best way to learn about the craft is from the people who do it best. Second critique other people’s work. You really learn a lot about your own writing by reading the work of others and finding ways to make their writing stronger. It’s not always easy to see weaknesses in your own work, but you can recognize it other people’s writing and then you’re not only helping someone else, but you’re also helping yourself become a better writer. And third, celebrate the steps along the way. This is a tough industry, and small successes deserve attention. Take the time to be happy about finishing the manuscript, about finding the courage to submit your work for others to read, etc. All of these things take courage and should be recognized as achievements.

(Sound advice!)

• Top 3 authors.

            Rick Riordan (Percy Jackson series), Wendelin Van Draanen (Sammy Keyes series), and Kelley Armstrong (Darkest Powers series). They all have great voices that leap off the page with the very first sentence. Voice is the most important thing to me when choosing books to read. If a book has a great voice, I’ll read it—regardless of the genre.

Kelly, where can our readers find more about you, your books and your growing career?

Website/blog: http://www.kellyhashway.com

Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/kellyhashway

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kelly-Hashway-Young-adult-middle-grade-and-picture-book-writer/194426953911032?sk=wall

Kelly, thank you for visiting with us. I look forward to working with you as a fellow “Angel” at Guardian Angel Publishing. Best of luck to you and May the Best Dog Win!

THANKS!