Three Times A Charm with Linda Derkez

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

This week author, Linda Derkez is visiting with us. Welcome to Strands of Thought, Linda. Can you please tell us a little about you? 

I’ve always enjoyed writing, especially journaling. The mother of three, I began writing children's stories that would reinforce lessons or values I wanted my children to learn. I’m the author of one previously published children’s book, Caleb's Missing Whisper & Other Stories (currently unavailable). I also co-authored Cody Knows with award-winning author (and sister) Karen Wiesner. I enjoy writing children's stories with my husband and my brother-in-law, David Fielding, who illustrated One Large Peanut Butter Sandwich To Go (just released from Guardian Angel Publishing).

We’d love to hear about your recently released picture books.

Chip’s Sharing Day:

Cousin Dorcas is visiting today and Chip's mother tells him he must share his toys because it's kind and nice and fair to share. Shy Dorcas picks up one toy after the other, only to have that rascal Chip remind her that they have to share and take turns playing with his toys. Finally, Dorcas decides to be kind and nice and fair by sharing something with Chip that he might not actually want! Chip finds himself reluctantly admiring his cousin for beating him at his own game.

The inspiration for this book were real teddy bears that I gave voices and personalities to. Chip was a cute stuffed bear, but I could tell he was quite naughty. J

One Large Peanut Butter Sandwich to Go:

Scotty is in the habit of walking around with his food, leaving crumbs all over, rather than sitting at the table to eat. Mom is in the habit of letting him. One day Mom decides to use her imagination to fix this growing problem. When Scotty asks to walk to the clinic where his father works a few blocks away with his peanut butter and jelly sandwich, Mom says sure--but has he considered all the people who might ask for a bite of his delicious lunch? When Scotty's sandwich grows impossibly bigger and bigger in his mind to account for all the people who'll ask for a bite, he must make a decision about whether it's wiser to keep his sandwich for himself by sitting at the table to eat it.

When I was pregnant, I vowed I would be the kind of mother who would insist that my children eat only at the table. Somehow the opposite happened! They ate all over the house! I wrote this story to give a light-hearted reason why it's important to eat meals at the table.

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

• Top 3 tools of the trade you couldn’t live without.

Coffee, a good pen that can keep up, and my iPad.

• Top 3 pieces of advice for kids these days.

Read, read, read. Read books that interest you but try books that fall outside that line, too. Write even if it's not good. Take a favorite book or movie character and write your own story based on them. You’ll learn the joy and process of writing without the pressure of coming up with your own character.

• Top 3 authors.

For illustrated books: Kevin Henkes, Rosemary Wells, Anthony Browne

Linda, where can our tech-savvy readers go to keep up with you and your work?

Visit me my website: http://www.angelfire.com/stars4/kswiesner/linda.html  

Thank you for visiting with us on this week’s Three Times A Charm, Linda. Best of luck with your writing!

THANKS!

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I am always looking for guests for Three Times A Charm. If you are an author, illustrator or book reviewer, an agent or an editor. If you have something related to children’s publishing that you’d like people to know about, feel free to contact me about a future appearance.