Authors, Kai Strand & LA Dragoni

This is the time of year I reflect and then look forward. Usually. Last year I purposefully avoided the big think. I was in such a bad place in my writing life. I didn’t want to look back because that was what opened the dark hole in my head. I didn’t want to look forward because I really didn’t care if I ever wrote another word. So I went into 2016 without any goals. Without a plan. Without guilt. It was AMAZING! Now as we approach 2017, I’m excited to say that I’m writing again. I completed two new manuscripts in 2016 – quite surprising actually. To be honest, when I see that sentence, “I completed two new manuscripts in 2016” I think, Holy sh*t! I did?! Oddly, I now have a new set of problems. What to do with them. However, this post isn’t about my screwed up writer’s head, so I’ll simply say I keep changing my mind as to what my next path will be in the world of writing and because of that, my career is still pretty halted. As hard as it is to have two completed manuscripts d...

Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love to introduce readers to the people involved in children’s publishing. Today we welcome publisher, Ellie Sipila from Common Deer Press. Thanks for joining us, Ellie. Tell us a little about you, please. Hi there. I’m Ellie Sipila, and I’m the acquisitions editor/publisher of Common Deer Press. On top of being a published writer myself, I hold a Publishing certificate from Ryerson University. Being the professional kind of nerd, after a short (and somewhat unfulfilling) stint in Engish Lit, I figured out that actually, my passions were with making books, not so much dissecting them. So I enrolled at Ryerson for all three kinds of editing, went on to get a specialization in editing books intended for young readers, then rounded out my education with courses in book design and physical and digital book production. Now, at Common Deer, I am living the dream by acquiring great manuscripts and making them as awesome as is humanly possible. ...