GRAFFITI WALL: Kelly Hashway, Picture Book Author of MAY THE BEST DOG WIN!

The GRAFFITI WALL is excited to have our very first Picture Book Author share her writing splats with us!! Plus, she's offering up SWAG & a PB Critique!! Mother, wife, and writer of all that encompasses children's literature--YA, MG, & Picture Books--she's also a supportive critique partner and active member of YAlitchat, offering her suggestions and guidance to other writers.

KELLY HASHWAY

Young Adult, Middle Grade, & Picture Book Author

You're a children's author, in all three realms: young adult, middle grade, and picture books. What made you turn to writing picture books?

I have a four-year-old daughter who has always loved books. So for the past four years, I've spend a good portion of my day reading picture books. I couldn't help but fall in love with them. The first time I even thought about writing for this age group was when my daughter asked me to read her a story about Santa and the Easter Bunny. I didn't know of any, so I wrote one. It was actually a short story and I had it published. But I loved writing for the age group so much that I decided to try picture books next.

Once you wrote your picture book, May The Best Dog Win, what was your next step?

Revise, revise, and revise some more! I gave the story to some trusted individuals to pick apart and the manuscript was much better for it. Then I started submitting to publishers and worked my way through the slush.
 
What is the process of publication for a picture book once a publisher makes you an offer?

You wouldn't believe how much editing goes into a picture book. Every word counts and every scene needs to be able to work with the illustrations. I went through rounds of edits and then more after the illustrator drafted the drawings. And then a few more after that. It was crazy, but in a good way. I'm very happy with the end result.

Did you work personally with the illustrator?

Not really. She and I have talked via email, but she took my writing and brought it to life pretty much on her own. And I couldn't be happier with the way she did it.
 
I can't agree more. The book is so colorful and energetic.


Do you have a method for mapping out a picture book?

I try to picture the book's layout in my mind. I make sure I have enough scenes and that I don't rely completely on the text. It's really a fifty-fifty between the author and illustrator so you have to give up some control, which isn't always easy to do.
 
What was your inspiration for writing May the Best Dog Win? Did you brainstorm?

One of my many many quirks is that I vacuum everyday. My huge German shepherd is afraid of the vacuum. She sniffs it, gets in its way, and then dashes out of the room. Two seconds later she's back doing it all over again. It made me wonder if she thought the vacuum was a strange looking dog. May the Best Dog Win evolved from there as I brainstormed how a vacuum could be viewed as a dog.

Signature Alleyway question: you're going into space with only food, your cat Gomer, and a character from a book. Which character would you bring with you? 

Kate Weatherall from The Mysterious Benedict Society. She always carries around that bucket with helpful things in it. She is allowed to have the bucket in space, right?

You're agent is the fabulous Lauren Hammond (ADA Management). How's it working with an agent?

Lauren's amazing! I'm so lucky to have her on my side. Working with an agent is great because you have someone championing your book. I know Lauren believes in me and my book, and that's such a great feeling. She calms me down when I'm stressing, and she keeps me up-to-date on everything that's going on with my work.

Best advice ever given you that you'd like to pass on.

I was recently at my regional SCBWI conference and Donna Gephart talked about never giving up because you never know when you're on the one-yard line. You may be closer than you think to achieving your goals. Imagine where we'd be today if great writers quit on that one-yard line.


Could we have anymore supportive of an author friend in Kelly?? Awesome.

For more Kelly and Dash, visit Kelly on her WEBSITE, Facebook, Twitter, & Dash's Facebook Page. And even better, support them both on Freado.

Kelly is offer up 2 giveaways: 

~  a SWAG packet: May the Best Dog Win t-shirt, a doggie bag including a pencil, bookmark, bracelet, magnet, sticker, and candy.

~ a PB critique.

ENTER below.