Q & A with author Vivian Kirkfield

Hello all!

Welcome to my book blog. For this Q & A, please welcome the talented author Vivian Kirkfield. Her engaging nonfiction book SWEET DREAMS, SARAH is one of her many new releases. I was grateful she took the time out of her busy schedule to answer some of my questions.

Can you describe the journey to publication for this book?
The manuscript was written the month after I took a class in writing nonfiction. I was excited to tell the story of one of the first African American women to secure a U.S. patent…I turned to librarians to help with the research and I turned to critique buddies to help with polishing what I had written. As soon as I signed with my agent, she sent out the story to about a dozen editors…and one of them bought it. The editor asked for a few revisions/changes here and there…nothing major. Unfortunately, the illustration process took quite a long time…over three years…but that is how it happens sometimes. However, the finished product is beautiful and SWEET DREAMS, SARAH has been receiving glowing reviews!

Where did you draw the book’s inspiration?
I love to write nonfiction stories about people who have struggled, people whom history has sometimes forgotten. When I discovered that Sarah E. Goode had been a trailblazer, but that she hadn’t been properly recognized in her own time, I knew I wanted to tell her story.

Please share some of your writing process.
When I am writing nonfiction, I find a topic (watch TV or listen to people or surf the internet in order to find ideas) and then I research it. Then I decide what is the focus of the story…what do I want young kids to take away from the book. I fashion a pitch…that helps me to find the thread/heart of the story. And then I write the first line. For me, the first line is really important. It is the way into the story and sets the tone for the rest.

When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?
I always loved writing…but never considered writing a book until my children were grown and I wrote a parent/teacher book…the book I wished I’d had when I was younger. And then I discovered a world of writers who wanted to write picture books and I realized that was what I wanted to do also…it was right after I went skydiving at the age of 64.

Where do you see your career headed? Do you have other WIPs or projects in the pipeline you would like to mention?
I just turned 72…and I tell people that I need to live to be at least 100 because I have another 30 years of stories to write. I’ve got three debut picture books that just launched this year…with two more in the pipeline for 2020: Making Their Voices Heard: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe (Little Bee Books, Spring 2020) and From Here to There: Inventions that Changed the Way the World Moves (Houghton Mifflin, Fall 2020). My agent has two or three other manuscripts out on submission and I have many more stories ready to go. We also just sent a nonfiction picture book manuscript to one of my editors who requested a specific book…fingers crossed that I have written the book she is looking for.

Please share your favourite kidlit books that have inspired you and served as mentor texts. Pick one classic and one contemporary book. What is it about them that moved you?
I’ve always loved The Little House by Virginia Lee Burton…I loved the story of a house that felt out of place…where change was happening all around her…and then finally, she is rescued and brought to a new surroundings where she can start a new life all over again. Newer picture books are mostly nonfiction: Laurie Wallmark’s Ada Byron Lovelace and the Thinking Machine; Nancy Churnin’s Irving Berlin: The Boy Who Made America Sing; Hannah Holt’s The Diamond and the Boy. The writing in all is so lyrical…and the characters make a hero’s journey. I love them because they are inspiring stories for children and adults.

What is the best (one) piece of advice you would give to other writers?
Nothing is impossible if you can imagine it!

And a bonus Q- If you could be any flavour of ice cream, which one would you be and why?
Moosetracks…chocolate with nuts and caramel!!!! And you ask why? Because I LOVE chocolate and the nuts and caramel only make it better!

BIO

Writer for children—reader forever…that’s Vivian Kirkfield in five words. Her bucket list contains many more than five words – but she’s already checked off skydiving, parasailing and banana-boat riding. When she isn’t looking for ways to fall from the sky or sink under the water, she can be found writing picture books in the quaint village of Amherst, NH where the old stone library is her favorite hangout and her young grandson is her favorite board game partner. A retired kindergarten teacher with a masters in Early Childhood Education, Vivian inspires budding writers during classroom visits and shares insights with aspiring authors at conferences and on her blog, Picture Books Help Kids Soar. She is the author of Pippa’s Passover Plate (Holiday House); Four Otters Toboggan: An Animal Counting Book (Pomegranate); Sweet Dreams, Sarah (Creston Books); Making Their Voices Heard: The Inspiring Friendship of Ella Fitzgerald and Marilyn Monroe (Little Bee Books); and From Here to There: Inventions That Changed the Way the World Moves (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). You can connect with her on her website, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, Linkedin, or just about any place people with picture books are found

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