Ohana with Margo Sorenson!

I’m Josh Monken, children’s lit author, father, science communicator, and podcaster, joined by Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, avid climber and outdoorsperson, and podcaster!

This is the podcast You May Contribute a Verse, where we talk to kidlit creators, share their stories, and learn from their journey.

There are many times in the life of being a fan of things that you consume something, and then want nothing more than to pick the brain of the person who created it.

Hot off consuming the picture book Calvin Gets the Last Word, Brenna and I got one of the primary benefits of doing this podcast, which is to get to pick the brain of one of the persons who created it, author Margo Sorenson (in partnership with illustrator Mike Deas).

Margo is a prolific multi-genre author who has had a storied career thus far, and built her resilience and tenacity by choosing to have taught middle schoolers.

Margo’s work is largely tinged with ohana, the Hawai’ian concept of family, seen through works like her picture book Little Calabash and woven into her identity as an author. I love Margo’s Hawai’ian name Leipua’ala, granted to her by a family friend, meaning ‘little gifts for children.’

What you’ll hear in this episode, aside from us deconstructing Calvin Gets the Last Word, is partial silence from me (especially toward the end), both because I had an internet outage during our conversation, but more importantly because I’m super jealous of Brenna and Margo’s newfound relationship as agency siblings, calabash cousins in the Dan Cramer of Page Turner Literary family.

Such a pleasure to share this conversation. Here is Margo Sorenson’s verse.

From Severed Fingers to Kidlit- AMA with Agent Dan Cramer

I’m Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, rock climber, and outdoors person, and podcaster joined by Josh Monken, children’s lit author, father, science communicator, and podcaster.

Josh and I have embarked on this kidlit journey together this year, having become critique partners early in the year, only to find that our powers combined could make captain planet. Maybe not, but at least our powers combined can make a pretty good podcast. 

Our guest for this conversation is agent extraordinaire Dan Cramer of Page Turner Lit. You can find him on Twitter @pageturnerlit or his website pageturnerliteraryagency.com 

Find us on Twitter and the whole episode archive at verse.show and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment!

Thanks and see ya next time. 

Let‘s Be Weird Together with Brenna Jeanneret

I’m Josh Monken, children’s lit author, father, science communicator, and podcaster, joined by Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, avid climber and outdoorsperson, and podcaster!

This is the podcast You May Contribute a Verse, where we talk to kidlit creators, share their stories, and learn from their journey.

Today is about being weird together. It’s the first recorded conversation between Brenna and me as we get to know each other better and embark on this quest to do a cool lil podcast about picture books.

Every path trodden in this industry is different, and they all represent stories worth telling. Today’s with Brenna not only represents the traditional ‘How I Got My Agent’ story, which is unique and very-2021, but how we got to where we are now.

It’s a story of partnership, putting yourself out there, embracing the weird, and finding ways that work for you. Brenna’s journey has been super productive, not only landing her an agent in Dan Cramer (of Page Turner Lit), but becoming part of our budding Totally Funny Critique Group and eventually us combining our podcasting powers into one.

Each turn of the tale is about keeping eyes and ears open for opportunity, heart open to accept the uncertainty inherent in new paths, and… mouths open to podcast it out?

Find Brenna at her website.

Brenna is represented by Page Turner Literary Agency and Dan Cramer. Find more information about them - and Brenna's agency siblings - at the Page Turner site.

A Light in the Darkness with Fred Koehler and Quinn‘s Monsters

I’m Josh Monken, children’s lit author, father, science communicator, and podcaster, joined by Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, avid climber and outdoorsperson, and podcaster!

Brenna and I have embarked on this kidlit journey together this year, having become critique partners early in the year, only to find that our powers combined could make captain planet. Maybe not, but at least our powers combined can make a pretty good podcast.

OUR guest for this conversation is author-illustrator Fred Koehler, responsible for a whole bunch of books you can find on his Goodreads page, among them Super Jumbo, How to Cheer Up Dad, and Garbage Island – which is getting a sequel in short order! Fred is also the mastermind behind Ready Chapter 1, a resource hub to help creators next-level their work on the path to being professional storytellers. The thing that drew Brenna and I to Fred, however, is an initiative he’s managing through the end of this month called Quinn’s Monsters, in partnership with the Make A Wish Foundation and a slew of super talented kidlit authors and illustrators.

Quinn is a four-year-old in Florida whose wish is to have spooky stories feature her. And monsters! And so Fred’s put out a call to authors, illustrators, and author-illustrator combos to submit 50-100 word stories – with accompanying illustrations – about monsters that interact and go on adventures with Quinn.

Quinn's Monsters, and by proxy Fred Koehler, is excepting submissions for her picture book project through October 25th, 2021 - find all guidelines (and the other amazing contributors to the project) at ilikefred.com/quinn.

Find us on Twitter and the whole episode archive at verse.show, and as always, let us know what you think via a rate, review, or comment!

A challenger appears! #FallWritingFrenzy 2021 entry, titled ‘Updown‘

Updown

193 words

I’m at the bottom, on my bottom. 

I was at the top, on my bike. 

Learning to ride is hard. 

Hitting the ground is hard too. 

I fell down, crumpled, red, and wet.

Dad says I’m like a leaf that way. “Just like Fall,” he says, eyebrows up. 

“But in Fall, leaves fall down and never get back up,” I say, eyes turned down. “Just falling in useless piles.”

“Is that so?” Dad stoops down, picks up some soil from the yard. “Leaves fall hard, but work hard too.”

He waits, smile pointing up, then says, “Updown.”

“I know,” I say, not liking that I know.

[Narration] Trees use energy to grow leaves. 

Leaves return to the soil as they fall down. 

Tree roots draw them up again through the soil to make new leaves. To grow. 

To grow, they have to lose something. Getting bigger and stronger through falling.

I breathe deep. “No up without down,” I say. 

Dad reaches down, grabs my hand. “And no going down without getting up.”

I’m off my bottom.

On top of the bike. 

“Updown,” I say, smile turning up. 

Leaves make way for my wheels.

Fall- Credit: Julia Solonina / Unsplash

Reaching Readers and Achieving Agency with Author Katey Howes

Katey Howes (@kateywrites), picture book – and maybe more? – author joins me for a chat today. Katey is author of the lately-published Rissy No Kissies, a picture book about a lovebird who doesn’t love kisses and the lessons her family learns about boundaries, consent, and bodily autonomy.

Katey and I do a lot of discussing in this conversation about how to reach readers, from adjusting language in early reader books to making time for virtual visits to weaving theme into your books.

Find Katey Howes' books on Goodreads!

I really hope you enjoy our chat!

Critiques, Conflict, Change, and Complication with Ryan Van Loan

Today’s conversation launches year three of this podcast project, revisiting time spent last September with Ryan Van Loan, author of the Fall of the Gods series, including The Sin in the Steel, published in July 2020, and The Justice in Revenge, publishing July of this year.

So happy to have the chance to speak with Ryan again. If you haven’t yet listened to the conversation we had last year (it's the episode next to this one!), do so now and get to know his earnest goodwill, his fandom, his discipline, and his immense drive.

Ryan and I cover a lot of ground again, discussing contracts, critique groups, complications, characters, and changes. What happens when you begin to get the thing you seek? As it turns out, Ryan’s watching that play out along with his scrappy protagonists Buc and Eld, though they’re having super different experiences with that achievement.

• Read The Sin in the Steel, available everywhere in hardcover now, in paperback June 29! 
• Get The Justice in Revenge, out in hardback and ebook July 13!

Back in business! An entry for Twitter’s SpringFlingKidLit, titled Double You:

Been a heck of a year. Hitting that 2021 vibe with lots of positive energy, bringing the right... weight to bear on new opportunities.

Here's a little of what I've been up to, creativity-wise. As I've waded back into my own writing, I've come across a format that works for me, and an encouraging, accountability-partnering community in the children's literature picture book Twitter world. This great bunch of folks happen to facilitate a few early-year competitions, one of which is this SpringFlingKidLit challenge, constraining manuscript submissions to 150 words or less.

Here's my entry for said challenge: a manuscript titled DOUBLE YOU, focused on helping understand relative weights using doubling as a venue for getting bigger.

DOUBLE YOU

Ryan Van Loan, Author, The Sin in the Steel

There are creators, like my guest today, debut author Ryan Van Loan (@RyanVanLoan), whose fresh insight and earnest goodwill go beyond what’s on the page or in the work and build you into a fan.

These are the conversations I (@JoshMonkwords) strive to have, and consistently manage to find (which I hope comes out in our chats – check the archive).

Ryan Van Loan’s debut novel, The Sin in the Steel, was released on July 21st of this year. It buckles the swashes and takes us on a journey of magic, manipulation, mayhem, and monsters across a fantastical sea as a young, violently scrappy investigator gets to the bottom of a mercantile mystery alongside her stalwart solider compatriot.

It goes deeper than all that, though – the sort of thing that gets glossed over in a lot of books gets confronted head-on in Sin. The trauma and presence of violence even past its end is a major factor that the heroes Buc and Eld face, and despite how prevalent conflict is in his novel, we don’t revel in it. The story also revels in found family and the growth of love over time you can feel for those with whom you walk the path of your life.

There’s another unavoidable reality we cover a lot in our chat, and that’s timing. Both of publication as well as of career. Ryan’s no stranger to writing, but it was only after a long string of attempts that publishing caught up with him. And to release your debut novel in 2020 is no joke, forcing a change in mindset and a radical shift in how you approach reaching an audience without any previous cache.

#VerseShow comprises conversations that give voice to creators, their process, their struggles, and the celebrations of their work. It's an interview podcast with a bend toward curiosity about the creative process.

Joanna Davidovich, Animator, Monkey Rag

I (@JoshMonkwords) got a chance to catch up this time around with animator, artist, and parent Joanna Davidovich (@JoTheZette). You can lately find Joanna livestreaming her animation commissions, personal projects, and requests on social channels when she’s not balancing client work and two small kids.

There’s a cloud over everything we do right now - 2020 is a doozy.

We couldn’t have had a better timed opportunity to talk about the realities we’re all facing as we navigate family and work dynamics, and how both the pandemic and the natural progression of years have changed things for us.

Joanna and I talk business too – she’s has been a working animator for well over a decade now, and uses her public persona as a live-streaming animator both to serve as inspiration, education, and entertainment to her audience, and to give herself company while she works.

Here’s a good entry point to look up on Youtube if you’re not familiar with her work: Joanna finished a classic style cartoon called Monkey Rag a number of years ago – we don’t talk about it in great detail but you ought to check it out. I choose to believe it’s about the issues we create for ourselves getting the better of us despite our best intentions.

Joanna’s got a joyful soul and it was a pleasure to be able to chat not so much about education and business and how she came up, but other types of creative work life realities equally important to analyze.