You May Contribute A Verse

Potatoes and Process with Jennifer Concepcion!

Author Jennifer Concepcion’s debut picture book, Potatoes for Pirate Pearl, is slated for an alliterative publication of winter 2023, and you’re absolutely not going to want to miss this book’s – and Jennifer’s – journey to publication. We caught up with Jennifer during her class plan time, which we very much appreciate, at her grade school in Costa Rica. This is such a charming and conversational chat, and fair warning, there’s a lot of agent-author sausage-making in here about Dan Cramer and Page Turner Literary, as Brenna and Jennifer are agency siblings! Lots of wisdom on offer here! Jennifer's website: https://www.jenwritescr.com/  Our #ChewyReviewy picks of the week: Bikes for Sale, by Carter Higgins and illustrated by Zachariah Ohora: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/39874653-bikes-for-sale  Maybe Tomorrow?, by Charlotte Agell and illustrated by Ana Ramirez Gonzalez: https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/37828981-maybe-tomorrow 

Be Someone’s Opportunity with Valerie Bolling

I’m Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, rock climber, 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 was Valerie Bolling. You can find Valerie on Twitter, or by following her Linktr.ee links.  This episode’s ChewyReviewy books: UNICORN’S FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL by Jess Hernandez and illustrated by Mariano Epelbaum. DOING BUSINESS by Shawn Harris The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our new quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on Twitter @_maddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com  Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes you can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com   Find us on Twitter @joshmonkwords and @brennajeanneret and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment! Thanks and see ya next time.  You May Contribute a Verse is a homespun production, produced, edited, recorded, conceptualized, and marketed by Josh Monken and Brenna Jeanneret.  

Nothing BUTT Jocelyn Rish!

This is the podcast You May Contribute a Verse, where we talk to kidlit creators, share their stories, and learn from their journeys. Is this a nonfiction podcast? I’ve never thought about it that way, but the more we talked to today’s guest Jocelyn Rish about her book Battle of the Butts – and her journey into nonfiction – the more we realized that we’re here just like Jocelyn, to inform and educate, but also to entertain and laugh! Jocelyn’s been writing for a long time. Like many of us, she’s written a lot that she’s back-pocketed, and like many of us should strive to, she’s found some really fun success by staying open to inspiration, and affectionately pinching inspiration’s butt when it came a-calling. Battle of the Butts is what’s resulted, followed at the end of this year by its semi-sequel, the nonfictional Battle of the Brains. There’s so much to this chat that’s just pure delight. I’m really happy to share Jocelyn’s journey through self-discovery, publication, self-promotion, nerding out with scientists, and more. Mentioned herein: Jocelyn’s website: http://jocelynrish.com David Creighton-Pester’s website: https://wanderingbert.com/ Battle of the Butts: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/56638642-battle-of-the-butts Battle of the Brains: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60462890-battle-of-the-brains 500 Women Scientists: https://gage.500womenscientists.org/ The Grave Intentions Anthology: www.graveintentionsanthology.com And our #ChewyReviewy picks of the week: Swashby and the Sea, by Beth Ferry: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43094096-swashby-and-the-sea A Costume for Charly, by CK Malone: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60143396-a-costume-for-charly

OMG! Aerospace And Birds With Joyce Sweeney!

I’m Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, rock climber, 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 was Joyce Sweeney. You can find Joyce on Twitter or on The Seymour Agency website.    This episode’s ChewyReviewy books: Garbage Island by Fred Koehler  If Your Babysitter Is A Bruja by Ana Siqueira illustrated by Irena Freitas   The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our new quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on Twitter @_maddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com  Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes you can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com   Find us on Twitter @joshmonkwords and @brennajeanneret and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment! Thanks and see ya next time.  You May Contribute a Verse is a homespun production, produced, edited, recorded, conceptualized, and marketed by Josh Monken and Brenna Jeanneret.

VerseShow Archive: Take Your Heart and Make It Art with Samantha Berger! Part 2!

It's Samantha Berger, Part 2! And the end of the #BeforeBrenna times! One small rumination on genuineness: not only did I wring an hour and a half out of her (today's ep being the latter half of that interrupted conversation), but Samantha Berger followed up, unbidden, with me in one of the most encouraging emails I've ever received. Encouraging both in its content and in the "trails of glitter" consistency of character that Sam showed in bothering to write and send it. I won't share it here, but I will summarize it because a lot of it was SO consistent with what we're trying for with this podcast. YOU are uniquely YOU. Your work is best when it builds on your passion. Passion worked is passion honed. Don't let that work become joyless or humorless - keep it light and fun. No one but you can tell the stories inside you. You may contribute a verse!

VerseShow Archive: Trails of Glitter with Samantha Berger! Part 1!

The final two #BeforeBrenna episodes air this week and next! This week: Samantha Berger, Part 1. My first question for this week's episode is this: why do I sound so much more like a Jim-Henson-does-semi-professional-adult-man Muppet voice this time than other interviews? I'm not complaining since part of what we discuss does include Muppets and Sesame Street, but it's striking. I'm choosing to air this episode in its uncut original entirety, with original Robby Zar theme song and original intro. It was at this point in 2019 that I had begun to hit my stride with the weekly pace and production. I'm proud of the intro and of this early take on more professional production and writing.  This episode and next week's #BeforeBrenna summer finale got eaten up by my archives, so I'm happy to have a chance to rerelease and share again. Samantha Berger is a bright, shining star, and an inspiration for both hard work and making time to celebrate your community. Enjoy Samantha Berger's Verse!

VerseShow Archive: Pivot and Diversify with Joyce Wan

This week's episode is a re-air of my 2019 conversation with illustrator and author Joyce Wan! If you’ve never listened to this episode, it’s a good one. In preparing to rerun it, I rediscovered it. A lot of things went through my head during this relisten. First, a rare glimpse at being completely happy with my creative work. This is a really good conversation and I’m glad of the chance to re-air it. Two, Joyce has a holistic perspective that we don’t always get to experience. Partially informed by my ignorance into the kidlit world and what it means to be published, I think we manage to go broad and dig deep into aspects of doing It bears ending on a recognition that we’ve touched on in other conversations, which underpins almost every aspect of this chat with Joyce: children’s books are creativity and a way to reach hearts and build up minds, but they’re also a commodity. Facing that aspect of the business of kidlit can help prepare us for the realities that we’re engaging in an industry that relies on marketability and salability. And we ourselves as creators are commodities as well, in a really important sense. I really enjoyed relistening to Joyce’s perspective on her career – enjoy Joyce’s verse!

VerseShow Archive: If You Please Everyone You’re Not Doing Something Real with Steve Light

I’m Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, rock climber, 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 was Steve Light. You can find Steve on Twitter and on his website.  The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our new quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on Twitter @_maddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com  Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes you can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com   Find us on Twitter @joshmonkwords and @brennajeanneret and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment! Thanks and see ya next time.  You May Contribute a Verse is a homespun production, produced, edited, recorded, conceptualized, and marketed by Josh Monken and Brenna Jeanneret.  

VerseShow Archive: Nothing Changes Unless You Change It with Kelly Light

It’s the flipside of the golden ticket this week with one from the archives: author-illustrator Kelly Light! Way back in 2019 I started a podcast called What It Takes to Make. I thought at the time that my life wasn’t going to have space for the kind of creativity I wanted. I figured I’d use my journalism background to live vicariously through creators of different stripes, from filmmakers to dancers to kidlit authors. Little did I know, a couple of things transpired as a result of those early efforts. The name changed pretty early, first of all, when I got a takedown notice from another podcast – that was wild. Second, I couldn’t have anticipated what doing the podcast would do to me. As I was approaching 40 at the time, speaking to other creators around the same age, it lit a fire under me and helped define and focus what I wanted to do with myself. Three years later, here we are, a co-hosted, well-oiled machine, laser-focused on understanding and navigating the complicated kidlit world. There are some parallels between my experience and Kelly Light’s – some trying things out, some opportunity, some rolling with the punches and adapting. Kelly is a giver and opened a lot of doors for other guests and – to some degree – cemented my interest in more seriously pursuing picture book writing. We're happy to share today’s conversation – enjoy Kelly Light’s verse from May 2019!

Finding Your Community of Creative Weirdos with Julie Hedlund

I’m Brenna Jeanneret, children’s lit author, mother, rock climber, 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 was Julie Hedlund, founder of 12x12 and co-founder of Picture Book Summit. Find Julie on Twitter,  Instagram, Tic Tok, and her website. The artwork for You May Contribute a Verse features our new quokka mascot, Versey, and was generously created by the great Maddie Frost! Find her on Twitter @_maddiefrost or on her website Maddie-Frost.com  Our theme music is So Happy by Scott Holmes you can find more of his music at scottholmesmusic.com   Find us on Twitter @joshmonkwords and @brennajeanneret and as always, let us know what you think via a rating, review, or comment! Thanks and see ya next time.  You May Contribute a Verse is a homespun production, produced, edited, recorded, conceptualized, and marketed by Josh Monken and Brenna Jeanneret.