Vaunda Micheaux Nelson on Thriving as a Long-Time, Actively Publishing Children’s Author - On the Cynsations Blog

Cynthia Leitich Smith's Cynsations blog is consistently amazing, and I'm obsessed with this series on "Survivors"—folks who have been long-time, actively publishing children's /YA authors. There's a lot of wisdom and encouragement shared, and I couldn't choose just one to highlight, so I'll share two. (One today, and the other next week.)

Highlights of the Vaunda Micheaux Nelson interview:

“I sometimes wonder where I’d be if I’d had the courage to take the leap sooner, to play it less safe.”

and

“My second book, Mayfield Crossing (Harper, 1994), wasn’t published until five years later.

Rejections filled the interim, and I lost confidence. I started to believe that Always Gramma was a fluke, that I would probably be a one-book author.

I learned I had to do what my heart kept telling me—live my life the best I could and write. Everything I submit isn’t successful. I still get rejections. But I try to be true to who I am and learn from the failures.”

Check out the full interview over at Cynsations here.

Illustrate and Write On,
Lee