GrowYourWriting Creator Interview: Author, Amy Houts

Hello and welcome to my ‘#GrowYourWriting Creator Interviews’ blog series. My goal is to shine a spotlight on kidlit creators and their fabulous projects and allow them to share their tips and tricks to grow your writing. Today I’d like to welcome Author, Amy Houts.

Amy is a multi-published author who loves to connect with authors, illustrators, editors, librarians, educators, and more! You can connect with Amy on Threads, X (Formerly Twitter) & Instagram: @AmyHouts, on Facebook at: “Author Amy Houts” and LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amyhouts/

Stay tuned all the way to the end of the interview for your chance to win a copy of her stunning new picture book featuring the timely and important topic of climate change told and inspired through Amy’s lens of faith.

1 – What inspired you to pursue a career in children’s literature, and when did you start creating?

My mother inspired me to pursue a career in writing children’s literature. She had a few children’s books and stories published when I was growing up. It looked like fun! And all I needed was a pen and paper. Plus, my mom was a great resource–I asked her a million questions about writing and publishing. My mom–now 92–still writes poetry.

I started writing a long time ago when our older daughter, Emily, was a baby. (Now she has children of her own.) I stayed home with Emily, and she took 3-hour long afternoon naps, so I had time to be creative. My first publication was a Christmas poem in a Christian magazine, “Alive for Young Teens.” I was overjoyed! Someone (besides my mom) thought my work was publishable.

So it was natural for me write for my parents when’d they started publishing a monthly newsletter, Parent & preschooler, targeting families with young children. I’d had attended the Culinary Institute of America for a year and also worked in a restaurant. My mom asked me to write a cooking column. Soon after, I gave birth to another daughter, Sarah. I cooked with Emily and Sarah and wrote down our experiences in my column, Preschooler in the Kitchen. I wrote this column for 12 years. So much fun! Later, my columns were revised and combined into two cookbooks, Learning Through Cooking Activities and Cooking Around the Calendar with Kids: Holiday and Seasonal Food & Food.

2 – Can you share your kidlit journey thus far with our readers? What writing/illustrating credentials, awards, contest wins, or other recognition would you like to share?

My kidlit journey is long and varied. As a former preschool teacher, I’ve written activity books on assignment for the licensed properties, Dora the Explorer, Sesame Street, and LeapFrog. I’ve written fingerplays, poetry, and articles for Group Publishing. I’ve created five cooperative boardgames. I retold fairytales and fables for Compass Publishing (located in South Korea) to help children learn English. While I love writing on assignment, I also love working on my own picture book projects. I have a heart for explaining concepts to young children that are joyful, loving, and accepting. Bushel & Peck Books will release my picture book, God’s Earth is Something to Fight For, September 5, 2023, which combines faith and science to fight climate change quoting verses from both the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament. In 2019, my picture book, God’s Protection Covers Me (Beaming Books) won the Faith & Fellowship’s Angel Book Award and the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association’s Market Book Award and the Advanced Writers and Speakers Association’s Market Book Award. I’ve also won awards from Moonbeam, Midwest Book, Dr. Toy, and the Missouri Writer’s Guild. Winning awards is great, but nothing compares to a child reading my books. One father wrote to me that he read my book, On the Farm, to his son 180 consecutive nights, even when he was away on business. Whenever I receive a rejection–and I’ve received 100s–I am encouraged when I remember stories such as the one this father shared with me.

3 – What part of the process, from the first draft to submissions, do you find the most challenging, and how do you overcome that?

I love writing. I love the whole process, from thinking of ideas, to writing the first draft, to revising. But I find the submissions process most challenging. Here I have a story I want to share with the world, but no one is going to read it if it’s not published. So I must send it out. Finding the right editor, publisher, and timing is crucial. Even the marketing department must not only love your idea, but know they can sell it. More than once an editor wanted to offer a contract, but marketing had said no. And it takes FOREVER! (Actually, usually a few months to a few years–it just seems like forever.)

4- Can you tell us more about your journey from ideas to publication?

The process from idea to publication is different when working on assignment or freelancing. I didn’t even know about working on assignment until the 1990s when I wrote to Dalmatian Press and asked. They assigned me five books. My book, Winifred Witch and her Very Own Cat (Dalmatian Press, 2001) was in print many years and translated into Spanish. When working on assignment, the publisher tells you the subject, reading level, word count, page numbers, and other details. The majority of my 100+ books were written on assignment. I sign a contract and usually have a short deadline, anywhere from a day to a week to a few months. Once the work is turned in, I get paid a flat fee (no royalty).

For my freelance work, deciding what to write takes time. Where do I want to spend my time, energy, hopes and dreams? Asking, “will the idea sell?” is always in the back of my mind. Usually, I don’t know the answer, but I’m optimistic. Writing freelance, I have to be invested in the idea. Climate change is a huge topic for me. So are voting rights and writing about my faith.

While the process varies a bit for each book, these are the steps I take: decide on an idea, develop the idea, edit, put it away, reread, re-edit, reread, re-edit, (repeat). When I feel I have a final copy, I research where to send it. I used have an agent who would discuss possible publishers and submit my work. But she secured her dream job earlier this year and quit agenting, so I’m submitting to agents again. And I’m also submitting manuscripts myself to publishers who are open to unagented submissions. Then I wait and I wait. This is such a crazy business! But I can’t imagine doing anything else. And I hope to continue for many years to come.

5- I’m excited to share with our readers that you have a new picture book releasing on September 5, 2023. Can you please tell us how the idea for your ‘GOD’S EARTH IS SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR’ came about and its journey to publication?

My picture book, God’s Earth is Something to Fight For, introduces young children to the concept of climate change by combining faith and science. Because my husband taught seventh grade science, we often read and discuss science topics. One important topic is the weather and changes in the climate. As the years went by, we observed more severe storms. People, especially the most vulnerable, were tragically affected.

We have three grandchildren. I wonder, what type of world will they grow up in? What type of world are we going to leave them? Would they want to bring children into that world?

And so, like a line in the book, I asked, what can I do? What is God leading me to do? The answer was, as a writer, I can write about it. I started writing God’s Earth is Something to Fight For about five years ago. My editor from Beaming Books tweeted she was interested in publishing a book featuring climate activist Greta Thunberg. So, I started doing research, but I found it hard to bring what I wanted to say down to a young child’s level. So I put it away. But I couldn’t stop thinking about the changing climate.

After I reread a childhood favorite, A Friend is Someone Who Likes You, I thought of the title, The Earth is Something to Fight For. I developed a picture book manuscript that included some of the rhythms of the Friend book. But during an SCBWI critique, an editor told me the market was glutted with books on climate change. So I mentioned the idea of showing climate change through a faith perspective. The editor said, “That hasn’t been done!”

I started sending God’s Earth is Something to Fight For in early 2021. Initially, two publishers (one from a Twitter pitch) were interested, but the marketing department didn’t think it would sell. Bushel & Peck Books asked for a revision, which I was happy to do and offered me a contract. Writing this book through the lens of my faith has made it even more precious to me. I hope it will change hearts and minds to take care of Earth, the world and the people God created. It’s been quite a journey. I love the illustrations by Kris Smolskaya. I’m so thankful Bushel & Peck Books believed in this book. With the tragic wild fires, devastating floods, and frequent severe storms, you just have to open your eyes to see climate change is real. It’s easy to get discouraged, but this new picture book offers hope in practical and inspirational ways.

5- What overall advice would you like to give aspiring kidlit creators to grow their writing?

You have to love the work, not “being a writer,” but the writing itself. If you do, persistence is the key not only in writing, but in learning about writing, submitting your work, and growing your community. One of my writing teachers told me early on, “Keep working. Keep trying. You’ll do fine.” That worked for me.

6- What’s next for you as a creator?

I’m developing recipes for the local food bank using ingredients they give out and will publish a cookbook for them next year. I also, always, working on my picture books.

Guess What? It’s giveaway time! Amy has graciously offered to host a giveaway for our readers.

**One copy of ‘GOD’S EARTH IS SOMETHING TO FIGHT FOR’ **

To enter, leave a comment on this blog post below! Entry period closes on September 12, 2023 at 12am PST. One Winner will be announced September 13, 2023.

1 Bonus entry is available for anyone who shares this post on twitter and tags @AmyHouts and @C_Alemshah.