#GrowYourWriting Creator Interview PLUS 20 Book Giveaway: Thad Krasnesky

Welcome to the #GrowYourWriting Creator Interviews blog series in 2024. I’m thrilled to feature talented kidlit creators this year and spotlight their beautiful work and inspiring journeys. 

This month I’m honored to participate in Flashlight Press’ 20th-anniversary celebration and feature one of their authors, Thad Krasnesky, and his fabulous book, Pterodactyl Show and Tell. As part of the anniversary celebration, Flashlight Press is giving away 20 copies of the book!

So, without further adieu and fanfare of virtual trumpets, I introduce you to the fabulous Thad Krasnesky. Please stay tuned to learn how you can win a copy of his book Pterodactyl Show and Tell, illustrated by Tanya Leonello.

Thad has won multiple awards for writing and has an extensive background as a former intelligence officer in the military. Having been deployed five times, Thad earned numerous decorations for service in combat zones. An ultramarathon runner, Thad has earned several medals for completing long-distance races. He is also deeply involved in animal rescue, having rehabilitated falcons and fostered kittens. A strong supporter of historical preservation, Thad has organized and hosted several charity events for historical associations. He also works closely with at-risk youth and has established a local scholarship to support young people in need. During several deployments, Thad combined passions for service and charity by running the largest toy drive (at the time) for children in Iraq, organizing the first-ever ultramarathon for charity in a combat zone, leading efforts to preserve historical sites, writing a musical about the war, and even rescuing a cat from Afghanistan. Currently, Thad is restoring a 140-year-old Victorian mansion, integrating animal rescue efforts into the restoration projects. In addition to this, he is building the largest hedge maze in the Midwest in his backyard.

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

I have been writing for as long as I can remember.  I never intended to be a children’s author.  I have two daughters though, and would tell them stories every night when they went to bed.  They liked to create story challenges for me and would give me elements or phrases that I would have to use in the stories every night.  Some themes or characters repeated themselves and they would ask to hear “another one about the Green Bean Dragon” or “tell one where the Sea Lion Spy gets trapped in an iceberg” and I would oblige.  After my second deployment, my wife encouraged me to write them down.  Being very blunt, she pointed out that if I did not come home, the stories would disappear with me, but that if I wrote them down then the girls would be able to keep that memory and that connection alive.  So I wrote them down and eventually submitted a few to some publishers and I got lucky enough for someone to actually like them. 

I love PTERODACTYL SHOW AND TELL’s playful quality and fun rhyme. What inspired you to write this book?

I started collecting puppets many years ago to use when I did readings to kids in the hospital.  One of the puppets I have is a pterodactyl.  And I just thought that instead of bringing a pterodactyl puppet to a reading, what would it be like to bring an actual pterodactyl.  I have actually written four more books in the pterodactyl series, and hopefully, someday I can convince my editor to publish them. 

Can you share the revision and editorial process for this book? Did it change much from the first draft to the final manuscript, and how long did that process take?

The revision process.  Wow.  This one was a doozy.  Pterodactyl started out as a short, three quatrain poem.  I had been writing a bunch of full-length rhyming stories and my editor wanted me to focus on writing shorter verses for a possible “book of rhymes”, like a Jack Prelutsky or Shel Silverstein kind of thing.  Pterodactyl was one of several dozen shorter poems that I sent to her but I loved the idea of fleshing it out and begged her to let me do another full-length rhyming story.  (Rhyming stories are a hard sell these days.  Unless your last name is Seuss.)  She reluctantly agreed and the revision phase began.  My editor is great but she is tough.  She probably rejects about sixty percent of what I send to her.  And I also tend to overwrite.  The first submission that I sent to her back in the day would have paged out to something like a hundred and twenty pages.  I was writing young adult novel length rhyming stories instead of picture book material.  So there were pages and pages of Pterodactyl that wound up on the cutting room floor.  And Shari is a writer herself, so at some point in writing Pterodactyl it became almost a collaboration instead of an editing process.  I literally cannot even recall anymore what parts I wrote and what parts she “corrected.”

Where do your story ideas come from?

The maelstrom that is my mind.  I have cases and cases of stories and novels in boxes and on shelves in my office and in my basement.  I can’t fathom NOT having ideas.  They overwhelm me, which is not always a good thing, since editors (and spouses) appreciate it when you occasionally focus long enough to actually follow through on the project that you are supposed to be finishing before rushing off to the next one.  And honestly, probably trauma.  I take the bad things that have impacted me and make balloon animals out of them. 

Who are your favorite children’s authors and illustrators who inspired your work?

Seuss is absolutely the foundation for my children’s writing.  There are definitely some problematic elements that I can recognize now, but growing up, that was my introduction to poetry and children’s writing.  And of course, Silverstein.  I think I was drawn to the darkness in his work even before I realized that’s what it was. 

 What advice would you like to give aspiring kidlit creators looking to grow their writing?

Never stop writing.  The same advice that I would give to a runner.  You can’t become a better runner by thinking about running.  You have to get out there everyday and put the miles in.  What you learn about yourself thirty miles in to a hundred mile race is invaluable.  As a writer, it’s the same thing.  You don’t know what you are capable of until you do it.  Never stop. 

What’s next for you as a creator?

I am currently working on a non-fiction memoir, “The Tale of No Tail”.  No Tail is the cat I rescued from Afghanistan.  He and I were both somewhat damaged upon our return, and we spent nine years together, healing and growing.  He was instrumental in the growth of our social media presence and creating the identity that has become The Krasnesky Manor for Wayward Cats.  People have been asking for his story for years now so a month ago we launched a Kickstarter campaign to self-publish his book.  So far, we have received over $30,000 in pledges but we are only halfway to our goal of $63,000.  If we achieve our goal by 31 December then “The Tale of No Tail” will be released in April of 2025. 

And in addition to that I have a dozen more novels and plays and children’s stories that I am always working on.  Never stop. 

Guess What? It’s giveaway time!

To celebrate their 20th anniversary, Flashlight Press is giving away 20 copies of Pterodactyl Show and Tell!

To Enter:

COMMENT on this blog post to thank Thad & Flashlight Press!

LIKE, COMMENT, AND SHARE my post on Twitter/X or Bluesky.

Deadline to enter: Monday, December 23rd

Winners will be randomly selected on/around DECEMBER 27th and announced in an update on this blog post as well as on Twitter/X and Bluesky. Books will only be shipped in the US, so winners must have a US address.