Good Morning! Today we’re writing about writing…
Update: since publishing this article back in 2023, Casey’s book Small things Mended is officially available for purchase! You can find it here (amazon affiliate link) or ask for it at your local bookstore 🙂
Now to the story and work behind this beautiful children’s book….
Cultivating Healing Together
An inside look at the making of upcoming picture book Small Things Mended with author Casey Robinson
For many creatives, the peak of the COVID pandemic was a complicated time to say the least. This was especially true for writers. Book releases and tours were canceled. Store fronts were closed, and so much human connection was lost in the necessary isolation. For some, all of this gave many writers more creative freetime and space than they had before. But for many writers such as Casey Robinson, author of Iver and Ellsworth and soon to be released Small Things Mended, the isolation, inner turmoil, worry, stress, and changing environments at home made writing seem nearly impossible.Â
“I called my friend on FaceTime who has written many many books and I just cried… what if I did all this work to get where I am and then what if I don’t write another thing: what if I can’t write another thing” Casey shared when asked about the effects of the pandemic on her work.
Writing during the pandemic
Because the schools were closed for safety during the pandemic, her three young children were all home and she suddenly found the majority of her creative time being taken up by other household responsibilities. On top of that, many of her connections with other writers and creatives had been severed for the time being. Everything from her critique groups, the local library, bookstore events, and even coffee with friends, was either canceled or became virtual. Even the spring conference for the regional chapter of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (which Casey had been planning with a committee for months) was moved to zoom and became a virtual event. This year (2023) will be the first year since 2019 that the conference will be held again in person.
Isolated from her writing community, Casey felt hurt and broken. She could feel her inner creative voice slipping away and she was afraid it may never come back. As is often the case though, her creative inner voice could only go into hiding for so long. Eventually, it crept its way back out of her subconscious and into the world again. As Casey’s friend Heidi so wisely told her on that infamous FaceTime call, “the muse will wait… you already are a writer, that’s not up for discussion, and the muse will wait.” Indeed it did, and it was worth it.
Writing Small Things Mended
As soon as she got off the phone and finished crying, Casey wrote two thirds of Small Things Mended and the rest she wrote as soon as she woke up the next morning. According to Casey, “if you look at the first draft it’s 90% of the way it ended up being in the final draft”.
Casey explained in her interview that creative work is often very non-linear for her. It’s a lot of waiting, and working, and trying different things until the story begins to manifest and she is able to get it out on paper. “I swear my subconscious is running at a hundred miles an hour all the time and there’s all sorts of awesome things that are happening back there. I can’t see it until I sob my eyes out to my friend Heidi and then I sit down and I write something with all sorts of layers” she explained.
The non-linear Process of Writing
Most of the time this process is a bit longer and more drawn out than a single phone call and two writing sessions. It often takes weeks, months, even years of working through an idea in her head. “More often than not I’ll have a character or a scene or some sort of feeling… but I don’t always know what the story is… sometimes it takes me a while to figure out what that is… [it’s] better if I feel my way through it: if I figure out what the character really wants the story to be about.” Sometimes this looks like going for a walk or a hike or listening in on a conversation and watching her kids play.
Everyday though, she dedicates at least one hour of her time to simply sit down and show up to the practice of writing. She uses a tiny one hour egg timer, sits in whatever part of the house is most well lit and invites her creative self to come out and show itself. It isn’t easy work and it can often be discouraging when an idea doesn’t seem to want to cooperate. There are days when nothing seems to come of the time spent but Casey shares that most days there’s at least something to show for it, even if it’s just one really well crafted sentence.
The Consistent Practice of Writing
The actual practice of writing though isn’t all there is to crafting a beautiful story. “Play is important. Daydreaming is important. Hikes in the woods are important.” Perhaps one of the most important elements Casey shared with me when it comes to crafting a good children’s book is the trust and collaboration of a community. “There are so many people who have to be on their A-game to really make a good children’s picture book” she said, and reflecting on her experience of publishing Iver and Ellsworth she shared “the good books become something different, they become something better… I can’t think of Iver and Ellsworth without thinking about the visual representation of those characters anymore. There was a time I didn’t know what they looked like… it becomes something better than its individual parts and I think that’s the magic of picture books”.
The Magic of Creative Collaboration
Being able to collaborate with other artists: trusting them and giving them the creative license to do what they do best while giving yourself that same grace allows each person to add something fundamental to the creation of the story. The result you get at the end is something that couldn’t exist without all of the individual parts coming together. Most of the time authors and illustrators don’t communicate directly with each other throughout the process of creating the book so that they each have the space to express their creative voice without it being drowned out by the other’s. It is often up to the editor and art director to “marry” the two voices to one another and ensure the end story is a congruent and meaningful one.
This idea of the beauty and healing that can come from giving your best self to a community is central to the story of Small Things Mended as a grieving man finds joy and fulfillment in helping the children of the town fix their broken toys. It’s a beautiful character with a beautiful message and yet it came from a devastating time of isolation within the pandemic. Casey believes, “it was a feeling that I needed, tapping into that fear and that loneliness of covid is part of what allowed me to create that character.”
It is not that the covid pandemic gave creatives something they were missing. Rather, as is so often the case, creatives were able to create beauty and healing within this time of grief and devastation. It’s like Casey said,
“it’s about community coming together and about doing things: kindnesses, for other people and how that brings us together,”
even in the most isolating of times.
Praise for the Children’s Book Industry
Her words of praise and thanksgiving for the children’s book industry were inspiring for anyone hoping to become a part of the community. “it is such a kind industry… you’re not competing like you are with businesses. It’s not a zero sum game, everybody wins. That sort of kindness… I haven’t seen it anywhere else”. Indeed this industry has brought much joy and hope and healing to both children and adults.
A big thank you to Casey for the opportunity to explore this together! You can visit her website here. Make sure to check out her new book Small Things Mended (release date March 19th 2024). Pre order is available at the Silver Unicorn bookstore (linked here)! It may be the perfect thing to heal a hurting heart ♡
Getting Connected
As always, it’s a pleasure to be able to share a piece of me with all of you through this blog! To continue the journey please consider following my instagram or subscribe to me email list by filling out the form below 🙂 feel free to reach out with any questions, suggestions, or just to say hi, hope to hear from you soon!
-me
P.S.- You can also find Casey Robinson’s book Iver and Ellsworth here (amazon affiliate link)