Q & A with Author & Illustrator Barboria Bjarne!

This is the first blog post with a Q & A with a local Calgary author and illustrator! Barboria Bjarne published her first children’s picture book, ‘Quanny and Danny’, in February 2014. Visit Barboria at www.barboriabjarne.com. This Q & A is from the book launch in March.

Passion 4 Writing (P4W) Young Adults Writing Group

Question & Answer (Q & A) session:

P4W: What was your biggest challenge during the publishing process and how did you overcome it?

Barboria: The biggest challenge were the illustrations. I found an illustrator in California whose work I had seen as a cartoon in a newspaper. I liked it very much as the illustration was very funny. However, the illustrator declined because they had too many projects on the go. Next, I found an illustrator in Ontario but the illustrator did not have any e-mail address set-up so it would all have to be done by mail. At that point, which was 8 or 9 months later, I decided that I might as well give it a try since I was not having any luck with other illustrators. Sure enough, after a little bit of work, the illustrations came together.

P4W: What is your advice to authors-to-be currently going through the publishing process or those who one day would like to be published authors?

Barboria: Do not get discouraged. Make sure that you stay in touch with your contact at the publishing house where your book is being edited and published. This is invaluable as the contact person will be able to answer questions for you about what comes next in the publishing process. They can also put you in contact with other people who may have more information.

P4W: What did you enjoy most about working on ‘Quanny and Danny’?

Barboria: I most enjoyed writing the story of ‘Quanny and Danny’. It only took me half a day to write the verses as the story of a motherly goose raising a cute little puppy just flowed.

P4W: Do you have any upcoming project or books you would like to share and tell us about?

Barboria: I am currently working on another children’s picture book, this time in prose, which will be published later this summer or fall.