We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Alice B. McGinty a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Alice B., thanks for joining us today. Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

I’ve been writing children’s books for over 25 years, but it’s only been in the last 12 years that I’ve been able to make a full time living as a writer. It began with a state of panic – which is a great motivator! My husband had left me and I was on my own. Would I be able to make a living as a writer or would I have to get another job? I didn’t want to be a Walmart greeter. I wanted to keep writing! But a writer’s income can be inconsistent and unpredictable. Some years I made pretty good money through advances, royalties, presentations, and freelance writing. Other years were very slow. What should I do?

I shared my panic with a friend, who gave me just the advice I needed at that time: Don’t try to kick the ball all the way across the field. Kick it a little at a time. Plan your first step. That will lead to the next and the next – and you can make adjustments as you find your path.

With that, I planned my first step. I’d always wanted to run a writing camp. Now was the time to make it happen. It was something that I’d enjoy, it could provide a great experience for my campers, and I’d earn money in the process, Win-win-win. I began to plan. It would be held at my rural cabin in Illinois. I’d put the word out, send out press releases, and invite everyone I knew. That was in March. In May I had one camper signed up for my June session and nobody for July. Should I give up? No! I doubled my efforts and reached a friend with a teenage girl who told me that if I opened an August session she’d fill it with her daughter and her friends. I opened an August session and sent out another press release to the local paper. This time they ran an article. People began to sign up, and I was able to run all three sessions of camp that summer. Not all were full, but they were full enough to give me a good start. That was 12 years ago. Since then, Words on Fire Writing Camp for Teens has been going strong.

After that first summer was over, though, and my first step taken, I panicked again. How would I earn money during the rest of the year? However, just as my friend had told me, that first step led to the next one. A couple of my campers’ families had asked whether I did writing tutoring during the school year. My answer: Yes! (Always say yes!) I began to tutor, and word spread among families. Soon I had a healthy group of students to tutor, I added more freelance writing, and taught several after school classes at schools.

I began to think of these more predictable sources of income as my bread and butter. I could get by on that income. Then, if I contracted a new book (I made sure to keep up with my own writing during this time too), got a nice royalty check, or earned money through school visits and presentations, that was the icing. After some time, I was able to relax into my new career, feeling proud and secure as I earned my living as a writer.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am the award-winning author of over 50 books for children. I love to write picture books – fiction, nonfiction, and picture book biographies.

I grew up in a household filled with books. My parents read to me and soon enough, I was reading on my own. I loved Dr. Seuss and any other books that played with language and words. I began to make up poems and jump rope rhymes, and since then, I haven’t stopped. I still think of what I do as playing with words.

Even then, however, I didn’t think that I could become an author. I’d never met any authors and I thought they were all old or dead. I simply didn’t qualify! I studied psychology and Therapeutic Recreation in college and worked with special populations as my job. But in the back of my mind, I wanted to write! When my then-husband got a job in Sweden, and I found myself for the first time without a job and with not much to do, I wrote my first children’s book manuscript. It was about a child with a disability. When we got back to the U.S., I began to submit it to publishers. That was the beginning of my journey. It took over 10 years of rejections – and conferences, critique groups, reading, and learning – to begin to be published. It’s all about persistence!

The following is a list of some of my published trade books, and some of the awards they’ve won, beginning with the most recent:
A Synagogue Just Like Home (2022, Candlewick Press, illustrated by Laurel Molk) JLG Selection, P.J.
Library Selection
Feasts and Festivals Around the World: From Lunar New Year to Christmas (2022, Little Bee Books,
illustrated by Tomoko Suzuki)
Mushroom House Man: The Story of Earl A. Young and His Cottages of Stone (2022, Mission Point Press, illustrated by Sharon Smithem)
Bathe the Cat (2022, Chronicle Books, illustrated by David Roberts) Jr. Library Guild Selection, 2023 Irma S. Black Gold Medalist, New York and Chicago Public Library Best Book of 2022
My Israel and Me (2021, Kalaniot Books, illustrated by Rotem Teplow)
Step by Step (2021, Simon and Schuster, illustrated by Diane Goode)
The Water Lady: How Darlene Arviso Helps a Thirsty Navajo Nation (2021, Schwartz and Wade, illustrated by Shonto Begay) Jr. Library Guild Selection, 2022 ALA Notable Book, 2022 Norman A. Sugarman Children’s Biography Honor Award, SLJ Best Book of 2021
A Story for Small Bear (2020, Schwartz and Wade, illustrated by Richard Jones) Kirkus Reviews Best Book
of 2020, Imagination Library Selection
The Sea Knows (2020, Paula Wiseman Books, co-authored with Alan Havis, illustrated by Stephanie
Laberis)
The Girl Who Named Pluto: The Story of Venetia Burney (2019, Schwartz and Wade, illustrated by
Elizabeth Haidle) JLG Selection, 2020 Bank Street Best Children’s Book
Pancakes to Parathas: Breakfast Around the World (2019, Little Bee, illustrated by Tomoko Suzuki) 2019
Northern Lights Book Award Winner (food category), Sakura Medal Nominee
Rabbi Benjamin’s Buttons (2015, Charlesbridge, illustrated by Jennifer Black Reinhardt) Sydney Taylor
Notable Book
Gandhi: A March To the Sea (Amazon Children’s Publishing, illustrated by Thomas Gonzales), 2014 South
Asia Book Award honor
Darwin: With Glimpses into his Private Letters and Journals (2010, Houghton Mifflin, illustrated by Mary
Azarian) 2010 Orbis Pictus Honor, 2010 Booklist Best Biographies

Have you ever had to pivot?

I’ve already shared the story of my biggest life pivot, when I went from being married to being single and earning a living as a writer. Another pivot came in March 2020 when Covid hit. My camp sessions were almost filled by March and things were looking good for the summer. Until the world shut down. What was I going to do? I contacted my camp families and told them we’d wait until May to see what the situation was and I’d be back in touch. Back then, it was difficult to imagine a shut down that would last more than a month or two. Little did we know.

Come May, things were still shut down, but it looked as if groups of 10 or fewer would soon be allowed to convene. That included Words on Fire, as my camp sessions are small, only 8 campers plus me. I contacted camp families again, and told them that I wanted us to work together to find the best solution – a camp experience which would allow them to feel safe and comfortable. And of course if anyone wanted to not participate at all, I’d refund their money with no questions asked.

Thus began open discussions with each session in which we made decisions as a group. The first session wanted an online camp with optional socially distanced gatherings at a local park and an optional bonfire at camp. This proved so popular that I opened another session as more campers signed up. The other sessions wanted to have in person camp with precautions for safety. We set protocols for pre-camp testing, masks, social distancing, daily temperature taking, individual tents, outdoor sessions, and online options for those who preferred. I set up Internet at my campsite, bought a big canopy for outdoor sessions, sanitizing wipes, a digital thermometer, and masks. We were on our way.

It was a lot of work, and a big pivot, but it was worth it. I loved seeing and feeling the joy of the campers to be participating in camp when everything else that spring and summer had been canceled. I’d do it again the same way in the future, though hopefully we won’t have to!

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

My mission is to share wonder and joy through my books and through my interactions with people of all ages. Writing is a way for me to share my own wonder and joy, about the natural world and the many other topics I write about. I strive to help young writers in schools and at my camp find joy in writing, in expressing themselves, and in tapping into their own imaginations and creative spirits.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.AliceBMcGinty.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/mcgintyalice/
• Facebook: facebook.com/AliceBMcGinty/
• Twitter: twitter.com/AliceBMcGinty
• Other: Words on Fire Writing Camp for Teens: https://wordsonfirecamp.wordpress.com/ News From the Happy Side: http://www.newsfromthehappyside.com/

Image Credits
Headshot: Adler Boncher Creative