We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Brittney Traudt. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Brittney below.

Brittney, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear the story of how you went from this being just an idea to making it into something real.

My first children’s book, Shelly Goes to Summer Camp, was inspired by my own personal experience working at a summer camp for many years. Anyone who doesn’t attend a summer camp can’t possibly understand the experience, the relationships, and how it can change you. I knew I wanted to have an educational, traveling series, but I wasn’t sure how to start it off. I knew the 2 main characters needed to meet, and what better place than summer camp!? I’ve met so many life long friends via camp, and I couldn’t have picked a better way to kick off my series.

Once I knew where I wanted to start, next I needed to write the story. This wasn’t as hard as I anticipated, one because it was inspired by my own experience and two, because I’ve always been a writer. However, the process I didn’t realize would be so difficult? The illustrations.

Working with my illustrator so he could try to understand the vision was more difficult than I thought it would be. Over the course of a few months and a ton of correspondence, we made it! It was everything I couldn’t asked for in my first book, and actually being able to see and hold it in my hands for the very first time is a core memory that will stick with me forever.

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’ve been writing ever since I was a kid. Whether I was writing notes to friends and family, poems in my journal, or essays for school, the seed has always been planted.

When I was in college, I started a personal blog, Traudt’s Two Cents. I wanted this blog to be similar to an “Ask Nancy” segment of a newspaper where I could give advice and tips, but when people weren’t blowing up my emails with questions and problems, I had to create my own content. I’d share on budget friendly grocery shopping, the gym, or how yoga changed my life, but my blog really took off when I first started writing my travels.

When I turned 20, I made a goal to myself to try and go one new place every year. The first day of my first trip of this goal was to Washington DC where my plane was delayed for hours, I didn’t understand how the Metro worked, and I was stranded alone walking the streets of DC late at night by myself. While it wasn’t fun at the time, it definitely taught me a few things, and it was great for the plot! That blog post to this day is still one of my highest viewed, and in my opinion, what made people realize I had a gift with words.

I still have my blog to this day where I share about my Homeless Care Package Project, journey to being debt free from student loans, or my opinions on things going on in the world. Now that I’m also a children’s book author, I do post occasionally on there when releasing a new book as well as keeping my email list up to date!

My goal is ultimately to connect with people. Whether they agree with what I write or not, I want it to be an open discussion. I’m always interested in learning more, hearing about people’s beliefs and why they think that, and connecting with other humans in a world that lacks it sometimes. I’m most proud of that community, and I’m excited to see it continue to grow.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

For me, I’d say the most rewarding is just knowing that people love and connect with my work. Whether it’s a blog post, Tiktok video, or a children’s book, that connection is truly what drives me. Letting people know that they aren’t alone in the world and that there are other people out there can create so much good, and I hope to be a part of that in any way that I can.

Is there mission driving your creative journey?

To be honest, my mission is to always speak up and say what you want or need to say. So many times in life I think people lose out on opportunities that could change their life, because they’re afraid to go after what they want, admit what they want, or be honest with themselves. Even if something I say causes an argument or a debate, I will never regret saying how I feel. Even if no one read or watched anything I put out into the world, I would be okay, because I do it for me anyways. That belief of doing things for yourself no matter what anyone says is so strong, and that’s something that no one could ever take away from me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.traudtstwocents.com
• Instagram: www.instagram.com/brittneylee_96
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/writerbrittneytraudt
• Youtube: www.youtube.com/btraudt416
• Other: www.tiktok.com/@brittneylee_96 www.tiktok.com/@writerbrittneytraudt