We were lucky to catch up with Tracy C. Gold recently and have shared our conversation below.

Tracy C., appreciate you joining us today. Do you wish you had started sooner?

I have been a writer for as long as I can remember; I always knew my career would have something to do with writing. It wasn’t until I had a kid and discovered writing picture books that I had significant publishing success. Part of me wishes that I had gone to work in publishing in NYC after graduating college, when I was still young and willing to live on ramen. However, moving home to Baltimore and going into the corporate world for a while gave me skills that I use to market my books and my work as a freelance editor. So it all worked out!

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As a writer, I dabbled in poetry, wrote a few novel manuscripts which may never see the light of day, published a few poems, essays, and short stories, and got my MFA at the University of Baltimore. I also worked remotely for a literary agent for a while. It wasn’t until I had a kid and started reading a gajillion picture books that I thought “Hey, these could be fun to write!” At the time, there was still a local conference for the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, which I helped to organize. I went to the conference with the goal of learning everything I could about picture books…wrote several…sent one to a publisher…and they wanted to publish it! That book was “Everyone’s Sleepy but the Baby.” From there, I signed with literary agent Carrie Pestritto, and got deals for “Trick or Treat, Bugs to Eat,” “Hide and Seek, Nuts to Eat,” and “Call Your Mother.” I hope to have a long career with dozens of books–and maybe some of those novels will get a second chance. My books about animals are silly, fun…and scientific. My books about family focus on universal, relatable moments that hopefully make families happier.

I also really love to help other writers. I work as a freelance editor, and if I say so myself, I’m pretty awesome at helping people make amazing rhyming books. I also work on novels and non-fiction too. The publishing world is slow, but one of the most amazing feelings is to see a project I worked on become a real, physical book–and then for that author to go on and sell other projects, with my help as an editor or not. I like to feel like I played at least a small role in their success!

My newest project is launching on-demand courses about writing. I have taught college classes, continuing education classes, and various workshops, and love the live, real-time connection. However, people are busy and scheduling can be a real problem. My first on-demand class is about How to Write Rhyming Picture Books, and it’s on presale now and launches on August 1. It comes with a community, and I’m hoping to recreate some of the connection from my real-time classes via that community in an asynchronous way. We shall see!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Universal healthcare, y’all. And/or universal basic income. And/or subsidized childcare. My family has made many sacrifices for me to be able to pursue a creative career, because it doesn’t involve a lot of financial rewards. I’m very lucky to have a supportive family and a spouse who also earns income, or I wouldn’t be able to make it work. If we want to include more voices and perspectives in art, making sure artists can afford their prescriptions, keep food on the table, keep a roof on their head, and keep their children safe would go a long way.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I was turned down by hundreds–not kidding, hundreds–of literary agents for my novel manuscripts. This is not an unusual story even for writers who go on to be very successful. I did pivot to writing picture books before finding publishing success, but I just revised a draft of my novel and sent it off to my agent, so I haven’t given up! A thick skin isn’t enough to survive in the world of publishing. You need serious armor and serious persistence.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://tracycgold.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tracycgold
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tracycgold
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracycgold/
• Other: Class on rhyming picture books: https://tracy-s-site-f04c.thinkific.com/courses/writing-rhyming-picture-books

Image Credits
Headshot by Shore Love Photography