Skip the long story and go right to the Brief Bio.
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| Lizann in Kindergarten |
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What is my story? I guess that depends who you ask and what threads you wish to pull from a lot of details.
For as long as I can remember I have loved to read. At first my parents read to me. Robert Louis Stevenson's a Child's Garden of Verses was one of the first books I remember enjoying. Besides loving books as objects to read, books provided entertainment value for me in other ways. Ever try making a falling dominoes course out of books? I did. It was fabulous fun, and I could build one to go all the way down the hall. And what about a tower of books? I would build them as high as I could reach from a chair. Of course they eventually swayed, buckled and then came crashing down. Naptimes would be so boring without books!
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| Sleeping Beauty |
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Once I could read on my own, I loved to take out favourite books from my school's library. In those days there were card catalogues and you had to put your name on the card that went in a pouch in the book. Sometimes a book's card would be pretty much full of my name.
This fairytale, the Ladybird version of Sleeping Beauty, is one of my most favourite books from elementary school. I found this copy when I was older and immediately bought it. In fact, I loved that whole Ladybird fairytale series and I've collected quite a few of them. Every time I read them I still love to study the illustrations, and I still love the stories. Now if only I could find the versions of The Golden Goose Girl and The Twelve Dancing Princesses that I remember....
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| The Chicken Coop, Dec 1979 |
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I used to love writing in class and usually liked the writing assignments. Even in my free time I could amuse myself by writing. This is one of my Chicken Coop newsletters. I gave them to my neighbours. This one is hand lettered on newsprint.
To make this newsletter I traced illustrations and used carbon paper to make my two copies (it wasn't a big cirulation periodical!). Not sure how I decided who got the original cut-out-of-magazines photos. In a later edition I did use a typewriter. It was a lot of work; there was no such thing as a home computer or personal photocopier for me then. I think I only made about three editions.
(Thanks go to Tammy for saving her copies all these years and, even better, for giving them back to me!)
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I entered a writing contest in Owl magazine one year. My story was called "A Tale of Two Hags" and you had to use an illustration the magazine provided as the basis for your story. To my surprise, my story won! I got to see my own writing in a real actual magazine! The thrill of publication made a huge impression on me.
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In high school a couple of my teachers, Ms Beswick and Mr Henderson, deserve credit for helping my early interest in writing. In grade 10 Ms Beswick gave me some advice that was invaluable. Her actual comments are here. She tells me (rightly so) to learn now to stick to length requirements. I even got marks off for being too wordy! Mr Henderson encouraged me to stretch and try different genres and voices. Huge thanks go to both of them (and all other teachers like them)!
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| Assisting at a photo shoot |
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After graduating from high school I decided to study Engligh Language and Literature at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. I entered an arts co-op program where you were assisted in finding a summer job related to the field you were studying. I didn't want to be a newspaper journalist and didn't think teaching in a classroom would be my thing. Maybe, I thought, magazines would be okay but I wasn't sure. So we approached Owl to ask if they could use me, a former story contest winner — and they said yes!
I worked at Owl for the summers of 1987 and 1988. That's where I realized that a whole world of publishing for kids existed, and that's when I knew I'd found the field I wanted to work in. This is a proof of me at a photo shoot showing how many bottles of soap it took to get a photo of a bubble that big. (After you make a few bubbles the soap gets too foamy to make more so you have to use another container of soap stuff. It takes a lot of photos to get the perfect shot.)
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| An issue from my time |
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Once I had my degree I was offered a job at Owl's sister publication Chickadee. I got to combine my love of writing, making crafts, doing puzzles, and looking at fantastic artwork.
I worked at Chickadee in various editorial postions, learning from some fabulous mentors. I eventually became editor myself. After several years at the magazine I got married and moved and turned to working as a freelance editor and writer.
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Today I live with my husband and three children in Muskoka, Ontario. I am an instructor for the Institute of Children's Literature where I get to help other adult writers hone their writing skills for pieces targeted to children and teens. I volunteer as the regional advisor for the Canada East chapter of SCBWI.
And, of course, I continue to write as time and inspiration allows!
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