By Melissa Converse
MacGuffin Fellow for Schoolcraft College in partnership with KickstART Farmington
This is the second of four columns in this Artist Perspective Series where interviews with regional writers and editors are drawn upon. Through these columns you are invited to explore with us themes of writing, the Midwest, and what it means to produce art in the post-Covid post-industrial world. Excerpts of conversations with these writers and editors are featured and make connections across the four themes that emerged: Community, Empathy, Connection, and the Power of Change.
This second column features Michigan native and children’s author, Lisa Wheeler! Lisa was an incredibly gracious interviewee and an open book. Please sit back, grab a cool drink, and absorb what Lisa had to share with us.
I discovered the charm of Lisa Wheeler’s writing when I stumbled upon a new book to read to my sons: Ugly Pie. Now sixteen and eleven, my boys still reference this book occasionally – it was and is a favorite for us all. Being granted an interview with the author of our favorite book was very exciting, to say the least. My first question of Lisa had to do with her choice in genre – what drew her to create for children: “I think I was built for it.” Lisa went on to talk about her “superpower” memory when it comes to rhymes and lyrics to songs – even naming her youngest daughter, Katie, after a song on the radio by The Irish Rovers she had heard as a kid. Lisa credits this word superpower for her winning a 4th grade school poetry contest – the beginning of her long career in the writing world. (We bonded over 4th grade poetry contest wins and shared a knowing chuckle at what a bit of early encouragement can do for one’s trajectory.)
When somebody gives you feedback, take it. Don’t take it as a criticism and shy away from writing anymore… revision is just part of the process.
Lisa married right after high school, forgoing a college education. This led her to believe that writing as a profession was out of reach. She treated writing as more of a hobby, “I would write things and just put them away. And write more things and put them away.” Knowing of her love of writing, her husband of 43 years, snagged a typewriter at a garage sale early on in their marriage. “Eventually that (typewriter) got shoved in the back of the closet” – as Lisa did not know how to type. But then, in 1993 her husband surprised her again, this time with a computer! “He said, ‘this is for your stories!’ and I said, ‘I couldn’t even use a typewriter, what makes you think I could use this?’” But time and determination prevailed and by 1995 Lisa began submitting her work, thanks in part to the computer and her “super supportive” husband. As for what she was submitting, Lisa says she gets “very easily bored writing for adults; I know who my audience is and I’ve never doubted it for one minute.” Within six-months Lisa sold her first story to a magazine which continued on for the next four years until her first big break: “…October 30th of 1998, almost four years after beginning to submit, I sold One Dark Knight, my very first manuscript!”
Lisa credits self-study of picture books, sitting with “stacks of them” as a major tool in her process, especially early on in her career. “Marla Frazee illustrated a book called The Seven Silly Eaters written by the wonderful Mary Ann Hoberman, and I studied how the art and the text worked together. That book set a light bulb off in my head for some reason. I was like, ‘ohh it’s what the words don’t say sometimes!’ I’m still learning.” Speaking with her about her processes, we dove deeper into the conversation around preparing for a career as an author: “Let’s take you (Lisa) to a high school writing class right now… What would you say to those budding writers? What can they do to prepare to be successful in this writing world?” Her response was as if she were talking to herself in high school: “When somebody gives you feedback, take it. Don’t take it as a criticism and shy away from writing anymore… revision is just part of the process. You’ll learn to love it, believe it or not! You won’t believe the beautiful things people will pull out of you during that process. When your teacher marks your paper up, take that as, ‘Ohh wow. They really cared enough to give me some help!’” She went on to encourage regular reading, “If you’re going into writing and you don’t want to read because you might be influenced, that’s not true. You read because you have to fertilize the brain.”
The discussion flowed into the subject of helpers – mentors and friends – the community surrounding Lisa and her building of a successful and satisfying career as an author. Lisa credits her agent as being a great resource to bounce ideas off, and her friends, also writers, such as Kelly DiPucchio (author of Gaston). Lisa’s mentor, Linda Smith, passed away some time ago, but not before they had a “wonderful three years of knowing each other.” Lisa has a long history of mentoring others, as well as doing school visits regularly since 2002. She spoke passionately about a mentee met through a contest with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, “that was a wonderful experience. She became like a daughter to me. I really care about her career… I do think that that is one of the most beautiful gifts that we can give people – not just our work but sharing that with others.” In response, I asked Lisa if she would like to use this time to “give a shout out” to a literary or personal hero. “Richard Jackson worked at Simon with many of the talents that we have now. I feel so honored and blessed that I got to work with this wonderful man. He was like a writer’s editor – he didn’t care what the sales team thought he was all about… what he liked, he bought. And then one of my personal heroes was Mary Ann Hoberman, who passed away last year. It was funny, when I met her she was in her 70s and she still beat me in a footrace! She was a tall woman and we were in the rain trying to get to a restaurant and I was years younger than her… she got there before I did. (chuckling) I loved her rhyme. I loved her word play. I loved everything she did – she just did it. She was like the forerunner of what I do now.”
Artists likely have at least a couple pieces they are most proud of over the life of their career. I asked Lisa to speak about what she is most proud of in both her life and her work. Other than her children (whom she speaks of passionately as only a mother can), “the book I’m proud of and I get so much wonderful feedback from families is Someone Builds the Dream. I’m so proud of that book. I’ve never had a [book] tour and this was going to be my first one – it got canceled because of Covid. It’s on 20 state award lists! It came out early 2021 and it’s already earned that which is kind of a record as far as some of my books!” Lisa has another book due out 2025: It Takes a Family to Serve. “It’s about the service given by military families when their loved ones are deployed and how they have to pick up the slack. That’s based on family members like my cousin, Bryan, who was a career Air Force [Airman] and his wife, a teacher having to not only move the kids across the country many times… but find a house, sell the other house… do it all. In this one, I make sure there are children in each scenario.” Lisa’s passion to connect children to big topics and, sometimes, big emotions in tangible ways is admirable. Lisa takes pride in her work and has solidified her place in the writing community.
Lisa Wheeler is a national treasure. More information on Lisa and her work can be found at www.lisawheelerbooks.com.