September's Local Author - Jasmine Tiedemann
Questions for Jasmine
Q: What is one thing you want people to know about your books?
A: I wrote this book because I had a message to share. I enjoy reading books to my children that help guide them through feelings and emotions that maybe are hard to talk about or deal with. As a parent, if I ever had something I needed to address with my kids, like first day of school, or bullies at recess, sharing, dealing with loss; I would go to the library. I always found that a book could help talk through something with your children. They could relate better to the issue or emotion if a character in a book had the same one.
That is what I wanted to do when I wrote " I wish I were beautiful". I wanted this book to help guide kids through this emotion of self-doubt, motivate kids to believe in themselves, and find what makes YOU special.
This is my first book and my goal is to continue to write stories that help children through challenging moments of their lives. Hopefully my books will help parents talk to kids about these issues because as a parent myself, I know it can be tough to say the right things at times.
Q: Why did you become a writer?
A: I love to read. I love the library. I love picking up a book and escaping into a world of imagination and creativity. I try to share this love of books with my kids. One of our favorite things to do is go to the library to get books. Coming home with an armful of new books is always so exciting. What will these stories be, will they be funny, heartfelt, will they teach me something. The options are endless.
Sitting down at bedtime and reading a book to my children is one of my favorite times of the day. I think this is really what inspired me to write. My love of children's books.
To be honest I never really thought of writing and then I just had this idea one day pop into my head and I thought this could be a really cute story. From there my idea grew into a book and a message I wanted to share. That's really how I became a writer.
Q: Do you have any advice for new and upcoming authors and illustrators?
A: Well what advice would I have?... I myself am a new author so I feel I might have the same questions as you. I'm still learning so much as I go about publishing and how the book world works. Honestly, it seems like a challenging world to get into and this I have learnt by doing some research. But in spite of that I'm not going to let that stop me. I will continue to send out my ideas, write more stories and hopefully publish more books.
So I guess here is my advice, believe in your idea. Write your stories. Draw your pictures. Do it because you have a story to tell and somebody, someday, will want to hear it.