Wednesday, January 23, 2019

DRESS LIKE A GIRL - A Fashionable Interview with PATRICIA TOHT about her latest PB, including a BOOK GIVEAWAY

Patricia Toht talks girl power, two new books releasing in 2019, and some wise writing advice she received  . . .

By  Eileen R. Meyer

Welcome to another TAKE FIVE interview. I hope that you’ll take five minutes to get to know more about our fellow GROG BLOGGER, Patty Toht and her latest picture book, DRESS LIKE A GIRL.

Patty's new picture book released just yesterday, January 22nd! Her book birthday also happened to coincide with Patty's actual birthday, too--what a great birthday gift! Cake and ice cream for everyone. :) Now on to our Five Questions for Patty:

   1. What was the inspiration behind your new picture book, DRESS LIKE A GIRL? Did your 3-year old granddaughter have anything to do with it?



The book is dedicated to my smart and feisty granddaughter, but the inspiration actually came from Twitter! Early in 2017, a story circulated about a new White House dress code, reportedly stating that female employees should “dress like a woman.” As a result, women began to post photos on Twitter, wearing professional garb that was anything but traditionally “lady-like.” There were astronauts, firefighters, soldiers, construction workers, scientists, etc. After I re-tweeted several images, my agent dropped me an email with a little nudge: “What about Dress Like a Girl”? BRILLIANT! The text came together and was submitted and sold very quickly. (So unlike me - I can be The Pokey Little Writer sometimes!)

2.  This is your third picture book. You’ve previously released: All Aboard the London Bus, 2017 and Pick a Pine Tree, 2017. Tell us more about your writing process. As an author who also works a full-time job and manages a busy family life, how do you work to squeeze in writing and revision time?

I’m anything BUT consistent with my writing, especially with new projects! Although I’m obsessed with recording new ideas in tiny notebooks or on a phone app, I often carry these ideas around in my head for months until I finally get started on them. It’s like a pitcher being filled, and until it reaches overflow level, I’m willing to let it keep filling. But the positive twist is that my first drafts tend to be very well-developed.

As for revisions, I can be grumpy about revising, (my critique partners are angels for dealing with my grousing!), but I love working to an established deadline. I dig in and get the work done. The text for Dress Like a Girl was almost completely rewritten twice, so there was a lot to do!

3. What is the best writing advice that you ever received?  Did it encourage you during a time that you felt stuck?

The best advice I received came from fellow Illinois author Carol Grannick. We both had begun writing for children during the days of snail mail subscriptions, when editors actually sent correspondence in return – either acceptance or rejection letters. But this practice sadly disappeared, to be replaced by a bit of a black hole, with no word unless editors or agents wanted to acquire your work.

Carol had grown discouraged by this and had written a post about putting aside thoughts of publication to focus on craft and writing that brought joy. I decided to do the same. After a few years of doing just that, I discovered that I was enjoying the journey again and my writing had taken a leap forward. I was then ready to start submitting again.

4.  Share something surprising that people don’t know about you.

Most people outside of the Chicago area don’t know that I’ve been writing for over 20 years! It wasn’t until recently that I’ve been published, so many folks see me as a “new” author.

5. Tell me a little bit more about the artist for your book, Lorian Tu, and about how her style was the perfect fit?

My co-creator for Dress Like a Girl is illustrator Lorian Tu. Lorian has illustrated two books for a small press; this is her debut picture book with a large publisher. I’m excited that HarperCollins teamed up my words with Lorian’s illustrations! Her girl characters are adorable, and I love how the overall theme of a sleepover holds everything together. Some pages were a wonderful surprise, like the penguin outfits in the Arctic scene. My original thoughts about the outfits were to keep them quite literal, so I was happy to see the girls in the book being more creative and whimsical. You can check out Lorian’s work on her website, www.loriantubooks.com.

In closing – Patty, you have another book releasing later this year – Pick a Pumpkin! 2019 will be a very exciting year for you. Where can readers and fans find you on social media?

I do have another book coming out in 2019! Pick a Pumpkin (July 2019) is a companion book to Pick a Pine Tree, which came out in the autumn of 2017. Jarvis has illustrated them both in a rich, nostalgic style. I am completely crazy over his illustrations! Lucky me, he will also be illustrating a future book of mine, Together With You (date TBD).

Readers can find me in several places:

My website = www.patriciatoht.com
Facebook = Patricia Toht
Twitter handle = @patriciatoht
Instagram = patricia.toht

Thank you Patty! For readers - leave a comment below and you'll have a chance to win a copy of Patty's new book, DRESS LIKE A GIRL! We’ll announce one lucky winner from those who comment by Saturday, February 2nd.

Thank you for having me, Eileen! I’m so happy to be part of the kidlit world!


Patty is involved with the #KidsNeedMentors program. 
Here is Patty visiting with students and sharing a sneak preview 
of  PICK A PUMPKIN, due out later in 2019.


48 comments:

  1. What a fun post, Patty and Eileen! I love seeing how the newest book came together! Congrats! We just ordered a copy for Cover to Cover yesterday!

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    1. THanks, Kathy! I am buying this book for a few little girls in my life. Such an empowering title--YAY, for Patty!

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    2. Thank you, Kathy! I am so glad you are working at a bookstore - you are an awesome book advocate!

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  2. Great interview! I'm so excited to add this title to my granddaughter's bookshelf. Congrats, Patty!

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    1. Thanks for stopping in, Kim! A perfect book to add to the home library :)

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    2. Thank you, Kim! I hope your granddaughter enjoys it. I dedicated to my granddaughter who is quite the spirited girl!

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  3. Hi Patty & Eileen! Woo! Woo! Announcement of a new PT book, Together With You, plus all this other goodness. I am sharing this with a friend who will especially glom onto the wise #3 about coping with reaching the level of personal turn-downs, only to deal with the black hole non-human experience of Submittable or likewise. I love every big & little detail. I am also humbled to be able to say I Knew Her Way Back When. (But obviously not as way back as some . . .:) Keep these Take Fives coming, Eileen.

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    1. THank you, Jan. I am grateful to be a fellow-blogger with you and all the GROG group! And so FUN to celebrate Patty's latest title. She is on fire!

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    2. Thank you for sharing this, Jan. That black hole was particularly dispiriting for me. I hope your friend will keep on writing - it is so personally fulfilling!

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  4. Eileen, loved getting the behind the scenes info on Patty. I was lucky enough to get to meet her one summer. I write in rhyme, too, so her books are good mentor texts for me.

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    1. And just to add to length of time writing, I started in 1981!!!!

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    2. THanks, Sherri! All of us "long-timers" need to stick together! Patty and I first met at a poetry program in maybe 2003 I think... and we formed a critique group for poetry right after that. We've seen each others stuff through many revisions! So fun that you met Patty. She's awesome-sauce!

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    3. Sherri, we are just "classics"! I love your rhyme - it's beautifully written.

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  5. LOVE what brought this story to life! Congratulations!!

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    1. Thanks for stopping in, Kim. Inspiration is all around us :)

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    2. The story behind the story is crazy-fun, Kim! Writing it was such a different experience than my other books.

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  6. Wonderful interview! Congrats on your new books!

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  7. The illustrations are really adorable. Looking forward to reading the book. Congrats!

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    1. Aren't Lorian's illustrations perfect, Ashley? It was a delight to finally see the published book, since I had only seen smaller, online images. I think the colors and the girl characters jump off the page!

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  8. Congratulations on your books. I'm so glad all your hard work is paying off. I look forward to these new ones.

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    1. Thank you, David! So often I feel like that old turtle in Aesop's fables - slow and steady, baby!

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  9. Congratulations and Happy Birthday, Patty! Can't wait to read this.

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  10. Great post. I love that it was inspired by a white house communique!

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    1. Thank you, Sue! I think Twitter brought much of it together for me. Those images of these talented women in all types of jobs were so inspirational!

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    2. THanks, Sue! It was fun to interview Patty. Next time I'll remember to add my byline on the first posting of the blog!

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  11. I love how you were open to the zeitgeist, and able to turn it into a meaningful book. Congrats!

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    1. Thank you, Jilanne! I did have that incredible nudge by my agent to help get me motivated, and I am so grateful for that.

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  12. Thanks for the fun interview. I love all your books and can't wait to read this one!

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  13. Wonderful post. Thaks for sharing Patricia's journery. :)

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  14. I love this post. Thank you for sharing your journey with this particular book Patricia. I love your writing and your inspiration.

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  15. I really enjoyed the interview. Congratulations on all of your published books - keep them coming!

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    1. Thank you, Janet! Happy reading and happy writing!

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  16. Congratulations on your picture books! I like how this book was inspired by a Twitter post! Ideas can come from the most unusual places. Thanks for sharing!

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    1. Isn't that a fun way to be inspired? Patty knocked it out of the park!

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  17. This book looks so fun! It's such a great message and I agree that the illustrations are adorable :-)

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    1. Isn't this book fun? Perfect for little ladies everywhere!

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  18. Great interview, Patty and Eileen! And big congrats on all these terrific books.

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  19. Thanks for reading all about Patty's new book, Christy! So fun to launch a new title into the world.

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  20. Lovely blog. Thanks for sharing with us.

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  21. I enjoyed the positivity in this interview, Patty and Eileen! Congrats on this timely subject!! I can't wait to read the book :)

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