Meet Amy Lynn Spitzley!
Viola, Scrapbook, Wall Drugs notepad, scoliosis, "the Englishman," and covers: Author/illustrator Amy Lynn Spitzley
Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet writer/illustrator Amy Lynn Spitzley.
Banner for The Mitten for 2026. Amy describes it as follows: It's mixed media, and the original piece is called The Long Journey. I may have been influenced by childhood memories of Leo Lionni, and my love of Redwall books. Fun fact about this one--the mice are made of homemade paper, some of which I made myself.
Viola Doyle or An Unconventional Gift
3.83 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions
I hadn’t heard of this title, which I think you wrote first but published after The Scrapbook of My Revolution? Decent ratings, too. How did a hatpin play into Viola?
Well, originally because I was going to this writing group every week, and they did stream-of-consciousness writing. This was back when my 26-year-old daughter was an infant, playing on a blanket in the corner of Horizon Books, where we used to meet.
One time the facilitator brought in a bag of jewelry and told us to pick one and come up with something to write without stopping to think about it. As stopping to think isn’t something I tend to do, I immediately came up with this young woman, riding her bike through a park with her hair streaming behind her and not caring what her fellow park-people thought. That was the beginning of Viola Doyle.
As for what the pin does in the story? It’s magical, of course. What else would it be?
I was a beta reader for your Scrapbook. Seems I remember the Malians were tall and strong, and good-hearted people who took on some blatant racism and alienism from bad hombres.
How badly did I mis-remember?
.jfif)
Not bad. That’s the Athletics. They were the physical ones. All of them tended to be super-healthy, though. There were Athletics, Sensitives, Camos, and Manipulatives. Amber, the MC of Scrapbook, was a Sensitive. She could read emotions.
Did you have plans for future Malian stories?
I don’t. I feel like that field is all played out, you know? When I came up with Scrapbook it felt different. Now YA is crawling with angsty power-people. I’m not complaining about that–I’ve read quite a few of those books myself, and my daughter (same one from the bookstore baby blanket!) is a teen librarian, but I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. I never liked that idea.
A Wall Drug notepad w/blue flowers. What did having that notepad on that exciting trip awaken in the writer and artist in you?
Bathtub Gnome
Um. Well. I guess it just showed me that writing could be fun. I loved that notebook. I looked for things to write about. I guess observation and the act of putting pen to paper hadn’t really been linked till then.
Revising a story called The Midnight Trees. It’s the edgiest thing I’ve ever done, about people in a society where the rich ones live high in the trees and the regular ones live on the ground. There’s a drug called Stem that’s distilled from the same trees, and it’s getting most of the society hooked. A few people are trying to figure out how to combat this, including a brothel-owner’s daughter named Angel.
You said you liked drawing trees? What do you find about trees that’s so alluring? Would you be a treetop dweller or a “groundie”?
.jfif)
I love trees! Trees, wind, clouds, water, books. Those are my Things. I need them to be anything like a functional Amy. Well, and my people, too, of course, but that’s a given. I think I’d like to live in the treetops because of the wind, but in that story, the upper levels were for the elite, and I wouldn’t be that. Really I’d want the freedom to move between the two. I wouldn’t do well in Hierro.
My character, Angel, comes out all right in the end, after tackling elitism and drug abuse. It’s a bit dark. I think I’d have to go in with a humor brush and lighten things up a bit. I do not believe this world needs more gloom and doom. Nope, nope, nope!
I haven't worked much on the Midnight Trees story, just because it is so dark. I like elements of it, but I've been gravitating more towards a retelling of an old Russian story I wrote about 15 years ago. I'd like to clean that up and get it out in the world, probably more than the Midnight Trees story. It feels lighter, more fun, and even more wholesome--though ick, what a word--and more like something I'd like to read myself nowadays.
All this without mentioning your portfolio. You’re a prolific artist with a large toybox of tools. Are you supporting yourself as a freelance artist?
I am not. I’d love to though! Man, the retail world is NOT where it’s at. I’m on disability for severe scoliosis too. Being able to support myself doing something I actually love would be absolutely wonderful. I am open to partnerships/advice and even perhaps a bit of soul-selling, should anyone be interested. I’m sure I’ve got extra soul stored away somewhere!
Tell us what it takes to conceive a giant piece of art, find a wall to paint it on, and then deal with ladders and paint and weather?
Honestly, I’ve never done an outdoor mural, and I can’t really do indoor ones or sidewalk art anymore, because of the aforementioned Stupid Scoliosis.
As I age, my art changes. My portrait women have gray hair now, and my animals are more intricate.
How intricate are your animals?
Huh. Fairly intricate. I’m not a photorealist, though I admire the level of detail they get! I like putting human expressions on animals. I’d give myself a good B or B+ for my animal art.
I'm very influenced by Redwall books, as well as people like Jan Brett for the beauty and Leo Lionni for the collage look of things.
You lovingly refer to your husband as “the Englishman,” and your son and daughter are the apples of your FB eye. Despite the plague of tourists, you’ve got a pretty good life in Traverse City. Are you a traveler, or a home-body?
Ha! They have their moments. My husband and son are on the autism spectrum, and my daughter probably touches the tip of the scale, too. I like to say that the Godfreys are Autistic and the Spitzley is Artistic. It makes for an interesting, though sometimes frustrating, household!
I like the idea of travel, but I have anxiety. I don’t like not knowing where I’m going to eat or how things are going to play out. At the same time, I tend to be impulsive and restless. It can become kind of a mental mess. I’d love to figure it out a bit more and try to travel, but there’s also a money issue at play. So…I guess I’m not really a traveler or a homebody. I’m just an Amy.
.jfif)
What’s next for Amy Lynn Spitzley?
Good question! Let me know if you figure it out before I do.
Also, I should have mentioned somewhere that I would really really LOVE to get work as a book cover illustrator, and I think my work would be suited to that, but I cannot seem to break into it to save my life! Most frustrating.
Please share any social media:
Instagram Amy Spitzley, artist
Website: amyspitz.wixsite.com/artwork-of-amy-lynn.
Viola, Scrapbook, Wall Drugs notepad, scoliosis, "the Englishman," and covers: Author/illustrator Amy Lynn Spitzley
Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet writer/illustrator Amy Lynn Spitzley.
 |
| Banner for The Mitten for 2026. Amy describes it as follows: It's mixed media, and the original piece is called The Long Journey. I may have been influenced by childhood memories of Leo Lionni, and my love of Redwall books. Fun fact about this one--the mice are made of homemade paper, some of which I made myself. |
Viola Doyle or An Unconventional Gift
3.83 avg rating — 52 ratings — published 2014 — 3 editions
I hadn’t heard of this title, which I think you wrote first but published after The Scrapbook of My Revolution? Decent ratings, too. How did a hatpin play into Viola?
Well, originally because I was going to this writing group every week, and they did stream-of-consciousness writing. This was back when my 26-year-old daughter was an infant, playing on a blanket in the corner of Horizon Books, where we used to meet.
One time the facilitator brought in a bag of jewelry and told us to pick one and come up with something to write without stopping to think about it. As stopping to think isn’t something I tend to do, I immediately came up with this young woman, riding her bike through a park with her hair streaming behind her and not caring what her fellow park-people thought. That was the beginning of Viola Doyle.
As for what the pin does in the story? It’s magical, of course. What else would it be?
I was a beta reader for your Scrapbook. Seems I remember the Malians were tall and strong, and good-hearted people who took on some blatant racism and alienism from bad hombres.
How badly did I mis-remember?
Not bad. That’s the Athletics. They were the physical ones. All of them tended to be super-healthy, though. There were Athletics, Sensitives, Camos, and Manipulatives. Amber, the MC of Scrapbook, was a Sensitive. She could read emotions.
Did you have plans for future Malian stories?
I don’t. I feel like that field is all played out, you know? When I came up with Scrapbook it felt different. Now YA is crawling with angsty power-people. I’m not complaining about that–I’ve read quite a few of those books myself, and my daughter (same one from the bookstore baby blanket!) is a teen librarian, but I don’t want to do what everyone else is doing. I never liked that idea.
A Wall Drug notepad w/blue flowers. What did having that notepad on that exciting trip awaken in the writer and artist in you?
|
| Bathtub Gnome |
Um. Well. I guess it just showed me that writing could be fun. I loved that notebook. I looked for things to write about. I guess observation and the act of putting pen to paper hadn’t really been linked till then.
Revising a story called The Midnight Trees. It’s the edgiest thing I’ve ever done, about people in a society where the rich ones live high in the trees and the regular ones live on the ground. There’s a drug called Stem that’s distilled from the same trees, and it’s getting most of the society hooked. A few people are trying to figure out how to combat this, including a brothel-owner’s daughter named Angel.
You said you liked drawing trees? What do you find about trees that’s so alluring? Would you be a treetop dweller or a “groundie”?
I love trees! Trees, wind, clouds, water, books. Those are my Things. I need them to be anything like a functional Amy. Well, and my people, too, of course, but that’s a given. I think I’d like to live in the treetops because of the wind, but in that story, the upper levels were for the elite, and I wouldn’t be that. Really I’d want the freedom to move between the two. I wouldn’t do well in Hierro.
My character, Angel, comes out all right in the end, after tackling elitism and drug abuse. It’s a bit dark. I think I’d have to go in with a humor brush and lighten things up a bit. I do not believe this world needs more gloom and doom. Nope, nope, nope!
I haven't worked much on the Midnight Trees story, just because it is so dark. I like elements of it, but I've been gravitating more towards a retelling of an old Russian story I wrote about 15 years ago. I'd like to clean that up and get it out in the world, probably more than the Midnight Trees story. It feels lighter, more fun, and even more wholesome--though ick, what a word--and more like something I'd like to read myself nowadays.
All this without mentioning your portfolio. You’re a prolific artist with a large toybox of tools. Are you supporting yourself as a freelance artist?
I am not. I’d love to though! Man, the retail world is NOT where it’s at. I’m on disability for severe scoliosis too. Being able to support myself doing something I actually love would be absolutely wonderful. I am open to partnerships/advice and even perhaps a bit of soul-selling, should anyone be interested. I’m sure I’ve got extra soul stored away somewhere!
Tell us what it takes to conceive a giant piece of art, find a wall to paint it on, and then deal with ladders and paint and weather?
Honestly, I’ve never done an outdoor mural, and I can’t really do indoor ones or sidewalk art anymore, because of the aforementioned Stupid Scoliosis.
As I age, my art changes. My portrait women have gray hair now, and my animals are more intricate.
How intricate are your animals?
Huh. Fairly intricate. I’m not a photorealist, though I admire the level of detail they get! I like putting human expressions on animals. I’d give myself a good B or B+ for my animal art.
I'm very influenced by Redwall books, as well as people like Jan Brett for the beauty and Leo Lionni for the collage look of things.
You lovingly refer to your husband as “the Englishman,” and your son and daughter are the apples of your FB eye. Despite the plague of tourists, you’ve got a pretty good life in Traverse City. Are you a traveler, or a home-body?
Ha! They have their moments. My husband and son are on the autism spectrum, and my daughter probably touches the tip of the scale, too. I like to say that the Godfreys are Autistic and the Spitzley is Artistic. It makes for an interesting, though sometimes frustrating, household!
I like the idea of travel, but I have anxiety. I don’t like not knowing where I’m going to eat or how things are going to play out. At the same time, I tend to be impulsive and restless. It can become kind of a mental mess. I’d love to figure it out a bit more and try to travel, but there’s also a money issue at play. So…I guess I’m not really a traveler or a homebody. I’m just an Amy.
What’s next for Amy Lynn Spitzley?
Good question! Let me know if you figure it out before I do.
Also, I should have mentioned somewhere that I would really really LOVE to get work as a book cover illustrator, and I think my work would be suited to that, but I cannot seem to break into it to save my life! Most frustrating.
Please share any social media:
Instagram Amy Spitzley, artist
Website: amyspitz.wixsite.com/artwork-of-amy-lynn.
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July 2015
Will there be any market ideas such as new publications or publishing companies included in The Mitten?
ReplyDeleteGreat idea, thanks for the suggestion! We'll explore this as we grow and add more features.
DeleteKeep in mind the most up-to-date market research can be found in the members section of the national site, www.scbwi.org
DeleteYou can download it for free or have The Book sent to you for just $5 postage. It's an amazing resource.
Brilliant, Heidi. Huge congratulations and also hugs.
ReplyDeleteI'm a mentee now, too -- let's storm the castle and hang up our artwork. ;) -- And let's pull the rest of our Michigan illustrators up the steps too.
GREAT JOB! Kritstin and Jodie.
ReplyDeleteHeidi, you know I am already a fan, and your work never fails to WOW me!
Heidi, your art is so beautiful! Thanks for your courage in sharing your life challenge with us. I wish you the very best.
ReplyDeleteKristin and Jodie--this is a terrific idea! Looking forward to reading more.
Lindsey McDivitt
Heidi, Thank you for sharing your work and your hard-won wisdom. The depth from which you speak comes through in the strength and vibrancy of your artwork as well. Blessings and continued healing to you. Most Sincerely, Elizabeth McBride
ReplyDeleteThis is a question for Kristin and Jody but I can't seem to find anywhere else to ask it---will we still be sharing marketing news, Hugs & Hoorahs, etc? I don't see any of those at this time. Thanks!
ReplyDeleteI emailed Monica, but for anyone else who is reading this, we will definitely have Hugs and Hurrahs - I'm compiling them now for an upcoming post. We'll have to look at market news going forward, but the SCBWI Bulletin and our listserv continue to be good resources for that info.
DeleteWow! Heidi, I can see why you got the mentorship--touching, heartfelt essay. Impressive!
ReplyDeleteSo happy for you. Nice work, Heidi!
ReplyDeleteI'm such a neophyte here that I forgot there might be posts (and replies!). I really and truly very touched by the kind words and feedback. Thank you all, a bit late! XO Heidi
ReplyDeleteThank you to Jeff and Heidi for their gorgeous artwork! And, Heidi, thank you for your honesty and inspiration, all wrapped up in your beautiful essay. It's a touching reminder of what matters in life--the perfect start to the new year. Happy 2015 to everyone!
ReplyDeleteJeff - thanks for a little insight into your creative world, challenges, and motivations. I'm excited to see more of your work! And Heidi,I want that bronco girl! Love her spirit.
ReplyDeleteAmazing artwork Jeff (and Heidi). Fascinating that Matt Faulkner suggested the 3-D look. The value of SCBWI is our proximity to working writers and illustrators. The sparks that fly when creative minds meet fuels the forge of inspiration.
ReplyDeleteLove it, Jeff! Your art is fabulous and it's great to see more of it.
ReplyDeleteGreat art work Heidi and hugs all over for you...And Jeff, the cover is so good - just want to reach out and squeeze the other hand of the tree, or two or more! Love clay too!
ReplyDelete