Writer Spotlight: Doris Holik Kelly

 Lifetouch, bossy, Niles, Copper Turtle, Summer Rain, and girls and mules: author/photographer Doris Holik Kelly

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI. In this piece, meet  author  and photographer Doris Holik Kelly

In a Goodreads bio, it mentions a portrait you photographed of Joanne K. Hill, who wrote Rainbow Remedies for Life's Stormy Times. How did you come to photograph Joanne? Why is this portrait among your favorites?

Joanne Hill was a smart, funny, great friend from the Bethel College writer’s club. She wrote Rainbow Remedies during a very tough time in her life. If I remember right she had a whole series of deaths (6?)in her family in a very short time, starting with her husband and ending with one of her sons. 

She was in so much pain that she slipped into a deep depression and one of the ways she worked out of it was by writing her book. I was happy to gift her with a portrait and she was beautiful. 

I just saw it a few days ago on her obituary. She passed away a few days before Dave (David Kelly, Doris' husband). I didn’t see it until a few days ago.

Although you’ve got five published book titles, you are also known for your talent taking photographs. How did you hone your skills with a camera? What equipment do you prefer to use for the best results?

Just give me any camera and get out of my way! 😊

I had an old stainless-steel Canon from 1972 that could take pictures of anything and make it look good. It weighed about 7 lbs and was a bear hanging around my neck. Now I have a much lighter weight digital Sony with Zeiss lenses and it takes great pictures, too. But my cell phone’s camera is pretty spectacular and so handy too.

You worked for Lifetouch doing portraits. What were some of your more memorable photo sessions?

Oh Lord. You would ask that.

I worked for Lifetouch three different times. Sears Portrait studio, Lifetouch school traveling photographer, and the Senior Portrait division. Each one of these had its challenges. 

The Sears Portrait studio ranged from birth to -- drag them in—wheel them in—carry them in. And group photos. As many people as I could squeeze into the room. 

But my greatest challenges there were 2 year-olds. Keep them on the table and keep them from screaming. My favorite prop was a rubber duckie. I balanced it on my head a lot and I’d sneeze- ha-chooo! And drop it into my hand and make everybody crack up.

We had great excitement one day when 2 women raced into the studio to sign in and when one beat the other one to the sign in sheet, a fist fight broke out between them. 

A knife showed up, and someone yelled GUN, which there wasn’t one, but everyone was on the floor with a lot of screaming. FUN! (Sarcasm in case you didn’t notice) 

It was wonderful when the security guys came and took them both away. Drugs, drinking, and kids photos—never thought they went together.

Traveling school photographer. UGH. One of the worst jobs I ever had. Preschools? Drag 40lbs of equipment up 2 flights of steps and spend up to 4 hours trying to take toddler and preschool pictures. Go to a gym and take 400 to 600 school pictures in 2 hours with rude, sulky uncooperative teens.

Take group pictures of each junior high classroom, and have to redo half the school because I didn’t see rows of kids giving me the finger down at their sides from my perch 50 feet away on a 10-foot ladder. Never said I had eagle eyes.

Senior division was more fun. Studio work was fun with different kinds of props lighting and back grounds. I took most of their outdoor photos with really interesting backgrounds. 

The place the studio was in was an old brewery and had layers of steps, cubby holes, brick backgrounds, and weird windows. I was known (ahem) 😉for being the best outdoor photographer in the division.

You were born in South Bend, Indiana. What was life like for young Doris? What early experiences led you to your present-day passions?

Sixth grade Doris

I’m the oldest of six kids. They still call me the bossy sister. I don’t care. We lived in the country and got to roam several acres. The younger kids had jobs to do but if I’d blink they’d all disappear and I got blamed for the work not being done. But that was ok. I’d take my book and climb up on the shed roof, read, and fight off the ants and bugs for a few hours of quiet. Reading books = writing books! Right?

You grew up in Niles, Michigan, and live there still. What about the place and its peoples makes it home for you?

Niles is a small town of about 12,000 people. We’re the first town and township from the Indiana state line and one of the closest places for the Hoosiers in South Bend to grab their supply of pot and run back into Indiana where it’s not legal. Lots of red and blue lights shine on 933 everyday.

Niles has the best history EVER! We have the Fort St.Joseph (1691) archaeology dig every summer. There are a lot of other festivals, too; Apple, Bluegrass, Jazz, Renaissance, River fest, all summer long.

What’s not to like? We’re 25 miles from Lake Michigan beaches, 30 miles from Warren Dunes State Park that has 3 miles of beaches, and 6 miles dune trails, 3 camping areas, 10 miles from Notre Dame, 10 miles from a great shopping area, two train systems, Amtrak and South Shore, to take you into Chicago if you don’t want to drive 90 miles into the city to the museums and fancy shopping, and 2 baseball parks, and DA Bears!

You graduated from Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac, taking classes in creative writing, photography, and Art and Education. As a young college graduate, what was your plan for your life?

I went to college the first time for music. I wanted to be a professional singer. (Many are called…) The second time was as an adult. My plan was to have a job I enjoyed and to help my husband take care of the family. 

After I graduated I worked for a local family portrait studio. That’s where I also took wedding pictures, ( there’s a lot I could tell here too about some weddings),and senior pictures and I took the (shiver) elementary/jr. hi, and high school pictures. And I wrote on the side when I had some peace and quiet.

Your first mid-grade novel, The Mystery of the Copper Turtle, was published on May 22, 2009. By November 2 of that same year, you had published The Mystery of the Voyageurs Rendezvous. How did you accomplish that incredible feat of two published books in six months?

I started thinking about a book I could write for kids that was like the real Mackinac Island. I had a directed study in creative writing at SMC so I wrote a couple of chapters a week and turned them in. (I was also working at Sears in the men’s clothing department, taking pictures for the family studio, and I had a ten-year-old and a 14-year-old and an out of work husband then.)

I didn’t have a computer then, so I’d write in longhand, give it to friend of mine to type out, then I got a computer and typed my own onto a disc, then the next system came a long, and on and on. I need to roll my eyes here. Just thinking about the different programs it went through was ridiculous.

BUT it took me almost 20 submissions to find a publisher that liked my book and wanted to do a series. I guess it was hard to place, too local, too much Michigan info, and I probably wasn’t the best writer. But I was trying!

That was before 9-11. I actually had a redirection letter reach me from New York City a year after it had been originally sent back to me. It was slightly damaged.

While I kept submitting Copper Turtle I started on The Voyageur’s Rendezvous. My teenaged son says, “There’s got to be a ship wreck!” and I started the ship wreck. I’d read what I wrote to him--- “BO-RING!” 

So I just kept working. So when I found a small Michigan publisher she wanted both books, and she also wanted the third (Mystery of the Bone Scavengers). And then she didn’t… but that’s another story. (That’s when I met Lori Taylor.)

Cover art: Lori Taylor

So I just kept writing about the things that interested me. Archeology, Michigan history, stealing Native American art, diving to shipwrecks and stealing from them, grave robbing native sites; all are white collar crimes that continue all over the world. 

But, some things have changed. What once didn’t get paid much attention, and the bad guys rarely ever got punished, now we have repatriation laws in the US and the world and many things are being returned to the tribes. There used to be wide open Native American graves that people could look at and even buy bones from and now that is completely closed down. Thank God.

By July, 2010 you had written and published a third in the series of Big Mitten Mysteries, this one titled The Mystery of the Bone Scavengers. There was a fourth book planned, but never published. Do you have a draft? What was the title?

The Bone Scavengers had a really small audience. Not supported at all by my publisher. But it’s out now at your favorite bookseller.

I wanted the fourth book to be a story about the Fort St. Joseph archeology dig, but nope, she said it wasn’t a physical place for kids to visit so the idea went to the side. I may still write one for it anyway, just because a dig is an interesting thing for kids to participate in.

So the 4^th book won’t be in Mackinac It’s going to be set in the Traverse area in the town of Glen Arbor. The Lost Cubs of Sleeping Bear. It’s 95% DONE. But not totally finished. I’m struggling with the ending. Too many strings untied.

Do you miss your main characters of the middle grade mysteries? What part of Jared and Sadie are you, your kids, or grandkids

Doris and grandkids

I tried to make the characters after my kids. They are sort of like them. Jared and Jeremy are both pretty laid back, and Sadie and Susana have the same temperament, but Susana doesn’t love makeup.( She’s pretty grown up now but she’d still punch her brother if she could get away with it. ;-) ) 

But my kids are kinda boring. So I had to use my imagination and also remember some of the slightly scary stuff we (I)  did as kids. (Remember, no cell phone or cameras back then to tell on you. .)

In Bone Scavengers you mention the horrifying Native American legend, the wendigo. In Copper Turtle, a monster called a Gi-bi thwarts the children trying to solve the mystery. What is a Gi-bi?

A Gi-bi is almost the same as a wendigo, LOL. Wendigoes almost always come out in the starving days of winter to turn insanely ravenous people into cannibals .(Hi, how are you doing neighbor? Want to come over for lunch?) Not the middle of Main Street Mackinac Island. 😉

Mysteries for kids are difficult to write, what with all the clues you have to drop on the page, and all the research necessary to tell a convincing story of the history and the geography of the place. How did you write three 200-page novels in the course of a year?

They were written over at least 15 years. 😊 But I needed to sell the first one first, so I kept writing the others

The Gift of Summer Rain: An Arch Rock Legend was your next book, published in 2018, and illustrated by local artist Lori Taylor. It clocks in at a trim 58 pages. Do you consider it a long picture book, or a novella?

 

Interior art for Summer Rain

I Love Lori Taylor! Her art rocks!

Eh… It’s kind of a long picture book novella. There is too much story to be a picture book, but Lori’s gorgeous illustrations are so necessary to bring the people and places within the story to life. I eliminated a lot of words from when I first wrote it, though.

Your latest book, The Crow’s Warning: Escaping the Wildfires of 1881, was published in 2024. Like all of your work, it is based on Michigan history. What drew you to write about that tragic event? How much research was necessary?

I heard a little about the family history of the 1881 fire at my aunt’s funeral at least 15 years ago. My created story is truly NOT a biography. It’s based on a series of isolated incidents reported by the Detroit and other larger city newspapers and by my imagination.

There were a lot of little notices in the Detroit paper during that week from little cities and villages all over the thumb. After thinking about it we decided that they were last ditch telegraphed pleas for help as fires approached them. 

It’s very flat up in the thumb and there was literally NO place to see where the fire was coming from. No place to escape to. The fire would just appear. 

My great x4 grandma's grave.
She was Old Order Mennonite
from Lancaster county

I gave the people in my story a heads up with a climbing tree, and the crows warning, and the river. A way to survive, but most settlers who died in the wildfire didn’t have that.

The first Cass City paper, the Enterprise began the week of the fire. It reported the fire at the end of the week and then, to my knowledge, they didn’t bring out another edition until a month later. 

It was a horrendous fire. Almost 300 people died in about 24 hours. Those are the people that were from the area. It doesn’t account for any visitors to the area. My great great-grandparents did spend a lot of time in the river. They lost everything and had to start again.

I asked about the
girls and the mules

The Girls and Mules picture is from the Crows' Warning book. My grandma is on the mule's back. She's wearing a hat and a big grin and my great grandma is driving the plow and standing behind the mule. 

So that's an old picture; probably more that a hundred years ago. 

I guess some of the family had mules. Cheaper than horses but twice as mean. I have this picture in the Crows' Warning just for fun. In the Crows' Warning story the Irish family have mules. That's about all I have. Don't have any horse names. 

I almost sent you a picture of my great grandma Cora Belle Jones -- the one I mention as being the main character in the story. The story is told through a 13 year old Cora Belle Jones' eyes. I used her name. But not the real her. 

She died when I was 4 so I don't remember her much, except the one time I played with the fish in their outdoor horse watering tank.

By the way I do have a sort of story about the kids in the station wagon and it's all about leaving my brother in Saginaw when he got out of the car to go to the bathroom and got locked inside the bathroom and we drove off without him. 

But we did have a trailer filled with chickens and rabbits and 7 more grouchy people to distract us. We didn't know he was missing until we had a flat tire and a cop stopped by to ask if we'd lost a kid.  Whoops! Sorry Dale. 

Janet Seaman contributed watercolor artwork for a second edition of The Copper Turtle. How did this collaboration come to pass?

She was a good friend and a well-loved 2nd grade teacher in our community, who supported me and loved the Copper Turtle story. She read it to her 10-year-old granddaughter on a trip up to Mackinac and her granddaughter begged for pictures so she could see what it looked like. 

So Janet made them just for fun. She gave them to me, but the first publisher didn’t want to put anything in the book but the story, so I hung onto them.

What’s next for Doris?

Next book: Fang and the Fabulous Fundraiser. 5^th graders try to raise enough money for a class trip and everything goes wrong.

The 4^th Big Mitten Mystery book The Lost Cubs of Sleeping Bear.

I think I’d like to get The Gift of Summer Rain onto Amazon. (Big project)

THEN!!! I have an exciting young adult murder mystery 95% finished. It’s called Bobbed Hair and Bloodstained Banners and it’s set within an orphanage in a town near me, pre prohibition, and pre votes for women. 

Two young women decide to be suffragettes and find that the world is very much against them. It’s very disturbing and dreadfully sad at times, too. 

I had to set it aside for a while to decide if I wanted it to be YA or Midgrade. YA won. I believe that some things are too deep for 5^th graders.

That’s all!

Because people who know Doris mentioned her camera work, I asked for some examples:

 

 

Grandkid portraits

Grandpa and grandchild

tree on the edge of the Grand Canyon walkway

the beach when Lake Huron was very high

bleeding heart

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Writer Spotlight: Catherine Bieberich

 

 Ursula, Potawatomi, Battle Creek, reluctant blogger, India, and awards: author Catherine Bieberich

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI. In this piece, meet  author Catherine Bieberich. 

Me in my Chunni at Gurudwara:

"Pretty Little Easter Bunny" was your first poem at age 5. You said it’s never been published, but has been recited. If you’ll include it here, it’ll be published, too. What was life like for young writer Catherine?

Life was difficult and confusing for young Catherine. I had stories in my head all of the time. I found school quite boring, so I invented “Ursula, the dancing flower”. 

She went on several adventures while I was supposed to be taking notes in school. Story ideas would wake me up in the middle of the night. “Pretty Little Easter Bunny” was the first thing I wrote out – because I finally knew how to write:

“Pretty little Easter Bunny

In his little Easter hat

Doesn’t he look very funny

Tell me what you think of that.”

It’s important to remember that creativity can be frightening before you understand that it’s a gift. I always remember that, as a mom and a teacher.

(From a blog post)I have to figure out how to get the amazing history of the Nottawaseppi Huron Band of the Potawatomi into the story without having it sound like a history lesson.  

Were you able to do it? Why that particular Potawatomi band?

While doing research for a book about Battle Creek’s first school teacher, I discovered the amazing history of the Nottawaseppi Huron Potawatomi.

I also discovered the “Trail of Death”, which was to the “Trail of Tears” for the Potawatomi in the Midwest. During that forced removal, two chiefs of the Battle Creek band snuck away from the US soldiers in the middle of the night. 

They returned to Athens, MI and worked on retrieving the rest of their tribe from the reservation. We now have the descendants of those courageous heroes living in Athens and working at the Firekeepers Casino.

No, I have not been able to do it. I have written the story as a picture book; however, my critique group feels it needs to be expanded into something more. 

Sadly, until I retire, I am owned by my job as a teacher of Multilingual Learners.

At some point you announced on your blog that you had stopped writing for a while.  How long did you stop? What got you started again?

I stopped writing after the agent who signed me turned out to be a bit on the shady side. I was heartbroken and writing felt like a waste of time. 

However, writers know that the stories don’t stop coming. I eventually had to sit down at the computer and begin listening to the insistent voices in my head.

On your Instagram account you’ve written this: I teach, write and read young adult novels. My daughters no longer live at home, but they are still my world. My life is too big for pictures. What do you mean, My life is too big for pictures? Do you write YA?

I began exclusively writing YA. I have since written MG, as well as two different picture books.

You’ve taught in Battle Creek schools for how long? You are now teaching high school. What school, and what grade levels were your wheelhouse, previously?

Teacher Cathy with Tony

I have taught for Battle Creek Public Schools for eight years. I am currently an instructor for Multilingual Learners at Battle Creek Central High School (Go Bearcats!). 

I have taught for 42 years, so I have taught every subject and every grade level at some point in my career. 

I received my second Master’s Degree in TESOL after seeing the way that immigrants were treated in our country. It ignited a passion in me to show these students that they are a part of our country and to help them access all of its resources.

On Pinterest, your tag line is If I don't love it, I don't do it. How long did it take you to figure out what you love, and what you don’t. What are some of the things you love?

I love so many things that it has taken forever to really understand which things are truly passions, as opposed to the things that I ‘enjoy’. My passions are learning about different cultures, traveling to different countries, learning new languages and writing! My teaching life is bigger than I am. It is something that fills me in a way I cannot describe.

You’ve been on Blogger since October 2006. How much has your blogging changed in 20 years?

I am a reluctant blogger. I continuously forget that I have a blog. I started blogging for my students. I was in charge of an accelerated learners program, and many of my students suffered from anxiety. I found that posting information, as well as my own struggles helped them to feel less alone. I would like to blog more consistently on my writing account.

You’re involved with a local Indian group. You and your husband traveled to India last year. How was your trip? What is it you find fascinating about the Indian culture?

When I was very young, I knew that I was in love with different cultures. At four I colored my skin brown with a permanent marker – head to toe. 

Thanks to the wonderful Punjabi students I had in my classroom about 15 years ago, I settled on an obsession with all things Punjab, Indian. I started going to the  Gurdwara, practicing Sikhism (in addition to Christianity) and learning Punjabi. 

Visiting with Friends in India

I have found that Sikhi, as well as the Punjabi people, match my energy and my core values. They like to dance and socialize. They are kind and forgiving. 

One person who has inspired me tremendously is Valerie Kaur and her Revolutionary Love movement. She practices the philosophy of Ik Onkar - It is to look upon the face of all humans and say: You are a part of me I do not yet know.

Our trip to India was fantastic! I ventured beyond the Punjab area and visited Jaipur, Rajasthan and Agra. 

I absolutely adore the chaos that is inherent in India. The people are amazing to visitors. They have a saying, “Guest is God”. I have found that to be very true.

 

Twin Day

My blogs

ALP Room

Love Yourself

Building Castles

Kitty Cat without a Clue

 

Tell us about some of these blogs. 

The only one I still keep up with is “Building Castles” – and that one is spotty. Thanks for reminding me!!!

In 2014 you wrote a piece about author Candace Fleming: Candace Fleming was not only brilliant and informative, she was easily one of the most charming presenters I’ve ever had the pleasure of shadowing.  “Shadowing” a presenter at a conference is a lost art. What did shadowing Candace Fleming involve?

I loved the “shadowing” program. I set it up so that every presenter had a shadow. This person prepared the room for the presenter, made sure they knew the event schedule, got them water and was the point person for one of the presenters. 

I definitely noticed the lack of shadows at my last SCBWI event (no offense). One of the presenters had trouble with the technology in the room and was floundering looking for help. The person who had introduced that presenter was no longer around. 

It struck me that, setting up all aspects of ONE presenter’s space was an invaluable service. Pete Hauptman was the funniest person I ever shadowed. He came up with a list of needs – turn down service, caviar. Of course, he was only joking.

For that 2014 conference on Mackinac Island, you were dubbed the “Karaoke Queen.” Do you remember any songs that you belted out?

I have an endless repertoire…

My crew

You received an educator appreciation award. This is what they said about you: 

Catherine Bieberich is extremely passionate about helping English learners and their families and goes above and beyond to make them feel welcome at school events and conferences. She spent her whole summer renovating the school library to make it functional. She also partnered with the local public library to get book donations and train staff to check out books.

What foreign languages did you encounter? How did you make your school library more functional? Is that library still operating?

The most common languages we encounter at Battle Creek Public schools are: Spanish, Arabic, Swahili, Burmese and French. Of course, I speak: German, Hindi, Punjabi and a smattering of Spanish. No help at all!!! We have a large Indian population in Battle Creek, MI, but the students attend a different school.

Sadly, that library is no longer functioning. The entire school was remodeled to create the amazing: Northwestern Academy for Visual and Performing Arts!!!

You were recognized for your work at the Springfield Middle School first annual culture fair? Please describe the event. Were there other culture fairs in the following years?

Culture fair

We have had a culture fair every year at SMS. We have had African and Mexican dance exhibitions, drumming, food from many varied cultures, student displays of their home culture, as well as people attending in their traditional clothing. 

We have had community representatives come and share their resources with our families at the event. My favorite thing is the fact that, even though they have no students in our schools, the Gurudwara shows up every year with an entire array of free Indian food for the students to try.

This year we will be hosting the fair again, but at Battle Creek Central High School.

Your X account has the tagline I'm a mother, a writer, and a teacher. Being a mother completes me, being a writer defines and calms me, and being a teacher feeds me. Does being a mother, writer, and teacher still affect you in the same way?

I need to update that! Those things are still true. However, I am now also a grandmother of 4 beautiful babies. I need to find a way to describe that…

What are you currently working on?

TEACHING – lol. I am currently designing curriculum, identifying ML students, setting up my classroom, writing learning plans for all 100 students on my caseload…

However, when I can take a breath again I will finish revising my current project on the Shephard House in Battle Creek. It is a mystery involving the ghost of a former Nottowaseppi Huron Potawatomi.

And then I will work on my Punjabi love story. When I don’t have time to write, I get almost frantic – wishing I could sit down and work on my pieces.

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Meet 2026 SCBWI-MI Novel Writing Mentor Sheela Chari

Editor's Note: The application period for the 2026 SCBWI-MI novel mentorship with author Sheela Chari opens January 2, 2026 (with the winner announced in April). Today's you can get to know a little bit more about our mentor, Sheela.

What made you decide to become an author?

From a young age, I loved escaping into stories, whether it meant reading them or making up my own. Books were important, and so were the places where I interacted with them — in my own room and in libraries at school and in town. One of my fondest childhood memories is taking the bus to the Iowa City Public Library and meeting my best friend there to check out tons of books!

In college, I became more serious about making writing my career and life work after taking an intro fiction workshop. That class changed my life. From then on, I took more classes and went on to get my MFA. It would be another 10 years after that before I published my first novel. But certainly I credit the library, the hours of alone time to think up stories during my childhood, and those classes in college that opened the world of fiction writing for me.

What do you like best about writing novels?

I love that first stage when an idea is fresh and you are just discovering it, following it along, and somehow this idea knows where it’s going and you have to give it room, energy, and enough unconditional, non-judgmental love. That’s the best! The second best is when the draft is all done, everything is in place, and the revision process is where you are chiseling away to get to the story within. I can spend days and days in this phase of revising and refining, until I get to the last draft.

What do you like least?

Oh, the idea stage, the revision stage, the end stage. Does that sound like what I like the best? That sounds about right. Writing is hard work. It’s hard because the joy and the uncertainty are so tightly bound together.

Describe a typical writing day.

I wish I had a typical day. I’ll describe the one I aspire to, and maybe this happens about half the time: I sit down at my desk in the morning around 9:30 am and I write for two hours. I divide this into thirty-minute sessions with a few minutes of break in between. After that I tend to the rest of the day: lunch, picking up my daughter from school, errands, meals, etc. If I’m lucky, I get another hour in the afternoon or in the evening. I try to exercise in the mornings before I write, and/go for a walk after lunch.

I also teach in the Writing for Children and Young Adults MFA program at VCFA, so there are weeks when I’m working on packets from students, which means reading and commenting on their creative pages, critical essays, and reading annotations. Since teaching is how I learn best, these packet weeks really do inform my work as a writer. 

When you're reading for pleasure, what features of a book typically impress you the most?

I love epistolary writing — letters, emails, texts, any kind of “found” documents and multiple formats of writing all smashed together. I love a beautifully constructed graphic novel. Those are some formats I tend to gravitate towards, though I do like conventional prose novels, too. In terms of content, I enjoy historical fiction, humor, and any kind of plot-twisting, atypical, surprising storytelling. I adore emotionally rich characters who are unconventional, with big feelings, and who despite it all strive ahead.

What inspires you?

A great way for me to fill the well is a day spent in the city (any vibrant city) eating good food, visiting a museum, and hearing a music concert.

What aspects of being a novel mentor are you most looking forward to?

I love to teach! Teaching and learning go hand in hand, so I look forward to engaging with another writer’s world, and collaborating with them to find the story, and guide their characters on a set of interactions, reflections, and actions that best serve that story. It’s often a process of trial and error, built on mutual trust. Teaching has also taught me to be a good listener, to learn how to attune to the needs of the student or mentee who is trusting me with their work.

Can you tell us about any upcoming projects?

I’m working on a number of projects and hope to share them with the world soon! :)

Writer Spotlight: Jay Whistler

Travel, new bookstore, Frida Pennabook, freelance editing, and phantoms: author Jennifer (Jay) Whistler

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI. In this piece, meet  author and bookstore owner Jay Whistler.

Also, check out this previous interview: https://scbwimithemitten.blogspot.com/2020/11/jay-whistler-seeks-warmer-climes.html

(From an earlier Mitten interview) For me, changing how I write also changed my output. I now write more words and produce cleaner drafts that don’t meander. I used to be a “pantser” (someone who writes by the seat of their pants), but now I am a dedicated “plotter” (someone who does a lot of character development and outlining before drafting). That’s been a game-changer, but it is still a challenge to stay focused and not bang out a draft just because I am excited about my shiny new idea.

This was written a few years ago, many traveled miles ago. Where has you writing process taken you?

Since this earlier interview, I haven’t changed my plotting habits. I have created my own plotting method that I share in some of my presentations at conferences and a number of shop talks. 

Maybe it’s more accurate to say I’ve mashed up some other plotting methods into my own Frankenstein version. I call it Save the Breakout Story Genius. It combines elements of SAVE THE CAT WRITES A NOVEL (by Jessica Brody), WRITING THE BREAKOUT NOVEL (by Donald Maass), and STORY GENIUS (by Lisa Cron).

This plotting method is the one that works for me, and it may work for others, but I’m sure it’s not the plotting panacea we all search for. I won’t say it saves time because I spend so much time on the front end mapping out all my details that it probably all evens out. 

But all that planning means that when I finally write, it’s a clean first draft that needs fewer revisions. (And please notice that I said “fewer,” not “few.” No plotting method will allow someone to create a submittable draft in the first go.)

And since the earlier interview, I’ve had two MG nonfiction history/ghost story books published, a YA horror short story, and an adult horror short story. So something must be working.



(From the same interview) When I turned the chapter over to my successor, after only 18 months, we had tripled our membership and built a tidy nest egg. The Swiss chapter now has over 50 members and continues to grow.

That was about the time you were R.A. for SCBWI-Switzerland. You’ve done some traveling. Have you taken SCBWI to other parts of the world?

I haven’t taken SCBWI to other parts of the world, but I’ve experienced it in other parts of the world. One of the many wonderful things about SCBWI is that wherever you go, there is likely a chapter there. 

I have reached out to many other regions when I’m traveling to see if anyone has a meeting coming up that I might attend to meet other writers, to see if they are looking for a presenter for a shoptalk or conference, and everyone has been so welcoming. 

I’ve been lucky to have those experiences in Michigan, New Mexico, California, Texas, Indiana, France, Germany, and of course Switzerland. I now have writing friends around the globe.

I’m working on a middle-grade historical fiction novel. And that’s all I’m going to say.

Do you have more to say now?

Sort of. And here’s where I talk about the benefits of plotting once more. During my research, character building, and plot outline phase, I realized that this MG novel is not ready to come out yet. 

It’s extremely emotional and brought back a lot of memories from my own history that I need more time to process and come to terms with before I can write. I don’t want my writing to read as if I’m having therapy sessions with myself.

So I’ve set that aside for now and am working on a YA that has been on a back shelf for years. I have had colleagues and mentors alike tell me that the story was ready to submit. I knew it wasn’t, though I couldn’t have told you why. 

One day, as I was working with a freelance editing client, I told her, “The main story problem here is not your MC’s, it’s your secondary character’s problem. The MC can walk away at any time with no consequences. So let’s figure out the real problem.” 

That was my big A-HA! moment. I didn’t know my characters, plot, motivation, or stakes. Now I am reworking it from the very beginning as if I’d never written the first novel (twice).

There’s a great quote that I think applies, whether you are a pantser or a plotter (or a plantser, which is whole other category): “I'm writing a first draft and reminding myself that I'm simply shoveling sand into a box so that later I can build castles.” 

This quote has been mistakenly attributed to Jordan Peele, comedian and filmmaker, but Shannon Hale deserves the credit. For me, my plotter method is first sifting the sand to take out the shells, the toys kids have left behind, and the cat poo because someone forgot to put the lid on the sandbox after the kids were done playing. (I swear it wasn’t me, Mom!)


That was a goodbye piece, you were off to Texas. We are overjoyed to have you back. Are you like a bad penny? (And then I have to explain that "a bad penny" is an idiom meaning something or someone unwanted that repeatedly reappears, and ruin the joke.)

Three of my grandparents were Irish, so I know the idiom well. I like to think of myself like a boomerang—no matter where I go, there is always one place that will forever be home. 

Though my husband and I said Texas would be our last move, both our daughters moved back to Michigan (because Covid blew up everyone’s lives in some way, didn’t it?) and we followed. I’d like to think we’re here to stay, but I’ve learned never say never.

And you will be an owner of a bookstore? What are the plans you’re willing to divulge?

In revision stage, September 2025

The bookstore was always a sort-of joke in our family, especially when one of us was frustrated about a current job. “Let’s just chuck it all into the wind and open a bookstore!. 

In the summer of 2024, my younger daughter said she was done joking about it. So we began planning. 

At first my husband was skeptical and watched from the side lines while Linnea and I joined American Booksellers Association, Great Lakes Independent Booksellers Association, went to bookselling conferences, created a business plan, researched demographics, and got certified as front-line booksellers. And now he is all on board.

And here it is, open for business

A rental property in Ferndale fell into our laps in June, right in the neighborhood we wanted, in the price range we could afford, and we couldn’t pass it up. 

So we signed a lease in mid-July. The inside has gotten a facelift, we have fixtures and shelves, our sidelines are in, and our opening inventory is ordered. Our hope is to open in mid-October.

Whistler’s Daughter Books is a general interest bookstore that will have a highly curated selection of books (because we’re a small space) focusing on literature, poetry, and art, with a bit of everything in most genres. 

Inside POV

We will have MG and YA books featuring lots of local and MI authors (gotta support my SCBWI colleagues!), a small picture book section, and a quality used book room. We want it to be a true community bookstore that encourages people to sit and have meaningful conversations with neighbors and friends.

Our website is still under construction, but it’s there! And we are on Instagram. Links are at the end.

Jay adds:

The bookstore Grand Opening will be on Saturday, December 6, from 11 am-7 pm. We will have guest speakers, door prizes, raffles, food, and much more. 

Jay has over 30 years of professional writing experience.
She has over 16 years of college-level teaching experience, including curriculum development.
She holds an MFA in Writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts, an MA in Technical, Writing from Bowling Green State University, and a BA in Written Communications from Eastern Michigan University.
She has extensive freelance experience editing middle-grade, young-adult, and adult novels, picture books (including rhyming and nonfiction), and short stories.
She is a former acquisitions reader for three literary agencies.
She has extensive freelance experience editing technical documents for various corporate clients.
She is the former Regional Advisor for Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators Switzerland chapter.
She has experience presenting at conferences on the craft of writing.

That’s quite a resume. Any additions or deletions from today’s bullet points?

I see you lifted some bullets from my webpage. 😉 It’s a good reminder that I need to update that.

Deletions? I guess I never really talk about my corporate clients anymore. It’s not relevant to the projects I work on or want to work on. And the Swiss RA position was so long ago that there’s no need to bring it up anymore. I suppose these things are fine on Linked In. But really, who cares about them anymore?

For additions, I would add that I’ve been a submissions editor for two literary journals, and I’ve published the two MG books and two short stories. 

I’m also the former SCBWI-MI Mentorship Coordinator. Jessica Zimmerman is the new coordinator and she’s doing a great job. Information on the 2026 mentorship is coming soon!!!

Dear Frida Pennabook, From Scared in Sault St. Marie

You did a number of Frida Pennabook pieces for The Mitten. What were you able to say through Frida? Will Frida consider un-retiring?

I had a lot of fun pretending to be a colorful little old lady. I think I want to be her in the future. Katherine Easter Gibson’s quarterly “Ask the Editor” column, which started before the pandemic, was natural evolution.

I’m not sure Frida is ready for a comeback. Sure, I was “anonymous,” but plenty of people knew it was me. And it’s really important that new people joining SCBWI-MI don’t feel as if it’s the same clique running the chapter and all its services. 

We need fresh perspectives and voices, we need to encourage new members to get involved, and we need to nurture emerging talent in our region. The more supported each person feels, the more they can pay it forward.

I am a young adult novelist currently working on several different manuscripts. I also do freelance editing for other writers and will serve as a beta reader on manuscript drafts. Visit my website for more information: https://jaywhistler.com/

How go the different manuscripts? Have you beta-read a book that went on to bigger things?

I’m no longer taking on editing clients because I wanted to spend more time working on my own writing. It was a great adventure because I learned a little bit more with each client I worked with. While researching something for one client in particular, I finally understand what was holding back one of my manuscripts.

I want clients to have those moments for themselves, when the Gordian knot finally loosens. In some cases, the authors did just that. 

I am fortunate to have been involved with several manuscripts that have been published, and my heart always melts a little when I am mentioned in the acknowledgements. That doesn’t mean I am responsible for my clients’ successes, just that I was able to help them through the confusion to find their own way to clarity. 

Writing is hard work, as we all know, and while we need help along the way, ultimately the journey, the failures, and the successes belong to the author because they did not give up.


Freelance editing. What are the pros and the cons of setting up shop as a freelance editor?

OOF! That’s a toughie. There were days, sometimes weeks, especially during the pandemic, when I would ask myself about a dozen times a day, “Whyyyyy did I do this to myself?” But the job was mostly satisfying.

I loved being my own boss, setting my own hours, determining my worth as an editor, and working with people who genuinely want to learn and put their words into the world for that one reader who needs to hear them.

After helping dozens of clients over six years, I became so excited by my clients’ work that I knew that was displaced enthusiasm to get back to my own creative pursuits. I still receive a handful of inquiries every few months, but now I play matchmaker and help them find the right freelance editor for them.

Jay edits picture books, early readers, chapter books, middle-grade, and young adult contemporary realistic fiction, historical fiction, romance and romcom, mystery, adventure/thriller/suspense, satire, magical realism*, horror, or supernatural (think ghosts, not vampires or werewolves). If she hasn’t expressly ruled something out, just ask.

What’s the asterisk about for magical realism? You’ve ruled out vampires and werewolves. Anything else you don’t want to edit?

Young Jennifer

Charlie, I am so glad you asked. People often misunderstand the genre and think they are writing magical realism. Every single time a potential client said that’s what they were writing, it wasn’t. 

Magical realism is very specific. It is a literary and art form, not a genre per se, that focuses not on the magic of the world in which it exists, but instead focuses on the aftermath of the magic and the effect is has on the characters in the story. 

This form arose in the early 20th century, and the term was coined by a German art critic. He noticed that art was increasingly more surreal post-World War I. There was clearly something in the cultural zeitgeist that informed the new art movement. In the 1940s, magical realism evolved into literature, most notably with Gabriel García Márquez.

The main identifying characteristic of magical realism is that it expresses emotion rather than elicits it. In fantasy, magic systems are outside reality, distinctly separate from our own human reality. The author makes up a world, magic system, mythical creatures, etc., and indeed the world itself is a huge part of the story, pushing plot forward.

In magical realism, magic is an integral part of our human world as it exists right now. But there is no explanation for it, no world building. It simply is. And it is this magic and its effects on the people that provide the story, not the magic itself.

To confuse matters even more, there are subgenres (but remember this is a movement, not really a genre) of surrealism and fabulism and animist realism. 

When an author is getting ready to submit, they should do a deep dive into magical realism versus fantasy. Agents and editors and publishers want to know they are dealing with a professional. Misidentifying your book as magical realism when it is really urban fantasy is a sure-fire way to be left in the slush pile.

I don’t claim to be an expert here. But this blogpost I wrote several years ago might shed a little more light. (In full transparency, I wrote this post several years ago and mistakenly attributed the origin of the term “magical realism” to the wrong person. Credit goes to German art critic Franz Roh, in 1925.)

https://jaywhistler.com/2019/06/do-you-write-fantasy-or-do-you-write-magical-realism/


Jay Whistler was born on Halloween and grew up in a haunted house. She loves listening to ghost stories, whether real or imagined, and willingly explores haunted places on her travels across the country and around the globe. Even so, she will always be afraid of the dark.

There’s a lot to unpack here. Born on Halloween, haunted house?

photo courtesy of The San Antonio Express

What isn’t mentioned is that I come from a family of psychics, and my mother and sisters owned two locations of the Boston Tea Room, one in Wyandotte (now closed) and the other Ferndale (still going strong). I have some psychic tendencies and have had experiences that feel paranormal or unexplainable, but I wouldn’t say I’m psychic. Maybe it skipped a generation?

Regardless, I’ve known my family was “different” since I was very young. One of my sisters talked about her “first family,” beginning at two years old with lots of specific details that she was able to remember years later. I still get chills when she talks about it. Both my sisters and I have had paranormal encounters in our home, and not just spooky vibes, although we had plenty of those.

And then there was the man who, in the middle of the day, walked into my basement, where my nine-year-old-self was playing Barbies, and went directly to our furnace and slipped between the furnace and the wall. 

I stared in horror, thinking about all the stories my parents had told me about staying away from strangers. After several minutes of me never taking my eyes of the furnace, I summoned the courage to scream for help. 

My grandfather shone his flashlight in the sliver of free space, but of course there was no one there. But the man, who was wearing dark blue coveralls with an embroidered oval nametag, had been there. To this day, I have no doubt.



This is why I say “choosing” happiness and “finding” joy aren’t the path to achieving them. Instead, when you create something that feeds your soul as you write, a story that will speak to readers in a way no prescriptive theme from an agent ever could, the joy finds you. The happiness envelops you.

So I’m not hunting for anything. Happiness and joy will land on me as soon as I sit down to write.

Not fair to ask you this while you’re in the throes of birthing a bookstore, but what’s next on the writing front, aside from this interview?

Wow, did I say that? I guess I did because it’s in my blog. I’m so enlightened!

HA! I’m not, but I have been working on happiness and joy for a long time. I shouldn’t say “working on,” though, because when we work to find it, it becomes sand in a fist and slips away. 

If we make it our purpose to find joy, we will forever be disappointed. Joy is a reaction to something else. So I try to create situations and experiences that engender joy. In other words, I am not the creator, but rather the recipient, of joy or happiness.

All of this started with the pandemic, during which, like most of us, I felt siloed, with nothing to help me find that elusive happiness. I took inventory of what was most important and what was missing from life and made a plan, which I repeat yearly now. It’s much more achievable to do this than it is to make New Year’s resolutions. And way more satisfying.

For example, if connection with friends is important, I nurture it by reaching out to people who have drifted away and whom I miss. 

Through these rediscovered friends, I have met other women who inspire and challenge me and have become part of my network of strong women DOING THINGS.

When I practice yoga, meditate, or garden, I find peace that drowns out the din of chaos in the everyday, allowing happiness to find an open seat.

I purposely created these moments of connection, inspiration, support, challenge, adventure, and change. In turn, I am rewarded with happiness and joy, but I do not create it. It is always a byproduct of my actions.

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