Writer Spotlight: Robin Pizzo

 By Charlie Barshaw

Robin Pizzo on Nine Years of Twitter, How She Prepares for TV Appearances, Law School and Weaning for L.A.

Robin at work at MSU

You’re the Director of Education at WKAR. What does your job entail?

As director of education, I lead the education outreach efforts of WKAR Public Media at Michigan State University, the PBS and NPR affiliate serving Michigan's capital region.

This includes convening partnerships and coordinating station initiatives such as WKAR Family and Ready to Learn to provide direct family engagement workshops, learning experiences, and other resources to help kids be resilient, lifelong learners.

I oversee the newly launched Michigan Learning Channel, cultivate partnerships with organizations that work directly with families and children and consult on locally produced documentaries such as Right to Read.

I love my job and some of my favorite responsibilities are curating robust education content for the WKAR Family newsletter including my blog, Mrs. Pizzo’s FAQ and giving away thousands of new books to kids at every event we host and participate in each year.

You’ve moderated some panels and done some story times on air. What preparations do you need to do before appearing on TV? You appear cool, but are there butterflies?

I rarely get nervous or have butterflies because I have an amazing team of colleagues that help me prepare for each appearance and event. Just to give a sneak preview behind the curtain, there are several drafts of scriptwriting taking place before most events and panels to make sure I’ve prepared well before cameras are on.

I try to rehearse even when simply reading a Storytime book. When rehearsal isn’t possible, I rely on being a natural extrovert and exude the energy I get from working with others.

Being a career-long educator of middle schoolers means I’m used to being ‘on’ for six hours and performing. It takes a lot to motivate and engage a classroom of adolescents.

I’m a big fangirl though. If I’m working with Daniel Tiger for a Be My Neighbor Day Event or even Clifford the Big Red Dog, I’m usually in awe.

Robin with Clifford

You previously worked at Lansing Community College as a Student Success Coach. How did you help college students find success?

I taught English Language Arts, American History and Creative Writing for almost 15 years in K-12 Education. At the same time in the evenings and online, I taught at the postsecondary level First Year Writing and Reading.

I loved teaching but wanted to broaden my supports with a two-generation lens. This means the parent receiving supports at the same time as the child to decrease the negative impact of socioeconomic disparities.

This led me to leave the classroom and take a position as Director of CCAMPIS (Child Care Access Means Parents In School) and Student Success Coach at Lansing Community College. CCAMPIS is a federally funded grant that supports parents who are college students to persist and complete their college education while funding high-quality childcare.

I provided early education, literacy, financial aid and advising workshops toward their academic success while administrating 1.3 million dollars in grant funds for their children to attend high quality childcare programs. In this role, I became a community leader with ASCEND at the Aspen Institute. This really broadened my understanding of how important it is for organizations to hear from those they support. And I discovered how to scale resources by building networks of collaboration.

You earned a B.A. in English Lit from Wayne State University and a Master’s in Education from Marygrove College, two fine Detroit educational institutions. What challenges did you face along the way to achieving your educational goals?

Detroit was very good for my educational pursuits. From kindergarten on up, I was educated in Detroit Public Schools, from Golightly Education Center to Cass Tech and they fostered a love of learning that bloomed in me from the age of two from my earliest recollection. I was adopted out of foster care, and I have records kept by the social worker, that said I was reading at three. But that’s a story or book for another day.  

Anywho, I have loved school my entire life and found very little challenge in it until I attended Law School at Michigan State University. Perhaps here was my only challenge, because I didn’t like it and that was a real blow for me. It was cutthroat competitive, and I felt out of my element. It was also a culture shock being away from home.

And to add to it I was a new mom. I was struggling to find my niche and writing picture books while I was supposed to be studying. I also had very limited resources because as a first-generation college student, no one I knew had gone that far in their education.   

After two years, I was out because I had a misstep in the order in which I took my courses. I think back and realize it happened the way it was supposed to because while in law school, I fell in love with education as a substitute teacher and started writing for children. A world opened for me that would not have if I’d not attended law school and failed at it.

You’re very active on Twitter. A recent post celebrated “9.” Was that nine years active on Twitter? What are the rewards and pitfalls of Twitter in your experience?

Yes, nine whole years. 

I started Twitter because at a writer’s conference, an editor said Twitter was where agents, editors and authors hang out. And this is very true. Twitter does have a lot of rants and disgruntled folks spewing all sorts of vitriol but I’m all about the light, love and laughter found on the platform.  Please follow me @PizzosPages. 

I promote and celebrate writers and books widely and love all those I’ve connected with as followers. I really have cultivated a wonderful community on Twitter and learned so much about craft, networking and all things publishing.

I credit the reader and writer I am today to Twitter. My three top twitter tips: aim to be authentic, block freely and celebrate your community.

One post showed an alarm clock meme, where you lamented all the projects you have going. Just what’s on your heaping “plate”?

Ughhh, heaping is exactly right. I’ll focus here on my writing life, because work is an ever-present avalanche. Last month, I submitted a poetry collection and a short story collection to small university presses. Both feature young characters.

My agent, Sara Megibow, of KT Literary had the short story collection on submission with the big 5 publishing houses but alas, no one was interested. It would’ve been nice to have at a larger house, but I have a specific dream for this book, and this allows me to pursue that dream.

I completed a memoir short story for a contest due December 31st, which was new for me but also something I have known I would do.

I completed a YA novel, and am currently outlining a companion novel, I plan to begin drafting by June. I have a completed middle grade novel I need to revise before submitting to my agent which I will begin the first of February.

And I’m ever submitting picture books. Yes, I have over 25 completed picture books collecting virtual dust. I get ideas everyday but the day job, mom life of four and wife life, keeps the growth in my writing craft moving slow.

The Pizzo Family

That worries me some because I have a depth I want to reach in my writing skill that is nudging me with my next, next book. It’s going to be epic, and the main character keeps whispering in my ear lines for her story on my walks, in my sleep and during my other projects. If only time would stand still.  

As if I didn’t have enough on my plate, I started a small business called POLISHED PAGES, LLC a sage for the written page, supporting writers at every stage. I offer manuscript review, editorial services, education consulting and grant writing support.

What was your early life like? Who influenced you to be a writer?

My early life was an amazing, God-ordained experience that was full of love, crisis, and community. I won’t go in much detail other than what I’ve already stated and that I was in foster care until the age of five. My mother who adopted me is an amazing force to be reckoned with and her faith and fortitude saved my life many times over.

I’m not sure if there was a ‘one person’, or one event influencing my writing, but my mother says I was writing stories at four. I know my first published poem was one I wrote for my grandmother when she passed, and my mother published it in the obituary. I was eleven.

In seventh and eighth grade, I was a student reporter for the Detroit Free Press and remember the editor telling me I had real talent. I have always been a big reader, so the writing marries well with that. My mother always encouraged me in both.

Recently, I asked a little guy if he liked reading? “I did before they told me I was doing it wrong," was his response. Somedays, I feel that same way about writing because I can’t believe I still not published. LOL.

What were some of your favorite books as a young reader? What are you reading now?

Oh, I loved and devoured everything. I would receive a stack of books each Christmas and by New Year’s Day, they would all be finished. This is still true today.

I loved everything Mildred D. Taylor wrote and still do. Her Logan Family series with Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, Let The Circle Be Unbroken and Song of the Trees were all-consuming for me. I also devoured Judy Bloom, Encyclopedia Brown, Nancy Drew and classics.

My sixth-grade teacher had us read Shakespeare and a Tale of Two Cities and there was no turning back after that. I couldn’t believe a book could be so immersive. I seek that feeling every time I read a book. When I find it, it’s like falling in love with reading all over again.  

I finished three novels this month and several picture books. Jesmyn Ward’s Men We Reap is a gut punch yet inexplicably beautiful. She is my all-time favorite literary author; I can’t stop reading her work once I start.  

The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd called my name in the night. I ignored it because I knew it reflected the level of skill, I need to write the before mentioned epic book. I decided to dive in anyway and wowzer what a read. I still think about it and will definitely use as a mentor text for my idea.

In picture book land, I read Soul Food Sunday by Winsome Bingham and C.G. Esperanza. It is deliciously vibrant. And finally I read Change Sings by Amanda Gorman and Loren Long. Talk about heart warmer that is full of light and love.

How did you find SCBWI? How did you find the regional Shop Talk?

Sixteen years ago, my third child was nearing two and would not wean. (I know, just stay with me.) I had been researching how to get my picture books published and found some article about SCBWI. My husband, who is uber supportive, suggested I go to the LA Summer Conference and that would wean my little guy and I’d learn about the publishing process. That is exactly what happened and so much more.

I met Walter Dean Myers, Linda Sue Park, and heard Jacqueline Woodson speak. I also met a ton of rock star editors. I even roomed with Jennifer D. Chambliss who wrote the amazing Book Scavenger Series.

Pre-pandemic, I attended a writing conference or retreat every year which led me to the Regional Shop Talks.

I’m a part of the SistaLoc Writing Group. We’re five, professional black women who write in a variety of genres. We’ve met monthly over food, works-in-progress, and tea for over ten years. All are published in some form. They write mostly in adult genres so for me the Regional Shop Talks are great for checking in with writers who focus on children’s literature.

I enjoyed the outdoor gathering you and Ruth hosted in September so much, I talk about it often. It was a perfect mix of social distancing, fall foliage, nature, kidlit creators, snacks, writing journey, a quinceanera, and book talk.

What does the future hold for you?

A prolific publishing career with titles in a variety of genres and more interviews like this because this was truly enjoyable. Thank you for allowing me to share and reflect.