Writer Spotlight: Kristen Remenar

 

BER, an SCBWI romance, groundhog birthday, Wrath, a wedding, and a stroke: author Kristen Remenar

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet author  (and fellow stroke-survivor) Kristen Remenar.

Who was young Kris? What were your big plans? 

Young Kris

I won my first writing award in second grade, a school-wide contest about the Helping Hands program in our neighborhood. Reading was already my passion and I loved books so much I wanted to be a librarian. Winning that award made me realize I could maybe write books, too, and I started to look on the library shelf for where my books would be alphabetically.

 

You were a librarian of some renown. You excelled at captivating young audiences with your dramatic readings. What were some of your tricks to transfix a rambunctious rabble? 

Kristen with classroom

It’s amazing how changing your voice even a little can capture the attention of the audience, slowing it down to add suspense, speeding it up for the high energy bits, making it a little higher or lower for different characters. I love listening to audiobooks and I think the best readers find ways to use their voice to draw listeners in.

 

You are an acknowledged national speaker on early literacy. How did you earn that title? What is your main takeaway about reading and children? 

When I was a children’s librarian, I had a patron who’d come in looking for dozens of books with specific teaching goals. She was a speaker for the Bureau of Education and Research. I loved helping her find just what she needed and we became friends.

With middle schoolers

When we went to a BER conference together on picture books and I kept leaning over to her to share my opinions, she told me I should be a speaker, too. So I went through the application process and I worked for BER for five years, traveling the country giving day-long seminars to teachers and librarians on the best books to teach early literacy skills to preschoolers and early elementary students. It helps that I was a former elementary teacher and I have my masters in teaching reading.

My main takeaway is that reading skills are best taught with being immersed in books. Phonics and the “mechanics” of reading come more easily when they’re taught through engaging stories. Kids need time to read in school purely for fun, time when they get to choose their own material and read for the sake of reading. Magazines, comic books, audiobooks - these count, too!

Will you give us your rendition of your chance meeting (and re-meeting) with author/illustrator Matt Faulkner?

Kris says: "Here's a photo of me and Matt from the SCBWI-MI
fall conference in 2008 on Saturday before we started dating.
Can you tell that there's a vibe?"

I was a children’s librarian at the Orion Township PublicLibrary and we had an annual program for fifth graders called Battle of the Books. At the Battle Awards Ceremony, fifth graders got to meet an author whose book they’d studied. A fellow librarian suggested Matt Faulkner for our 2006 Battle author since he was a Michigander. 

photo credit Scott Orser

I was a huge fan of his work and I was excited to meet him. At the award ceremony, this handsome author/illustrator dazzled the audience and me, then told me he was so glad we’d booked him when we did since he was moving to California. I was happy I’d had the chance to meet him.

Fast forward to 2008. The SCBWI-MI committee booked Matt to come to our Fall Retreat. I was excited because I knew what a great speaker he was. When I arrived at the conference that Friday evening, I saw Matt across the crowded room. I went over and said, “I don’t know if you remember me - “ and he immediately said, “Oh I remember you!”

That weekend we talked and maybe flirted a little and by the time he left to fly back to California he told me, “I will court you in letters.” The next day there were roses on my desk at work. We dated long-distance for two years, married in 2010, and he’s been my beloved ever since.

 

How did GROUNDHOG'S DILEMMA come about? When did you start writing stories instead of reading them? 

I was born on Groundhog Day. Every year since I was little I’d wished I could convince the groundhog to not see his shadow so we’d have an early spring, but I grew up in Michigan so I knew a long winter was destined, shadow or no shadow. I’ve known I wanted to be a published writer since I won my first writing award in second grade but I didn’t seek publication until I joined SCBWI in 2000, when I figured the new millennium was an auspicious sign to finally pursue my dream.

Having an illustrator as a spouse must have come in handy when you sold your first picture book. What was it like negotiating character and color with the same guy you washed dishes with?

Matt and I learned early on how to ask for and give each other feedback. Sometimes I just need him to say, “Wow, you put words on paper!” without commenting on the order in which I put them, or he just needs to hear, “You drew a thing!”  Sometimes we ask each other for help on only specific areas of work.

With GROUNDHOG’S DILEMMA, I quickly learned that I couldn’t lean over his shoulder while Matt drew and tell him that I always imagined Groundhog with chubbier cheeks - I’d drive him nuts! So we acted like every other author and illustrator have to. We let our editor be the go-between. Thankfully Matt’s work is wonderful and I couldn’t be happier with the way the books have turned out.

You also wrote and illustrated an adult interactive book, DRAW WITH A VENGEANCE: GET EVEN IN INK AND LET KARMA DO THE REST. What gave you the courage to illustrate your work? Was it as much fun to sketch out various misfortunes for the hypothetical “ex” as it was to dream up a pseudonym (Helen Wrath)?

I had so much fun writing DRAW WITH A VENGEANCE! It didn’t start out as a book idea. It came purely from my own need to vent! I sat down with a friend when I was angry and we brainstormed a list of cartoonishly-evil ways to get back at the object of my derision. I put some of these into a little flip book and gave it to some writer friends to make them laugh. One of these friends said it could become an actual book.

I wrote up a book’s-worth of doodle prompts and created a pseudonym so I wouldn’t lose my day job as a children’s librarian and came up with a pitch that landed me an agent. Gordon Warnock at Fuse Literary sold DRAW WITH A VENGEANCE to the highest bidder and told me my kooky doodles were just the style they thought fit the DIY motif. Matt helped me figure out how to do the more complicated ones but I can proudly say I drew everything in that book.

You had two books publishing at virtually the same time. That must have been the highest of highs. After the years of toiling in the writerly weeds, what were your primary emotions as you set off to the American Library Association in Boston? 

Matt and Kris signing books at ALA

It was surreal to attend ALA as an author after having been there as a librarian. It took me fifteen years (with a lot of major life events) to get published and finally I had two books, one picture book and one adult humor, that people were lining up for to get signed. Tears were shed, very happy tears.

 

As a librarian at ALA, you were reveling with your people. Did you know many of the other attendees?

I knew a few librarians who bought my picture book and stood in line to get it signed. That was a delight. Ed Spicer was there and he made me feel like a rock star, sneaking me into a big publishing house soiree.

I met my editor, Yolanda Scott, for the first time that weekend, and we had drinks and later had brunch. Kirsten Cappy and I had dinner to discuss children’s books and her wonderful non-profit organization, I’m Your Neighbor Books. And my agency, Fuse Literary, sent an agent to hang out with me during my book signing so that I’d never sit alone at the table.

Boston is where Matt grew up. Did you get some touring in with that native Bostonian? Do you remember much of the swirl of days and nights? 

The wedding family

That ALA weekend was so full of book hijinks that we didn’t explore the town much. Friday night was full of publishing events, drinks with our publisher and then with other publishers that Ed Spicer wanted us to meet. (We love Ed Spicer!) Saturday was full of book signings and attending different ALA events. I spent Saturday evening with Kirsten Cappy talking about children’s books, diversity, and welcoming new Americans. Sunday we had brunch with my editor and coffee with an agent.

You had completed your tour at ALA, but the morning you were scheduled to leave, you noticed something wasn’t right. What was happening to you?

After the whirlwind weekend, we were having coffee with an agent from my agency. I went to the ladies’ room and as I was washing my hands, I looked up and noticed that all the vision on my right side was gone. I felt a little confused and dazed and I had a hard time finding my way back to our table. 

When we said our goodbyes, the faces of the agent and the other author looked pixelated. I told Matt I was having vision issues and he made me sit down in the lobby. He talked to the maitre d’ while I marveled at the way things disappeared and appeared in my vision. An ambulance was called and I passed out on the way to the hospital. I had a stroke.

The stroke hit you hard, resulting in exhaustion and confusion. Were there times you despaired that your writer’s brain might never refocus?

Kris hugging her new book

For the first few months, even reading was difficult. I couldn’t get my eyes to track on the page, I couldn’t focus my attention enough to follow the plot after a few sentences, and I thought, how will I ever write again if I can’t even read? 

My brain did recover enough for me to read and to write again but not for the same duration as I used to. An hour of writing uses up all of my ability to focus, and that’s on a good day. Due to where the stroke hit and because of other chronic issues, I have days when even speaking is difficult. On those days, I have to rest, be patient, and trust that my abilities will return.

What did it take for you, in the years that followed, to get back some of the intellectual and physical ground you’d lost? When did you know the storyteller was alive and well inside?

My brain needed lots of rest and I’m still working on balancing medications to help all the neurons do what they’re supposed to. Meditation, yoga when I can, and going for walks when I can all have helped.

I knew the storyteller would eventually come back when I’d find myself reaching for a pen to jot down a sentence or two that sprung up unbidden. I love word play and puns, I love “what ifs”, and I love all the characters from the Groundhog world that feel very real to me.

On the day of my stroke, I’d been talking with my editor, Yolanda, about a book centered around Squirrel, and as I recovered, I’d let myself imagine on good days what his story might be. Hope returned when I could write a few sentences about why he was so grumpy.

So your new picture book (SQUIRREL NEEDS A BREAK) continues in Groundhoggy’s world, focusing on a single-parent squirrel at his wit’s end with his young brood. Do all the supporting characters in this woodland animal community have stories they whisper in your ear?

They do! The more I write about this family of friends, the more their personalities reveal themselves to me. There are six main characters and I hope each of them gets a chance to be the star of their own book.

What’s next for Kristen Remenar, the author? 

The third book in the series has gone through the copyrighting process and is now in the hands of the talented illustrator, Matt Faulkner. Owl gets to be the star of the show in this one and it’s set for a Fall 2025 publication. I’ve pitched the idea for the fourth book and it’s based on one of my best childhood experiences. I can’t wait to share it with everyone!

Wedding guests