Writer Spotlight: Wendy Booydegraaff

Young copier, SALAD PIE, the Michigan Triangle, Crowtoes Quarterly, and an audio book: author Wendy Booydegraaff

Charlie Barshaw coordinates our regular Writer Spotlight feature and interviews writers of SCBWI-MI. In this piece, meet author, poet, short form and non-fiction writer, and SCBWI Coordinator, Wendy Booydegraaff

MARVIN K. MOONEY, WILL YOU PLEASE GO NOW? A lesser-known Dr. Seuss title, was your first book, in that young author you copied the text in your own hand. Did you do your own illustrations when you made the book with your name on the cover?

I did! And they were beautiful in my memory. They differed from the original, non-plagiarized book. I used a lot of yellow. Ha! Perhaps copying is the first step in learning to write your own creative work?

I’m not an illustrator, though. Bryan Langdo made fabulous watercolor illustrations for Salad Pie, published in 2016. Ripple Grove Press sent me sketches early on and I was thrilled. At first, Maggie was wearing cute boots. In the final version she wore pink sneakers. I loved her when I created her with words, and I loved her more when Bryan brought her to life through illustration.



You call out three children’s book groups: SCBWI, Tara Lazar, and Kidlit 411. What’s your connection to each one?

Anytime someone asks me for advice on writing children’s literature, I point them in these three directions.

· SCBWI is the place where I met nearly all of my writer friends via meet-ups, conferences, or mentorships. These writer friendships have resulted in critique groups, social groups, and friendships. SCBWI is a connector.

· KidLit411 is an online resource and community founded by author Silvia Liu (who I met through an SCBWI mentorship program way back in 2014 when KidLit411 was just beginning) and Elaine Kiely Kearns who I haven’t met. KidLit411 is an entirely free resource with a searchable database of information. The affiliated Facebook group is a place to connect, ask questions, find critiques.

· Tara Lazar is a welcoming picture book writer with a popular blog that also has a wealth of information for free. Her expertise is in picture books. You can find prompts, craft advice, manuscript formatting templates, and also a community.

When my debut picture book Salad Pie came out, Tara Lazar was generous with her time and resources, posted a debut group notice for me on her site which had a huge following, sought me out to talk to me at a conference, and later a book festival, we both attended.

How did SALAD PIE, your picture book, come about?

SALAD PIE was inspired by my oldest daughter, while playing at the park. That’s where she said those words, “salad” and “pie” together, and I thought they sounded so unique and creative that I repeated them over and over on our walk home so I wouldn’t forget. Then she went for a nap and I started scribbling out the story.

I sketched out the action in a rough storyboard format (really rough) and wrote the text under each picture. Every time I went back to it, I still liked it, which was how I knew to keep working on it until it became a book.

You saved my Critique Carousel submissions two years in a row. I apologize for the extra work I caused you. I imagine you had to deal with more than one writer who sent too many pages, or made the synopsis way too long. Thanks for your service.

You’re welcome, Charlie! I love the Critique Carousel. Finding fabulous agents and editors is a highlight. And the people who submit work for critique are on the whole, a generous, kind, and respectful group. I enjoy the people, their questions, the organization of it. To set up an opportunity for professionals to sit with our work, to take time to comment on it is incredibly valuable.

You’ve got the Michigan chapter in the Haunted States anthology. It's your take on “The Michigan Triangle,” which, if it isn’t a thing, should be. Is this a legend you made up, or is there a coincidence of nautical events in the confluence of the Great Lakes? I see, upon further research, that indeed it’s the deepest part of the Great Lakes. And lots of nautical catastrophes. So, are you writing fiction or nonfiction?

The Michigan Triangle is a local legend, and is found in the deepest part of Lake Michigan, the points between Ludington, Benton Harbor, and Manitowoc, Wisconsin. Over 1500 shipwrecks have happened in that area.

My story is fictional, with the reality of all those shipwrecks adding to the horror element.

Big Sable Point Lighthouse—Haunted. Tell the story.

Big Sable Lighthouse in Ludington is said to be haunted by one of its keepers. Visitors report cigar smoke despite it being a no-smoking venue, and freshly baked bread despite no kitchen operating on site. Books hover in the air in the giftshop, shadows move.

When I visited, I didn’t experience those supernatural activities, but there was a definite eeriness to the place, especially at the tippy top when the otherworldly wind howled.

Choose Your Own Adventure.

I grew up reading these books. They were written in the second person and had multiple endings to choose from. I wanted to write something similar as an adult. “The Michigan Triangle” story in The Haunted States of America was inspired by the Choose Your Own Adventure series: the tone, the point-of-view, the sense of danger.


You specialize in short pieces, accrued some honors for some of that writing. You write poetry, fiction, non-fiction. You’ve been published in obscure journals and blogs, like Crowtoes Quarterly (a mid-grade publication). How do you find so many opportunities to get published? Are these paying gigs, or free copies?

The short form suits me. The containment of it. The spare nature of it.

I read many literary journals, follow several newsletters, substacks, and authors who mention these literary spaces. Duotrope, CLMP (the Community of Literary Magazines and Presses), the Pushcart Prize anthology are a few more sources. Reading is the best (and most fun) way of figuring out where my work might fit.

Payment varies, depending on the magazine. I’ve been paid nothing but contributor copies and I’ve been paid as much as $600 for a piece.

I write, revise, share with critique partners, and if I still like it, or think it’s ready, I send it out. I have a lot of work that isn’t ready, that might never be sent to an editor for consideration. I do have many pieces published. I also have many, many rejections which are part of this literary life.

You have a lot, and I mean A LOT, of periodicals, quarterlies, and journals, anthologies listed on your website. Like Maudlin House, the Worcester Review, the Dribble Drabble Review, Not Very Quiet. Want to tell us about a few?

In May of 2024, my short fiction was selected for a scholarship to Looking Glass Writers' Conference in North Carolina where I workshopped my work along with 11 other fiction writers in three days of sessions with Jason Mott, National Book Award winner of Hell of a Book. What an event!

Wendy and Shanna Heath
at Schuler's in G.R.

The journals you mention are all literary magazines that have a small but steady circulation. These are the places that nominate pieces for the Pushcart prize and other anthologies. I like reading the work they publish—it’s cutting edge. Many writers have been first published in these small venues. And I’ve been lucky to have work published in these places, too.


Readers interested in my publications can see a comprehensive list here, some of which are available to read for free online.



Teaching? I see you’ve got a Master’s in some sort of education/literary area. What’s your specialty?

I have a Bachelor of Science in Special Education which qualified me to teach special education and first grade for several years. I also have a Master of Education and a graduate certificate in Children’s Literature. I love school.

What’s next for your body of work?
On March 4, 2025, an anthology edited by Randy Brown, Midwest Futures: Poems and MicroStories from Tomorrow’s Heartland will be released, with one of my poems “The Day the Trees Retaliate” included. I also have a few short fiction pieces coming out in literary magazines.

Also, The Haunted States of America came out in audio book. “The Michigan Triangle” is narrated by Jennifer Pickens. My family gathered to listen to her read my story. Wow, it felt surreal, hearing my words, knowing they were my words, but having them performed by a professional who added nuance, humour, and auditory depth.

The audio book

Please list any social media platforms you care to share:

www.wendybooydegraaff.com

@onlybooyskies.bsky.social