Author Spotlight | Blair Northen Williamson

Just 25 months ago, for mom of two, Blair Northen Williamson, writing children’s books was but a dream. With a lifelong love for the sea she spent many years as a sailing captian and scuba diving instructor.

Following her dreams and firm conviction that we can all make a difference in the world around us, she is now an award winning children’s author and a force of nature herself, on a mission to spread awarness, preserve our oceans and inspire the future generation of change makers. 

So, without further ado, it is my absolute pleasure and privilege to present to you award-winning children’s book author and ocean activist,

About Blair and the Road to Publishing Children’s Books

Blair, I am so thrilled to have you as a featured guest for one of my Author Spotlight posts. I am a huge fan of your work and can’t wait to chat with you. Could you please tell us a bit about yourself and your background?

Hi Ivanka,

Thank you so much for having me. It is such an honor to be selected as your author spotlight for this blog post. Thank you for allowing me the time to share my experience with you. I am a mom of two beautiful daughters, a wife and I have worked with Global Expeditions Group Since 2008. Like many people, I have always had a goal of writing a book.

I just didn’t know how or where or what or when I could do it. I love coaching field hockey and creating relationships with students, and I feel a deep calling to spread awareness about what is happening in our environment, particularly under the ocean.

Let’s talk about your journey to publication. When did you know you wanted to write for children and what steps did you take to turn the dream into reality? What did you do to improve your craft and grow your career as a writer?

What a loaded question!

My journey to publication has not been a straight line. In fact, I would say it’s a rather circular line filled with lots of bumps and peaks and valleys along the way. Taking things back to Christmas of 2020, we had been furloughed from GXG due to the pandemic and I had struggled for a long time to find my “calling.” I’ve always had a little birdie on my shoulder that has been telling me to write books for a very long time, and sidenote, if you have that birdie on your shoulder, telling you to do something at some point you got to start listening to it.

I finally listened to that birdie because one of the only people I have talked to about my passion or this little secret of mine was my husband, Sam. Christmas of 2020 he told me that if I don’t do something about writing these books, then I can never talk about it again. Ha-ha! The ones who love us the most really know how to get us going, right? So, I spent a lot of time researching different classes that I could take. I took a lot of time reading the reviews and scouring the Internet.

“I spent a lot of time researching different classes that I could take.”

Blair Northen Williamson

I found a six-week Picture Book Course with Rosie J. Pova through the Writing Workshops of Dallas. The reviews for the course were awesome and I figured, take a leap of faith and try it out. I spoke with Rosie on the phone, and she told me that I would really benefit from doing a mentorship in addition to the course and boy, was she right! (HIGHLY RECOMMEND)

 Your question about what steps did I take to turn my dream into a reality? This is a very interesting question because I still am taking steps every day, every interaction I have, I try and learn something from someone in the industry, I take courses to hone my craft of writing, I am very active in my critique groups. I read a lot of mentor texts. I followed Rosie’s steps on submitting to get both an agent and a publisher. Furthermore, I am constantly networking and finding ways to learn more about the industry.

Personally, I find the publishing industry fascinating, so I spend a lot of time reading blogs of other writers, reading manuscripts, wish lists from agents and editors, and I’ve attended workshops and retreats both in Dallas and in Hawaii. I post on social media. I try to give back as much as possible and share my knowledge of what I’ve learned. Ivanka, the list goes on and on – a dream doesn’t come to reality overnight. It takes a lot of hard work and planning. I urge everyone to do their research and preparation, so that when their time comes, they’re ready.

There are many aspiring authors who are wondering about the pros and cons of indie-publishing. Tell us about your experience as a self-published author? 

Wow, another great question. I battled with the decision regarding Indie publishing for a very long time. Well, I only started my writing career about 25 months ago so let’s take “a long time” into perspective here. I’m someone who likes to get things done. I work at a very high level of efficiency, so I have had a very hard time adjusting to the speed at which the traditional publishing industry works.

My expectations have been adjusted accordingly. Authors who choose to go the traditional publishing route should keep in mind that a book is going to be at least 1 to 3 years from acquisition to book in hand. 

That being said I had a traditional publishing deal with the manuscript for ISLAND GIRLS. The publisher and I had communicated extensively about the illustrations and what it would look like because I felt very passionate about telling the story in a particular way. I went with a smaller, more boutique publisher, so that I could have a little more control over the illustrations for this particular story. 

“Authors who choose to go the traditional publishing route should keep in mind that a book is going to be at least 1 to 3 years from acquisition to book in hand.”

Blair Northen Williamson

Ther are many other manuscripts I have that I don’t feel as passionate about when it comes to what the illustrations will look like. I will have full trust in the publisher and their creative design with an illustrator in the future, but this manuscript – ISLAND GIRLS – was about my children, my family, and a very specific setting that I wanted to bring to life. So, when the traditional publisher wanted to use clipart computer generated graphics, I worked with my agent at the time to give me a reversion of rights and get out of the publishing deal. 

It was at that moment that I knew that I needed to Indie publish this book. I was passionate and determined. I was due to speak at a conference in February and I knew it was a great opportunity for me to launch my book to educators and librarians. This was thekind of opportunity I didn’t want to miss, so I immediately started interviewing self-publishing houses and illustrators, who could work within the timeframe that I gave them.

Schools, libraries, teachers, and educators at the conference I just spoke and presented as a featured author at… no one cared that I self-published this book. In fact, there was a level of respect that I received from other authors for having self-published so well.

There are a lot of pros and cons of Indie publishing that I will list.

Blair Northen Williamson on the Pros of Indie Publishing

PROS: You control the process. If you’re like me and you do the research, you will research everything from what size you want the book to be, who you want to illustrate the book, where you want the words placed on the pages, the team that you work with the creative design, the cover, the font, the paper way to the paper style matte, or glossy, or 80 pound 70 pound 110 pound, etc.

I mean I had to learn so much but I was willing to put in the work and learn. I went with Gatekeeper Press for many different reasons, one of which was that they had a great distribution through Ingram and could help get me up on all the retailer sites through Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, Target. They could work within the timeframe that I gave them.

Another pro to Indie publishing is, depending on the house you choose to go with, they might retain a portion of royalty payouts. There was one company that I really considered going with in California and there were two reasons I didn’t go with them. One was because they couldn’t get it done in the timeframe that I needed them to, and two, because they took 50% of the royalties for sales after the book is produced.

Gatekeeper Press has the authors keep 100% of the royalties. I like that a lot. I had to put the money upfront and help pay them to produce the book but once it was published, I did own my rights. So now I get 100% of the royalties and if I want to make any changes there’s a post publication support team to help with that.

Blair Northen Williamson on the Cons of Indie Publishing

CONS- Marketing, networking, financial, distribution, having books physically in bookstores… The legwork is all on the author with indie publishing. Luckily, I have a big network of people who are excited to help and I’m a very outgoing person who’s not afraid to ask for help and put myself out there. I think part of that is because I have a book where people really believe in the messages. I’m very proud of the book that I produced, and it’s something that I do truly believe everyone should read or have access to in a library, so I’m very motivated to do the work.

Another con is financial. The author has to raise the money up front and pay for it themselves to do it right. I had to hire Gatekeeper Press to help me. I’m not a graphic designer. They have a great team there, so I hired them to produce the book. I hired the illustrator to create the illustrations. I must give Svitlana Holovchenko a shout out. She’s absolutely incredible and was a pleasure to work with!

“Marketing, networking, financial, distribution, having books physically in bookstores … The legwork is all on the author with indie publishing.”

Blair Northen Williamson

But if one was to indie publish, they need to learn about negotiating illustration contracts … oh my gosh, I mean that’s just a whole other area that I had to learn. I also knew that I needed a press release and something to give or show people when the books were released. Oh, what’s your book about? Well, it would be good to have something in hand that’s been professionally written.

For that I hired a media PR team through Mindstir Media, who have great packages for press releases. They did an article on the release of my book and I made sure that the book release coordinated with the press release. Something else to keep in mind is that hitting “publish” on Amazon for example, doesn’t mean that everything goes live immediately. It can take 7 to 10 business days for it to populate on retailer sites. It takes a lot of logistical planning to coordinate. The last thing we want is have a press release go out with links to order books that are not available yet. 

So, back to the financials. It does cost a lot to print books in the United States. Unfortunately, the printing cost needs to be put upfront as well so I’d say that’s more of a pro for traditional publishing. I don’t know where traditional publishers print their books, but I have a feeling based on what I have been through, most of their books are printed offshore. There’s so much more there we can go into that another time.

ISLAND GIRLS has been an instant success. It’s already an Amazon bestseller, earned a Kirkus review and more recently the Book Excellence Award. What was the key to achieving this?  

OK so I feel like there are a lot of reasons that my book was successful. I started blogging about my new kind of passion a year and a half before I launched the book. I have a network of very supportive, loving, friends, and family, who were excited to support me. It was a very coordinated and meticulously planned to have the launch around Christmas time. It was perfect for gift giving and I feel like a lot of people do connect with the message of this book, creating awareness of plastic in the ocean.

I made sure to do a lot of legwork to have a respectable Foundation support me in writing this, so I got some pre-publication endorsements and had the Plastic Ocean Project write the forward of my book. I had a lot of pre-launch buzz from a bunch of different corporations who I simply asked to help me. Will you help promote this? Will you help share it? The Kirkus review… you have to roll the dice with these things, and they cost money.

When you submit your book for review, you have to have a professional presentation, so I had the 3D cover image from my publisher put together. They put together a sell sheet for me and have the press release from my Mindstir. So, I had a package ready to submit to Kirkus for review and they gave a great review for my book. The book was also an Amazon #1 new release in multiple categories and children’s picture books and children’s turtle books.

WOW, that does sound like a lot of work. All that said, are you considering traditional publishing in the future? If so, why?  

It’s a hard question to answer. I would definitely work with a traditional publisher in the future, and I would also consider Indie publishing again. I happened to hit a topic at a time where people were willing to listen to my message. A lot of these conferences that I go to in writing workshops, all the speakers say, “speak from your heart, speak your stories, speak your truth through your writing.”

Island Girls has been something where I tied my life as a scuba diving instructor and boat captain and moved forward in a way that I could give back and share those experiences to make the world a better place. I feel like if you can put in the work and do the research, ask the questions and feel proud to put your name on a product to get out there, people will respond to that. If willing to do the work, self-publishing can be done well.

About the Writing Process

What is your writing process, and does it vary depending on the project?  

This is a fun question! I am a morning person, love coffee and have two young children who are early risers. I wake up at 4:30 or 5 AM, start the coffee and write. If I’m looking for inspiration, depending on where I am, I will meditate first thing in the morning or I will go for a walk on the beach if I’m near the ocean.

I can’t control when a story idea comes to me. More often than not, it will pop into my head when I’m relaxing. I am a pen and paper girl. My first drafts are always in a notebook. A lot of times it starts with a brain dump of lots of different ideas and notes then I play in my imagination for a while about different characters’ traits. I’m working on probably 8 to 12 manuscripts right now that range from hilarious humor to SEL to informational fiction. I’m also writing a middle grade novel.

Different genres require different levels of focus and time for me, so I always start with a pen and paper, meditation and quiet. Morning coffee is essential. These are the elements that need to be there for me to actually be productive. It’s very frustrating but also OK. It’s the stage I am in my life that many times my writing is interrupted by my dog or my kids or just life in general. I always like to be very present with my children, so I put everything aside to make sure that they are my focus when they’re home and getting ready for school.

Read Our Review of Champagne & Cupcakes Writers Retreat with Rosie j. Pova

I’ve been very fortunate to go on a handful of writing retreats, and those I get a ton knocked out. In the past year, I did a little staycation by myself and Richmond to start on my middle grade. My husband has been very supportive of my wanting time to be in this creative space which I call my “flow”. I attended a one on one writing weekend with Rosie J. Pova in Texas and a second time I returned to Texas for a weekend retreat, where I met other wonderful writers.

I feel like once I get a draft down, I set it aside and I walk away from it for a couple of days and then I come back to edit my own manuscript and critique it after. Once I feel like it’s in a pretty decent spot, I send it to my critique groups partners who are willing to read and give me feedback on my manuscripts. Critique groups are amazing and I am lucky to have amazing partners! I continue to play with a manuscript until I think it’s ready for submission.

Where do you draw inspiration from?

Inspiration.

I get inspiration from engaging in interacting with my children, my own life, events and experiences that I’ve had as a mom, friend, scuba instructor, and coach. I find ways to make things interesting and funny, and my kids and I have a blast brainstorming different ways to write funny ways to say things for my stories.

What are some of your favorite authors that have influenced your writing? Please share a few of your favorite Picture Books you have used as mentor texts.

I absolutely love Mel Fell by Corey Tabor. I think that book is so cleverly produced and just a great way to teach children about kingfisher birds. This style is similar to how I write and teach via “informational fiction” stories. I also enjoy Josh Funk’s series Lady Pancake and Sir French Toast. I tend to anthropomorphize a lot when I write.

There are so many amazing authors… I find myself lost in a library just enamored with the amazing picture books out there for kids to enjoy.

What does a day in the life of an author look like? Do you have a writing schedule? Do you outline? Could you share a little bit of your process with us?

Life of an author…

The life of an author for me has been fairly private in order for me to write or get anything done. I need to make sure I don’t have any distractions, so that’s writing in places where people don’t know me, or I know I won’t get interrupted very much. I have to write where there’s not a lot of noise or distractions. For me, this is in the early morning when no one else is around. For those who know me well I am not a night owl.

I go to bed very early but I when I wake up, I hit the ground running. Not many people see the writer side of me in action. Other than social media, writing has been extremely private. It’s also an extremely sedentary job so I make sure to set timers and alarms to make sure I get up and walk around. I’m used to moving a lot, so I try to use voice apps to dictate sometimes. I can come back to great phrases or ideas when I talk and type in the story, so I try to get a lot of exercise. That was an unexpected curveball for me.

I would say that the creative writing process is quite private. I can get lost in my imagination for hours so I set alarms to make myself get up and MOVE! Other than that, the life of an author has been very exciting. Now that I’ve published a book it’s become very social. There is marketing, selling, creating relationships, and connecting with children about the message of your book. The actual day to day hustle of being an author is very social and keeps me busy. 

What do you love most about being an author and what are some of the challenges you face as such? How do you deal with rejections?

The fact that we’re referring to me as an author is still something that I am not used to! Still so crazy. What I love most about being an author is still settling in. I have really loved every aspect of the challenge, uniqueness and complete roller coaster of an industry that book publishing is altogether.

Growing up I was a big athlete and very competitive growing up, so I feel like this ticks the box for me in a competitive nature, even though I don’t want to think that I am necessarily competing with other authors on a personal level to have my books published. I work hard to bring my manuscripts up to a level that can compete with the greatness that other authors are bringing to the table as well. I love the competition side of the submission process.

On the other hand, the rejection process is tough. It’s especially hard when I feel like I have a manuscript that matches exactly what this publishing house wants. Or a particular agent aligns with my beliefs and loves the environment, turtles and oceans. They are looking for the next book to make a big splash, an author who will do the work and help sell the books. One gets really excited about those submissions and when they end in rejection, it stings the most.

I don’t let them stop me or stand in my way from making my dreams a reality. I do believe every rejection is one step closer to finding a “yes”.

Blair Northen Williamson

I don’t let them stop me or stand in my way from making my dreams a reality. I do believe every rejection is one step closer to finding a “yes”. When those champagne rejections come in, I give myself 24 hours to be sad about it and then I move on. If you allow the rejection to pull you down, you’re going to be pulled down really fast. Just know it’s part of the business.

So back to the question of what I love most about being an author. In some respects, the competitive nature that comes out of it on the submission side and the creative side, how can I always make things better. I mean, it’s that part of it I really like, but what I love most is connecting with the children at schools, seeing people enjoy a product that I have had in my head and worked so hard to bring my vision to reality and then to hear and to receive the letters from kids saying that I have really made an impact on them.

Also, hearing organizations like Plastic Ocean Project say that my work really matters and it’s making a difference. That’s what I love. I feel like I’m very fulfilled and have found my calling and hopefully one day, many of my picture books will get acquired and I can help bring laughter into the home and continue to make children smile. For me, it’s all about connecting with children and leaving the world a better place.

What is the best piece of advice you would give to other writers?

The best piece of advice I would give to other writers is to do your research. If you want to indie publish, do research on who you want to go with, the timetable, what you expect. Interview them and ask them questions. Make sure that you know what you’re getting into before you do it and invest in it. Know that it’s not an overnight situation. Do your work, do your research, there’s so much to learn about the publishing industry and I haven’t even begun to scratch the surface.

It’s so fascinating to me. I have put in hours and hours and hours of research on… everything! From what picture books sell, reading the mentor texts, taking the courses, and taking a marketing course. If you are going to indie publish, you’re going to need to learn a lot about marketing, PR, social media, Amazon, amazon author dashboard, royalty payouts, etc. My best advice is don’t take any shortcuts and do the work. Do you research because in the end that will show.

About ISLAND GIRLS: Free the Sea of Plastics

So, let’s talk now about your debut picture book Island Girls. What a fun, sweet and heartwarming story you have created! Tell us about the journey of this beautiful book. What was your inspiration for it? I know it is based on a true story and I am sure our readers would love to read about it.

Island Girls inspiration goes back all the way to 2009 when I was getting my PADI master scuba diver trainer license as a scuba diving instructor. In the book was a picture of a jellyfish next to a plastic bag and that image has stuck with me since then. Fast forward to working underwater as a scuba diving instructor, I witnessed seeing plastic bags in the ocean and realized that I was even mistaking the plastic bag as a jellyfish in the distance.

It’s really shocking how they look so much alike. It wasn’t until I was snorkeling with my own daughters. I think it was 2018 maybe 2019 and I heard all the shouting through their snorkel gear and saw the girls pointing. We had been snorkeling with the turtles and I quickly saw what they were witnessing… there was a turtle swimming directly towards a plastic bag.

They were so distraught, as was I! I swam down and snatched the plastic bag before the turtle could take a bite. The turtle was probably super annoyed with me that I had taken his meal but in fact, I had saved him. It was at that moment that my daughters looked up at me asking: “Mommy what are we gonna do about this plastic?” The whole story was inspired by that moment. Having your kids look at you and essentially ask “what are we gonna do about this?” is very powerful.

Read our In-debt Interview with Rosie J. Pova

So, when I got into Rosie’s picture book class, she asked us about a point in time that was meaningful to us, or that we wanted to write about that we had never written about before. The manuscript for Island Girls: Free the Sea of Plastic, was the very first manuscript I ever wrote!

Of course, it has been critiqued and revised many times in different ways, but that was the very first manuscript I ever wrote and that is why the story is inspired by our own experience. Also, in the summertime, we would bring the girls down to Tortola when my husband worked for Global Expeditions Group. We witnessed plastic bags in the ocean together too many times, so I finally did something about it.

You have an undeniable, deep love for the ocean and include some lovely details in your story. Please share some of your research methods and how you chose which details to include.

Well, the thing is in children’s picture book, the idea is to get the children engaged in the story from the beginning, and not lose their attention so the momentum has to continue throughout the book, and if it gets too wordy, you’ll lose your audience. I really like using onomatopoeia to bring the reader into that experience so when Fig is slurping on the slimy jellyfish. It makes you feel the moment.

It’s really hard to bring a story that is sitting in your brain and write it onto paper… that’s where the illustrations become so important as well. I provided Svitlana with so much media and videos and photos different angles of our faces, and the location, different shots of the sunrise and the beach, and loads of inspiration that I wanted to give her.

Then, of course let her have the creativity to make it her own as well, so it’s really a creative process on both sides to find a way to bring interesting words together to create a fun story that will be enjoyable for all to read. After you brain-dump your first, second, third, fourth drafts it’s pretty obvious at this point what needs to be cut out. Everything gets cut if it’s not pertinent to the story progression.

You explore a lot of different themes in the book like the ocean, sea life, family, taking initiative, and protecting the environment, to name a few. As the author of this incredible work, if there is one thing you would love for your readers to take away, what would that be? What is the message you would like to leave behind through the story of Island Girls? 

Oh my gosh Ivanka, you are so sweet and complementary. I really appreciate your words. If there’s one thing that I wanted readers to take away from Island Girls as a whole is the beauty of this world. Sharing the beauty of our underwater world with children who don’t necessarily live by the beach or the ocean or for people who aren’t able to experience the underwater world.

There are so many people in the world who are not coastal, so I would like to share the beauty and love of the rich and vibrant colors of our ocean, because if they see the beauty and connect with nature, then they’re more likely to protect it. That is the overall goal of my book is to love our environment and protect it for future generations to come so that they can enjoy the beauty of nature and the oceans.

Absolutely! I love this. Picture books have limited word count,however, making it so much more challenging to pack so much meaning and information in just a few hundred words. Is there anything about the topic on plastic pollution you wanted to share with the world but couldn’t fit into the book?

The purpose of island girls was to bring a gentle introduction of environmental conservation to our youngest readers, but the problem is far greater than turtles mistaking plastic bags as jellyfish. Plastic in our oceans is a big problem, not only for turtles, but all of our under the sea friends.

If fish are ingesting plastic and micro plastics and we eat fish, we are also then eating plastic. We need to come together as a collective human race to make sweeping and vast changes in the way we consume, shop, use, and/or refuse to use plastic altogether. There is hope that we can make a change. The first way to create change is by spreading awareness of an issue, and that was my goal of writing Island Girls.

The illustrations by Svitlana Holovchenko are especially beautiful. They come to life on the page in each scene. How did you like working with an illustrator and was it a surprise to see your words come to life?

Svitlana was an absolute dream to work with. In the interview process when I decided to get the reversion of my rights from the traditional publisher, I had a very specific timeline from July to February 2023 to produce, publish, and have books in hand to present and sell at the conference. I actually just spoke at the conference this past weekend and it was even that much better to know that all of my hard work paid off, because it was a smashing success.

Svitlana was one of probably 1000 illustrators who bid for the job. I essentially posted on KidLit411, a forum for picture book writers on Facebook and another group that I am a part of on Facebook for KidLit illustrators and authors. I posted the job and the time frame, the framework of the story. Asked that they please submit their under the sea samples and or samples of turtle drawing. The minute we saw Svitlana‘s work we knew she was our girl.

Follow Svitlana Holovchenko Here

My daughters and I spent all day going through different portfolios of illustrators and for hours we would go through and see and narrowed it down to a handful of them, but all of us agreed, it was a completely unanimous decision that we had to work with Svitlana. We completely fell in love with her work. She’s Ukrainian and lives in Germany. She does not speak English, so her and I communicated over Facebook messenger chat through translation apps. She was a dream to work with and I was blown away at the speed that she got this done.

You never want to rush an illustrator, but she said she could do it and I believed her. She did everything by hand and the level of detail that she brought was incredible. I will give her one other shout out as well. It wasn’t only a surprise to see my words come to life, but a total dream come true. She is such a wonderful person, and we have a great relationship.

I had sent her a box of books to Germany once ISLAND GIRLS was published as a gift for thanking her, and she in turn, sent me all of the original spreads of the watercolors! I love working with wonderful people. I’m so thankful forever to Svitlana, she’s so talented and just brought my vision to life unlike anything I could’ve ever imagined. I’m so very thankful for her.

What is your favorite spread and why?  

I have three favorites! The first is my children on the back deck at sunrise when Fig comes up for the first time with a jellyfish in his mouth. That’s a very special location for me and my family at Great Harbor Peter on Peter Island in the British Virgin Islands. Mornings on a boat are just magical times.

Like I mentioned earlier, I’m a morning person so there’s not really a day on a boat that I will miss the sunrise. I’m not sure if I’ve ever missed a sunrise while being on a boat. The colors, the image of my kids in pj’s looking for turtles… that is what we do every morning, so it brings me so much happiness. 

Another one is the one of my kids snuggling down below with the porthole. That’s again a really special scene for me – my two daughters sleeping together down below on the boat. Those are their lovies in the picture. One sleeps with teal “salt meadow bebo” and the other sleeps with lambie. So, I love that spread so much.

The last one is where I think Svitlana did the most fantastic illustration and really brought it home with the facial expressions is the spread where Zoomy was stuck in the plastic. Sadie‘s expression on her face underwater in that spread is just so spot on and really brings out an emotion in you see a turtle wrapped in plastic. I have no idea how she painted the plastic bag around the turtle. It’s just so incredible and shows her talent as an artist.

I would love to talk a bit about the cause that is so close to your heart. Plastic pollution and the health of our planet is extremely important. It is essential that future generations understand not just the problem but also what they can do about it. On our website you have the Get Involved section. Tell us about it.    

OK great question! On my website I have a “get involved” section. It isn’t as built out as I would like for it to be but for right now the framework is there. It’s meant to be a call to action empowering teachers, parents, kids, grandparents, readers, anyone to start saying something about what you’re seeing.

Start paying attention. If you are a member of a country club and they’re using plastic stir straws, say something! You notice there’s no recycling bin, say something! 

If you are in a position where you do the ordering for a catering service, please start ordering the wooden stir sticks or no straws at all! Try to think of ways to not use plastic bags, use reusable bags!

If you know someone who works in corporate for one of the grocery chains, bring it up. We know better at this point and all need to do our part to start eliminating the single use plastic waste. We need to empower kids but also, everyone needs to know that your voice matters!

About School Visits & Events

Through your stories, you work with a growing generation of readers and writers. You do school visits, library story times and even help with science projects on occasion. How rewarding are those visits for you and what would you like for children to remember most about them?   

The school visits are so rewarding. The best part about them is hearing from parents and teachers who have either read the book in their classroom or bought it for a grandchild. Hearing what the kids are actually doing because of reading the book is what matters the most. The plans that are being put in place by the kids after I have done a school visit are just amazing.

There is always a part of my visit where I pause and I ask the students, what they woul do? Playing inside of my imagination and writing a book is something that makes sense for me to do, so I always ask them to come up with different ideas about what they would do. Some of their ideas are just fabulous and so I really empower them.

Book a Reading or Event with Blair Northen Williamson Today!

I tell them no idea is too crazy. Make a plan, research it, do the work. It doesn’t even have to be something big, but making smaller changes at home or day-to-day life. Just being aware of what you are consuming as a human. Hearing their ideas and stories has been unbelievably moving. It’s just so inspiring for me to hear how inspired and empowered the kids are feeling.

I definitely want to pay it forward as much as possible. I recently assisted with a science fair project for a girl who was researching coral. She’s a fabulous sixth grader, very smart, and is a go-getter. She asked for a little bit of my time because of my experience with coral reefs and structure. I was very happy and open to answer her questions. 

I am sure kids have a lot of interesting questions about your relatable characters. Tell us about a question or a comment from one of your readers you will never forget? Maybe something that happened during a book reading or a note a reader sent?   

Ha ha ha, great question! A group of the funniest questions came from the preschoolers that I presented to. They were four and five year olds and just couldn’t stop asking questions about Sadie and Josie. They could not believe that they were my daughters and and were asking questions about their favorite colors. It’s all they wanted to know. They wanted to start wearing those colors to school to show their loyalty and support for Sadie and Josie’s mission. That’s something I won’t forget.

On a more meaningful note, I received a note in the mail from my grandmother, who turns 95 in April. She has been very interested in my publication journey and has also been one of my biggest cheerleaders. She wrote me a note that I have in my office that says, “Blair, a lot of people have dreams… but you have followed yours and I’m so proud of you.” That piece of mail from her is something that means the world to me. I’m just so proud that she was able to see me publish my first of hopefully many, many books.

Where can your fans find you and what other events are you open to? (Conferences, appearances, interviews, presentations, PMSLA features, retreats etc.)  

I am open to just about anything as long as I can fit it in my schedule. My priority is of course being there for my children. Like I said, I’m a planner, so I’d love to have advance notification and map out my schedule. You’ll see on my website the author visits and events tab is building out.

It’s certainly going to be building out more after a conference I just attended in Hilton head South Carolina. I would love to do any school visits, virtual or in-person as well as speak at more conferences and retreats. I also think that there is space to have retreats for indie publishing experts where they could talk about their experience and answer questions.

At One of my recent retreats, the faculty spoke very poorly of self-publishing because they come from the traditional publishing world. Indie publishing is not something to be ashamed of, especially if you can do it well. I see a need for faculty to speak on self-publishing. I hope to be traditionally published as well in the *very near* future, so I don’t think there’s one right or wrong way.

It just so happened that in my specific experience I ended up self-publishing Island Girls, but I am very open and excited to traditionally publish some day. I am happy to be a faculty member on a retreat or any webinar zooms to speak about indie publishing. I am actually currently writing an article for SCBWI Highlighter, and I will. I’m open, so reach out to me and no idea is too crazy. I just want to have some fun with whatever I’m doing so bring me your ideas and let’s talk!

Blair, I am so grateful for you taking the time to chat with me. I am a huge fan and absolutely love your dedication to spreading awareness and saving the environment. Are you working on any new projects you would like to share with us? What’s next for Blair Northen Williamson? 

Thanks to wonderful challenges like 12×12 picture book challenge and first draft Fridays, I am always working on new manuscripts! I am about to submit Island Girls 2 to the #PBParty contest, so that is very exciting. I hope to have a few traditionally published picture book deals to announce in the coming months. At the moment I am working with 10-12 picture book manuscripts and one middle grade in the making!

This is something I like asking fellow authors. Do you remember the first story you ever wrote? How old were you at the time?

I don’t remember the exact story I ever wrote, but I do know the one I have had in my head for as long as I can remember. It’s the middle grade novel I am working on called MOON BEACH RISING. I’ve grown up with it and I revisit it almost every time I go back to Figure 8 Island!

Is there anything you would like to add that may be of interest to our readers? 

Please put some good juju out into the world. I am pitching Island Girls 2 to a contest tomorrow, so by the time you’re reading this I may or may not have been selected to be a finalist! I am going to see if I can traditionally publish Island Girls 2, so please sprinkle some good juju out in the world for me. The manuscript is written, and I love it… so regardless if it gets selected for the finals of the contest, Island Girls will be a series!

Also, please be sure to follow me on social media. Engagement is very important and the writing community on Twitter and on Instagram is amazing. I have found wonderful new writing friends, so my handles are @theislandwriter on twitter and @theislandwriter8 on Instagram. I do my best to update the blog on my website as much as possible! www.theislandwriter.com

Last, but not least, would you please share with us your favorite inspirational quote? 

This is a great question. I use this quote and all of my presentations across all age levels. I also use it as a point of inspiration for the mission of my work. “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it.” -Robert Swan. If I don’t do something to spread messages about what is happening underneath the ocean… who will? I think this is very powerful for all of us to hear and a great quote to live by.

Ivanka, thank you so much for having me today. I really appreciate your questions. They were so thoughtful and actually you asked me a couple questions that no one has ever asked me! I’m so thrilled to be able to share with you. You really made me smile talking about my favorite spreads. I can’t thank you and your readers enough. Thank you so much for hanging in there with me. This was a long interview I know, but I’m available to answer more questions. You know I’m happy to help. Thank you so much, Ivanka.

Blair Northen Williamson Author Bio

Award-winning author Blair Northen Williamson is from Richmond, Virginia but spent much of her childhood on the coast of North Carolina where she developed a passion for the ocean. After graduating from the University of Virginia, her love of nature, the ocean, and relating to others led her to work for Global Expeditions Group for over a decade.

She spent many years working as a sailing captain and scuba diving instructor in the British Virgin Islands and Southeast Asia, where she experienced the problem of plastics in our oceans too many times. Encouraged by Robert Swan’s quote, “The greatest threat to our planet is the belief that someone else will save it,” Williamson decided to take action.

Seeking to inspire change and empower children by spreading awareness about the danger of plastics in our oceans, Williamson wrote her debut picture book, Island Girls: Free the Sea of Plastic. 

Connect with Blair Northen Williamson

Website:www.theislandwriter.com
Twitter: @theislandwriter
IG: @theislandwriter8
FB: facebook.com/blairnwilliamson

To read more about the business and pleasure of writing for children check out Top Resources for Children’s Book Authors . 

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