| Q: First tell us something about yourself? I’m a JUNO nominated children’s musician from Edmonton, Alberta. I’m a mom of three and I’ve been teaching music for over 21 years. Q: How and when did your journey start as a writer? I released my very first book ‘Dino-mite!’ In September of 2021. The book is based off of a song that was released on my 4th full length album which is also called ‘Dino-mite!’. Q: When did you write your first story? Is it published or not? I have written stories before that also have music to go along with them. My first one was called ‘Cooking with Dad’ and that one was written along with my first album back in 2015. I used pictures of my son Elliot in the story and I used it in my preschool music classes and with my kids at home. Dino-mite! was my first ever published book. Q: Tell us something more about your books? Every story I write has music to go along with it. I just love using stories that you can sing. I feel like when I sing a story to children, I can engage with them on a deeper level and really grab their full attention. I will often make up melodies to books that didn’t originally have melodies. Q: Why do you choose kids as your reader ? is there any specific reason? Writing a children’s book just came naturally. It was like my music evolved into it and it just sort of happened. I absolutely love that the characters I created for a song are now alive on the pages of a book. It’s like my art can now be experienced in multiple ways. Because my music is geared towards children and families, it just made sense that my book would do the same. The book itself was intended to take my music and make it more accessible to my audiences. Q: How did these stories and characters come to your mind? The two main characters of my book are dinosaurs named Larry and Joe. They came to life a few years ago when I released a song called ‘Larry & Joe’. Dino-mite! Is the sequel to that song and it follows the two friends on a hilarious journey through dance and music. Q: Do you want to leave any message for your readers? Being afraid shouldn’t be the thing that stops you from following your dreams. I was so scared to release my book but I did it anyways. Now my book has won an award and I’ve been able to share it with people all over the world! Look fear straight in the face and ROAR! |
