Q & A with Linda Ravin Lodding, Award-Winning Author
Linda Ravin Lodding, Award-Winning Author
Linda Ravin Lodding is originally from New York, but has spent the past 25 years in Austria, The Netherlands, and now Sweden. She is the award-winning author of seven children’s picture books, The Busy Life of Ernestine Buckmeister (Flashlight Press), A Gift for Mama (Random House), Hold That Thought, Milton! (Gullane Press), The Queen is Coming to Tea (Sourcebooks), Little Red Riding Sheep (Atheneum Books for Young Readers), Painting Pepette (Bonniers/little bee) and Wakey, Wakey Elephant (Sterling Children’s Books).
Linda graduated from Barnard College, Columbia University, and has an MBA from New York University’s Stern School of Business. She is currently Head of Communications for Global Child Forum, a Stockholm-based organization focused on children’s rights within the corporate sector. When Linda isn’t writing, she’s usually dancing in her kitchen, snapping photos or planning her next get-away.
We were thrilled to be able to interview Linda to find out more about her writing, her method, and her festival experience as a newcomer to Stockholm.
What is your primary creative writing genre, and did this change over the years, or has this always been your main focus?
I write children’s fiction with a primary focus on picture books (ages 4-8). However, I’m now having fun experimenting with other age groups. For example, I’m currently working on a Middle Grade novel (ages 10 – 14) with a Victorian Lemony-Snicket feel. I’m also working on a Young Adult novel and am even collaborating with an LA-based writer, as well as a NY-based children’s media producer to adapt some of my picture books into animation and podcast serialization.
You’ve published several books already now, and have a new book deal, so first, a huge congratulations on the new book. Can you tell us a little about the book itself?
Thank you! It’s exciting to have a new book on the way. My next book is slated to come out in Spring 2023 which is fairly quick by children’s book publishing standards. It’s a semi-fictionalized version of a project that I read about called The Flipflopi. The Flipflopi is a traditional dhow boat that was made from melting down flip flops found washed up on the shores of Lamu, Kenya. It’s a beautiful project that brought together the community to educate the world about the environmental impact of single-use plastic. When I read about this project, and saw the colorful patchwork boat, I knew that this would be a perfect story, and message, to share with children around the world. An even larger boat is now being built to sail around the world to educate communities. It’s such a positive story with great visual appeal and I worked with a co-author on this book who is one of the founders of the Flipflopi Project. It’s been a privilege to play a small role in this team. You can learn more about the project here: https://www.theflipflopi.com
It’s a long process going from idea to finished book, and then from finished book to published book. What does your process look like once you’ve finalized the book and are ready to get it published?
Linda at one of her popular book signings
It is a long process and, most of the time, the process finishes with a drawer full of rejections. However, I’m fortunate to have a wonderful NY-based agent who is my first gate-keeper. If she believes that the polished manuscript has potential to win over an editor, then she submits the book to editors. If an editor likes the book – then hurray! The next step is that the editor take the book to an Acquisition Meeting where the Editor pitches the book to the rest of the publishing team (Sales, Marketing etc.). The team then consider other similar titles on the market to determine profitability etc. If the Acquisition Team gives it the green light, then the contract negotiations begin. Following signing a contract (or sometimes even prior to signing), the Editor may request revisions to the text. Once the your text is approved, the writer’s work is more or less done – until it’s time to market the book.
One of the biggest misconceptions about the process of bringing a picture book to market is that the author picks the illustrator and works closely with the illustrator. The truth is, the publishing house chooses the illustrator and the writer rarely has any contact with the illustrator during the process. It’s usual to see some of the illustrator’s preliminary sketches along the way, but unless the author notes something egregious in the illustrations, the author has little sway in how the book is illustrated. That said, I have been fortunate to have had amazing illustrators who have taken my text and added nuance, vibrancy and humor through their illustrations resulting in a much richer story experience for my young readers.
A fairly common thread in the SWF community is that many of us have dreamed of writing for years before we ever had the time, resources, or ability to sit down and actually do it. When did you first decide writing was something that you wanted to actively pursue, and then how long was it before you started writing seriously?
I am still struggling with finding the time! I started writing when my daughter, now age 23, was a baby. I fell in love with picture books and started to absorb the rhythm and structure of this genre. When she was a toddler I took an online children’s writing class where we read 100 picture books in one month and analyzed each to understand the unique aspects of writing for children. I was hooked! Since then, I have worked with a small, informal virtual critique group. Two of the writers in the group write full time, but I work full time so I’m not as prolific as they are.
What is wonderful about writing is that it is not age dependent. If I dreamed of becoming a ballerina (a dream I did have!), that dream, by the very nature of my age, is long past. But writing is not age-dependent and has no expiration date. Since I work full time, I write when I have a window of time (such as the upcoming holiday period or summer break) or a weekend afternoon. But I feel like I’m always writing in my head. In fact, I do my best creative problem solving while in the shower.
I have been writing seriously for 20 years but have also had long fallow periods when my life just didn’t provide me with the creative space. But the one thing I have continued to do through the years is read in my genre, follow the publishing and marketing news, keep up with what my fellow writers are doing and continue to critique my writing partners’ work. As of last year, I am a member of the Stockholm Writer’s Group which has kept me focused and motivated – not to mention, provided me with a wonderful community of writers. So, regardless of whether or not I have put pen to paper, I stayed connected to the writing process even if I wasn’t producing new stories.
Can you tell us about some of your favorite SWF moment(s) and what really stuck with you after the festivals?
My first festival was in 2020. I had just moved to Stockholm in April and was feeling a bit unsettled in my new apartment and neighborhood. The lockdown situation also meant that I was now working from home and routines had changed. When I found out about the SWF I was a bit hesitant to join an online festival but I did so thinking it could be a good way for me to connect with other local writers. I know that you often hear this with new products being touted on social media, but it was the best decision of 2020! While the speakers and break-out sessions were inspiring, following the Festival I met a few writers IRL and it was that community, and sense of belonging, that made me feel at home in Stockholm.
What would you say were the biggest takeaways for you from SWF?
Last year I had the honor of presenting a children’s writing session at SWF. It was in the preparation for that session that I realized how much I love sharing my passion for children’s books. I subsequently launched my coaching service and I have enjoyed helping other writers understand the unique demands and delights of children’s book writing, as well as help them shape their story for young readers.
Can you tell us a little about a piece you’ve written in the past that you are particularly proud of, published or not — just something that still moves you every time you revisit it?
I’m proud of all of my published books, and many of my unpublished books as well. They have all been inspired by some aspect of my life or a particularly meaningful observation. But the book that especially warms my heart is A Gift for Mama. This book is set in Vienna where I lived and where my daughter was born. I think of this book as a love letter to Vienna and the artists who lived there – as well as a love letter to mothers everywhere. I also submitted this book un-agented and it was published by Random House and illustrated by the amazing Alison Jay so it is possible to get published through your own submission efforts. A Gift for Mama also appeared in a New York Times showcase column entitled “Mother Love” https://nyti.ms/3EkmYce which was an especially proud moment.
Overall, has attending SWF helped you in pursuing the “path to published," and if so, how?
Linda Ravin Lodding
Certainly! While I already had seven books published prior to attending SWF, any opportunity to network with other writers and industry professionals is a wonderful pitstop on the “path to published”. What I now recognize, and perhaps didn’t at the time, is that, as writers, we can learn so much from writers who write in other genres. I even learn from other artists who tell their stories in different mediums – such as visual artists. We are all storytellers. Some choose to tell their stories through words, others through the photographic lens, paint on canvas, or even through dance.
If you plan on attending SWF22, (and we certainly hope you do) is there anything specific that you hope to learn more about this time around?
Since I am now working on longer fiction, I’m looking forward to learning more about the plotting process. As a picture book writer, I usually write my stories in under 700 words. Of course the visuals also add to the storytelling experience. And, since picture books are generally 32 pages long, I am well-versed in plotting for that precise format. Writing in a longer form is new for me and I’m trying to understand how to incorporate the rise and fall of the action. I hope to learn more about this at SWF22.
We asked if Linda could share something creative that we could share with our readers for inspiration and she was kind enough to provide some fun YouTube links to some of her published works. So here’s a nice mix of book trailers, “read-alongs” and reviews.
Little Red Riding Sheep - "Read-Along"
Painting Pepette – Book Trailer
You can find and connect with Linda via her website at www.lindalodding.com as well as on Instagram @lindaravinlodding_author and Facebook as LindaRavinLoddingAuthor. On her author site you’ll also see that she offer school visits (which she loves doing!) as well as one-to-one coaching with other children’s book writers, from pre-published authors to published authors. She’d be happy to connect with other writers on any of these platforms.
Books by Linda Ravin Lodding, Award-Winning Childrens Author - available directly through her website. Just click the image above to go to her bookshelf!