First let me thank Natasha for letting me be here today. This is a great blog, and I'm honored to be part of it.
One thing you should all know about me is that I pride myself on being weird. I'm a former middle school language arts teacher and my students could vouch for my weirdness. But my philosophy has always been, "If you're not weird, you're boring." I don't want to be boring. My students didn't want me to be boring either. So, I embrace the weirdness within. And I really think it's made me a better teacher and a better writer. Why? Because what is better than making a child smile? That's right, nothing.
My mind comes up with some pretty crazy things, but they make for good stories. Sometimes stories I never even set out to write. I've published about seventy short stories for children of all ages, so you can see I put my crazy thoughts to good use. The story I'm most proud of right now is my debut picture book, May the Best Dog Win. This is the story of Dash, an adorable mixed breed dog who has the life until the new Super Sweeper 5000 shows up on his doorstep. Dash doesn't know what to make of Sweeper at first, but the more he looks at Sweeper the more Dash thinks Sweeper is a strange new breed of dog. But is Sweeper the new favorite dog? You'll have to read May the Best Dog Win to find out. If you want to get your hands on a copy of your very own, you can head over to Amazon or my website. I'm selling autographed copies through the contact button on my site:http://www.kellyhashway.com.
In addition to May the Best Dog Win, I have six other picture books on submission to different publishers. I also recently signed on with my agent, the amazing Lauren Hammond of ADA Management, who will be representing my full-length middle grade and young adult manuscripts. If it's not already obvious, I write full-time. Aside from being a Mom (and yes, I do believe that word should always be capitalized) writing is my favorite job in the world. What other profession lets you use your imagination to write stories that will bring smiles to children's faces?
Right now, I'm busy promoting May the Best Dog Win by visiting schools, setting up book signings, and participating in interviews. If you'd like to learn more about where I'll be or about my other published works, please drop by my website.
Thanks again to Natasha for letting me spend the day here. Please feel free to leave questions or comments. I'll be stopping in all day to respond.
6 comments:
Thanks again for having me Tasha!
Kelly, totally get you on the weirdness. Best of luck with your submissions, and promoting the book! If you think you might be doing an event this December 3rd, you might want to check out Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day--it's all about getting kids into bookstores. Be well!
Jenny, thanks for letting me know about Take Your Child to a Bookstore Day. I'll definitely look into do something then.
Good luck.
Weird is a good thing. Don't let anyone tell you differently.
Thanks, Jessie!
Mike, don't worry I won't.
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