Emilie Bilokur

I have a passion for coloring. Even before I went to art school, I bought and hid away coloring books. And colored in them in secret. There was something about all those colors that made me come alive in a way that nothing else did. I still have many of those coloring books, but now they are out of the closet, thanks to their new well-deserved popularity. I'm a huge dog (and cat) lover, so it seemed fitting that my first book in the Magic of Coloring series would be about dogs. If you like, please visit my Facebook page, The Magic of Coloring.

I've also been writing stories since I was in grade school. I was a good student, but I was very shy, and spent a lot of time alone, daydreaming.

My favorite audience is children. I've written easy readers and middle grade novels. I'm also currently working on an adult novel. I started out writing articles. One of the first articles I wrote came from a childhood experience. I loved to visit Yale's Peabody Museum in New Haven, CT. While all the other kids were ooh-ing and aah-ing over the dinosaurs, I was sitting on a bench in another room, staring at a six foot long blue fish. It was a coelacanth, believed to have become extinct with the dinosaurs. There was something that so fascinated me about it that I couldn't tear myself away. I would sit for what seemed like forever, staring at it. That blue fish was the star of the first article I wrote for Cricket magazine. That is how writing happens for me. What inspires me is that mysterious, magical something that occurs inside me. I don't look for stories, they seem to find me, if I stay quiet enough to hear them.

If an idea keeps coming back and won't leave me alone, I know I've got something. The idea bugs me until a story starts to take shape around it. I keep running into problems that won't work out, then I get the ah-ha that gets me over each hurdle. At a certain point (it usually takes months) I get a feeling coming from the story, or from a character. That's when I start to write it down.

I become moved by the desire to touch the audience with the feelings in the story. That's my main motivation for every word. If I don't feel it, I know no one else will. In the early stages I jot down little things that can happen on scraps of paper, which I arrange in a folder. When it starts to excite me and feel like a real story, I start a new document in Word, as it's easy to revise there, and I revise a lot. I do a fair amount of outlining beforehand, but surprises and twists always show up. After every major rewrite, I print it all out, as it looks different on paper than on the screen. Then I mark up the paper copy, and re-input the changes into Word.

I interview characters, and listen to what they say. I ask them to tell me something about themselves that I don't know, and something that nobody knows. I'm often surprised by the answers. Then they start talking to me when I don't expect it. I work on 2 or 3 projects at a time, and if I'm working on a different project, I am often quickly opening their story file to type what they say so I don't forget it.

People ask me for advice. I tell them, if you want to be a writer, decide what would be a writing success for you. What do you daydream about when you imagine you sold what you wrote? Which of your projects would give you the most joy, make you jump up and down? Focus on that. That is what matters to you. You will write it in a way that no one else can. And always, always write from the heart.

I started by publishing articles in Highlights for Children, Ranger Rick and Cricket. Most of them were resold (meaning I got paid a second time). Then I started to write middle grade novels and easy readers, and sent those to publishing houses. I got nice letters from various editors (I currently have an easy reader with one), but have been lured by the advantages of self publishing, and am planning on putting more titles on Amazon.

New authors should check out both paths to getting published, but I think there are better opportunities with self publishing. If you go the self publishing route, you will be tempted to do many things yourself, but always get an editor, it is well worth it. The editor will spot things in your manuscript that you have a blind spot about.

Finally, write the best book you can. I can't wait to read it!