More About Erin Dealey (She/Her)

Erin Dealey is a screenwriter, playwright, blogger, and award-winning children’s author of 20+ picture books & board books (so far), including the newest, JUST FLOWERS (Illus. Kate Cosgrove /Sleeping Bear), the award-winning DEAR EARTH…From Your Friends in Room 5 (Harper Collins/ Illus. Luisa Uribe), SNOW GLOBE WISHES (Illus. Claire Shorrock / Sleeping Bear—an Anna Dewdney Read Together honor book); and silly PETER EASTER FROG (Simon & Schuster, Caitlyn Dlouhy Books/ Illus. G. Brian Karas).

Dealey's original career goal was Olympic Gold Medal tetherball player. When that didn't pan out, she became a teacher, theater director, actor, mom, and author--who believes words can be the bridge that brings humanity together. She is a former SCBWI co-RA and lives in northern California with her husband. Erin Dealey is represented by Deborah Warren at East/West Literary Agency.

You can find her online at:

https://erindealey.com/

Erin’s strengths are…

CRAFT:

Finding the heart of YOUR story, playing with words and structure, pacing and cadence, helping others hone their voice and discover ways to make their rhymes or prose SHINE.
There's a reason why we call writing a Language ART.
There is no "one way" to creating art. No formula.

“Writing is messy, but there are tools and rules to use (or break) to make picture books ZING.” -Erin

What Erin is looking for…

Erin is looking for a mentee with a positive, "YES, and" perspective, who is excited about words and serious about their path on this traditional children's publishing marathon. She is especially looking for a mentee eager to work hard to grow and improve craft, revise multiple manuscripts, prepare for the next steps towards submission, and HAVE FUN.

A Note from Erin:

“Short answer: Every word counts.
Long answer: When you are revising your manuscript, think of the parents who will hopefully be reading YOUR BOOK to their kids at bedtime, after a long day at work. Do you remember such a story time where a child picked out a text-heavy picture book and you actually skipped a few pages to get through it during bedtime? To know what and where to trim your text, create a picture book dummy.

In a 32-page picture book, you don’t actually have 32 pages for your story. You only have 28 pages max since some are used for the book ends, copyright and title. This translates to 14 spreads (an illustration that spans the two opened pages in a book).

You don't have to make an actual "dummy" book to do this. Simply separate your text as it might appear on approximately 28 pages. Next to each, describe or sketch what you see as the illustration.

In a picture book, it's good to have a different setting or activity on every spread, to allow for variety of illustration. If you only have a few scenes, there might not be enough for an illustrator to work with. Take a look at some of your favorite *recently published* picture books. How many scenes does it have? Does the character just stand there talking or is he/she involved in an action? Think cinematically. When your manuscript is laid out in a dummy, can you envision an active illustration for each page? And --back to those weary parents-- are there any pages or lines of text you might be compelled to skip? Cut them. Parents will thank you later.☺”

“Thank you to PBRisingStars founders Ebony and Kailei for including me in this wonderful program. I'm a firm believer in Kidlit creatives paying it forward, and so appreciate this opportunity. Can't wait to get started!” - Erin