Six Questions with Natasha Zimmers

Natasha Zimmers has always loved reading, writing, and the outdoors. As a grownup, she’s still always looking for ways to spend time learning outside, then writing stories to share her love of nature. She gets to spend many of her days working with her Forest School and Environmental Studies students being curious and making observations. Visit Natasha's website to learn more about her and her work.

1. How did you begin your journey as an author? 

I always loved to paint pictures with words. My childhood journals are full of nature observations, poems, and questions - much like my current journals in fact! As a young teacher, I quickly started making my own mini books for my students. I remember riding my bike to Third Place Books during the summer and reading all the wonderful new picture books I couldn’t afford to buy for my classroom. After years of playing with writing for my students, I decided to try broadening my audience and learning more about the craft of writing picture books. I joined 12x12 and SCBWI and wrote lots and lots of stories!

2. How do you stay connected to your creative self when navigating the business side of  writing? 

I try to keep my creativity and joy protected by always writing for myself first. It starts with curiosity, and being captivated by a question, a rhythm, or a character. Then I want to find out more, leading to research and writing. This part is for me, not for the market or anyone else. This learning feels powerful because I can share my new knowledge with my students, regardless of the future of that particular manuscript. Since there is so much we don’t control in publishing, I keep this part for myself. Some of these stories, I can share with students just for fun, with them making their own illustrations to go along with the words. This makes the work feel rewarding in ways that are within my control, helping me stay creative. I also don’t force myself to write if I’m not feeling inspired. I take time outside, play with an old story, write a silly pitch for a book that “would never sell” or do storytelling games with my kids to get my creativity flowing.

3. To what extent is your writing inspired by your own experience, or by  watching your children’s experiences? 

Tiny Hiker is very much inspired by my own experiences hiking as a child, as well as my experience hiking with my own kids. The trail in the story is a composite of several different trails in Olympic National Park, and on Vancouver Island, all of which I hiked as a kid and my children hiked starting very small. I wanted a story that captivated the playfulness of exploring the outdoors with kids, as well as gently represented some of the challenges. My kids were tenacious and curious, and it was such a joy to watch them get to experience some of the same places that were so special to me as a child.

4. Was Tiny Hiker always the title for this project?

Tiny Hiker was the title from the beginning, and while working on the story, I did have some push back. People were concerned that lots of kids don’t like being called “tiny.” This was valid, but I couldn’t find anything else that fit the rhythm of the story and conveyed that this was a very small person doing a very big thing. It turned out that “tiny” wasn’t a problem when compared to the size of the trees in the story, and I love how simple the title is and how it tells you exactly what to expect from the story.

5. If you could tell readers one secret about this book, what would it be?

When I started writing the story, I wanted it to have a pace to it, like you were walking. Since thinking about meter with stressed and unstressed syllables, etc. stresses me out, I used the song “Do You Know the Muffin Man” to make sure that it sounded right. I love that now you can choose to read OR sing the story if you want to!

6. How was the editorial process? Did you do any revisions? Did you have a  lot of collaboration with the illustrator?  

With this being my first picture book, I wasn’t sure what to expect for collaboration. The team at Orca was phenomenal, and such a joy to work with, and of course Jaimie’s art is fantastic. I really appreciated the opportunity to apply my naturalist knowledge to some small details to make sure the ecosystem was accurately represented. Other things, like the specific characters’ appearances, and the addition of the squirrel, were all illustrator Jaimie MacGibbon’s brilliance.

Are you a traditionally published middle-grade or picture book author or illustrator? Would you like to be featured on this Six Questions blog? If you answered YES to those questions, drop an email to Mary Boone so you can get on the schedule!