Norma E. Roth and Shayna Rose Penn Of Lovable Lucy On 5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author Or Writer
… In two words: Be Kind. That would be our movement. Imagine what our world would look like if we are all kind to each other? As members of the human race, we believe everyone deserves to be treated with kindness, respect, dignity, and love. This is a value we learned from our parents and grandparents and one that will continue to be passed down in our family. Through our Lovable Lucy series, we’re on a mission to help draw people back to irreplaceable, interpersonal interactions driven by kindness. Let’s all remember not to get too complacent with who we are and what we think we deserve, let’s find ways to keep perspective fresh and respect high.
Becoming a successful, published writer can seem quite challenging, intimidating and defeating for some. As an aspiring author, have you ever wondered if there were some tricks or hacks to follow in order to find success in pursuing a career in storytelling?
As a part of our series about “5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author or Writer,” we interviewed mother-daughter duo and newly published authors of the Lovable Lucy book series, Norma E. Roth and Shayna Rose Penn.
Norma and Shayna began their journey as authors during Covid-19 inspired by their family rescue dog, Lucy, who has continued to teach them daily lessons over the course of her 13 years of life. Norma and Shayna share these teachings with others through a relatable storyline and beautiful illustrations in their Lovable Lucy series! Living in our ever-changing world today, the importance of education goes beyond “school.” This mother-daughter duo is on a mission to teach children the means of life in an effort to best prepare them to create their own norms, opinions, and values. Below, Norma and Shayna share some of their ups, downs, memorable moments, and so much more on their journey to becoming the successful authors behind the adorable Lovable Lucy educational series!
Thank you both for joining us in this interview series. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Norma: I had been a business manager for many years when I was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004. Two years later, I decided to pick up my pen to write and publish, Pink Ribbon Journey — Stories from the Heart. After the book’s publication, my career pivoted to being a freelance writer. I became a correspondent for a local Gannett newspaper, a medical blogger, and outreach coordinator for a local sustainability organization. One evening at home, my kids joked around the dinner table about how “Mom could write a children’s book” about Lucy, our family dog. It was a funny, yet plausible idea. I remember saying Lovable Lucy had too many adventures for just one book, I would need to write an entire series to share her stories with children. Without hesitation, my daughter, Shayna, enthusiastically offered to co-write the books. At first, writing the series was not my priority; I kept the idea on the back burner until Shayna left the Covid-19 pandemic stress in New York City to come live with my husband and I in Florida in May 2020. She encouraged and pushed me to develop the Lovable Lucy books in hopes that creating the series would bring something cheerful for children and parents during these uncertain times. We spent many long-hour days brainstorming story plots, short term and long term goals, and the rest they say… is history.
Shayna: I spent the bulk of my career facilitating creative processes as a stage manager in the live and performing arts sector. My career was diverse and full, be it Jazz at Lincoln Center, contemporary operas, new musical festivals, you name it! I was ready to explore and push myself as a writer after long neglecting those creative skills and desires. Mom and I both enjoy writing and wanted an opportunity to turn the isolation of Covid-19 into something productive, uplifting. We’d floated the idea of co-writing a Lovable Lucy book a few years prior, and in revisiting and committing to the concept of a series, we first focused and honed our new goals and worked backwards from our end goals to find our starting point, our primary parameters. I also enjoyed being reunited with our muse, the real life Lucy, while living with my parents during Covid-19! Seeing her expressive nature every day reminded me of how lucky we are to have a pet who communicates so thoroughly with her body language and eyes!
Can you share the most interesting story that occurred to you in the course of your career?
Shayna: When writing the series, we were heavily inspired by real scenarios that children and dogs experience, and we enjoy mixing and matching real life inspirations with fictional, devised elements, characters, locations, and so much more. Learning to trust our imaginations has been a little daunting, but also very rewarding. My mom, Norma, and I have a manuscript in the works where all characters are figments of imagination, derived from how we imagine Lucy’s story might move forward at the end of a different book focused on loneliness when she stays home all day by herself. The ways a dog may keep company and the ways a child might play with friends intersected and led to what became this future book. It unlocked a new level of creative potential for us. I’m so happy we committed to exploring what our imaginations could create together!
What was the biggest challenge you faced in your journey to becoming a writer? How did you overcome it? Can you share a story about that that other aspiring writers can learn from?
Norma: Like any writing team, our biggest challenge is not always agreeing on a story line or the direction a story should take. Sometimes, I want a story to head in one direction while Shayna feels strongly about a different approach or plot-line. We surprisingly spend a lot of time talking about what we like and don’t like about each other’s ideas. While we approach the plotline from different angles at times, it is always for the better. We both respect each others’ contributions and input. We find ways of combining ideas as best we can to focus on the goal of portraying Lucy’s emotions into relatable stories for children ages 3–7. Any aspiring writer should expect to face challenges; learn to take those challenges head on, stay clear headed and work the problem. Resolution will soon follow.
Shayna: I am fully employed in addition to creating this series, so sometimes I primarily take an outside view and hold less attachment to a developing idea that my mother is working on. As part of a duo, I struggle with being as present to the creative process and business development as Mom. But simply showing up with a red pen isn’t enough. I do have to push myself. If I want our series to have the quality and scope we feel we can achieve, I have to sometimes stay in on weekends or dedicate time before/after work for meetings, approving business card designs, writing manuscripts, etc.
What keeps me going is our respect for each others’ contributions and input. Our ability to compromise unlocks far more than it limits. We find ways of combining ideas as best we can to focus on the goal of what each book aims to convey. It’s all about the books! Our individual opinions come second. What we both bring to the table has led us to a wonderful first two books and numerous plans for the series and additional brand expansions.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Norma: In Book One, Little Lovable Lucy’s Big Day, we were thinking of clever ways for Lucy to meet her fur-ever family. Shayna came up with a sensory concept by having her dad illustrated with a scratchy five o’clock shadow. In our weekly video meetings with our illustrator, Adua Hernandez, we kept reminding her to add the five o’clock shadow to Daddy’s face. One time when we mentioned it again, she got a puzzled look on her face. I said, “What Shayna means Adua is that Daddy needs a stubble beard!” She immediately had an “Aha!” moment, confessing she had no idea what Shayna meant by five o’clock shadow. As a native of Venezuela, she was unfamiliar with this American idiom. We all had a really good, hard laugh and from time to time the story is brought up when we need a chuckle. We learned not to assume Adua understands all the phrases and expressions we use.
In your opinion, were you a “natural born writer” or did you develop that aptitude later on? Can you explain what you mean?
Norma: Writing was always the most natural and easiest of my academic studies. Through all my years of schooling, I continually refined my craft. In 2006, two years after a breast cancer diagnosis and learning that my former boss had recently died of the disease, I decided to write a collection of inspiring stories about women and families afflicted with breast cancer and medical professionals who devote their lives to the treatment of the disease. Writing, Pink Ribbon Journey — Stories From the Heart, challenged my writing skills and forced me to be a more creative, engaging storyteller. The ability to write and create stories that can be both relatable and have a positive effect on others has always been my passion made easy by a knack for writing!
Shayna: I’m a lifelong wordophile. I enjoy mixing and matching words to convey a typical answer uniquely. Ironically, my career was spent reporting and recording information in a linear capacity. In hindsight, I grew bored of the monotony that type of written communication required. I have always had a vivid imagination and enjoyed asking “what if?” questions.
Refining and learning the ways creative thoughts can be applied to different mediums, in our case children’s books, is beyond rewarding. There’s certainly been a learning curve, but letting go of ego and personal opinions is really the key for any sort of growth. The reviews of our books from accredited institutions, including a “Recommended” Kirkus Review, boosted both our confidences, and we’re now able to write more quickly because we’re spending far less time trying to edit ourselves and operate from an “I hope they like it” mentality. I believe that once you grasp the fundamentals of something, you can have fun with it. I have a history of being a grammar geek, so learning how to have fun with words opened up a new world of ways to channel that fun.
What are some of the most interesting or exciting projects you are working on now?
Norma: Besides launching a children’s book series promoting kindness, confidence and inclusion, I am also excited about the Meet the Author events we’re booking for the 2022–2023 academic school year. I get all bubbly thinking about school visits and sharing our beautifully illustrated, fun yet meaningful books with young children, parents and educators.
Shayna: The biggest and most exciting step ahead of us is launching the series! My mother and I have spent 18 months writing our first batches of manuscripts, curating focus groups, searching for the perfect illustrator, and waiting on printing and shipping. It is one thing to see a review online from someone or someplace but it is another to turn all of this into an active, successful business. If we can achieve this, our primary goal of encouraging and promoting literacy skills for emerging readers with contemporary topics will be tangible. That gets my heart racing!
Here is the main question of our interview. Based on your experience, what are the “5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author or Writer”? Please share a story or example for each.
Norma:
Know your genre: Prior to writing the manuscripts for the Lovable Lucy Series, I found our old family storage containers filled with our favorite children’s books and book series. I re-read many of the books, especially all of Henry and Mudge, Clifford the Big Red Dog, Amelia Bedilia and Frog and Toad. This helped us hone our messaging and writing style.
Believe in your story: When people ask me, “Why are you writing about THAT?” my reply is always, “Why not?”. Our family dog Lucy, now 13 years old, has shown us everyday of her life that there is so much children and parents can learn from her experiences and adventures. Why not transform these experiences into a relatable book series for children? We had a vision and have spent two years making this vision a reality. In all, the Lovable Lucy Series will include ten books published over a three to four year period. If we have it our way, we will add special editions to the series as well!
Believe in yourself: When you have moments of doubt, believe in yourself and what you’re trying to achieve. The past two years developing the Lovable Lucy Series have been filled with a mixture of jubilation and unpredictability. There were moments of sheer anguish, particularly in our eight month search to find the right illustrator, which led to self-doubt in other aspects of the process. When this happened I would say to myself, “Norma, you got this.”
Discipline: Writing is something that can be done anytime and anywhere. Most writers I know work at home, not in an office space. There are MANY distractions when working at home. The dog needs cuddling or wants to play with a squeaky toy. The rugs need vacuuming. (I love to vacuum!) It could be a nice day for a walk. Writing takes immense discipline and focus. Some days you just have to let the pile of dirty laundry sit another day or find someone else to do it! When Shayna and I created a few of the story lines for the series, I knew how I wanted to initially develop them. I just needed to get it all down on paper. I spent a good ten days nearly glued to my computer. Any time Shayna or my husband wanted me for something, I would “Shush” or “Not now” them. I needed to focus and write without any distractions.
Accept critical feedback, both positive and negative: Once Shayna and I completed the manuscript for Book Two: Little Lovable Lucy You’re So Big, we shared it with our focus group. One member, a certified elementary school educator, strongly advised us into adding what she believed was a critical element to the section where Lucy learns new skills; she advised us that without it, we could send a mixed message to children and parents. Shayna and I had already gone through major edits and iterations to the manuscript, but we realized the educator made a valuable point, one we had not previously considered. It is so important to get outside insight; one of the major reasons for having our focus group is to provide us positive and negative feedback. We made the changes and now have a Readers’ Favorite Five Star rated story. Pinch me!
Shayna:
Start Writing: Three to four years ago, I began some genuinely dreadful drafts and ideas for the series. I put it away, discouraged in my ability to translate this idea out of my brain. I have since focused on other writing projects, and in simply exercising my writing skills, revisiting the concept with my mom became easier because I had more experience, insights, tools, and humility behind me.
Remove Bias to Self Edit: Learning to look at work objectively has and continues to be a challenge. Our second manuscript for what is now Little Lovable Lucy, You’re So Big! was complete, however, I kept reading it and feeling unexcited in comparison to our first manuscript. We both agreed the time we invested in rewriting it was well worthwhile! Even when discussing word choices or plot points, not taking or giving critique from one another personally allows us to make vast improvements to our writing.
Test the Water: Make sure an idea is worth dedicating time, energy, or resources by testing it out! My mom and I wrote a few manuscripts and sent them to two early educators, whose children are in our target audience age range, for initial feedback. One of their kiddos asked when we’d write more stories, because she wanted to hear more of Lucy’s adventures. That was a green light for us to take our next step — finding an illustrator. With each illustrator we met, we kept hearing their feedback about the charm of our first book. While we looked for illustrators, we asked a few more educators to read our manuscripts and took their positive responses and feedback as unofficial data.
Know Your Audience : I’ve had some unique and wonderful professional experiences. I’ve worked on national tours of The Lion King and Anastasia, I did post-production for Sesame Workshop, I’ve even been a Child Guardian on productions and so many more rewarding opportunities. At present, I work in children’s television development. I am committed to using all of those guidelines, curriculums, standards, and general observations for our project; it helps us continually push our envelope. I’ve even scoured the internet for research when we received feedback from an educator flagging “I’m” vs “I am” and other apostrophe usages. I have even looked up educational rubrics and read these 30+ page documents to inform our decision. We love teachers and librarians, and we want them to love our books!
Keep a Finger to the Pulse: As a nice excuse to frequent bookstores, I regularly peruse children’s books sections to see what seasonal trends are on the shelves, what titles and covers pop on the shelf, which series are new to market, or expanding established ones, what topics books focus on, etc. Do I look odd reading a new Angelina Ballerina? Sure, but it’s worth it!
What is the one habit you believe contributed the most to you becoming a great writer? (i.e. perseverance, discipline, play, craft study). Can you share a story or example?
Norma: Writing, rewriting, rewriting the rewrite and then creating a final draft. In a nutshell, tenacity! Writing is not a “one and done” craft profession. Writing requires the ability to be critiqued, to have thick skin and not be personally wounded by honest feedback- especially when it’s uncomplimentary. Many times, as a writer, I have to take that negative feedback to improve my message and story.
Shayna: Just write! Getting the ideas out of my head. Everything written or created needs editing, but I tend to procrastinate under the excuse of, “my idea is still formulating or cooking” out of fear it won’t be “good.” I had a concept for a pilot script that I continue to refine and work on. Last summer, I sent the script to an acquaintance who had raving feedback and occasionally checks in to see what I’m up to with that script. When I re-read what I sent her, I’m mortified, but it’s a mark of growth as a writer how I can assess my work and see where I know I can, and have, made it better.
Which literature do you draw inspiration from? Why?
Shayna: This series has brought me back to the books I remember reading and loving at this age — Dinorella, Madeline, The Rainbow Fish, Dr. Seuss books, even Highlights magazines! Books and series combining compelling stories and beautiful art routinely capture my attention. Slightly above this age bracket, some literary influences from my youth came from Judy Blume, Sydney Taylor, Ann M. Martin, and Mary Pope Osborne’s Magic Tree House books. I also draw inspiration from going out and observing and experiencing things. Family dynamics at a park, helping someone who falls off a bicycle, dropping leftovers and imagining I’m a child who dropped a breakable toy, all of it. Anything can be interesting to others if you frame it correctly. Our core vision of adapting children’s lives to doggy’s lives is founded on this.
You are both people of enormous influence. If you could start a movement that would bring the most amount of good to the most amount of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger. 🙂
Norma & Shayna: In two words: Be Kind. That would be our movement. Imagine what our world would look like if we are all kind to each other? As members of the human race, we believe everyone deserves to be treated with kindness, respect, dignity, and love. This is a value we learned from our parents and grandparents and one that will continue to be passed down in our family. Through our Lovable Lucy series, we’re on a mission to help draw people back to irreplaceable, interpersonal interactions driven by kindness. Let’s all remember not to get too complacent with who we are and what we think we deserve, let’s find ways to keep perspective fresh and respect high.
How can our readers further follow your work online?
Readers can learn more about our story, sign up for updates on book release dates, new activity sheet downloads, and exclusive promotions on our website lovablelucyseries.com!
Norma E. Roth and Shayna Rose Penn Of Lovable Lucy On 5 Things You Need To Be A Successful Author… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.