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| Catherine Friess |
Welcome, Catherine! Happy 3rd birthday to Story Snug! Celebrating birthdays and anniversaries are so important and we are happy today to celebrate with you and your success as a blogger.
Catherine,
please tell us about yourself. Where you are from, where do you live
now, family, occupation and any hobbies besides blogging?
I'm from southern England and
until I came to Germany I had always lived by the sea! Now I live in
southern Germany, miles away from the sea! I live with my German
husband and our seven-year-old daughter. I trained as a primary
school teacher, but since living in Germany I've also worked as a
proofreader and translator. My hobbies are spending time with my
family, writing, reading, gardening and cooking.
What
was your inspiration for creating Story Snug?
A combination of my first local
SCBWI meeting three years ago and watching the film Julie and Julia.
During our meeting we talked about having a presence on social media
and writing regularly. We also talked about blogs but it wasn't until
a few days later, while I was watching the film, that my husband and
I talked about setting up a blog. Friends often asked me which books
I recommended they read with their children so Story Snug was a
natural extension of conversations that I was already having and was
why I started writing about picture books that we like.
How
did you come up with the name, Story Snug?
My
husband and I talked about words related to reading and stories and
somehow we came up with that combination of words. I liked the idea
of snuggling up with a book and originally, because of the expat
connection, the blog was called Story Snug: Picture Book
Recommendations for Little People Near and Far. After a year we
redesigned the logo and changed it to Story Snug: Open Up a Whole New
World, as we were no longer just recommending picture books. Now the
logo reflects the fact that all kinds of books can transport you to
other worlds and also encompasses the changes in our reading habits
as my daughter gets older.
What
are some positive attributes / successes that have come out of
starting your blog? (for example: new connections, new opportunities)
I've
read a wide range of picture books, which has influenced my own
picture book writing. Reading widely has helped me to understand more
about structure, plot and character in picture books and see what
works well and what doesn't.
I've connected with lots of lovely
authors, illustrators and publishers on social media, particularly
Twitter. Sometimes Twitter conversations have resulted in authors and
illustrators writing guest posts or doing interviews for Story Snug
as well as offering their books as prizes for giveaways. I've also
gained a lot more understanding of the writing / publishing / book
marketing process through making these connections.
We
receive many wonderful newly published books to recommend so we
always have something new to read. Now that we are reading more
chapter books it's also a great way for me to become aware of some of
the newer books that are being published for older children.
In
the past 3 years what have been a few of your favorite moments with
Story Snug?
Every
time a parcel of new books comes through the post is a great moment!
I've really enjoyed doing our Advent Calendars. We have two little men, Christmas and Snowy, and they bring us a book every day and put together a scene with characters from the book. It was so much fun to do and great to see the surprise on my daughter's face when she saw what they had been up to! They won't be back this year, I have something very different planned which I am extremely excited about!
I've really enjoyed doing our Advent Calendars. We have two little men, Christmas and Snowy, and they bring us a book every day and put together a scene with characters from the book. It was so much fun to do and great to see the surprise on my daughter's face when she saw what they had been up to! They won't be back this year, I have something very different planned which I am extremely excited about!
I love taking part in
International Book Giving Day, which takes place on February 14th
every year. Its aim is to get a book into the hands of every child
and it's been great to be able to spread the word through Story Snug.
I was nervous but also excited to
be asked to do my first telephone interview with UK children's
television presenter Cerrie Burnell who has had two of her books
published this year. It was fun and not as nerve wracking as I
thought it would be. Cerrie was very easy to talk to and very
passionate about her writing.
What
are some of your favorite children's books, new or old?
I love Owl Babies, The Old Bear
Stories, the Winnie the Witch stories, Teddy Robinson, Mrs Pepperpot
and The Moomins.
Newer favourites include The
Little Raindrop, What the Ladybird Heard, the Claude and Sir
Bobblysock stories, Press Here, Wanted! Ralfy Rabbit, Book Burglar
and The Fairytale Hairdresser stories.
Do
you have a certain demographic of readers on your blog? Are there
more German or English speakers?
I'm
not sure, my blog statistics tell me that I have readers all over the
world, but I have no idea whether the readers are German or English
speakers. When I recommend a book I always try and find translated
versions of the books that I blog about (although as I haven't read
the translations I can't vouch for how well they have been
translated). I know of English speaking parents who read Story Snug,
but don't have children who understand English so it's great to find
them a version of a story that they can read in their native
language.
What
challenges have you had with running a blog while working, raising a
family and writing of course?
The
challenges for me are with the technical side of the blog. My husband
takes care of the technical side, Story Snug is very much a joint
effort and without him as technical back up I would struggle! I'm not
working at the moment so I write blog posts when my daughter is at
school or during swimming and dancing lessons. I always have a few
set up so I can edit on my phone, it's always good to have a few back
up posts written so that you can still post regularly even if other
circumstances get in the way.
How
long have you been a member of SCBWI? And what genre do you write in?
Are you published?
I have been a member of SCBWI for
about four years and went to my first meeting three years ago. Since
then I have attended conferences and workshops in the UK, France,
Germany and The Netherlands. I write picture books and am currently
unpublished.
Do
you have any upcoming author/illustrators that you will be
interviewing on Story Snug soon that we can mention?
Nothing is confirmed yet but I've
been in contact with three authors recently who have agreed to write
guest posts. I leave the timings of the posts up to them so that they
can fit them around their own schedules. Sometimes authors,
illustrators or publishers approach me about interviews and blog
tours, especially around publication date. It was a lot of fun taking
part in Hazel Mitchell's 'Imani's Moon' blog tour and Rebecca Colby's
'It's Raining Bats and Frogs' blog tour, they're both SCBWI members
that I have met at conferences.
We do love having visitors on
Story Snug so if you are an author or illustrator who would like to
recommend your favourite picture book please do get in touch.
Plus,
let me know any other bits of fun things you want us to know about
you or Story Snug!
The books on the blog are only
books that my daughter (mainly) and I like. Now she's older she will
immediately tell me when she likes a book and thinks that we should
recommend it on Story Snug.
After I had been blogging for a
while the teacher side of me crept in so that now as well as
recommending a book we often do an accompanying craft or activity.
The most viewed posts on Story Snug are the Learning Activities posts
where we focus on a book and suggest crafts and activities that are
related to the book.
And
finally, what tips do you have for others who want to start a blog?
Read
lots of blogs! They'll give you ideas for what you want to blog about
as well as what you don't want to blog about!
Don't
try and copy anybody else's style. Be yourself and don't be afraid to
experiment with the kinds of posts you write.
Think
about your audience. If you read a blog post what is important or
interesting for you to know? What do you feel is important
information for your reader to know about a particular subject?
Be
prepared to reply to blog post comments, it takes time but it will
help you to develop a relationship with your readers.
Be
patient! It will take time for a blog to become established and for
you to build up a community of regular readers. If you really want to
reach a bigger audience you'll need to be active on social media so
that you can connect with others who have similar blogs or are
experts in the area that you have chosen to blog about.
Write
several posts and share the links with friends before your blog goes
live so that they can comment and give their opinions. That way when
you publicly share your new blog link there are more posts for people
to read to get to know you and your writing style. When I visit a new
blog for the first time I like to know more about the person writing
the blog. Personally if somebody starts a blog with just one post I
don't go back until there's a lot more content.
Thank
you so much Catherine for sharing about yourself and your blog Story
Snug. It sounds like you've had some great successes and I look
forward to reading more about the books you (and your daughter!)
recommend. I am a librarian in Munich and love to hear about books
children love and want to read! Plus your posts about books and
suggested craft ideas are brilliant, I will be sure to pass these
ideas on to other teachers I know, too. Thank you for your
creativity, for it inspires all of us keep our own creative juices
flowing, too!
Please
go on over to http://storysnug.com
and say hello to Catherine. You can also follow her on Twitter,
Facebook, or Pinterest or check out some of her other links below for
more information about her blog tours or International Book Giving
Day.
Story
Snug - http://storysnug.com
Hazel
Mitchell's blog tour - http://storysnug.com/2014/11/hazel-mitchell/
Rebecca
Colby's blog tour - http://storysnug.com/2015/08/rebecca-colby/
Twitter
- @cjfriess https://twitter.com/cjfriess
Facebook
- https://www.facebook.com/StorySnug
Pinterest
Catherine @ Story Snug https://de.pinterest.com/cjfriess/
International
Book Giving Day - http://bookgivingday.com/blog/about-2/
Tracey Jaffart is a librarian
in a bilingual school in Munich. Her debut children's short story will be
published in Hopscotch magazine next year.