Interview with Award-Winning Children's Author, Carla Burke

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"This morning I have the tremendous honor of interviewing award-winning children's author, Carla Burke." "Welcome, Carla and thank you so much for spending time with me today."
"Thank you, Deanie. I'm happy to be with you."

1.  Tell us about why you decided to become a children's author?  I decided to become a children's books author after my second child was born and I'd felt like I'd read every story out there to them and wanted to write about something different.

2.  Where did you get the idea to write a story about dragonflies?  In the Spring of 2007 we had a tremendous amount of rain here in San Antonio.  Soon after the rain stopped there were hundreds of dragonflies everywhere. They were so abundant that they would hit my windshield as I drove into the driveway. They were everywhere!  Big, small, fat, blue, green, skinny - I just couldn't get enough of them and became fascinated by them. I took my son, who was 4 years old, out back to see the dragonflies. I told him to hold out his arm and that maybe one would land on him. Sure enough and skinny, blue dragonfly landed on his arm and he thought that was the coolest thing.  I decided to write down that experience for a keepsake but ended up turning it into a children's book.

3. Do you have any other books that you have written?  My second book is "My Name May be Peanuts, but I Say Nay to PB&J".   It's about a little girl who has life-threatening peanut and tree-nut allergies.  Over tree million children now have severe food allergies. It is an educational book for all children who have food allergies.

4. Where did you find your inspiration to write this book? My inspiration for my second book came from almost loosing my now 13-year-old daughter twice to this horrible allergy just because she accidentally ingested a trace of a nut.  But that's all it takes and once ingested she only has about eight minutes to live.  So carrying an Epi-Pen (which will save her life) everywhere she goes is a must.

5.  Tell us about Carla Burke outside of being an author?  Outside of being an author I am a busy full-time mom active in my children's lives.  I also volunteer my time at The Saddle Light Center for Therapeutic Horsemanship where I help children with special needs ride horses as part of their therapy.  I also groom the twelve horses we have and clean their stalls.

6.  Your book is beautifully illustrated.  Who did the illustrations?  Thank you, I'm glad you like the illustrations.  Both of my books were beautifully illustrated by Diana Evans.

7.  Do you have plans in the making to write a novel for adults? I do have plans to write a narrative non-fiction about my life and all the obstacles I have overcome.  But right now I'm concentrating on children's books because I think it is so important for children to learn to read and continue to read.

8. What is the most difficult obstacle when it comes to being a writer?   I think the most difficult obstacle is to just sit down and do it!  I don't like sitting for too long so it's a real challenge for me.  Plus I get writer's block a lot when I finally do sit down.  I can get really inspired and think of ideas while I'm on a walk and by the time I get back I can't remember them.

9. Are you working on another book now?  If so, can you tell us about it?  I am working on two more children's books right now.  One is a follow-up to "I Spy a Dragonfly" and the other is about how therapy horses help children with Down Syndrome and Autism (among many other things) overcome the many obstacles in their lives.

10.  When you're not writing, what is your favorite thing to do?  When not writing I love to spend time with my family, read, take walks, cook and travel.

 

"I'm sure everyone enjoyed learning about your  books and your plans, Carla. It was delightful to have you as my guest author. We'll be looking forward to reading your new books when they're published. You have chosen wonderful topics to write about."