Interview with Children's Author, Vickianne Caswell

" Today it's a pleasure for me to chat with children's author, Vickianne Caswell about her delightful tales. Welcome, Vickianne, I'm so excited to be able to learn more about your wonderful books. Thank you so much for spending time with me today."
" You're welcome, Deanie. I'm pleased to be with you today as well."


1.      Please tell me how you began your writing career.

I originally took an interest in writing during high school. I began writing a young adult novel and when my teacher encouraged me to keep writing, it sort of stuck. The real world and life occurred and the writing stopped for quite some time, including the novel which I still haven't completed. After we had Freckles, I wanted to share my love for her with others but still didn't know where to begin. As my daughter grew up and events occurred in her life (some reminding me of mine) and moving out to an acreage, I was finally able to begin that which I wanted to do most, write about Freckles.

2.     What is/are the title of your books?

The series is called, Freckles the Bunny Series. I've written a companion book which tells facts and short stories in a way that children will enjoy. It is called, True Tails of Freckles and Her Friends. The first book in the series is called, Freckles is Scared of School. Then comes Freckles and the Less Fortunate and we are about to put out book number three, Freckles Lends a Paw July 15, 2013.

3.     What genre do you write?

Children's books.

4.     How did you get the idea for your books?

A lot of the ideas come from my life events and my daughter's growing up. I've also included stuff that the real animals have done. Freckles was a good rabbit that was smart and sometimes got into trouble. Stew was an almost perfect angel that was very affectionate (she is in book two and on). Donut loved drinking water in a circle growing up. Boots loves to groom people and like any other cat, keep clean. Tiger still growls and pounces like a tiger. Dreamy would fall asleep when you'd pet her neck and Norma being a wild animal, would get shy and she could run quite fast. All of the real animals (the main characters and some family members) in the stories have the same personalities as the real animals did/do.

5.     Did you self publish and would you recommend it to another author?

I chose to self-publish to start. I have read that getting a publisher to pick up a series is not an easy task and I don't want to drop it after a few books. If a publisher comes along then that is something I will need to think about. To be honest, I don't know a whole lot about the differences and I am still doing a great deal of learning as I go. I do believe that if you are planning on self-publishing, it helps to have money because it makes things like advertising easier. If you are self-publishing, be prepared to spend many hours doing the marketing and formatting yourself and writing when you have time. I went through Createspace and found the format to be not too difficult after playing around with it a bit.

6.     What are your writing goals?

My goal is to see this series take off, for people to love Freckles as much as I did, to help teach children morals and to help them deal with situations in their lives like bullying. I would also like to teach a little bit about the animals (which I include in the back of the books) because not everyone takes the time to look into a pet before getting one.

7.     What advice would you offer an aspiring author?

No matter how hard the struggle, don't give up. Can't tell you how often I've thought of quitting as I've hit another wall but I have a great back up system, my family that encourages me to continue on.

 Website - http://freckles-the-bunny-series.weebly.com
Facebook Fan Page - https://www.facebook.com/Freckles.The.Bunny.Series

Youtube Channel - http://www.youtube.com/user/FrecklesBunnySeries

"It's been such fun to find out more about you and your adorable books, Vickianne. I wish you much success with them. Thank you for sharing your thoughts and plans with me today."
"You're most welcome, Deanie. It's been a pleasure to be here."