Meet Joann Dunlap Bayne, Author of Are We Walking to Alaska?
What inspired you to become an author?
My husband's family has been doing family histories for both sides of his family for many years. I've always been the one to take the material that they presented - photos and writing - and put it into book form. We started so long ago that the first two books were actual cut and paste and xerox the pages and photos. It was tedious but worth the time to preserve the family history. I've always enjoyed writing, from my first experiences of making little paper folded books with scribbling and then advancing to little paper folded books with actual words when I first learned to write, to lists of everything I could think of to make a list about when I was in second and third grades - to finally writing my own story for my family to share.
How did you come up with the idea for Are We Walking to Alaska?
We moved to Alaska in 1952 - before it was a state - and even at ages 7, 8 and 9 I found it very different from the warm, sunny days in California when we lived on a chicken ranch. I began writing just for my enjoyment of documenting all of the activities and new and interesting things I encountered in Alaska, both in the fishing villages and later on when we moved to a small town. The more I wrote - the more I loved it, and it became a book before long. The word "walking" is very important, right from the first chapter, hence the name. When I was writing for my own enjoyment, my husband read my writings and encouraged me to make it into a book.
What do you think readers will enjoy most about your book?
I think that adults will enjoy the memories of those long ago days - especially if they have any connection at all to Alaska, or ever wished they could go to Alaska. Children will enjoy the adventures of a young girl, meeting face to face with a grizzly bear outside her bedroom window, fishing for crabs with bits of bacon on a fishing line, touching a dead whale and watching northern lights. The book has been compared to Little House on the Prairie books, and even pre-readers love to have it read to them, a bit at at time.
What advice would you give to a new author trying to get their book published?
For years I went the way of trying for agents and publishers - only to be told by so many that it was a wonderful book and should be published, but it just wasn't for them. So I went to publish on-demand - with Amazon and CreateSpace. I say, if you have something you are passionate about you should get it published how ever you can. There is marketing help in these channels, though a lot of marketing is up to the author - work hard and stick with it. And plan to spend lots of time at the beginning in marketing your book.
Are you currently working on other books?
I am also a nature photographer and am working on a book that will be titled Walking Around In Washington (state). I travel about the state and take photographs of animals, birds, old buildings, interesting signs and the fabulous natural wonders in Washington. It will be a book of photographs - not aimed specifically at children, but certainly something that will interest the whole family and give some history and nature scenes of Washington.
I am also a quilter and have been interviewing quilters worldwide about how they began quilting and what inspired them. The working title is Why I Quilt. There will be photos and stories told by the quilters themselves.
If you are interested in reading selections from my book there are good selections available at amazon.com - just search for my book and it has a "look inside" feature that let's you read samples from the book.
My husband's family has been doing family histories for both sides of his family for many years. I've always been the one to take the material that they presented - photos and writing - and put it into book form. We started so long ago that the first two books were actual cut and paste and xerox the pages and photos. It was tedious but worth the time to preserve the family history. I've always enjoyed writing, from my first experiences of making little paper folded books with scribbling and then advancing to little paper folded books with actual words when I first learned to write, to lists of everything I could think of to make a list about when I was in second and third grades - to finally writing my own story for my family to share.
How did you come up with the idea for Are We Walking to Alaska?
We moved to Alaska in 1952 - before it was a state - and even at ages 7, 8 and 9 I found it very different from the warm, sunny days in California when we lived on a chicken ranch. I began writing just for my enjoyment of documenting all of the activities and new and interesting things I encountered in Alaska, both in the fishing villages and later on when we moved to a small town. The more I wrote - the more I loved it, and it became a book before long. The word "walking" is very important, right from the first chapter, hence the name. When I was writing for my own enjoyment, my husband read my writings and encouraged me to make it into a book.
What do you think readers will enjoy most about your book?
I think that adults will enjoy the memories of those long ago days - especially if they have any connection at all to Alaska, or ever wished they could go to Alaska. Children will enjoy the adventures of a young girl, meeting face to face with a grizzly bear outside her bedroom window, fishing for crabs with bits of bacon on a fishing line, touching a dead whale and watching northern lights. The book has been compared to Little House on the Prairie books, and even pre-readers love to have it read to them, a bit at at time.
What advice would you give to a new author trying to get their book published?
For years I went the way of trying for agents and publishers - only to be told by so many that it was a wonderful book and should be published, but it just wasn't for them. So I went to publish on-demand - with Amazon and CreateSpace. I say, if you have something you are passionate about you should get it published how ever you can. There is marketing help in these channels, though a lot of marketing is up to the author - work hard and stick with it. And plan to spend lots of time at the beginning in marketing your book.
Are you currently working on other books?
I am also a nature photographer and am working on a book that will be titled Walking Around In Washington (state). I travel about the state and take photographs of animals, birds, old buildings, interesting signs and the fabulous natural wonders in Washington. It will be a book of photographs - not aimed specifically at children, but certainly something that will interest the whole family and give some history and nature scenes of Washington.
I am also a quilter and have been interviewing quilters worldwide about how they began quilting and what inspired them. The working title is Why I Quilt. There will be photos and stories told by the quilters themselves.
If you are interested in reading selections from my book there are good selections available at amazon.com - just search for my book and it has a "look inside" feature that let's you read samples from the book.
Stacie Theis / beachboundbooks@yahoo.com / copyright 2012