Meet Monica Wesolowska

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Monica Wesolowska a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Monica, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

Starting out as a writer, I suffered from a reverse sort of imposter syndrome. Wanting to be taken seriously as an artist, I avoided the genre that had first called to me as a writer — children’s picture books. I was afraid of being treated as if I were writing a lesser art form, a “female” art form, as if I couldn’t write “great literature” for adults. I’m so happy I got over myself. Writing for children is serious work but you can’t do it well if you take yourself too seriously.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

My passion is writing. It always has been. I write for children and adults. Along my writing journey, I’ve had the great privilege to earn some of my keep by helping others write as well. Because I’ve published a memoir about a personal tragedy (HOLDING SILVAN: A BRIEF LIFE) I often get to work with writers who have suffered their own hardships. And because I’ve published two children’s picture books (LEO + LEA and ELBERT IN THE AIR) I often work with aspiring kidlit authors too. I feel lucky. In my daily work, I get to practice empathy and generosity, think about serious things, and have fun playing around with words. On extra lucky days, I also get to go out into the world to share my own writing with others. (If you’re a teacher look for an author to visit your classroom, feel free to contact me!)

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

I am a writer because I love to read. Reading teaches me empathy for others. Reading teaches me how to craft a story. Reading teaches me that I am not alone in my journey. For any aspiring writer, my first word of advice is this: read. Beyond that, I say study what you read. Figure out how it is crafted. Give respect to those who have crafted stories before you. Now go out and share your own stories.

Thanks so much for sharing all these insights with us today. Before we go, is there a book that’s played in important role in your development?

The book that has most influenced me as a person and as a writer is the children’s picture book FERDINAND (by Munro Leaf, illustrated by Robert Lawson.) Ferdinand is a bull who just wants to sit and smell the flowers. Because he has an understanding mother who lets him keep being himself, Ferdinand does not have to fight in the bullfights in Madrid. He can return to his field and keeping smelling the flowers. This book was banned for promoting pacifism when it was first published in 1936. And it’s still in print today.

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