We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tamara Botting. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tamara below.
Tamara, so excited to have you with us today. So much we can chat about, but one of the questions we are most interested in is how you have managed to keep your creativity alive.
This is an ongoing struggle, to be honest. Currently, I work primarily as a journalist, and my fiction writing is something I do on the side (though I do hope to one day flip those). When you’re writing all day to pay the bills, it’s hard to find the capacity to keep on writing, but creatively, after hours.
That’s why I try to maintain my curiosity and sense of wonder in the world around me.
I go for walks and look at the patterns in the leaves and bark on the trees; I admire how the light shines through the branches, how the wooded areas will smell differently depending on the season. (I’m a terrible hiking companion, because I stop every few feet to marvel at a new bit of nature).
Being surrounded by trees as tall as buildings, or near water that has been a landmark for generations before me, makes me feel very small, which is actually quite liberating – the matters weighing heavy on my mind that seemed so massive when I first set out shrink down to pocket size, and become that much easier to carry.
I’ve also started to paint a bit. I’m not particularly good, but I enjoy the process; it allows me some space to not think about writing, which in turn lets me rest and refresh that part of my brain, while also stoking my creativity.
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. There was some point early on when I was a kid where I realized that the books I loved reading had all been written by people. From that point on, I knew I wanted to be an author.
I wrote countless stories – some I put down on paper, others I would tell myself over and over as I played with my toys.
Each Christmas, when my parents would ask my brothers and I to write up our wish lists, I would include ‘a book deal’ as one of the items I wanted to get.
Fast forward to high school, I took a writer’s craft class and excelled. It was confirmed even more for me that this was what I wanted to do, what I had to do.
I took a co-operative course in my final year of high school where I worked a few hours for a local newspaper. I think they must have had a bad experience with students before, because I was initially asked to clean out a storage room. When I came back to the editor about a week later, telling him that I was done and asking him what I could do next, he was initially shocked that I’d already finished, and then gave me what I really wanted: a writing assignment.
I can’t remember now what that first article I had published was, but I do remember the thrill of seeing my name in print – and then again when my name was the byline on the front page article a short while later.
My course finished and I went away to university, where I studied with an intention of getting a degree to go to teachers’ college (as much as my parents were supportive of me pursuing my dream of writing for a living, they also stressed the importance of having a job to pay the bills in the meantime).
However, working as a cashier to pay my way through university convinced me that I didn’t want to have to deal with the parents of students, so after I graduated, I decided to look for a different job while I tried to figure out my next steps. I reached out to the editor of the paper, and asked him for a reference – instead, he gave me a job as a journalist.
It was freelance work at first, but soon I was brought on as a full-time staff member, and I’ve been there ever since.
Working at the paper is how I became an author.
One day on the job, Lacey Bakker reached out to me and ask if I would do an article about her new publishing company, Pandamonium Publishing House, and her first book, Panda the Very Bad Cat. Funnily enough, we’d gone to high school together, so during the interview, we had a chance to catch up on each other’s lives. Lacey also mentioned that she was looking for people to submit their manuscripts to her publishing company.
I wrote the article, and then – with a lot of encouragement from my best friend and sister-in-law, Michelle Botting – submitted the manuscript for Unfrogged to Lacey.
The story was one I’d written back in my university days as a break from my class assignments. It was a novelization of the Frog Prince fairy tale, but unlike a typical fairy tale, my version has a princess who is a klutzy hot mess, and a frog who is sarcastic.
Lacey decided to take a chance on my story, and on me – Unfrogged was the second book her company published, and I was the first of many, many authors she’s since brought on board.
Unfrogged was officially released on July 1, 2017, the date of Canada’s sesquicentennial.
The first and second editions of the book included artwork done by one of my brothers, Christopher Botting. I still have a printout of the original cover framed and on my wall.
My next book to come out was Pants, which is a picture book that doesn’t really have a story. Rather, it’s a fun discussion on the kinds of pants you might wear in a day – fancy pants and cranky pants; liar, liar pants on fire, etc.
This one was inspired by one of my nieces, Abby, and two of my nephews, Seth and Jesse (they’re all siblings); for a while, they were fixated on the idea of banana pants, and the idea for the book came out of that.
Big Bother Brother, which is all about how big brothers can be such a big bother, was my third book; fittingly, Christopher was brought back on board to do the line work on the illustrations. There are so many personal little touches he included throughout; it’s really great to point them out to other people. One of my favourites is that he drew in a tea set that I had as a kid.
My most recent book, Spoiled Rotten, is another novel (for readers about age nine and up). This one follows the story of Jack, who has a new baby sister in the house, and is really frustrated by all of the changes happening. One day, he decides he’s had enough, so he runs away. Unfortunately, Jack ends up in the company of an ogre, and doesn’t know if he’ll ever be able to get home.
Years ago, I mentioned in an interview that I wanted to write a scary story for kids, and this one is that. More than just being a creepy tale, though, Spoiled Rotten is a way for adults to talk to kids about the dangers of grooming – Jack has an ‘uh oh’ feeling that he keeps trying to ignore, even though he’s in a terrible, dangerous situation.
One of the things I really appreciate about how Pandamonium operates is that the books include things like discussion questions and activities in the back. This lets the stories carry on after the final page, to open up dialogues and allow for meaningful engagement with the stories.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Before I became an author, I never gave much thought to what happens after the book comes out. I’ve since learned that selling the book is much more work than writing and editing one. While Pandamonium Publishing House certainly does help when it comes to promoting my books, they’re ultimately mine – that means I have to be the one to sell them to people. I’m an introvert and a homebody by nature, but I’ve had to develop my interpersonal skills. I’ve had to learn through lots and lots of practice how to engage with people, how to be bold and initiate conversations, especially when I’m at a vendor table at a fair, festival, or other such event. Some days are easier than others to put on a smile and engage, but it’s on the days when you really, really don’t feel like it that you have to push yourself to go a bit further out of your comfort zone and reach out to others.
Of course, some days when you’re at an event trying to sell your books, you’re going to have to face a lot of rejection. I’ve had times when I’ve greeted every single person who walks past the booth, and maybe only one in ten will acknowledge my existence. Other times, hardly anyone comes to an event at all, or the weather is lousy and too hot or too cold. This can be really discouraging, of course, but that’s why it’s important to have a sense of humour about it. I remember one time in the early days when Lacey Bakker and I were at a show and it was just awful – people were completely ignoring us, it had started to rain, so everything was muddy, we barely sold any books at all, it was just wretched. At the end as we were packing up and struggling to put the tent back into the bag, I just looked at Lacey and said something along the lines of, “I’m an author, you know. Not to brag or anything, but it’s super glamourous.” And we both had a great laugh. Lousy, discouraging days are going to happen, but being able to acknowledge the reality of the hardship and then laugh anyway is going to help you keep moving forward.
Finally, as vital as it is to push ahead and try to laugh it off, there are times when you need to take a break. The film Kiki’s Delivery Service, directed by Hayao Miyazaki, beautifully illustrates how burnout can happen even when you’re pursuing your passion. The story is about a young witch who is trying to make it on her own. She starts a delivery business, using her ability to fly on her broomstick to get around. However, she loses her ability to fly and can’t figure out what went wrong. She spends some time with a friend, Ursula, who gives her this advice: “Stop trying. Take long walks. Look at scenery. Doze off at noon. Don’t even think about flying. And then, pretty soon, you’ll be flying again.” It’s true – sometimes, the best way to write (or whatever) is to take a breather from it so you can rest, refresh and come back with a new perspective.
As we end our chat, is there a book you can leave people with that’s been meaningful to you and your development?
One of my favourite books of all time is Jane Eyre, and that’s because Jane is a person who knows herself, and lives authentically. At the start of the book, she’s aware that living as the unwanted person in her aunt’s household isn’t the best circumstance for her, and so boldly takes the opportunity to venture out when it’s presented to her – though it ends up being a bit of an ‘out of the frying pan, into the fire’ situation initially.
Later on, when she’s working for Mr. Rochester and he’s looking through her art portfolio, she’s honest about the level of her talent – she’s able to disassociate her pride from her assessment of her work, and analyze it critically without going overboard.
When she’s called back to her aunt’s home with news that the matriarch who abused and neglected her is dying, Jane not only goes to fulfil the woman’s last wishes, but also extends forgiveness. It’s beautiful, that she can find such depths of grace.
After her marriage to Mr. Rochester is abruptly cancelled at the revelation that his first wife still lives, and he begs her to have some sort of relationship with him regardless, she respects herself enough to know what she’s about, what she’s willing to compromise on, and what’s a non-starter for her. Even though everything she wanted is being offered to her, she knows she couldn’t live with herself if she went through with it, and so makes the hardest decision – to tear herself away.
Finally, when the time and circumstances are right, Jane gratefully accepts the happiness offered to her and lives in the joy of it. She delights in being able to love and serve the one she loves.
Jane Eyre is a character with character, which is why I admire her so much.
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