Author Bio:
Rhonda Paglia, also known as “Grammy Pags,” is a retired elementary and gifted support teacher from Hermitage, PA. She and her husband, Tony, have three children and five grandkids. After she retired, Rhonda started writing stories for her grandchildren. They loved them so much, she decided to published a few. Her newest book, “Three Little Gnomes and a Boy Named Orion,” will be released on May 24. She is thrilled to have the talented artist, Ratna Kusuma Halim, as the illustrator for this Easy Reader picture book. For more information about Rhonda’s book or to receive her newsletter, message her at grammypags1@gmail.com.
What inspires you to write?
My grandchildren have inspired me to write stores for them – since 2009. I never intended to share any of my stories publically. However, after the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012, during my prayers for the victims, I was literally “GIVEN” a children’s story that became, “The Little Lambs and the Very Special Mission.” I didn’t ask for this story – it just came to me. It haunted me until I wrote it down. There is more to the back story, but I wrote down and illustrated what I was given to the best of my ability. I needed help and God literally provided me with a student illustrator, so we finished the project. I kept getting nudged to do more with the story, so I self-published. People kept hearing about my book and wanted copies, but I decided I couldn’t keep a penny from the proceeds so I started a scholarship for kids graduating from the Newtown School District. The scholarship is called the “Angels in Charge Scholarship Fund,” in honor of the fallen teachers. The scholarship goes to a student or students from Newtown who are pursuing a career in education. I was able to award a scholarship for $2500 to an outstanding young woman, a senior from Newtown, who is now pursuing a career in elelmentary education. I will be awarding another $2500 this school year. I am waiting to hear who the recipient or recipients will be. With the success of the “Little Lambs” book, I decided to share a few of the other stories I have written. Three Little Gnomes and a Boy Named Orion was written in 2009 for my grandson, Orion. The story being released on May 24 is an updated version of the original story.
Tell us about your writing process.
I see pictures in my head. I write about the pictures, then tie the story together. I am not an outliner – unless I can see the beginning, middle, and end. Not much of a plan, is it?? 🙂
For Fiction Writers: Do you listen (or talk to) to your characters?
I become the characters! They talk to me – I talk to them. We have sort of a skitzo relationship, but we have a good time. I LOVE my characters!! When kids read my books, like my new story, “Three Little Gnomes and a Boy Named Orion,” I hope they can hear the characters. One of the older gnomes is hearing impaired and he talks loud. I hear him! Mrs. Ladybug is very no-nonsense and motherly – I hear her. Wormy – is criptic – he only talks in 2-word phrases – I hear him too. I guess these are all multi-facets of my silly self. I love these characters!!
What advice would you give other writers?
Gosh, I’m just learning myself, so I really don’t have any advice yet. I’m happy to take some, though! I never intended to write stories for the public, but here I am. My grandchildren love my stories and I want to share, so I’m just following this dense path to publishing and marketing and seeing where it leads.
How did you decide how to publish your books?
I had a challenging experience with my story, “The Little Lambs and the Very Special Mission.” I kept getting the internal prod to publish. I didn’t know what to do, but found Balboa Press, that is connected to Hay House. I was familiar with Louise Hay and her spiritual books and thought maybe Balboa would be the place for my sweet Little Lambs book. Long story short, Balboa is now a Pay to Publish operation – beware!! It was going to cost me much of my savings to publish with Balboa with no guarantee of selling one book. Just beware!! After that experience, I found out about self-publishing and that is the route I have taken for all of my books. Marketing is very difficult and a huge challenge, but at least the out of pocket cost is less and I have complete control of my book and where it goes.
What do you think about the future of book publishing?
I haven’t been in this arena long enough to discuss the future of publishing, however, for now, I’m going to self-publish and possibly pitch some of my books at a later date.
What do you use?
Professional Editor, Professional Cover Designer
What genres do you write?
Children’s fiction, children’s spiritual, fun, adventure, fantasy, creativity
What formats are your books in?
Print, Both eBook and Print
Website(s)
Link To Rhonda Paglia Page On Amazon
Link to Author Page on other site
Your Social Media Links
https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27447165-rhonda-paglia
https://www.facebook.com/grammypagsstories
