The Writing Barn’s 10th Anniversary celebration continues in an interview with our friend and WB Success Story, Ellen Tarlow! Ellen is the superstar author of picture books Looking for Smile and Becoming Blue.
Complete this sentence: My favorite line in the Writing Barn manifesto is__________ because…(and/or what it means to me/how it adds to my literary life).
Hmm.. I like it all but I think the part about believing in industry transparency where all can be part of it is especially powerful and in my view really plays to how the Writing Barn operates for so many.
I first came to The Writing Barn (when) and was expecting…(what). I continue to support The Writing Barn as a published author because…
I first came to the WB in winter of 2018. I had just gone down to part time in my all consuming job as an editor in early childhood educational publishing. I wanted to see if I could finally take my lifelong love of children’s books and make something of it. I took the picture book WSS class with Dianne White. It was exactly what I needed with its extended time period to really develop your work, its focus on craft and inspiration, and also on getting your work out there (which had always been a problem for me, basically I had been writing for many years but never really sent stuff out and the Writing Barn changed that!)
How has publishing changed (as you moved from pre-agented or pre-published author) and your experience changed in the 10 years The Writing Barn has been around?
I have been very fortunate in having the support of my agent (Rubin Pfeffer, who I met at a Writing Barn event in 2019!) and feel perhaps a bit shielded from how publishing has changed. It seems to me that online opportunities, classes, groups have absolutely exploded. I will say that although the Writing Barn has many online offerings, it still feels like a real place to me with real people (which I think is a good thing!) behind it which is one reason that I consider it my go to writing-life-support place.
The Writing Barn is known for its craft classes. What do you think makes the Writing Barn programming special? If you teach with us, what does it mean to you to support writers who were once deep in craft studies, as you were (and are–we writers are always learning.)
I feel the craft classes I took (WSS, poetry, chapter books) really had excellent teachers and who all broke the material down in engaging and thoughtful ways and offered inspiration, guidance, and the opportunity to continue “doing what you were doing” if that was going to be the most valuable course. Also the other students were all serious and committed (and talented!)
Lots of your manuscripts are now BOOKS! Which ones did you work on in any of our programming or intensives?
I got an agent (Rubin Pfeffer) and a publisher (Allyn Johnston at Beach Lane Books) for, LOOKING FOR SMILE, during a 2019 WB picture book intensive..I am lucky enough to have five picture books with Beach Lane Books now. Two that are coming out in 2025, THE TINY THING (illustrated by Lauren Stringer) and THE TREE THAT FELL (illustrated by Daniel Miyares) were stories I first worked on in WSS with Dianne White back in 2018. So the Writing Barn is behind many of my books.
My favorite funny memory of The Writing Barn is…and any favorite or memorable interactions with Bethany or current or prior staff you’d like to share?
Well I am not sure about funny (though there were laughs as there always are with Bethany!) but I really enjoyed the book launch for my last book, BECOMING BLUE, which Bethany and the Barn hosted. She is a great book launcher!
If I could grant the Writing Barn a 10 birthday gift for reaching a DECADE of serving writers, I would give the Barn:
The ability for Bethany to become three people??? (I feel like we need to check in with her about that however…)
What do you wish for the Writing Barn and all the writers who will study with us in the next 10 years?
Hmm… to stay the same warm, smallish community but still to progress on its path to world domination?
We want to send a sincere thank you to our friend Ellen Tarlow for joining us in this milestone celebration. We are so grateful we’ve been able to contribute to her writing journey! Cheers to 10 more years, and to Ellen for her amazing work.
About Author Ellen Tarlow
Ellen Tarlow writes stories for children, including the picture books Looking for Smile and Becoming Blue. She has been a teacher and for many years worked as an editor of early childhood classroom materials. In that job, she got to create hundreds of stories for young children. Now, she is excited to work on stories of her own. Ellen lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband, David, a painter.