A round of applause for our dear friend, author, former CtC member and Writing Barn success story, Andrea J. Loney! She is gearing up for the release of her new chapter book series, Abby in Orbit.
Andrea has taken numerous classes including 6-sessions, intensives and workshops at The Writing Barn, and says her upcoming series is where it’s at now due to her time in classes at The Writing Barn! Andrea is an excellent writer, and she now teaches her own classes with us.
Check out her upcoming (September 18th) WSS for Chapter Book writers class here!
1. Please tell us a bit about your new books! Abby in Orbit is my new chapter futuristic chapter book series for kids aged x to x. It’s set in the year 2051 on the new international space station. Abby is a third grader starting classes in a one-room school house on the station while her famous scientist parents work in other parts of the station. She loves spending time with her little brother as well as her best friend Gracie and her best frenemy Dmitry. The book has an international multicultural cast and Abby is half Black and half Afro-Latina. The first book, Blast Off, is all about Abby’s struggles to get used to being weightless and other aspects of being in space. And worse yet, she accidentally takes her mother’s tablet to school and then tries to sneak it back to her mom’s lab without anyone finding out. In the second book, Abby and her classmates create interactive immersive video games to play in, but Abby and her friends accidentally get trapped in the videogame and have to work together to get back out..
2. How long have you been writing/working on this specific project? I started writing Abby in Orbit in the summer of 2020. Since that first book, I’ve written two more books in the Abby in Orbit series.
3. Where did the seeds of the stories come from? This chapter book series idea initially came from an editor at Albert Whitman and Company. She was envisioning a sort of young Black Anne of Green Gables in space who struggled with focus issues and the effects of microgravity. It seemed like a dream project to me. I came up with several different book ideas for the character and then I just started writing. But some of the seeds of the stories come from my own life, like my relationship with my own parents. For example, my father is Panamanian and Jamaican, and while I didn’t really speak Spanish, it was always spoken around me. Also, my mom is a super smart tech person and as a child, I didn’t like being compared to her. Other story seeds came from my experience working in a travelling circus, where entire families traveled with the show and the kids all attended school in a single trailer.
4. What is your connection to The Writing Barn and/or Bethany Hegedus’ Courage to Create Community? Some of the writers in my Picture The Books debut group mentioned taking or teaching classes in the Writing Barn. I decided to check it out by taking classes myself in 2020 and I was hooked! In 2020, I also joined the Courage to Create Community. Finally, in late 2020 I started teaching classes at the Writing Barn, including a six-week course for BIPOC authors. I really do adore Bethany and The Writing Barn community.
5. What fears/hopes did you have before participating in WSS or a WB class/intensive? I’ve participated in more Writing Barn Classes than I can count. At first, I was a little apprehensive about leaving my comfort zone of SCBWI online classes. But that nervousness disappeared quickly when I realized that I already knew or had already met many of the Writing Barn instructors. It feels like learning from friends. Whenever I take a class at the Writing Barn, I’ve always come away with practical skills that I could use right away.
6. Did the WB programming aid you in the craft and the business of writing? If so, how? WB programming has definitely helped me with craft, inspiration, and my professional mindset. But I will tell you, Abby in Orbit would not be what or where it is today if it wasn’t for WB classes specifically. When I first got the assignment to write the first Abby in Orbit book, I was thrilled but also terrified — I’d never written a chapter book series before. Luckily, the Writing Barn was holding a weekend intensive with chapter book authors Marcie Colleen, Hannah Barnsby, and Saadia Faruqi, along with some awesome editors. Marcie and Hannah were in my debut group and I was delighted to learn from people I actually knew and adore. And then another awesome colleague Leah Henderson taught a phenomenal class on how to use voice to create unforgettable books, stories, and characters. The way she demonstrated the difference between character voice and narrative voice really made an impression on me. I used everything I learned from those workshops to create the best books I could.
7. What is a takeaway you will carry with you far beyond this good news as you continue to build and develop your career? Some say that everything we want is on the other side of our comfort zones, and in my case it was absolutely true. I was used to writing picture books, so creating a chapter book series was a big scary leap for me. But leaning into that fear and treating it all as a learning process really helped me to grow as a writer.
8. Any advice you have for writers/creatives having trouble staying the course while pursuing their goals? Yes, but I think it depends on why someone is having trouble staying the course. If it’s being overwhelmed by a day job or family obligations, my suggestion is to figure out how to make even a teeny commitment to yourself to write for, say, 20 minutes most days. If it’s the rejection, I always remind people (and by people, I mean me) that this entire career is about withstanding rejection until someone finally says yes. If it’s about lack of confidence, I say take more classes and write more. But that’s also my biggest advice. If you are having trouble with anything — including and especially your writing– my suggestion is to just write it out. Rant on the page. No one ever has to see it. But clarifying the problem in words is half the path to solving it.
9. Who in the kidlit world are you currently reading, excited about forthcoming books? The last book I read was the hilarious Egg Marks the Spot by Amy Timberlake. And oh wow, I am so excited about so many upcoming books! Kelly Starlings Lyons has a Miles Lewis chapter book series coming out soon. I think Jerry Craft’s New Kid series is hilarious and he has a new one coming out next April called School Trip. Next spring my critique partner Zeena Pliska has a gorgeous picture book coming called Egyptian Lullaby, and I can’t wait for the rest of the world to see it.
10. Where can readers order your books?
Wherever you buy books, you can just look up Andrea J. Loney! And if you want a signed copies of my books, you can check out my local bookstores:
- Malik Books (Black owned)
Andrea J. Loney’s books include the new middle-grade biography VIP: STACEY ABRAMS – VOTING VISIONARY, picture book DOUBLE BASS BLUES (Caldecott Honor), and the biography TAKE A PICTURE OF ME, JAMES VANDERZEE (Lee & Low Books New Voices Award Winner, and NAACP Image Award Nominee). Her upcoming works include the picture book biography CURVE AND FLOW: THE ELEGANT VISION OF LA ARCHITECT PAUL R. WILLIAMS (Knopf) on 9/27, and the futuristic chapter book series ABBY IN ORBIT (Albert Whitman & Company) on 10/18. Andrea lives in Los Angeles with her family, their pets, and stacks of picture books. Learn more at andreajloney.com.
How fun, Andrea! This looks like a great series. CONGRATS!