Hello, friends! Skiing in 50 degree weather over here in Connecticut. Would love to see some real snow but starting to lose faith. Luckily, we have so many wonderful picture books to occupy our time while we wait. In fact, one of them became an instant favorite in this house. WOOD COULD by Tiffany Stone is the type of picture book you will want to read again and again. I promise. Now stick with me to find out how to win a copy of this amazing picture book.
Tiffany, can you tell us where you currently live and one of your favorite things about it?
Since February 2008, my family and I have lived in Whonnock, a rural community in the eastern part of the city of Maple Ridge, British Columbia, Canada about 60 km from downtown Vancouver. I love that our house backs onto a regional park. We have a forest and a creek right behind us, and bears sometimes wander through our yard.
That sounds wonderful! And how cool that you get to see bears wandering through your yard. Can you tell us what inspired WOOD COULD?
When my wonderful agent, Hilary McMahon, placed my picture book KNOT CANNOT with editor Kate Harrison at Dial, I was lucky enough to sign a two-book deal. After I’d finished the final edits on KNOT CANNOT, I needed to come up with a story for a second book. I knew I wanted to use lots of wordplay again, and like with KNOT CANNOT, which is about a knotted piece of rope, I wanted another inanimate protagonist, but that was about it. As often happens, an idea came to me in the shower one day. WOOD COULD! While Knot cannot do a lot of the things he wants to do to be like his hero Snake, Wood—a log—could do things that are asked of him, but why would he? The challenge of writing about a curmudgeonly character definitely appealed to me. Could he be both grumpy and kind of likeable? Also, living right next to the forest, I feel a kinship with my woody neighbors.
This is all kinds of incredible, Tiffany. I’m laughing at how this idea came to you in the shower. We’ve all been there a time or two. And what a fascinating idea it was! How long did you work on the story until you thought it was perfect?
The adage about writing being mostly rewriting certainly applied to this book! The first draft I have in my computer is dated August 2017, and since I always start writing a story with a pen and paper, this means the very first draft was even before that. The story didn’t really resemble the version readers will be familiar with until about April 2018. It started off being about Woodchuck, Wood Duck and Worm trying to throw a welcome party for their new neighbor, Wood, and needing his help with their preparations but Wood, who could help, not helping at all. Then there was a version that was a little closer to what eventually became the book—except that Wood almost got used as firewood by the girl’s granny!
Wow! What a journey. I don’t mean to get sappy (pun intended), but I am gushing over the puns and wordplay in this book. I feel like you should hold a contest to see who can come up with the exact number. Tell us, are all your stories full of wordplay and puns?
Hehe, that is a treemendous idea!
Not all of my stories are packed with puns, but I absolutely love playing with words, and I think every single one of my books contains at least a little wordplay, from somewhat subtle games with sound through alliteration, onomatopoeia or rhyme to the outright goofiness of puns and oronyms. For those who might not know, oronyms are words or phrases that sound the same but have very different spellings and meanings, for example “ice cream” and “I scream.” I had a blast with oronyms in my book KNOT CANNOT.
I love playing with words so much that you will notice on my website I call myself a word acrobat. (Shout out to my friend Christina for that term!) And on my Instagram account, @tiffanystonewriter, I do a Word Nerd Wednesday post every week. Probably my favorite word nerd fact is that “facetiously” contains all the vowels in alphabetical order, including y!
That’s amazing! As much as I dislike Instagram (for no other reason than I’m too lazy to add another social media platform to keep up with) I’m going to have to check out your Word Nerd Wednesday posts. I feel like I just learned so much from these two paragraphs alone!
Getting back to WOOD COULD, there are two things I took away from your story. The first was the beauty of imagination and all the places it can take you. The second was the fulfilling feeling you get when you get off your keester and “make an effort.” Is this what you were going for when you wrote WOOD COULD? Are there any other takeaways you were hoping to convey?
I love that you connected with these takeaways! Mike Lowery is such a fabulous illustrator and did a magnificent (and hilarious) job bringing the imagination sequences to life. Related to both takeaways you mention is also the idea of creative problem solving. Can a problem become an opportunity instead?
What a wonderful takeaway to leave your reader, Tiffany. Can a problem become an opportunity? Don’t you all just love that?
I want to congratulate you on having so many incredible picture books out in the world. Is there anything new on the horizon? Exciting news, stories brewing, anything else?
Thanks so much! I’m super excited to have a new comic-style poetry collection called SUPER SMALL: MINIATURE MARVELS OF THE NATURAL WORLD coming out from Greystone Kids on April 11, 2023. It combines fun rhyming poetry and fascinating facts about tiny creatures with real-life superpowers—and it’s illustrated by the AMAZING Ashley Spires. It’s available now for pre-order from your favorite bookseller (hint, hint).
What a beautiful cover and title. I love the concept behind this. And Ashley Spires?! I’m listing you two as a power team! Count me in on getting a copy.
Do you have any tips or words of wisdom for your fellow authors?
The Oxford 2022 Word of the Year was “goblin mode.” Merriam-Webster’s was “gaslighting.” Mine was—and continues to be—“pertinacious.” It’s new to my vocabulary and is both how I already am and how I aspire to be. My fellow authors might find being pertinacious helps them too. Whether it’s the first draft or the fortieth or the seemingly millionth rejection, don’t give up!
You couldn’t have said it any better. Don’t give up!
Tiffany Stone is an acclaimed children’s poet and picture book author, with eleven titles to her name, including the upcoming SUPER SMALL: MINIATURE MARVELS OF THE NATURAL WORLD (April 2023) and KNOT CANNOT, a 2021 Gryphon Honor Book. In addition to being an author, Tiffany has over two decades of experience as a children’s book editor, working with publishers such as Greystone Kids and Tradewind Books, as well as freelancing. She lives in Maple Ridge, BC with her husband, three kids, four cats, two snakes and a hermit crab.
Follow Tiffany on her website here and her Instagram here.
GIVEAWAY!
Tiffany is generously offering a copy of WOOD COULD. Retweet this post and tag two friends by 8:30 am on February 24th for your chance to win.
That’s it. Thank you all for reading. I hope you enjoyed this interview as much as I did.
Lindsey is the creator of two imaginative little girls, the wife of an extreme sport enthusiast, and a member of many picture book critique groups. In her spare time, she enjoys watching webinars, attending conferences, and borrowing outrageous amounts of picture books from her local library.
lindseyaduskevich.com 
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