Guest Post: Julia Williamson, Children's Author, on What Being a Writer Means to Her

I don’t really know if I consider myself a "writer." I write on occasion. Whenever an idea comes to me, I write it down, then after letting it sit for a while I go back to it and see if it still holds the same magic for me as it did when I originally thought of it. If it does, then I work on fleshing out the idea. I do believe that not all ideas are gems, but I know after some thorough refinement which ones work and which ones don’t.

There’s no one thing that I’m inspired by, but if I had to say what inspires me the most it would be other children’s books. Graphic novels and some movies are also pretty inspiring, but it depends.

For me, the hardest thing about being a writer is the same thing as the hardest thing about being an artist: Finishing. I can’t count how many times I’ve started something then just let it die off. I guess it’s more of a matter of keeping my inspiration going for extended periods of time. It’s especially tough when I have a lot going on. Usually the summer time is when I feel inspired the most. I have plenty of time to relax and pretty much bury myself in whatever project I’m working on at that point.

--

Julia Williamson was born in Poughkeepsie, NY in 1987. She received a Bachelors of Fine Arts in Visual Arts and New Media from Fredonia State University of New York in 2009. Currently she lives in Buffalo, NY with her wonderful husband, Brandon, and their over-active imaginations. Books she has written and illustrated include Little Pig, Little Pig, Throw! Rocco! Throw! and Dickens’s Mittens. You can visit Julia's professional website here.