Clothilde Ewing, STELLA KEEPS THE SUN UP

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[0:41]Clotyled Ewing is the author of the picture book, Stella Keeps the Sun Up.

[0:45]And by the way, Clotyled and I are going to be doing an event together for Princess Charming at the New York Public Library.

[0:51]Clotyled has spent her career communicating through journalism as an assignment editor and producer at CBS News

[0:57]in entertainment as a producer at the Oprah Winfrey Show through politics as a member of the press team for President Obama's 2012 reelection campaign

[1:05]and with nonprofits, where she currently serves as Vice President of Strategic Communications at the Chicago Community Trust.

[1:11]She was inspired to write her first book after reading a New York Times opinion piece by her now editor, Denini Milner,

[1:17]who by the way, there's an episode that I did with her, so you can go back and listen to that.

[1:20]That's Denini Milner, D-E-N-E-M-I-L-L-N-E-R.

[1:25]Titled, black kids don't want to read about Harriet Tubman all the time.

[1:28]Her goal is for children, whether they look like hers or not, to see children of color in books that have nothing to do with race or struggle and have everything to do with belonging and joy.

[1:37]A graduate of Syracuse University's Sign Newhouse School of Communications, she currently lives in Chicago with her husband and two young children.

[1:44]Welcome, Clotyled. Thank you so much for coming on Moms. Don't have time to read Bex to discuss your picture book.

[1:50]Stella Keeps the Sun Up, illustrated by Lynn Gaines.

[1:53]Thanks so much for having me. I'm super excited.

[1:56]It's so fun. I was just telling you how obsessed I am with your end papers. I have like a thing for end papers and I'm going to just try.

[2:03]I'm going to share my screen for a minute so I can post this on social media as I'm releasing your episode, but just look how amazing this is. I'm obsessed.

[2:12]Beautiful. Lynn Gaines is the illustrator, as you said, and she did such a magnificent job.

[2:19]I mean, the attention to detail book was Stella and Roger and the end papers and the sparkle. It's just, it's awesome.

[2:26]It's amazing. Okay. Well, I won't give away the whole book.

[2:29]And by the way, I had Denise Middler on this podcast too. Who's your publisher?

[2:35]She's amazing. I feel so blessed that I was able to work with the one and only to name.

[2:40]So she helped to bring Stella in the world and I'll forever be grateful.

[2:44]Okay. So tell us the story. So Stella keeps the sun up. Do you have a friend who lives around the world?

[2:51]And this was part of that you kept in mind for where the sun rises and falls.

[2:55]First of all, explain what this book is about and then how you came up with this whole idea.

[3:00]Okay, for sure. So the book is about a little girl named Stella and her buddy Roger who happens to be a stuffed hippopotamus who comes alive for her.

[3:09]And the adventures that they go on. This is a series. This is the first in the series.

[3:13]And in this book, they decide that they're over bedtime. They feel like they're old enough to stay up forever. And so they need to figure out how to do that.

[3:22]And as kid logic goes, they're like, well, we usually have to go to bed when it gets dark. So if we can keep the sun up, then we'll never have to go to bed again.

[3:30]And so that's where that's about that's the story. So they go on a series of adventures to try and keep the sun up and then realize.

[3:39]So maybe that's not what we should do and come up with the plan B. Yes, but they were very crafty about it. I have to say they they were not dissuaded by anything and just kept trying to come up with ideas and how to do it outsmarting dinner and all the rest.

[3:55]They had a plan. They had a plan.

[3:57]And so how did this become your story and your book?

[4:01]Yeah, well, so I have two children myself. My kids are now seven and a half and almost six. He said he was five and three quarters this morning. So almost six.

[4:13]And I think, like a lot of parents and young kids. The bedtime struggle is real. We have gone through everything we have tried having them sleep on the floor in our room.

[4:25]We have said no door bed and then woken up with multiple feet in our face. We have, you know, been up until midnight. We have, we have done it all.

[4:34]And so it was born from that. We've tried a lot of things that didn't work. And in talking to my kids and trying to figure out, okay, what would actually click for you guys.

[4:45]It turns out that they, they feel bad for other kids more than they would for, you know, their own parents who are sleep deprived.

[4:54]We've been up with this idea together. So it was, it was a lot of fun. Yeah. Kids have no, they don't care at all about parents being tired. I'm like, don't you care that I'm going to be in a bad mood all day.

[5:05]You know, like, I'm not going to be a good mom because I'm going to be so tired and they're like, yeah, whatever.

[5:11]It really, it's like zero effect. But you know, worked on this story a lot with my, my critique group and my own kids, like I said, and I think it works. It's, it's a lot of fun.

[5:22]It is a lot of fun. I love it.

[5:24]I think also just the determination, right? Kids believe that if they just try hard enough and they like they have any other going to just make it happen, even if it's the entire universe.

[5:36]And I love that. When does that go away?

[5:38]I know. It's, it's interesting because when I look at my, my own kids, the world is their oyster. And as you said, if I believe it, I can make it happen.

[5:48]I don't know if it's when we're teenagers, young adults, when a little bit of that dies, but the sense of awe and wonder and and determination to realize what they think should happen is it's amazing to see.

[6:05]It can be frustrating as a parent for sure, but it's also pretty amazing.

[6:10]Yes, I feel like I need maybe a little dose of that.

[6:14]Yeah, I mean, they also, they also have a lot of a lot of wonderful opportunities to live in that world without the responsibilities of adulthood, but I think a nice mix would be great.

[6:27]Have you found any good solutions because I'm always looking for help with the bedtime.

[6:31]I mean, we have one in the bed often we have like last night, I was just like, why, why has the bedtime scooched up to almost 10 o'clock like this ridiculous right.

[6:43]You know, I can say it ebbs and flows and there are times where we feel like, okay, we've got it. And inevitably when we make the mistake of giving each other my husband and I high five that's when it just goes downhill again.

[6:56]So I can't say that we have totally figured it out. I do think that the routine helped in our house. So it's like we're out of your room for my daughter at eight o'clock or out of your room for my son around 745.

[7:21]It helps somewhat. And then this helped with my daughter more than my son. We did go through the phase where it's like, okay, you're welcome to come into our room, but that means you sleep on the floor.

[7:32]So bring a pillow, you can bring a blanket, but we're not going to make it too comfortable for you because we're not trying to encourage this.

[7:39]He just finds a way to worm his way in when he comes in. So yeah, by no means am I an expert yet.

[7:46]We've had one kid start sleeping in the dog bed, you know, which I'm like, the kid isn't the dog by the dog on the floor. I'm like, this is.

[7:55]And he good dogs like figure it out.

[7:59]The struggle is real. The struggle is real.

[8:03]So, Clotel, how, where did you, what was your life before this book? Where are you from? What's your story?

[8:10]What's my story? So I'm from a town called Shaker Heights, Ohio. It's right outside of Cleveland, born and raised. My parents are still there. I have friends that I grew up with that are still there. It's a great, great city.

[8:22]I ended up going to school in New York went to Syracuse and then worked in communications for the last 20 years or so, which I still do now.

[8:31]I started my career in news, worked at CBS News, then moved over to the Oprah Winfrey show, which was awesome. And then moved into politics and now nonprofit world. So I bounced around, but always in communications trying to tell great stories.

[8:46]What did you do on the Oprah Winfrey show? I was a producer there. So I went there. Let's see in 2004. My first day at work was the day that she gave away all those cars.

[8:58]No way. Yeah, it was crazy. So I'm sitting there waiting to get walked up from a member of the HR team to my desk. And I could hear the screaming was so loud.

[9:08]I could hear from the studio all this screaming. I have no idea what I got myself into because I just moved over from CBS.

[9:17]And I remember I had professors from college at the time who were not so impressed with my my choice to leave journalism and go to the Oprah Winfrey show.

[9:26]I'm sitting there thinking, oh my goodness. And it turns out that was a huge TV moment and SNL moment and all of that. But it was it was a really great experience to do great television tell great stories.

[9:41]Stories that tackled topics as as heavy as abuse to the bra makeover show which changed so many lives.

[9:52]And so I'll be forever grateful for that experience in the friends that I made on that show. I just interviewed.

[10:00]on Monday, Jacqueline Matard, Matard, who's new book is the good sign, but originally it was

[10:05]the deep end of the ocean, which was Oprah's very first book left pick. And she was telling

[10:09]the story of how Oprah left her three different messages on her machine. And the last one,

[10:12]she was like, listen, we're at least call me back. You know, she's like, wait, did I really just

[10:19]upset Oprah and was that really her? You know, she thought it was a joke.

[10:22]That's awesome. That's awesome. Like changing moment, I'm sure, once her book was chosen.

[10:28]And what are you doing in the nonprofit nonprofit world now?

[10:33]I work at the Chicago Community Trust, which is a community foundation based here in Chicago,

[10:38]strength and working on strengthening the Chicago region. Our strategic goal right now is

[10:44]aimed at closing the racial and ethnic wealth gap. So really important work and very of the moment.

[10:50]So lucky to have that opportunity. Amazing. And tell me your history with writing.

[10:55]Have you ever written for adults? I mean, you're a communications person. I'm sure you've

[10:59]been writing your whole life. Tell me about that. Yeah. So I always worked in communications and I've

[11:05]always written for my jobs. I've been an avid reader my whole life. But to be honest, I never

[11:13]thought of myself as a future writer when it came to books. I never thought that I would write a book.

[11:20]I thought that other people did that, but I was enjoyed what they did. And it wasn't until I

[11:27]came across an article that Denine wrote about four years ago. She wrote this op-ed piece in the

[11:33]New York Times that was titled Black Kids Don't Want to Read About Harriet Tubman All the Time.

[11:39]And I read the book. I read the article from beginning to end and something told me to cut

[11:45]that article out. I cut it out. I put it on my vision board, which at that point was in my bedroom

[11:52]positioned against the wall. And I walked past it for a couple of weeks. I'm not sure why in that

[11:58]moment I cut it out, to be honest. But he did. And then I had this kind of light bulb moment and thought,

[12:06]okay, I think I'm supposed to try and do something about this. The article was essentially about

[12:12]there wasn't enough diversity in children's literature. And there's been a lot of talk about that in

[12:17]the past. And it talked about how there hadn't been a huge shift from the time that she had children

[12:24]at that point. I think it was about 20 years prior to where we are right now. And that's so many

[12:28]of the books that did feature black characters were about people who achieved first in their career

[12:36]in the world or about our people and our endurance and ability to overcome. And it just resonated

[12:45]with me, it resonated, you know, like a lot of parents of color and I'm sure others when I went out

[12:52]to build my own children's libraries, I was really conscious of trying to find books that would

[12:58]reflect the community that they were going to live in. And that reflected our own family.

[13:05]It didn't mean all of the books needed to feature diverse characters, but I wanted a number of them

[13:10]too. And I was able to find them to be sure, but it was a little harder than I thought it should be,

[13:15]but just kind of packaged that away and went about parenting. But then when I found that article,

[13:20]it clicked. And so I decided to give it a try. That's amazing. Well, yeah.

[13:26]What do you think? How good. I was just going to say the crazy thing about it is that then

[13:32]a couple years later, my agent was able to get the book to Simon and Schuster and to Dineen in

[13:40]particular. And so it was kind of a full circle, Oprah Show moment in a lot of ways. It's just like,

[13:46]wait, what? Yeah. So it's crazy. It's crazy. And that that article still on my vision board. It's

[13:52]yellow and gray, but it's still there. That is so cool. Yeah. It's like you're like, you're like,

[13:59]Stella, right? You're putting your mind to something. And it's like, you know, you just made,

[14:03]made it happen. Try to make it happen. And so yeah, I'm now in this moment where I'm a bit terrified

[14:09]about it all, but I'm excited as well. And you said at the beginning, this is going to be a whole

[14:13]series. Tell me about that. Well, it's a series. So I sold two books initially to Simon and Schuster.

[14:20]And so the first one is Stella keeps the sun up. The second one, I don't think we have finalized

[14:26]a title yet, but it's an awesome story about a hunt for a missing tooth. So that will be the

[14:32]second story. And then I have a couple others that I have worked on that hopefully I'll get to

[14:38]show them soon. Exciting. Very cool. Yeah. So it's exciting. Amazing. What do your kids think about

[14:44]the book? They are very excited. In fact, my daughter in particular has outed me to her entire class.

[14:53]And I feel like all of her sports friends. And so that's fun. You know, so my kids, I'll say their

[14:59]names. My daughter's name is Stella. And my son's name is Jackson. And the story was inspired

[15:06]by both of them to be sure, though Stella for sure feels like she is going to be famous.

[15:13]And that she should get, you know, a Lego set for this once it's out in the world.

[15:17]And so we'll see how that comes. Oh my gosh. And my picture book coming out, Princess

[15:22]Tarming, it centers as one of the main events of the book is when this movie star comes to

[15:28]Princess Tarming's castle. And her name is Stella sparkle. So literally I was

[15:36]right. I was reading this book to my kids last night on the computer, which is where I have it.

[15:40]Anyway, and my husband comes behind me to like look over my shoulder. And he was like,

[15:44]oh my gosh, is this your next book? And I was like, what? No, this is not like, this is not,

[15:49]that's not for this charming. He's like, look, it's a Stella sparkle. And I was like,

[15:53]no, no, anyway, so it's very cool. That is very cool. That is very cool. What did you

[15:58]do something with our with our books together at some point? Yes, for sure. That would be fun.

[16:02]What advice would you have for aspiring authors, especially of picture books?

[16:08]I would say to believe in yourself and find your village. The critique group that I worked with

[16:15]was hugely helpful for me in part because they were going through the process themselves.

[16:23]And also because, you know, they know the challenges. They know the challenges when it comes to

[16:29]feeling a bit blocked. They know the challenges in terms of feeling self doubt. They know the challenges

[16:36]in terms of finding, you know, your agent trying to get published. And so it's a like-minded group.

[16:44]And I'd say, you know, when you're trying to find that group, you know, know that

[16:50]not every group is going to be a perfect fit for you. It's okay to kind of move around and

[16:54]find that group. But I feel like between my critique group and then also friends and family who

[17:00]were there to kind of root me on, that was really, really helpful. You know, this doesn't have to

[17:06]be a totally solitary experience. You can find a group of people who are invested in helping you to

[17:14]achieve your goal. Amazing. Love it. Excellent. All right. Well, Clarita, thank you so much.

[17:21]Thanks for coming on to talk about Stella and the power of believing, really.

[17:28]So thank you for having me and really good luck to you and your book as well. I can't wait to get it.

[17:34]Thank you. Thank you. Well, do something fun. Okay. All right. Love it.

[17:40]Thanks for listening to this episode of Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.

[17:43]Don't forget to follow me on Instagram at zibioens and at Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books.

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[17:53]of authors on Zoom every other week. Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Textures Sound for the

[17:58]Sound Editing. And thank you to Morning Moon Productions for providing this fantastic intro and

[18:03]now trim music.