#FirstDraftFriday with Cynthia Mackey

Today's #FirstDraftFriday guest is Cynthia Mackey, who is here to tell us how her upcoming picture book, IF A BUMBLE BEE LANDS ON YOUR TOE, came to be. Read on to get inspired and then draft your own picture book manuscript today.

IF A BUMBLE BEE LANDS ON YOUR TOE, written by Cynthia Mackey and illustrated by Vikki Zhang, is out in the new year from Yeehoo Press.  

To pre-order or learn more about Cynthia, visit booksbycindy.com. 

Cynthia is generously offering a manuscript critique prize for someone who completes a draft today! Details on how to enter at the end of this post.

Welcome, Cynthia! Can you tell us a little about your book and what inspired you to sit down and write the first draft of it?! 

I had already been thinking about creating a book that might help children overcome a fear of bees. There was a moment when a child in my nature preschool class had a bumble bee land on him. He was surprisingly calm about it. It made me think about different ways people react when afraid. I wrote my first draft just after that.

Sounds like you dove right in and started drafting quickly. Is this how you usually work or do you typically stew on ideas?

I think about an idea for a while and then write something. Usually it’s without any brainstorming or pre-drafting. I pre-write in my head.

In the case of IF A BUMBLE BEE LANDS ON YOUR TOE, I had been thinking about writing a children’s book about overcoming fears for about 3 years. And one of my self-published books is on the same topic.

Do you remember what you thought of your first draft of IF A BUMBLE BEE LANDS ON YOUR TOE when it was done? Did you think it was a winner or were you not even sure you’d keep working on it? 

At first I thought IF A BUMBLE BEE LANDS ON YOUR TOE could be wonderful poem. I wondered if maybe I could make it into a book. Because I had some strong positive feedback from my critique partners, it made me want to work to see if it could be revised to become a picture book. I didn’t know if it was a winner. All I had to go on was critique partner feedback.

Can you share an excerpt of your original manuscript that changed significantly and how it appears in the final book?

Initial Draft Opening:

If a bumblebee lands on your toe…

Do NOT move.

Pretend you are freeze dancing and

the music just stopped.

If you move,

you lose the game.

Final Book Opening:

If a bumblebee lands on your toe…

Pretend you are freeze-dancing and the music stopped.

If you move, you lose the game.

For me the second opening reads much tighter. The biggest changes I made to the manuscript involved adding onomatopoeia and working on conveying the central emotions of fear and anxiety.

What is the hardest part of writing a first draft for you? And how do you deal with that?

This might sound odd, but I don’t usually find first drafts difficult. I think it’s because I won’t try to write something if I'm not ready. If ever I try to force myself to write a draft - it doesn’t work.

My approach to first drafts is to write something. Anything. When I go back to it, I can decide if it feels like there’s something worth pursuing further. Many times, I drop pieces of writing because I don’t feel like there’s enough of an idea to work with.

What are your tips and tricks for getting that first draft committed to the page?

Free yourself to write something that’s terrible. Not everything is going to be worth revising or working on further. You can decide later if you think what you’ve written is worth the work of revising. Setting a timer can help.

There you go: Permission granted to write something terrible! Or perhaps something wonderful! You'll never know which it is, if you don't try, so get drafting because it's #FirstDraftFriday!

To enter for a chance at a free picture book critique from Cynthia (<500 words, fiction or NF, rhyme or prose), do the following by 10 pm ET today (Nov. 1, 2024):

1. Follow me and Cynthia on Twitter (if you are on it): @HollieWolverton and @mackey_cynthia (or find her on BlueSky and Instagram)

2. Complete a full picture book draft

3. Return to this blog post and comment that you’ve completed your draft and provide your Twitter handle or full name. You will need to Sign Up/Log In to leave a comment (it’s easy - just an email and password).

You don’t need to send in your draft or provide proof - we’re all about the honor system here! The lucky winner will be randomly drawn from the comments and announced on Twitter shortly after 10 pm ET tonight

Happy drafting!