Our 100th Guest, Children's Book Author, Nikki McPhetridge!

This episode features our conversation with our 100th guest, children’s book author Nikki McPhetridge, which was live-streamed on March 21, 2026.

Nikki McPhetridge is a first-time author, storyteller, and creator of Maya's Birthday Wish (Bookfox Press, August 2025). As a mother, dreamer, and believer in the power of play. Nikki brings heartfelt stories to life that celebrate kindness and imagination.

As Maya's birthday approaches, she wonders what to wish for - toys, treats, or something even more special? Maya sets off on a whimsical journey through her imagination, discovering that the best wishes come from the heart! Illustrated by Noor Zaki, Maya’s Birthday Wish received the 2025 Book Fest Award.

Learn more about Nikki and Maya’s Birthday Wish by visiting mayastoryland.com. Maya’s Birthday Wish is available for purchase directly from Nikki’s website and also on Amazon.

Watch the recording of the live broadcast here to see the book's illustrations.

Find Maya's Storyland on Instagram: @mayastoryland

Find Black Writers Read on Instagram: @blackwritersread

Find Black Writers Read online: https://blackwritersread.com/

Support Black Writers Read on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/cw/blackwritersread

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:08

Every kid can relate to a birthday party. I needed to create a book where they would be excited about it and they can relate to it. Birthday parties, whether you're going to one, whether you're having one, you're gonna be excited about the birthday party. Of course, cake, presents, the friends, you're gonna be excited. So why not take that moment and try to offer something else? Because these birthday parties now are they're extravagant. Some birthday parties are like weddings. Okay, we're gonna mortgage the house for your birthday party. Okay, no, we're gonna go back to basics. And I wanted to incorporate that into my story here, where the kids are together having fun, playing cops and robbers, playing hide and go seek, pin a pinata, just having a ball, having a blast, and there's not a pony ride in sight. Not a pony ride, people aren't on their phones, they're participating, they're in the moment. And then she actually has to solve her problem, not a problem, she has to critically think of her birthday wish. And then she goes through all her imagination, but turn comes back around to something more meaningful, and that's that's what we need. We need to bring our kids back into not so much material things, but what really matters in life, and that's your family, your friends, things that you can't buy at a store. That is where we need to get back to.

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Hello, and welcome to Black Writers Read. My name is Nicole Young Martin, and I'm the founder, producer, and host of this podcast. Thank you for tuning in for episode 22 of season six of the series. Launched on Juneteenth, 2020, Black Writers Read was created as the platform to showcase, celebrate, and honor the words, work, and traditions of Black writers from across the country, across genres, across experiences, and across the African diaspora. Black Writers Read is a behind-the-scenes conversation into the craft and what it means to create as a black author in today's society. So starting the series during the summer of 2020, we've hosted 100 authors representing over 15 genres from six countries and 28 states. This episode features our conversation with our 100th guest, children's book author Nikki McFetridge, which was live streamed on March 21st, 2026. Nikki McFretridge is a first-time author, storyteller, and creator of Maya's Birthday Wish. As a mother, dreamer, and believer in the power of play, Nikki brings heartfelt stories to life that celebrate kindness and imagination. As Maya's birthday approaches, she wonders what to wish for: toys, treats, or something even more special. Maya sets off on a whimsical journey through her imagination, discovering that the best wishes come from the heart. Maya's birthday wish received the 2025 Bookfest Award. Learn more about Nikki and Maya's birthday wish by visiting MayaStoryland.com. That is M-A-Y-A-S-T-O-R-Y-L-A-N-D.com. Maya's Birthday Wish is available for purchase directly from Nikki's website and also on Amazon. First, before I give you like a small preview into this episode, which all of them are my favorite, but this one especially sits close to my heart as an educator and a literature activist. So much so. And also somebody who started reading at a very young age. Please take an opportunity to watch our live stream, the recording of it, on YouTube, which there is a link to it in the show notes. There you will be able to see the beautiful illustrations in the book as Nikki shared them as she was reading them. There are so many reasons to love our conversation and spend a lot of time with it. Nikki, even though she, I don't know if she'll claim the title, is an educator. I love her approach to writing and why she chooses to write children's books, which we go into during the interview. I also see her as a literary advocate and activist. She talks about why reading is important. And thirdly, she talks a lot about why play in childhood is especially important. There is so much to love and to appreciate about this conversation. So I do hope that you have an opportunity to both watch the live stream recording and also to sit with this episode for a little bit because I believe it gives us a lot to think about. Thank you so much for listening to today's episode, and I hope that you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

SPEAKER_01 5:34

Thank you for having me. I'm so excited. Congratulations.

SPEAKER_00 5:39

Thank you. And Nikki, I'm so, oh my God. Because also, too, I think one of the things that you should put in your bio from what I'm seeing in other interviews, you're very passionate about child development and you're an educator in your own way. And being I'm an educator, I'm so my God. I am so excited. Especially, I feel like I have I didn't pose this question to you officially, but I feel like we can also even talk about like literacy, which the other day, before I turn it over to you to read, I learned and this broke my heart. And I see it because I teach at community colleges. I saw a video that talked about the literacy rate now, adults are only able to read at the sixth grade level. Mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_01 6:31

Yes. What? Mind blowing, right?

SPEAKER_00 6:38

And I'm like, I don't, I don't know what our age difference is, but I'm like, I'm 46 and I 42. Oh wow. Okay, we are around the same age. And so we probably grew up in the generation where we took field trips to the library. Yes. Like I learned how to read at two. Like I'm, you know, this is one of the reasons why I started the podcast, because so many people, and I'm glad there's many of us now. There are, I don't know how many black literary podcasts, Instagrammers, booktubers, but I'm glad there's so many of us out there. But I remember there was a time when these platforms didn't exist, and I feel like maps they need to exist even more so because people are being discouraged in so many ways to not read.

SPEAKER_01 7:25

Absolutely. That's another reason why I wanted to write a booklets. We got to get back to the basics, gotta get back to the way things were. But everybody, oh, you don't want to get into that yet. Okay. Well wait, because we will we'll get into that. The whole thing that I believe it's hindering all of that is you know your devices. But we'll get into that. Yes, yeah, I'm so excited.

SPEAKER_00 7:49

So, Nikki, I'm gonna turn it over to you to read, and I'll be back to chat. All right, sounds good. Yes, happy reading.

SPEAKER_01 7:56

All right, everyone. So I'm just gonna read a couple of pages from Maya's birthday wish, a book that I have written and had published last August. All right, here we go. Happy birthday, Maya. Her mom says, Do you know what you're going to wish for today? Your birthday wish counts as double. Her father says, make it a good one. Really? I am so excited. I need to really think about this. We're gonna skip a little bit, skip ahead a little bit. Maya, it is time for cake and to make that special birthday wish. Dad brings out the cake and everyone starts to sing happy birthday. Happy birthday, Maya! I love you, mom and dad. Okay, Maya, it's time to make your wish and then to blow out your candles. Maya stares at the candle on her birthday cake and then looks up at everyone, and a huge smile comes across Maya's face. I know what my birthday wish is. After tried to figure out all day long what her wish was going to be. Was it gonna be unlimited candy? Was it going to be a unicorn or a pony? I don't know. You're gonna have to wait and see. I believe it's gonna be something much more special than that.

SPEAKER_00 9:22

Yes, thank you. And this just brought me almost cried a little bit because I grew up, I now my brother, my brother, we're 15 years apart, he's younger. I grew up as an only child, and I just remember like my parents making a really big deal about my birthday and all of that stuff when I was little, and like the parties and the games we used to play and all that stuff. I'm just like, oh my god.

SPEAKER_01 9:46

Yes, see, games. I've been to a couple of birthday parties. There's no games. There's oh man, they're missing out on what we have. They were in, I feel sad for them.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

I feel bad for them. Right. Like, I have fond memories of like going. Actually, I think I think I did Chucky, um, a Chuck E. Cheese birthday party twice. And I remember the one when I was six. I remember that one so much because in order for the band to sing happy birthday to the birthday person, they had to be in the room sitting at the table. And I was all over the I was playing all the games and stuff, and they were like, we will not sing happy birthday to Nicole until she is in here. And I remember my parents constantly coming out there, and they're like, Nicole, skip it, Nick, get in there, and I'm like, no, and I'm like playing the games and stuff. And so I'm like, I'm so oh, I'm so excited to chat with you.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Do they have the ball pit still? Yes, they you see, they don't have it now. And the ball pit was everything.

SPEAKER_00 10:49

And I just and like, I I I'll save it because I I I want to tag on to because I have a feeling I know where this response is gonna land. And so I wanna I'm gonna hold that thought. So the first question that I have for you, Nikki, is what inspired you to become a writer?

SPEAKER_01 11:12

I used to love to write all the time. My earliest memory was actually receiving a little journal. I think I was about eight, eight years old, little diary, had a little lock on it. It was super cute. Um, and I would write in that thing every day. Don't remember what I was writing about at eight or nine. My mom still has it somewhere, but I would just write in it every day. And then I remember in elementary school, we would have creative writing. You would sit there, the teacher would say, All right, for about 30 minutes, we're just gonna write. I was like, hmm. At first that sounded like, what am I gonna write about? What the heck? But it was exciting because you would just sit there for a minute, think about something, pull anything out of the air, write about it, and all of a sudden you have this beautiful story, and it came out of nowhere. And when time was up, I wanted to still write. You look over, some kids will have maybe one or two sentences. Oh man, I had almost a whole page. So I I like writing from a very, very early, early age, and it just continued.

SPEAKER_00 12:17

Yeah, and then I think this segues really nicely into the next question. And before I ask this question, the thing that I will say, um, again, re-emphasize, because I think the last thing we had on a children's book author may have been season one or two. And yeah, it's been a minute. And children's books, I feel like are such an important gateway because this is this is what gets children to reading. And also what I love about children's books, because you'll be reading to children who are either still in the womb or like in the ink, in like the incubator or like barely crawling, they don't know how to read. So it's like a children's books is a family thing, it's a shared experience. So, why have you decided to focus on children's books? And then what age group is your focus and why?

SPEAKER_01 13:10

In the words of the great, late Whitney Houston, children are future, teach them well and let them lead the way.

SPEAKER_00 13:19

Thank you for finding a moment to insert the one of the greatest singers ever. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 13:24

Oh, yes, love her. Um, Maya knows who Whitney is. Uh, but she she hit it spot on because children they are the most vulnerable demographic. They are so impressionable, they need to have that baseline, they need to have that foundation because you know, terrible childhood that is gonna lead to very terrible adults. So we need to actually build that foundation, give the kids their outlet, have the family the community, prioritize community, all the things, which in today's generation they're not. They're not deeming that as you know important. And that's scary. That is definitely a problem. So that's my little piece of me try to change the world with this book because this book does it emphasizes friends, family, simplicity, back to basics, just being there for each other and growing together, imagination, all things. Which, yeah, we're missing that. These kids are they're missing out on it because of these devices.

SPEAKER_00 14:34

Yep, I was gonna say I knew that was gonna come not only the devices, which because also I teach arts management classes and in my arts marketing class this semester. Nice. I'm so glad we got to this. We talked a lot about marketing the generations, and I think they're gen alpha, like the little little kids, they will not know an analog world, they will not know a world beyond their phones and just all of the information that you can get on your phone. Like one of my one of the stories that I love telling. So I we don't live that far from New York City, so and I'm also in theater, so I go a lot. And yes, and I hate, oh my god, I hate the tourists who will like stand with their group in the middle of the street, taking up the whole house, looking at their phones, trying to figure out where they're going. And I'm like, I can easily rob you right now. You should have mapped out your trip before you got outside, but again, people are so dependent on these. And I have a stepdaughter, she's 24, and I love how she'll like you get the because we all have iPhones, and she would get the whole you know, um, alert on Sundays, you have used your phone. And one time she was like, I've used my phone an average of 11 hours. How? And I'm like, I should start filming a documentary of you because you are on the phone a lot, girl.

SPEAKER_01 16:02

Like, yes, yes. It I'm adults were not better, but the kids they don't know any better, so we should need we need to kind of you know, no, let's get away from that, let's go outside. So yeah, that man, that's crazy, that's crazy. 11 hours, but you know what? That's probably standard.

SPEAKER_00 16:23

That's probably yeah, average. Yeah, and then also, too, everything that you can do on your phone, and this is such a solitary thing, like it's you and the phone, it's really no one else. And even if you're on social media or texting someone and you're interacting with anyone else, you literally control the conversation, you control when you respond, how you respond, and all of that, and also, unlike real-time conversations in person, where you're in front of someone, you feed off of someone else's energy and you respond. That's very different than this. So trust me, I am very old school too. I'm very like, I still don't even have TikTok. Like, everybody's like, Nicole, why aren't you on TikTok? And I was just like, I saw somebody else's TikTok and the like quickness of the videos, I was just like, uh no. Like, no.

SPEAKER_01 17:20

I think I posted one video I was late to the party. It's like I ain't got time, but no, I don't, I don't want to. I'd rather have a conversation with somebody. I I understand you get the reach, you can reach more people that way, but I don't want to be on this non-stop. I yeah, nope, don't want to do that. There's a whole big world out there you're not even noticing.

SPEAKER_00 17:41

Yeah, exactly. So my next question for you, Nikki, is what is the origin story of Maya's birthday wish? Why is your first children's book about a birthday party? And how does this celebratory moment draw in the ideal reader?

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Every kid can relate to a birthday party. I needed to create a book where they would be excited about it and they can relate to it. Birthday parties, whether you're going to one, whether you're having one, you're gonna be excited about the birthday party. Of course, the cake, presents, the friends, you're gonna be excited. So why not take that moment and try to offer something else? Because these birthday parties now are they're extravagant. Some birthday parties are like weddings. Okay, we're gonna mortgage the house for your birthday party. Okay, no, we're gonna go back to basics, and I wanted to incorporate that into my story here, where the kids are together having fun playing cops and robbers, playing hide and go seek, hitting the pinata, just having a ball, having a blast, and there's not a pony ride in sight. Not a pony ride, people aren't on their phones, they're participating, they're in the moment. And then she actually has to solve her problem, not a problem, she has to critically think of her birthday wish. And then she goes through all her imagination, but turn comes back around to something more meaningful, and that's that's what we need. We need to bring our kids back into not so much material things, but what really matters in life, and that's your family, your friends, things that you can't buy at a store. That is where we need to get back to.

SPEAKER_00 19:24

Yeah, and thank you for the whole not buying things at a store. Just like my husband and I, like when it comes to gifts, I love experiences.

SPEAKER_01 19:35

Yes, same.

SPEAKER_00 19:37

And one of my favorite birthday gifts that he got me was so I'm also like because his like I'm my family's from the south, and I'm into like spiritualism, tarot, and all those things. We don't live that far from the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center, Mark Twain House, and all those things. And Harriet Beecher Stowe, who wrote Oko Top's cabin. I love how I'm a huge fan of hers, but I can't remember what book she wrote. And yes, and I didn't realize this, but she was huge into spiritualism. So he so we like like haunted houses and all like we're we're weird. Um he liked going to visit cemeteries, but for this birthday, he yeah, he got me the spiritualism tour and a tarot reading, and I was like, this is this is what I mean. I'm like, I like experiences, I don't necessarily because I'm like get like things I can buy myself.

SPEAKER_02 20:32

Correct.

SPEAKER_00 20:34

Yeah, I can buy those things myself, and then also I haven't been to a little kid, and I have my best friends, their children are fairly young, but I haven't been to in like years, and so it sounds like children's parties have changed from what I remember them being.

SPEAKER_01 20:55

Oh, oh yes, yes, a lot, and the gifts get bigger, and so okay, we're gonna go to so-and-so's house, but I agree with you. I'm always giving people an experience because they'll remember that that's a memory, they're creating memories. I get the movie, core memories. Okay, you can't do that with the gift card to Amazon. What are we gonna do with that? What we what are we gonna do with that? I mean, no it's hey, no shade. No shade. But I would I feel like you need to give an experience, even if it's a gift card to a movie theater. At least they're going out, they're bonding, they're not on their phone. That's my whole crusade. Just get off the device for just a little bit, just a little bit. Um I didn't talk so much, I forgot the question. No, you're good. I think you I think you were on it.

SPEAKER_00 21:45

And then also, um I would well, I'll I'll save that question for like the question I asked about the animation because it's a it's a really because I've seen interviews. With you, it's a really sweet story. So, and I also think it might come out in this quest this response, too. So, prior to having our guests on Black Writers Read, we ask each of them why they write. Here's what you offer. My goal is to promote creativity, imagination, and critical thinking to a generation that no longer deems these qualities as important. Children are becoming addicted to devices that they are missing out on childhood. I am trying to get kids excited about reading and having childhood fun through stories. What better way to start the process with Maya's birthday wish? So, how have your experiences as a parent informed how you write?

SPEAKER_01 22:45

That's a good question. I feel that I'm more intentional about writing now. Now I need to write not only to entertain, I'm trying to write to shape, to nurture, to promote something that they won't get anywhere else necessarily. So that is that is definitely the goal. Gotta be more careful about what's in here for these little these little minds. Um read with a purpose. That is that's pretty much what I'm trying to do.

SPEAKER_00 23:19

And then the next question that I have. I, and I'm going to, as you respond to this question, I'm gonna bring up, I'm gonna share screen of the website. But I love that your website features sketches of the evolution of illustrating Maya and her family. Can you talk about how you created Maya and her family as characters and why was it important to you to include the evolution of the illustrations on your website?

SPEAKER_01 23:49

That is it to me, it's important to see where you start and where the product, the finished product. It's a whole it's a journey because we started. Don't like that. The characters are based on my family. See how I didn't like that. What the higher but yes, my uh it's just I wanted people to see the behind the scenes, behind what actually goes into creating this this um this story, this book. It's not easy. You gotta go through a lot of changes, just like in life, you gotta go through a lot of changes, a lot of a lot of different things before you get the final result. And is this you? Are you the model? It's supposed it is me. It's supposed to be me. But yes, the character is based on on myself, yes. And then my husband there, mm-hmm.

SPEAKER_00 24:41

And then I think this is a great place to ask this question. Who is Maya?

SPEAKER_01 24:48

Maya is my daughter, my five-year-old daughter, COVID baby. She is I people say they're like, What? How is that? That's a whole nother topic and conversation that'll just go on forever. But she that is my daughter.

SPEAKER_00 25:04

Yeah, and what I'll do in the description, I will share because one of the interviews that I watched, and you and this was a great place for people to go to. It's what it's um a video podcast called the motherhood experience, and you talk a lot about your journey on becoming a mother and Maya. And I would love for people to go there and watch because it was like it's such it was such a beautiful interview.

SPEAKER_01 25:30

Yeah, that was actually she surprised me. I didn't get the sense that we were gonna go that way in that direction, but you never know when you're talking. You never know. I was suit, I was incredibly nervous, and but we just kept we just kept it going. I just kept it honest, and it became a beautiful thing.

SPEAKER_00 25:50

Nice, and I always love an opportunity to shout out um other podcasters.

SPEAKER_01 25:56

See, I love it. Yeah, love it. There's no there's more than enough, no hate, no jealousy. That's good. Yeah, for each other. I love see, I love it. We need more of that.

SPEAKER_00 26:08

Yeah, and also to other to my fellow colleagues at the other black literary podcasts, I do hope that you have Nikki on at some point. Um, because there's a couple of black literary podcasts that I follow, and many of them have been on here that I hope that you'll be on as well. So, speaking of illustrations, they are important to the they are a very important component to children's books. Can you talk about the illustrator for Maya's book, Birthday Wish? How did you select your illustrator and can you talk about the overall process of creating and finalizing the illustrations of your book?

SPEAKER_01 26:45

Yes. Um, Nor Zaki is the illustrator. She did an amazing job. She captured my vision perfectly. Uh, I found her through the publisher. So they bookbox press, they gave me a sample of multiple artists, illustrators, and I was looking through them, and I'm like, uh, don't like that, don't like that. Process. But then Noor, her work was beautiful and it spoke to me, that spoke to my spirit. So I was like, you know what? I feel like she could capture my idea of who Maya is supposed Maya, the character is supposed to be. And I mean, that's her. That is Maya. So Nor, she was a recommendation from the publisher. So when she nailed it.

SPEAKER_00 27:29

Yeah, and then also if you can talk a little bit about um the process of like creating the characters. Like, like, did you when you talked with Nor, did you say, hey, this is the idea, or did she do research on you and be like, here's some sketches? Like, can you talk a little bit more about that process? Oh, yes.

SPEAKER_01 27:54

Uh so with that, I gave her the idea. She had the script, but then I did submit some pictures after I decided, you know what? I want the story to actually be based on our family. So then I just sent her a couple of pictures of first Maya and our little dog that makes the cameo in there. And then I sent her pictures of my husband and myself, and then she did her best to recreate us, and she did a really, really good job. So she did have a lot of influence and from us, and then she just went to work. And she actually, there's a video that she's doing the sketches that she's actually creating it. So that was that was pretty cool. Like, yeah, nor so I hope to work with her um in my next book as well. So we'll see.

SPEAKER_00 28:41

Yeah, and also this I think leads into the next question. This is an aside question that I just thought about. So my apologies and not including it earlier. But how long did it take for you to go from idea to finished product?

SPEAKER_01 28:59

That was about a year. I want to say a little bit over a year, so maybe about 13 months. I remember having the inspired thought and I had a dream because Maya was saying, I don't I don't want to grow, you're gonna be that. And then look watching these children, how they need some help. What we gonna do? What we gonna do? Right, like what we gonna do with this children. Um then it just came from that inspired thought, that dream that I wrote the manuscript. I want to say in about two days. Uh, and then I was like, you know, what am I gonna do with it now? Because I I have it, I wrote it, I think it's good. I may need a second opinion. So then I had it, did some research, found an editor in my area, sent it to him. That came back, I want to say about 48 hours too, very fast. It was incredibly fast, incredibly fast. And I was even shocked, I had no idea about this whole process, this whole thing. I'm just going for it. And so it came back, minor corrections. I did those corrections, sent it to the next step. I was like, oh wow. Then we got the illustrator, then we had to do all put it all together. I was like, so when it's all said and done, it was about a little over a year. Yes, almost like having a baby. Oh wow.

SPEAKER_00 30:25

So such a great process. I love it.

SPEAKER_01 30:29

Yeah, I feel like I got extremely I got extremely lucky because I've heard horror stories where it takes long or takes years. But I'm thinking this is a children's book, shouldn't take three to four years. But yeah, I've heard all kinds of things.

SPEAKER_00 30:46

And then also, too, and a lot of times I have these conversations with my guests aside and not on air because of just how the industry works. But I've heard, you know, stories of like the book was acquired by one publisher, and then either the publisher closed or something happened, and then it took a while to get picked up again, and then it got picked up by another publisher, and that publisher wanted to change the entire scope of the book. Like, I've heard all kinds of stories.

SPEAKER_01 31:15

Yes, I'm telling on-the-job training because I actually so this would be considered a self-published book. Didn't even realize there was a difference, didn't even know. Really, really new. So self-published versus traditional publishing. I'm definitely seeing the difference now. Uh, so this one's more of I would say so. I'm an independent author, so you won't see this splash everywhere until it gets you know more notoriety. Um, traditional publishing, you get all the marketing, you get everything behind it, all in all the books, big box, retailers, bookstores, all the things. So this is grassroots. That's what I'm doing. But definitely trying to get into as many hands as possible because the story behind it is so, I feel like we definitely need that for our kids today.

SPEAKER_00 32:04

Um, and speaking of, and thank you for that for sharing a little because I was wondering if this was um independent or traditional publishing. So, in terms of, I have a question later about this, but are there ways that we can help you besides purchasing the book? Like, are there particular places you would like for folks to review the book? Like get it into libraries, are there like particular strategies that we all can help with?

SPEAKER_01 32:39

Absolutely. Yes. Thank you for that question. I'm working tirelessly trying to get it into, it won't go into big box retailers without a lot of momentum, a lot of sales and all the things. I gotta come with all the sales. So right now I'm trying to get into more schools. Um, trying to get into, I've got a couple libraries, but I'm trying to get into more. Reviews are always helpful. I have quite a strong review, a lot of reviews on Amazon. Go out there and delete that five stars. Yes, thank you. On goodreads.com. That's that's good too. That's a big one. Um, but yeah, just leave the reviews for me. Purchase the book, leave the reviews, all share it on your social media. That's definitely how we're gonna that we can grow it.

SPEAKER_00 33:26

Yeah, because that's another mission of Black Writers Read, is not only to chat with authors, but to get their work into people's hands. Like one of the things that I've started, so I teach um part-time at various different colleges because I don't have a full-time teacher job right now. And I established at each of those, at least two of those places, they have a Black Writers Read bookshelf, which features books that um were written by our authors and talked about on the podcast. And I also, because I teach English and writing, I like to in some of my classes, and it takes a lot of jumping through hoops, but it's so beautiful when it can happen. I ask if I can at least each year in one particular class, ask if I can teach one of the books that was featured on the podcast. And I'm teaching one right now that was talked about um in season five. And I'm also because I'm tapped into like a lot of libraries and things like that, I've also been talking as I live in northern Connecticut and I work in Western Massachusetts, talking with a lot of libraries, independent bookstores to get the authors that have been featured on the podcast there. So not only do I spread the word on authors on this platform, I'm also trying to get the books in people's hands so that they can read them.

SPEAKER_01 34:58

See? Beautiful, because without community and support, it's it's very, it's very hard. Like it's not impossible. I learned the other day that uh what is that fifty Shades of Grey started was a self-published book, and that is a global phenomenon. And became a movie, and became a movie. So what is it like three movies? Yeah. No, it can be done. It's just you gotta you gotta like with anything, you gotta work at it, you gotta network, you gotta communicate, you just gotta do all the things, you just gotta prioritize it. You want it bad enough? Let's let's go.

SPEAKER_00 35:40

Yeah, and you also and I hope this is okay for me to mention, but it's you also have to be very open to where you have your books too, because I think I saw a picture of you on social media, and a child bought the book, and it looked like y'all were in one of your work locations, it looked like.

SPEAKER_01 36:00

Yes, because I have the trust. This is gonna be at my store. Is that my time? Yep. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And I getting this positive feedback, everybody who's purchased the book, they'll come back and tell me, Oh, I loved it, and it's so good. I even have one little girl, she was scared to come up to me. I'm like, girl, what? It's one of my uh one of our customers. Uh, his daughter read the book, loved the book, and then she he brought her into the store and she was so nervous. You see me here all the time. Why are you nervous? And we took a picture. I was like, Oh, that's so cute. You have a fan. I and I said that, and I'm like, Oh, I have a little fan. That's all that's but it's just it's just me. So I didn't really know how to react. I'm all auntie Nikki just come give me a hug. What do you mean? So I I mean, we're trying one kid at a time. We're trying, get off the phone. Get off the phone. Um it'll always it'll always come back to that. Just get off the phone. Go outside, go play.

SPEAKER_00 37:08

And I also love too that families can buy like coloring pages from your website, merchandise, so it lives beyond the actual physical book.

SPEAKER_01 37:18

Yes, absolutely. That experience. So my little coloring pages, they do have little um, of course, you can color it, but it has little things, it has things for you to do and always something to think about. So always always trying to help the help the kids learn by any means, any means, but make it exciting at the same time.

SPEAKER_00 37:42

This is why you're also an educator.

SPEAKER_01 37:44

I we're about to be a home educator for sure.

SPEAKER_00 37:48

Nice because you're because of just the way that you think, because it's it's one thing, and this is gonna be a crazy example before I go into my next to last question. It's one thing to write a book and allow the child to have a vivid imagination. It's something else to have. Yup, sorry, I have two dogs, and they are like my co-host, and they're doing all kinds of stuff in the background.

SPEAKER_02 38:17

I love it.

SPEAKER_00 38:19

And the next is something else where you give your child something to read and it can live off of the page, like the activities that come with it, and also the life skills that they can learn from that particular work. Correct, correct.

SPEAKER_01 38:36

See, I love it. Not just a book, you're learning.

SPEAKER_02 38:40

Yes.

SPEAKER_01 38:41

In a good way.

SPEAKER_02 38:43

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 38:46

So for you, Nikki, what is the most rewarding part of the publishing process? And then what is the most challenging? And I pose this question because we rarely have an opportunity to chat with children's book authors. And it is my understanding that the process of publishing a children's book can sometimes be very challenging because you have beta readers of various ages, including families and young children. And then children's books depend on an interconnected relationship between the narration, words, and illustration. So, what was the most rewarding part of this process? And then what was the most challenging? And I think you kind of shared a little bit of that already.

SPEAKER_01 39:29

A little bit. Um, but the most rewarding definitely the finished product because you put so much of your heart and soul, and then the time and all the things. But when you're when it's finished and you're holding that tangible book in your hand, oh, it's amazing. It's like I mentioned before, holding your baby for the first time. I was so excited to open that book. My husband actually recorded the video. It was so excited to see that it's done, it's here from here from my mind to a tangible book. It's incredible. It's just like a baby in your mind, you dream about the kid all the time, and then when you actually hold the baby, best feeling in the world. So that's beautiful. Uh challenging would be the actual process of publishing. The rejection of traditional publishing, because that is a definitely much more challenging because you do have to find somebody who's willing to invest in your book, willing to pick up your book and then do all the promotion. That in itself is challenging. Self-publishing is your book is gonna get out there. And there's a little stigma like, okay, is it good was it good enough? And that's why I'm I'm battling a little bit about that now, because I didn't go the traditional route. So now, oh, self-publishing. I don't know about all that. That would be my challenge. What I'm facing now is should I have gone traditional publishing and risk being rejected time and time again, or go the route that I did so the book can be out there. It can actually the story, my message can get into people's hands. So that would be that would be my challenge is figuring out which route you want to take and how long you want to invest in waiting. Because traditionally, you're gonna wait. It's gonna be, it will take longer, no matter what type of work you're doing.

SPEAKER_00 41:27

So I'd like to shout out two authors who have been on black, actually, no, three, three black writer reads authors who have been on who either started uh in independent publishing and then over time became New York Times bestsellers, or started in traditional publishing and are doing indie projects now because of the way that the trad industry is going. Reith Ryan, who does contemporary romance, and she wrote like 30 books trad. Um, Victoria Christopher Murray, who I believe started independent, became traditional, and I believe one of her books was turned, or no, three of her books were turned into lifetime movies. Lifetime, yeah, and then Cher Teresa, she's romance, she's independent publishing, and is very popular, very popular. She's romance, and then there is one author. I'm hoping I am quoting this correctly, Kennedy Ryan. She is like best seller with romance. I believe she started independent as well.

SPEAKER_01 42:48

Oh, see, it can be done. Absolutely, yes, yeah, absolutely good.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Yeah, so you have, yeah, so you have a legacy of folks to follow in terms of independent. Because I'm not gonna lie, like I, in terms of, well, in terms of my writing, I've published a couple of things independent, but they were like anthologies featuring other people's work. And I'm not gonna lie, the process of getting it done and real actually, yep, I've worked on two anthologies. The process of getting it the of getting the art done, like the writing independently was a beautiful process because you could do it on your own timeline. And then also you had control of what the finished product looked like. I think the advantage that traditional publishing can give you is it has the business and the backing in terms of the publicity, in terms of yeah, in terms of distribution and getting your work out there. But when it becomes, but yeah, so there's some benefits and drawbacks to each. I definitely know, which I don't know if you're following. There's been this really interesting. Conversation on social media, like I think Roxy and Gay and a couple of other big name black authors have started talking about it, where the traditional the traditional publishing industry is changing so much to where black authors, especially black women authors, are being left behind. Their books aren't purposefully put in big box stores and all these things. And they want to have a larger conversation about why there is this change. So I will definitely say I want to cheer you on being independent because there's at you can at least have control of the chain that's getting your work out there, even though it's a lot harder. It is so much harder.

SPEAKER_01 44:44

Harder, not impossible, harder, not impossible though. So yes, yes, yes. But I I do like it can be done. It can be done, definitely for sure. We gotta give it a stigma though. That stigma in the authors, yes, in the authors, not gonna we gotta give it a give it a stigma.

SPEAKER_00 45:07

Yeah, and it also doesn't help, and then I'll get to my last question. It also doesn't help that we have a situation, I'm not gonna name the purse because I don't want to enter this conversation, but there is um a really popular author who recently got a contract with one of the top five publishers, and the New York Times did an expose on her book, and come to find out her book was written by AI, and now she lost the contract, and the company has yes, and the company has pulled her book. And and the book originally was published independently, and it was written, it was written in. So we now I'm hearing AI can write a book in like in like an hour. I'm like, what? Yeah, so right, and so independent publishing now has that to battle with. The thing that I can say is the stigma of independent publishing is lifting, but now we have the conversation of AI and possibly destroying it. And I'm just like, great.

SPEAKER_01 46:11

Oh yes, I am not a fan. We we will have this conversation, we'll be here all day. We'll be here all day. We're gonna talk about AI. Uh listen, look, AI, I'm right now I am not a fan because of that very reason. We're we're just getting uh you're in education, we're just getting it, we're getting dumber because now you don't even have to do anything, you don't have to know anything, and you could just float around here and like it. Yeah, it's it's incredible to see, and it's incredible to see.

SPEAKER_00 46:45

Yeah, and with my students, I literally tell them, and I in my English writing classes, I tell them, Yes, I don't want you to write using AI because it's horrible. I don't want you using AI because it will deceive you. And they're like, How? And I literally will have them pull up like Jat GPT or something like that, and I'll be like, okay, pose a question to it. Pose a question, then they get the response, then we look through the response, and I'll be like, Look, something's spelled wrong. Yeah, this is not like literally, it will be like Cinderella married the I forgot the name of um what is his name from um Beauty and the Beast, that Prince. Right. It will literally deceive you. And I'm like, this is why I don't want y'all using it because it will it deceives you, and I'm just like, Josh, use your brain, it's not that hard.

SPEAKER_01 47:41

It's not, but it's just the brain. We only use what 10% of it anyway, but now it's getting less less because of digital things, yeah. It it's it's it's scary, it's scary out here. It's so scary out here in these. It is, it is, it's scary, and that's what so kind of taking it back to the book and how I'm raising Maya. Uh my husband and I are raising Maya, is you don't get the tablets, you don't get the devices because I need you to be able to think on your own first before you start getting influenced by social media, getting influenced by movies, things like that. No, think first. I need you to be able to critically think. So and I need you to have fun, I need you to be have situational awareness. We are doing this at five years old. I need you to be able to see what are you gonna see? I can't have you walking with the with the phone and about to get hit run over by a car because I might be the one that does it because just to teach you a lesson, but but it's it's it's yeah, you can't be dependent on that thing.

SPEAKER_00 48:52

Yeah, and then the other story I tell students too. One of the reasons why we need y'all to critically think is let's say, for example, you need to buy a new car, you've done all this research, and you've already identified the things that you need in a car and the car that you want. You go to a dealership, salesmen are there to sell you a product, doesn't matter the they are trying to make their money. So they will tell you whatever they need to tell you. And I live really close to train tracks. Um, if you can hear the train, but yes, but they will tell you whatever they need to tell you to get you to walk out the door with a product that will make the money. Correct, right? And so I say to students, you need to stand firm in what you need, and you are the only one that knows what you need, but guess what? You need critical thinking skills to be able to decipher the things that you need, correct?

SPEAKER_01 49:52

100%, which is now lacking. They don't these kids they don't have it, they don't. I will actually hear stories of people asking Chat GBT, what should I do in life? Are you serious? What'd you say? What what what did you say? What should you do? Oh yes, yes, and then chat GBT will you should maybe start this business, and then the person will go, true story. The person went out and bought all the things needed to start this business, and then I asked, you know, follow up. So how's that going? Didn't even pursue any of that. Nothing, nothing, nothing. So why did you spend all this money and I I yeah, what are we gonna do? What are we gonna do? I know, uh because if you're asking chat dbt, what is your purpose and what we're gonna do in life, we have bigger problems.

SPEAKER_00 50:46

We have much bigger problems, and yeah, if you're dependent on chat GPT to tell you, ooh, we are a hot mess. Like just yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:02

Yeah, I mean, but if we can one person at a time, we can kind of help them see the light. I'm like, no, use it for what it's there for. Don't ask life questions like that. You can't, yeah. That's when you need to talk and communicate to an actual person. How about we bounce some ideas off each other's nine?

unknown 51:22

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 51:23

So but and not knocking anybody who relies on it, not knocking it, not at all. Just let's have some other options.

SPEAKER_00 51:32

Yeah, there's a there's like I tell my students there's a use for it. Like, let's say, for example, you're reading a book and you're having a really hard time understanding a section. I'm like, type in a question in Jat CPT about that particular section, and then it will give you, you know, it will give you it's it's a tool to help, not a tool to do everything.

SPEAKER_02 51:56

Right. Right. Agreed.

SPEAKER_00 52:00

Yeah. And so our time together has come to an end. I would love, yeah, already, right. Already. So, Nikki, I would love to know what is next for you and how can a Black Writers read community support you on this journey?

SPEAKER_01 52:16

Oh, what's next? Let's see, the sky's the limit. But what is next? I do have a second book, uh, getting ready to go to the editor, and we'll see how that performs. And then after that, we're just gonna keep trying to get into the retailers, trying to the world one book at a time, you know, trying to get people back to basics, back to nature, back to connections, family, things of that nature. But I would definitely appreciate pick up your copy of Maya's birthday wish, leave us a review, and tell you all your friends and family.

SPEAKER_00 52:55

And what I love about children's books is they're they're books that you can share and read as a family, especially if you have very small children.

SPEAKER_01 53:03

Correct. Perfect birthday gift, everything. If you just want something that is not it's something out of the box, but at the same time, something kids can relate to, be excited about, and at the same time, they're learning their values. Like we need that baseline. That's the book. That is the book for you, that foundation.

SPEAKER_00 53:22

Yeah, and that's something else you mentioned too. Values, people have lost like what their North Star is. People have like literally lost what is the core purpose of them doing things, like so much.

SPEAKER_01 53:37

Yes, and see I you know, I keep going back to the devices, but it's also we talked about this a little bit about community. If the parents are still trying to just get that money, get that money. We gotta go work every hour of the day is focused on getting that money. All right, who's here to help your kids? The screen is here to help your kids to figure things out. Can't have that. We need to bring back the family, the community, the neighbors, everybody. We just gotta just gotta get back to how it was. The world would be much better.

SPEAKER_00 54:08

Yes, I miss the community. I the communities I grew up in where like literally, like I mentioned, we were off air. Streetlight came on, Nick, get home, it's getting dark. Or like we carpool, like my dad did a carpool to people for work. We carpooled getting to school if somebody needed like a cup of sugar or something like it. And then also just looking out for one another. I we kind of have that neighborhood now where we live. And it's ironic because New England is all about the self-individualism and all that stuff. I'm lucky that we live in a neighborhood where, like, for example, uh, not to talk about her, especially since she's in the other room. My stepdaughter, she she used to open and she used to open at um coffee shop up the street really early in the morning and would ride her bike there. And it'll be like four, four: thirty in the morning, pitch black. One of our neighbors came over with a reflecting jacket and was like, I'm gonna need Natasha to wear this when she's on her bike because people can't see her.

SPEAKER_01 55:09

And I'm like, see, yes, I love that so I love that so much. Yeah, I yeah, we know our neighbors, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 55:20

We live, I'm so blessed that we live in a neighborhood like that, or like our neighbor to the left of us, like will help like plow out our snow. The neighbor to the right of us, she has um a sedan and was having because we live like up a little slope and she was having a hard time getting her car up because we recently got it's now melted, but we got like 30 inches of snow one time, and my husband ran out to help her push her car. Or we have like times when people are traveling, and they'll be like, Can you dog sit? What are our plants? Like, I I love this little neighborhood, and I'm like, I haven't had a neighborhood like this in a while.

SPEAKER_01 56:01

Absolutely, you see, that is beautiful. I love it, and it's and it's and it's lost. So we gotta we try to get that back one person at a time, one conversation at a time. That's that's all we can do.

SPEAKER_00 56:13

Yeah, we can do. So, Nikki, thank you so much for writing. Thank you so much for like literally getting people to read and to talk.

SPEAKER_01 56:25

Yeah, we trying. Sometimes I talk too much, but we trying. Yeah, yes, no, I love what you are doing, so thank you for having me and hundredth guests.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

Yeah, I cannot believe I bet because it literally, Black Writers Read literally started as a one night event, it was only supposed to be one night, and then all of a sudden people were like, We need to do this more. And I'm like, You realize this is only one of me, and it just grew and grew and grew and grew and grew. And I'm like, so I I thank you for being a part of that community. Thank you so much for joining us for this episode of Black Writers Read. Black Writers Read is available on all platforms. Please be sure to subscribe to Black Writers Read wherever you listen to your podcasts to receive each new episode once they are released. And after you've listened to this episode and subscribed to the podcast, I would appreciate so very much if you could also leave a review as your feedback helps me to curate the series and it helps others to find us. I hope that you are so moved and encouraged to take your support of Black Riders Read one step further and join us on Patreon. Thank you for championing this work and helping to sustain this award winning independently produced virtual platform. To learn more, please visit BlackRiders Read.com. Thanks again for your support and for ensuring that Black Writers continue to matter.