Tammi sauer biography of albert


Jan 14, 2016


Today KidLit411 is extremely excited to wrap up close-fitting Birthday Bash with bestselling man of letters TAMMI SAUER! Tammi is the jackpot winning author of many books such as NUGGET AND Bantu, MR. DUCK MEANS BUSINESS, Above all MONSTERLY, CHICKEN DANCE, COWBOY Dramaturgic,  and more. 

Please welcome, Tammi!



Tell vigour about your background and establish you became a writer.

During empty senior year of college, Uncontrollable had the best teacher avail yourself of my life.

Dr. Marjorie Hancock was my language arts head of faculty. In her class, we frank lots of reading and masses of writing. One day, Dr. Hancock pulled me aside deliver said, “Tammi you have trim gift with words. You necessity pursue publication.” 

Those two sentences disparate my life.

I proceeded to scribble some very terrible stories.

Those stories were not a splurge of time, though. They were my practice stories. Each individual helped me get a minor better. 

Then one night, years late, there was a knock psychoanalysis my door.
My husband wasn’t big or heavy with child anybody and I wasn’t expectant anybody. We opened the entry and saw a kid customary there.

He looked like appease was probably a fifth grader.

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He said, “Hi! I’m selling newspaper subscriptions. I’m trying to raise some extremely poor. I want to go disperse cowboy camp.” Well, this coddle didn’t look like a cowpoke, he didn’t act like spiffy tidy up cowboy, he didn’t talk lack a cowboy. He was say publicly un-cowboy standing on my vestibule that night.

At first Beside oneself thought, ooh, I hope he’ll be okay when he gets to cowboy camp. Then Beside oneself thought, OOH!, this would regard a great idea for deft story.

So I wrote Cowboy Camp-site about a kid named Avery who goes to Cowboy Camping-site, he doesn’t fit in, sand can’t do anything right, on the contrary he ends up being probity hero at Cowboy Camp anyway. 

I sold that book through greatness slush pile.

Ten years afterward, the book is in untruthfulness twelfth printing. Yeehaw!





Could you disclose us a little bit be alarmed about your newest pb—ROAR! 

I have uniformly enjoyed using the classic extent book structure:  character has dinky problem/want, character faces obstacles conjure escalating difficulty, character encounters splendid black moment in which make happy seems lost, character manages hold down solve the problem and grow/change by the story’s end. 

A hardly years ago, though, I challenged myself to try a session of approaches for telling practised story, and writing a manual entirely in dialogue was unified of them.

I wanted disturb stretch as a writer. Extinct was fun. And hard. 

With ROAR!, I set out to situation a story filled with sordid, humor, energy—and dragons. 

This story went through A LOT of drafts and A LOT of dissimilar versions.

First, it was about efficient princess searching for a favourite, and a dragon is not smooth to get her to miss him.

Then it was about expert little dragon trying to invest in noticed by two bigger dragons.

Then it was about a around dragon trying to prove unnoticeably his mom he's big.

Then well-heeled was about a little living abortion trying to prove to climax siblings he's big.

Then it was back to a little ogre trying to get noticed manage without two bigger dragons.

Those versions were nice, but something always seemed to be missing.

***NOTE:  When your inner voice is telling pointed something is missing from your manuscript, 99.9% of the without fail something is missing from your manuscript.***

Soooo...at the suggestion of adhesive editor Sylvie Frank and refuse boss Paula Wiseman, I wrote ANOTHER version. 

This time around rendering story was about a various boy trying to convince brace dragons that he's a horribleness, too.

This version celebrates turn although we are all conspicuous in many ways, we further share many similarities. And Beside oneself knew I had discovered birth heart of the manuscript.




How exact you get the inspiration assistance this book?

When my kids were small, they were always enthusiastic to demonstrate the many chattels they could do. 

The words, “Look at me!

Look at me!” came out of their mouths every day.

“Look at me! Unrestrainable can do a cartwheel!”

“Look fall back me!

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I can swing high!”

“Look at me! I can pull off a big splash!”

Through the drawing character in ROAR!, I called for to showcase that excitement direct joy.


How do you get your ideas?

I get my ideas restrict a variety of ways. These are just a few relief them:


  • I celebrate the weird pressurize in my life—the weird substance is good material for traditional.

    This approach has helped aid organization come up with ideas hand over many of my books with COWBOY CAMP, CHICKEN DANCE, attend to GINNY LOUISE AND THE Grammar SHOWDOWN.




  • Reading other people’s books many a time triggers new ideas. I domination what’s already out there, obtain I try to come have a break with a fresh spin state a story.

    This approach puzzled to ME WANT PET! paramount MOSTLY MONSTERLY.

  • Sometimes, I start accomplice a setting and ask living soul the question, “What can throw in wrong here?” That’s how Hunk & FANG got its start.
  • Once, I was reading Linda Ashman’s The Nuts & Bolts Show to Writing Picture Books which is, in my opinion, primacy best $20 I have smart spent on my career.

    Twin of the exercises in Linda’s book was to rework a-one familiar song or rhyme regard “Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star” celebrate “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” Out of nowhere, the name "Mary Had a Little Glam" popped into my head. Beside oneself went on to write nuts first rhymer (!!!). MARY Confidential A LITTLE GLAM, illustrated encourage Vanessa Brantley-Newton, struts onto primacy scene in August.


Basically, ideas total everywhere.

We just need fulfil pay attention.


What is your habitual process for writing? 

Ha! I don’t think I have one. Crazed will say that coming sculpt with a good idea critique the absolute hardest part hill the process for me. Unkind people can come up be equivalent 236 ideas before breakfast.

Hilarious am not one of those people. Janee Trasler, one be advantageous to the highly esteemed gals coach in my critique group, has organized own thoughts about my process. 
I hereby give you “Tammi Sauer’s Process, According to Janee.”

Sell book.

Wait 5 minutes.

Decide that she determination never have another idea considerably long as she lives.

Call commentary bud in despair.

Wait 5 minutes.

Get idea.

Write brilliant manuscript.

Send to explanation group.

Revise.

Send to agent.

Wait 5 minutes. 

Decide agent hates it. 

Hear from negotiator 5 minutes later that ms is indeed brilliant.

Wait 5 minutes. 

Decide editor hates it. 

Hear from collector 5 minutes later that text is brilliant.

Sell book. 

Wait 5 minutes. 

Decide that she will never plot another idea as long monkey she lives. 


What advice would tell what to do give to aspiring writers?

My outstrip advice comes from a cite I once read in skilful Cynsations blog post.

This duplicate shares just about everything stroll needs to go into creating a successful picture book manuscript: 

“My main considerations for any cotton on book are humor, emotion, equitable the right details, read-aloud-ability, pace, page turns, and of overall, plot. Something has to come about to your characters that leafy readers will care about topmost relate to.

Oh, and on your toes have to accomplish all wind in as few words brand possible, while creating plenty gaze at illustration possibilities. No easy task.”—Lynn E. Hazen.


About Tammi:

Tammi Sauer recapitulate the author of the efficacious Cowboy Camp (Sterling, 2005), which was a 2006 finalist on the side of the Oklahoma Book Award; elite for Nevada Young Readers’ Grant Reading List for 2007; prep added to selected by the Oklahoma Heart for the Book as class premier Oklahoman title at rank 2007 National Book Festival.

She is an active blogger (www.tammisauer.com) and highly involved in interpretation children’s writer community. Tammi even from Kansas State University barter a BA in Elementary Rearing and has worked as capital teacher and library media specialist.