Welcome to the RPLA Showcase
2016 Unpublished Early Reader/Picture Book
Wait For Me! Would You Mind? by Agnes Deglon
In Wait For Me! Would You Mind?, the second installment of the trilogy “Kid’s Questions About Life,” find answers for kids pondering the more complex questions of life: What’s a mind? What are the mind’s limitations and its power?
At the 2016 Royal Palm Literary Award Banquet, author Agnes Deglon won First Place in the Unpublished Early Reader/Picture Book category. Each year at the RPLA Banquet, authors experience the joy of earning accolades for all the hard work that is often done in the privacy of the home with little to no recognition. We’re showcasing the best of the best with our First Place winners spotlight. Not only does RPLA recognize extraordinary talent, but we’re giving readers an opportunity to sample excerpts from the winning stories.
Click the link to read a sample:
Excerpt from Wait For Me! Would You Mind?
Q & A with Agnes Deglon
Q: Where do you get your story ideas?
A: I have two kids who are at that age where they ask many questions. As my oldest was 4 years old, I started looking for books to help explain important things about life. He was full of questions and I definitely did not have all the answers. I was hoping to find the answers in a book, but I couldn’t. So I started to collect the answers everywhere I could find them, but I was still struggling trying to explain difficult concepts to him. Then I started drawing my answers, and it seemed to work for him. This is how I created my trilogy on body, mind, and soul called Kids’ Questions About Life.
Q: Anything in particular about your award-winning RPLA entry that you’d like to share?
A: WAIT FOR ME! WOULD YOU MIND? is the second installment of my series. Explaining the mind to children is challenging. My books are not the usual children’s books. They are a collection of questions and answers linked in a story to help parents find answers to challenging questions. The characters are a family of bears living in the great outdoors. The kids are asking questions and the parents do their best to give simple and honest answers. The illustrations in the book are important, especially for the smaller children. My books could be compared to a documentary or a kids’ encyclopedia full of valuable information. My mission is to help children stay healthy and happy. This generation of kids is the first one ever to have a shorter life expectancy than their parents despite the advancement of modern medicine. I believe education is key, we need to know what we are feeding our bodies, minds, and souls. The more we know, the better we can protect ourselves. I hope to make a difference for our children’s future!
Q: Whom do you credit with inspiring your writing?
A: My own and other kids make sure I don’t run out of material. I just listen to them, write their questions down and see what I can come up with. Illustrating my answers is like using a universal language. I think my mind works better with images than words. Maybe because I grew up bilingual (French and German) and now I write in English. It can be challenging, but drawings are the same for everyone, kids, adults, no matter what language they speak.
Q: Any tips for new writers?
A: For me inspiration is key. Nothing happens, nothing flows when I try to force it. My first drafts are always very unorganized and just a collection of ideas. I let them sit there for awhile and look at them later again. I find it very important to take time out of the equation. Writing or illustrating under pressure has not worked for me at all. My best creations come when I least expect them. Go for a walk, a bike ride, a swim, sit outside, find some physical activity to keep you busy, but keep your mind open. That’s when it happens for me.
Thank you for sharing, Agnes, and congratulations! Visit her website: www.agnesdeglon.com
A message about supporting literacy in Florida:
If every member of FWA went to Smile.Amazon.com, chose Florida Writers Foundation, Inc. as their charity and, instead of logging into Amazon.com, logged into Smile.Amazon.com, FWF would receive 0.5% of the purchase funds. Every time.
We could significantly fund the literacy efforts of our organization. No money out of your pockets…just some invested time to set this up.
How easy for us to make a difference. To see all of our work, please read the pages of our website www.floridawritersfoundation.com. You’ll be proud.
Tom Swartz, President, FWF
Agnes Deglon
Awesome! Thanks so much!