Space City Scribes

By Margaret Lea Tonya Ellis, one of our own Houston chapter members, is both self-published and traditionally published in many KidLit genres. Read all about her journey in the email interview below.  1) Tell us about your writing journey. For example: When did you start seriously pursuing writing? What most helped you develop your craft? What genres do you write? I've always loved reading books and writing, and I thought about pursuing writing as a career after I won a young author's competition in the fifth grade. Back then, I wasn't sure how I'd make a living writing books, so I decided to become a journalist. After college, I got a job as a business reporter at a newspaper. When my family moved to Houston, I wrote freelance articles about local celebrities for Sugar Land, Cy-Fair and Katy Magazines for ten years. I became interested in writing for children while sharing my childhood favorites with my own kids. My youngest son didn't relate to many of the ...

By Margaret Lea      Editor Bunmi Ishola will be the speaker at our online monthly meeting May 4, 2026. She will talk about “The Editor-Author Relationship.” My email interview with Bunmi is below.  1) What is your job title/publisher? Senior Editor, WaterBrook Children’s/Random House Children's Books   2) I read an online article that said you took a huge pay cut when you became an editor. What job were you doing before? Has your salary caught back up now?  I did—went from making between $55-60K as a middle school teacher to $35K as an editorial assistant in 2018. I’ve had a few job changes and promotions that have increased my salary to a more livable wage over the years; however, I think I’d be making more if I stayed in education. Proof of how much I love my work, I guess!   3) What’s your favorite part of being an editor? There is a lot to love about being an editor—the authors and teams I get to work with, the stories I get t...

By Margaret Lea Sydney Dunlap is speaking at our April 13th meeting (Tracy Gee Community Center and online both). She will talk about “Middle Grade Musts: Highlighting Elements That Will Make Your Story Shine.” Below is my email interview with Sydney. Also, check out her website at sydneydunlap.com .  1) Tell us about your writing journey.  My grandmother gave me a journal when I was eight, and it sat empty for a while. Then one day I wrote a poem in it, followed by a little story, and I gradually discovered that I loved writing. That eventually led to creative writing electives in high school and college and some writing courses at the grad level for continuing ed credits while I taught elementary school. I also joined SCBWI (all the way back in the early 2000s) and had a lot of fun getting involved with my local chapter, the Mid-Atlantic region, taking part in a writer’s group, attending craft-focused writing workshops/retreats, and serving as our conference co-chair for sev...

      By Margaret Lea Hi everyone! You don’t want to miss Susan Johnston Taylor at our next chapter meeting on March 2, 2026 . Her presentation is titled “Persevering Past Rejection: Tools and Tips to Save Your Sanity.” This topic should resonate with all of us, writers and illustrators alike.       Here’s Susan’s first tip— Don’t jump into the “query   trenches,” as so many people call it. Go on a “query quest” instead. Look on querying as an adventure, not a time of being shot at, bombed, and surrounded by death and destruction. Yep, query quest sounds like a much more fun place to hang out!      It took Susan seven years and over 400 queries before she found her agent, Mara Cobb at Lighthouse Literary, even though Susan had already sold two picture books to a publisher. Her debut Animals in Surprising Shades: Poems about Earth’s Colorful Creatures came out in 2023 and has won numerous awards. Her ...

By  Margaret Lea        Growing up, Kristen Kiesling would watch a crime show and want to be a detective or watch a medical drama and want to be a doctor. Her dad owned a commercial greenhouse in a rural setting, and Kristen thought, even back then, that a compost pile full of worms would be a great place to hide a dead body. She grew up near Tulsa, OK but now lives in Katy and is part of our Houston SCBWI chapter.       Kristen heard her fair share of, “You should be a writer,” from teachers throughout the years, but she didn’t see how that could be a viable career, so she got a business degree at University of Oklahoma and worked for IBM. She took a few years off when her kids were born, then got her teaching certification and taught 3rd grade for a couple of years. She has since stopped teaching full time but misses interacting with the kids. She recently became involved with WITS— Writers in the Schools— where she enjo...