When Author Rebecca Lyndsey is not writing, she loves to draw and paint any chance she can get. She is interested in pursuing new techniques to branch out with new mediums and tools. Mrs. Lyndsey indicates, " I love music and enjoy singing right along with the artist, although, I don't think my cats like me singing as much as I do. I am an avid reader and read many different genres. My husband and I enjoy being outdoors any chance we get." Mrs. Lyndsey discovered her abilities to write secondary to her grand ability to illustrate. "My desire to be an illustrator did come first. I have always enjoyed drawing and wanted to try someday to create a career out of it, thus, I took lots of art classes while in high school and attending college to become an art teacher. That, however, did not work out because they dropped the art program where I taught. One day I saw a contest for a children’s book and gave it a shot. That’s what inspired me to not only illustrate books but write my own as well." Creating children's books for Mrs. Lyndsey is her first love, but she does have a few ideas for adult novels. She indicates, "A good friend of mine and I have one in the works right now." As a child, however, she was interested in something very different. " I remember wanting to be an archeologist or work at an aquarium, and I still want to be those things." Many aspects go into developing a story; Mrs. Lyndsey thinks what makes a good story is actually a simple concept, but often harder to attain. "For children's books, when you can keep a child's attention, you then have a great story on your hands." Writing an outline is often something most authors do before even getting to the book itself. Ms. Lyndsey states, "I didn’t write one for my first book World of Color, but I did for both Imagination Destination and my new book, Bullies? No Worries!." Since children's books need to be simpler than chapter books and novels, writer's block rears its ugly head. Something more unique happens to Mrs. Lyndsey. "For me, it’s more illustrator’s block, if you can believe it. When it happens, I need to step away from the project for a while and read a book, work on a painting, go for a walk or do anything else, and usually an idea will come to mind and I’m ready to work again." While an author constructs their writings sometimes they feel as though they are one or all of their characters, this situation has happened to Mrs. Lyndsey. She indicates, "It might sound crazy, but I like to put myself into the scene to help write out what I think the character would say next." By the same token, this author employs another trick, which allows her to write and draw peacefully, get in the mode, and stay in the mode. "I like to listen to music or have the TV on. I don’t like complete silence when I write or draw. Not sure if that is strange, but it works for me." The advice Mrs. Lyndsey has for any aspiring author is, "If writing is something you really want to do, then never give up. Don't listen to yourself and give up when things look down. Don't listen to the ones who say it's not worth your time. If you have a story to tell, then tell it. If you're happy with it, that's all that matters." Mrs. Lyndsey's current project is her third children's story titled, Bullies? No Worries!, which is complete and been released on May 18, 2015. The author's reaction praising its release was, "Woohoo! This book uses many of the same characters from Imagination Destination, but this time the characters encounter some bullies and learn how to deal with them. In addition to my own, I've recently teamed up with another author from Beau Coup and illustrated her children’s book as well. I am hoping to work on the formatting for it soon." It takes loads of time to write a book and having it illustrated take additional time. Mrs. Lyndsey indicated, "Writing and illustrating takes me about five months, but it varies. Many times I will write the book in my spare time and illustrate it when I am off for summer break." In writing World of Color the author was inspired and created it due to entering a contest named Spoonful of Stories. She states, "I love color, art, drawing, and everything to do with painting, so I began looking around, wondering what my life would be like if color didn't exist, and we lived in a world of only black and white. That was my inspiration and soon World of Color was created." Part of writing the book is selecting a fitting title, Mrs. Lyndsey explains, "The title for my first book was easy because my entire concept was about earth and all the beautiful colors that surround us. For my second book, Imagination Destination, I toyed with some different ideas, but talked with a friend about each of them. I just wasn't happy with any of them. We got to talking and all of a sudden the title popped in my head and I knew it was perfect!" In reading this author's books, she hopes readers grasp something special from each one. Here is what she hopes, "For World of Color, I want my readers to recognize that our world is full of beauty and that's what makes us different and it's okay to be that way. If everything and everybody were the same, our world would not be as wonderful as it is. For, Imagination Destination, I want to inspire my readers to want to get up, go outside and use their imagination to create their very own world. The possibilities are endless as to where one can go; after all, it's all about imagination. And for my recent book, Bullies? No Worries!, I want to let kids know that sometimes there is a reason for what others do and sometimes we need to be able to see that and try our best to help. Another message is, we are all different and it's okay to be proud of that difference!"
The life events Mrs. Lyndsey has experienced is something she tries to contribute in her books. She states, "Being an elementary school teacher, I use my experiences to come up with book ideas that help teach a lesson in a fun, silly and entertaining way. At least, that is my goal." The hardest part of writing her books she finds, "A good balance. Finding the time to write, illustrate, and promote my books while teaching full time, in addition to balancing home life, and free time has been my biggest challenge, but I find it truly is all worth it." Ever wonder what book a writer reads? Mrs. Lyndsey reveals, "I just finished reading the Sophie Rhodes series from Author Karen Cantwell, which I adored. Now I am reading A Walk on the Haunted Side by Rose Pressey. To contact this author, she is located at the following links: www.authorrebeccalyndsey.weebly.com http://rebeccalyndsey.blogspot.com/ www.facebook.com/authorrebeccalyndsey www.twitter.com/AuthorRLyndsey www.pinterest.com/rebeccalyndsey https://plus.google.com/+RebeccaLyndsey/