Latest / 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids. / Author Interview with Kelly Wilson Mize

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Author Interview with Kelly Wilson Mize · 5–Minute Parenting: Tips to Help You Raise Competent, Godly Kids.

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Welcome to another episode of the Five Minute Parenting Podcast.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Karen Ferguson, wife, mom, grandmom, and children's book author with a background in K-8 education and a passion for equipping parents to raise confident and God-confident kids.
• 0:18
  SPEAKER_00: In this podcast, we'll cover parenting practices for both a practical view and a biblical view.
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Our goal is to help you raise kids with a positive, godly self-image so they can become all they were created to be.
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: I know you're busy, so we'll keep it short.
• 0:32
  SPEAKER_00: Let's take just five minutes and dive in.
• 0:39
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to another episode of Five Minute Parenting.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Karen, your show host, and today I'm excited to interview writer and author Kelly Wilson Mise.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: Kelly is a wife, mother of two young adults, and proud cat mom with 25 years' experience as a published author.
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: A former educator with a master's degree in education, Kelly has written an extensive collection of stories, articles, devotions, interviews, and curriculum projects for various publishers, including Lifeway, Prager You Kids, Bethany House, Guideposts, Encourage, and others.
• 1:18
  SPEAKER_00: She's also a contributing author of 12 books.
• 1:21
  SPEAKER_00: In 2021, Kelly published her first independent project, a picture book for all ages, titled The Beautiful Story Within Me.
• 1:30
  SPEAKER_00: Kelly, welcome to the show.
• 1:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm so glad to have you here.
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: We're going to jump right in with the first question to help our listeners get to know you and your sweet book.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: So tell us a little bit about yourself, Kelly, and how you got started writing.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: Hello, Karen.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: Hey, how are you?
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm so happy to be here.
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um you introduced me pretty well.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um I am um a wife and mother.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_01: My children are grown now, and I'm learning how to be an empty nester.
• 2:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but um um you asked me um how my writing uh started.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_01: Um I won't I won't go through my whole introduction again.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_01: You did such a great job.
• 2:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um my serious writing journey began when I was when my oldest child, um, a son, Grant, was six months old.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Um he was diagnosed with a deadly neurological disease.
• 2:24
  SPEAKER_01: And um in that helpless situation, I found that words were therapeutic for me.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_01: And sort of that situation sort of uncovered in me a long buried, as you would could put it, passion for writing.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_01: Um, my son is now 26 and healthy.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I've shared that miraculous testimony of our experience with him in that first year of his life many times and in many different ways, um, verbally and in print um over the years.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_01: But my very first success um in published writing came almost 25 years ago.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, I submitted a poem to Focus on the Families Clubhouse Junior magazine.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: Oh, yeah.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_01: And they published it.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I was so excited, and um, that kind of put my wheels in motion at high speed, and I began to research in books and um via this new thing called the internet, uh, places that I could submit my work.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_01: And I remember there was a group called Faith Writers that was a lot of fun for me years ago.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: They had weekly contests online at um all different levels of writing, and the winter the winners um were published every so often in a book.
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_01: And I'm not sure if that's still the way things work for Faith Writers, but in the early 2000s, uh it was an excellent avenue for me to write and just improve my skill.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've been Southern Baptist my entire adult life, and I've been blessed to do a lot of different work for Lifeway Christian Resources over the years.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_01: And people are always curious um about how those assignments got started.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_01: And it's kind of a fun story for me to remember.
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_01: Back in the day, Lifeway Kids Department had sort of an online test uh that a person could take with along with applying to write.
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_01: Um, not sure if that test even exists anymore, but I had to rewrite a Bible story that was um grade level appropriate.
• 4:23
  SPEAKER_01: For example, take this passage and write it for a seven-year-old or something like that.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: But apparently I passed a test and was invited to a writer's conference in Nashville where I learned to write for one of their kids' devotional magazines.
• 4:37
  SPEAKER_01: And um, for many years, Lifeway would do that.
• 4:40
  SPEAKER_01: They would invite writers to conferences to prepare them to write for various publications.
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_01: And as a stay-at-home mom at the time, I thought I had died and gone to heaven when I was invited to those conferences.
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_01: They were just so much fun.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and now the conferences are virtual, so it's not quite as much fun, but I'm still so grateful when I'm asked to participate in one.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but all my writing experience has been a godsend, just the grace of God in my life.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, when I was home raising my kids, it it gave me a hobby, kind of a part-time job, and a just a way to feel relevant, you know, amid potty training and carpooling.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_01: Um I was blessed.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_01: I was blessed that one thing led to another.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_01: And I continue to do a few assignments for life way here and there.
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but since then I've been blessed with some other wonderful opportunities.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_01: I've written, as you mentioned earlier so kindly, um, I've written devotions and stories for websites and compilation books and some educational materials.
• 5:39
  SPEAKER_01: But um I even wrote a community column for a newspaper years ago when newspapers were still a thing.
• 5:45
  SPEAKER_01: Um so I've done a lot of different things, just a little bit of a lot of different things.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but I don't mean to sound like I consistently have work.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've had my share of rejection for sure.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Ouch.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's kind of been a feast or famine situation for me uh with the writing.
• 6:02
  SPEAKER_01: And I just feel like I'm always on the lookout for what God might want me to do next.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and that's not always clear.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_01: I have a lot of experience, but not always sure what to do with it.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um, and those who know me well know that the constant searching is um something that's sometimes frustrating to me.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_01: I can imagine.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I was gonna say, what an inspiring story.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: Because as a writer, I know it's not easy to get writings, whether it's devotionals or articles published.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so definitely God provision.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: And it sounds like as you're searching, because I I know that as well.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, for writers, that kind of goes with the territory, right?
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: The rejections.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: We got to have thick skin, and it's not always easy.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: But um, I love how you, as you're searching, it sounds like you kind of work with the Lord on that as far as what what to do and what to submit.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: I love that.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: Thanks.
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_01: I definitely try.
• 6:56
  SPEAKER_01: He's um I definitely want to do it for him, and um, so I sometimes have to wait and um give it time and time and lots of prayer to find out what that is.
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Well, I had the privilege of reading your picture book, The Beautiful Story Within Me.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I love it.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's such a heartwarming story about identity for people of all ages.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: So, what inspired you to write that book?
• 7:20
  SPEAKER_01: Well, um, as I've as I said, I've been blessed to do just a little bit of a lot of different things um writing-wise.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_01: And so I felt like just the next logical step uh was for me to write a book.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_01: And people always would ask, um, when are you gonna write a book?
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_01: When are you gonna write your own book?
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_01: And um I guess the shutdown with COVID kind of gave me more time and opportunity to do that, um, as it as it did for many writers.
• 7:44
  SPEAKER_01: But um, at the time I had the idea for the book, uh I was working as a teacher librarian, and I started thinking about how many wonderful books on the shelves, rarely saw the light of day.
• 7:55
  SPEAKER_01: You know, a lot of those um mostly ignored books uh had one thing in common.
• 8:00
  SPEAKER_01: Their covers, you know, were not visually attractive to the students.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: And of course, I did my best to try to draw attention to and promote those books, but you know, most were old and dull and faded and somehow otherwise damaged.
• 8:14
  SPEAKER_01: Really good books.
• 8:16
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so as the classic adage, don't judge a book by its cover says, um, the books were truly being judged by their covers.
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_01: And so the beautiful story within me is it kind of a new take on that idea.
• 8:28
  SPEAKER_01: I started comp uh contemplating just how many things people had in common with books.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_01: And just a fun fact, um, every page of my book contains sometimes subtle references to those similarities, just things that books and people have in common.
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_01: And the main character of the story is a book on a library shelf.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_01: And the story follows just her life stages and what she experiences, and um it focuses on her feelings and emotions um that are associated with each stage of her life.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: That yeah, that is awesome.
• 9:06
  SPEAKER_00: What a creative way to get an important message to readers.
• 9:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I'll let you speak on that.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: What is the main message that you hope readers take away from reading your book?
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_01: Well, the book is all about the unconditional love of God and um a believer's identity in Christ.
• 9:23
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, the basic premise is that regardless of how other people view us and judge us based on factors we can't control, um, there's at least one reader with a capital O who judges us uh not by our outward appearance, but by what's on the inside.
• 9:40
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I tried to write the book in a way that could speak to all ages.
• 9:45
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, although picture books are generally thought of as being for young children, I was hopeful that this one would have aspects that would appeal to every age and stage.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I've shared the book with students in schools, and it also flowed really easily as a part of a presentation at a church women's conference I was invited to speak at.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um but you know, some of the my most treasured feedback has come from older women like me, haha.
• 10:12
  SPEAKER_01: Um who can relate to the aging.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, yeah, who can relate to the aging of the main character and just all that entails.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, for a picture book, I do use some big words, but they are defined in a glossary.
• 10:27
  SPEAKER_01: And so hopefully younger kids can pick up some new vocabulary as a bonus.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I just tried really hard to make it enjoyable and applicable for all ages.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: Yes.
• 10:38
  SPEAKER_00: Well, and it really is.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's very well done.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: And I recommend listeners uh check it out.
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: Where's the best place to find it online?
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: Would you say your website, or do you want them to go straight to Amazon?
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, yeah, I do have a website, but it just links to Amazon.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Um it's available just about anywhere online.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_01: Um there are some local, I live in Huntsville, Alabama.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: There are some local stores here who carry the book, but um really easy just to jump online.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_01: Um, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, um, walmartwalmart.com.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_01: Um, just um just if you type in the beautiful story within me and Google, a Google search, um, it should pop up for you.
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and we'll have that in the show notes.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: We'll have your website as well as links to the book.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: So thanks so much.
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: Just for sharing just a little bit about your story.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I do have one more question for you before we close that will be helpful for parents.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, so as a former educator and school librarian, what advice can you give parents to help instill a love of reading in their kids?
• 11:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know that's not always easy.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, that's the magic question, isn't it?
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, yeah.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I I feel like modeling reading um is the simplest way to encourage children to read, just letting your kids see you read and enjoy books and you know, some other things you can do.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_01: Plan visits to the library or bookstore, of course.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_01: Um, they often have lots of really fun programs.
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_01: Um, provide structured quiet time for reading if you can, with lots of different kinds of books, um, fiction, nonfiction, fairy tales, graphic novels, kids love.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_01: Um, if you find that a movie or a TV show is going to be released that's based on an appropriate book, maybe read the book together first and then compare the two when the show comes out.
• 12:23
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I will say if I had the opportunity to parent my children over again, I would do a few things differently.
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, wouldn't we all?
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yes.
• 12:32
  SPEAKER_01: But um with my teaching background, I was really determined to teach my kids to read early, and I did.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_01: But looking back after they learned to read independently, um, in a way I thought my job was over.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I wish I had continued to read aloud to my kids regularly.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_01: Um, I mistakenly assumed that when they could read on their own, they no longer wanted or needed me to share reading time with them.
• 12:56
  SPEAKER_01: And that that I see now wasn't true.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: That's a good point.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_01: But I also want to say this.
• 13:01
  SPEAKER_01: I found it to be true just watching my own and many other children grow up over many years.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_01: Um we all we all know the data, you know, all the studies that show how important reading is to the future success of children.
• 13:14
  SPEAKER_01: But even so, I don't think parents should beat themselves up if reading does not turn out to be their children's very favorite thing.
• 13:21
  SPEAKER_01: Um, some kids are gonna naturally be more inclined to want to read for pleasure than others.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_01: Uh, some of the most intelligent people I know are not huge readers.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: Um, so as a teacher and as a writer, I would just advise parents to continually encourage reading, um, but try to do so without being pushy about it.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_01: Trying to force a child to read will sometimes, you know, have the opposite effect of what you're trying to accomplish.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: But um, my overall advice is just be a good example.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_01: Um, make a variety of books and other reading material available to your child and just really enthusiastically encourage them to read.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: Great points and great advice.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: Kelly, thank you so much for being on the show and sharing with our listeners.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: And listeners, be sure to check out Kelly's website and links to her book, which is in the show notes.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: And until next time, have a blessed week.