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A New Jersey transplant, Ellie Lieberman lives now in sunny Southern California. She works with the fairies on her handmade business, Acorn Tops, when not writing and illustrating. Ellie Lieberman’s books include children’s books, short stories, teen reads, novels, and more. Her writings can also be found in a Girl God Anthology and on Vocal.
Ellie, you get the award for the first author to have two books reviewed from two different genres in the same year! Congratulations! Did you start out writing children’s books and then transition to other genres? How did that progression happen?
Very exciting! I am triply honored!
The very first book I published was a short story/novella called Society’s Foundlings in 2015, followed by my zombie dystopian novella, Solving for X in 2016. My first children’s book was probably A Dragon’s Treasure. That was originally a short story in a dragon anthology in 2016 that I wound up publishing on its own, two years later. I didn’t really write it with the idea of being a children’s book. It just sort of happened to fit more into the “children’s fantasy” genre a bit better.
My first introduction into the world of working on indie children’s books, particularly illustrated children’s books, was through my friend and fellow author, Evangeline Duran Fuentes. Her children’s book, Waggles, was the first book I illustrated. Second was Why Does the Moon Follow Me?, by Barbara Lieberman. Both were published in 2016. Later that year I was in a second anthology. That was probably around the time I was inspired to write The Butter Thief after my boyfriend bought me a book on word origins from a library sale.
It would be about two more years before The Butter Thief was published. I had been in a third anthology (2017) with my short story, The Memory Tree, which was published on its own in 2019. I went on to publish my first book in the Ben’s Little Book Series, Ben’s Little Tomato (2018). It’s the first book I illustrated digitally, I believe. I was able to finish the illustrations for The Butter Thief and finally publish it a month later. From there writing children’s books took off and they currently make up six of my eleven published works.
I write what comes, so the transition between genres happens very naturally and is very dependent upon what inspiration strikes and where it takes me. It’s kind of like chasing and catching fireflies.
I read a lot of children’s books as a pediatric speech-language pathologist since I incorporate them into therapy. One of the things I loved about The Butter Thief was the whimsical surprise ending! What inspired you to write this story?
Part of what inspired The Butter Thief was a book my boyfriend bought me from a local library sale called, Who Put the Butter in Butterfly? by David Feldman. Word origins, and really language in general, fascinates me, so this was the perfect book for me. According to Feldman there were three factors that influenced us calling these incredible and beautiful creatures butterflies, which I talk about in the back of the book. First, is when these amazing insects would appear, which would correlate to around the time of the year people would begin churning butter. Second, is the first butterfly that is commonly seen in Spring in England is the Brimstone butterfly. The colors of the male butterflies match that of butter. We don’t have Brimstone butterflies here in the United States, but we do have a close relative from that same Pieridae family, which are those really pretty yellow ones. And, lastly, and perhaps most important to my story, was the belief that witches and fairies took the form of a butterfly to go into people’s homes and steal butter.
From there, the story just sort of began taking shape. Having worked so closely with the fae on my handmade business, Acorn Tops, I was very excited to mesh together two things I am passionate about. Three, if you count my love of basset hounds.
Readers may not know this, but you illustrated the Basil Basset Book series. You also photographed the cover of Be, which is beautiful! Can you please share more information about your artwork and where you find your inspiration to create these pieces?
In terms of illustrations, the story always comes first for me. At least, so far it has and part of that might be because I started my work with children’s books as an illustrator. Some of that might also be because I started my writing career writing and publishing non-illustrated stories. I use the same method of illustrating my books that I use for illustrating for others. I take a look at the manuscript and try to break it up based off the visuals I can brainstorm from what the text offers.
The design for Basil in The Butter Thief was something I really struggled with. I had about two or three illustrations done and I hit something similar to writer’s block, but for art. I just could not get it to work for me. Unfortunately, one of my greatest shortcomings as an artist is that I am not the biggest fan of going back and redoing something. If I remember correctly, though, I felt inspired to redo the picture of Basil on the tile floor with the bowl of butter in the background and from there I managed to create Basil as he is now and it got me past that block.
The Butter Thief was also drawn and hand painted with my beloved acrylics, which is a carry-over of my earlier illustrating career. However, illustrating takes a crazy amount of time, especially when doing it all with paints. I have so many children’s books of my own that are awaiting illustrations. Every project is worth putting in the time, but when a project takes up so much time that it detracts from others, it can be worth it to change up how you are doing something, too. The Butter Thief was sandwiched between the last of my books illustrated this way and starting to explore digital artwork. Digital artwork has allowed me to speed up the process enough to still invest the time each book needs, but not be so consumed that other projects don’t get a chance to see the light of day.
Covers, for me, come after writing, as well. Part of this is because I’m a pantser. And even in my Be series, where for the next two books, including my WIP, are prequels that fit within a general timeline of when certain events happen, I do not know everything that happens in any given book until I come to the end, and even then, my characters will like to slip something in sometimes. I am not a fan of people on covers. I like really pretty covers that are works of art on their own and tie back to the story in some way.
For books like Be, there are so many different things going on and so many different elements in the book. Similar to the way I illustrate, I was looking for the visuals that could capture those events and elements. Only, this time, I wasn’t looking at the individual snapshot within the manuscript, I was looking at the book as a whole. I wanted to use things within the story that I felt matched the overarching themes. From there, the question became do I have access to those necessary items. Fortunately, at the time, we had a garden, so I had rosemary to spare. The blue glass bottle and the knife I had around the house. I aged a piece of parchment paper using tea and burned the edges. And the wooden background was the side of a beautiful antique bookshelf I had. The wood background was important to me because I felt like it gave a hint of the setting. My plan is to stick with this format for the upcoming books in the series. The next book will have stone as the background, for example.
Which is all a very long-winded way of saying, it’s the story itself that inspires the art.
Your mom, Barb Lieberman, is also an author. How did her writing career influence your career choice?
I like to say that I became an author at my mother’s keyboard. When my brother and I complained about struggling to fall asleep at night, she would tell us to make up stories in our head. When the symptoms of her chronic illness kept her awake, she followed her own advice, but the stories were so interesting she wound up writing them down. She would then read me what she wrote and even let me stay up past my bedtime to hear more.
Being able to see that process, of a whole world being created out of a blank page was like magic. I grew up in a house of books with my mother’s philosophy, handed down from her father, of “read everything,” sometimes to the chagrin of my teachers. Books were part of our bedtime routines and even some of our annual traditions. I loved reading, but when you see a name on a cover, it can feel otherworldly. Seeing my mom do it made the very notion of writing a book something tangible from a very young age.
Then, in 2013, my mother went through the process of self-publishing the first of her stories, a fairy tale she wrote for me at my request. I beta-read. I was there as she edited and formatted and figured out how to make her cover. Again, it was just magic to see it become an actual, hold-it-in-your-hands, put-it-on-your-shelf, name-on-a-cover book. It was another “maybe I can do it, too” type of moment.
I’ve also had the pleasure of working with her as a co-author on two children’s books. My Basset Has the Sneezles, which was also co-written with my boyfriend, is published and available. My Mom is in a Wheelchair, which is also co-written with my brother, is just awaiting illustrations at this point.
She really paved the path for me and still helps me as a beta-reader and remains my biggest fan.
You have another children’s book series. Can you please tell readers a bit more about Ben’s Little Books series and how it compares to the Basil Basset Book series?
Ben’s Little Books Series is about a boy who learns lessons about the little, but important, things in life through the garden, plants, and nature. This series follows my mother’s book, Ben’s Little Acorn, and is inspired by my brother, Ben, my grandmother, Peggy, and various other people and events in our life. In the first of my books in the series, tomatoes help teach patience and expectations. In the second one, pumpkins help teach that “sometimes the best things come from little packages” and explore traditions. In the fourth one, bees help teach that little things can make a big difference.
In comparison to the Basil Basset Books series, the magic in Ben’s Little Books is more in the everyday nature and the lessons that come from it. It also does not have a dog. At least, not yet.
I know you are working on other books right now. Can you share more about your works in progress and what readers can expect to see from you next?
For children’s books, I have a stand-alone, rhyming, early reader about bees that I’m hoping to illustrate soon called Busy Bee. The third book in the Basil Basset Books series is The Way the Cookie Crumbles. It will be exploring an idiom this time and takes place during Christmas. There is the fifth book in the Ben’s Little Book series, this time about peaches. Then there’s also My Mom is in a Wheelchair about my family’s experience growing up with our mom in a wheelchair and all the amazing things she did with us. That one might not be coming out for another year or so, though.
I also have in the works, the prequel to Be, An Impossible Dream. That series, so far, is looking like it will be four books with two potential companion story collections.
Thank you so much! Acorn Tops is all about capturing the magic of the everyday through handmade fairy and scented creations. I make hand carved fairy doors using my grandfather’s carving tools and inspiration from a picture I received from my grandmother, which is also my business logo. I also have fairy houses, raggle taggle fairy dolls, scented fairy pillows (including new ones coming up that feature my own artwork), a variety of scented décor including mini heart-shaped sachets, and scented mug huggers. Magic and reading go hand in hand and, to go along with my scented line of handmade creations, I also make scented bookmarks.
You can find my shop on Etsy (https://www.etsy.com/shop/acorntops). I also do local, in-person events when I can. My children’s books, scented heart sachets, and fairy doors can also be found at a local, SoCal florist, called Floral 101.
What advice do you have for other indie authors?
The experience doing the illustrations for The Butter Thief really drove home a few important concepts for me. First, as a writer, illustrator, etc. you have to be happy with the finished product. If you are not happy with it and you put it out there, it will make you miserable. If you’ve already put something out there that you’re not happy about, you can always go back and fix it. That’s one the beauties of being an indie author.
Second, don’t be afraid to go back and redo something. It isn’t a waste of time. If anything, the extra time is worth it to get it right.
Third, if you are facing a block in any creative endeavor, it’s often indicative of some other issue with what you are working on. I find this all the time in my own writing. It’s often alerting you to something that isn’t working and perhaps something that needs to be redone.
In this same vein, I’d also stress that while it is great to have a goal in mind for when you would like your project to be out there, remember that another beauty of being an indie author, especially a self-published one, is that we make our own deadlines. This means it doesn’t have to be written in stone. My advice is to always have it in pencil.
Just as deadlines shouldn’t be written in stone, just like dealing with writer’s block, don’t be afraid to change up what isn’t working, not just in story telling but in every aspect of putting your book out there. Switching to digital art for my books has been life changing for me. With my upcoming novel in the Be series, I’m playing around with formatting more. Don’t be afraid to try something new, change up how you’re doing it, and let yourself grow.
I’m also a self-taught artist. I did not go to school for writing. Don’t let a lack of degree or education bar you from pursing your passions and dreams. Always remember you’re never too old and you’re never too young. My friend, Evangeline Duran Fuentes, was in her sixties when she started publishing her books. I was nineteen when my first book was published.
There are also my three go-to pieces of advice. First, just write. Get it down on the page. You can make it pretty later. Worrying before or during putting pen to paper is another cause of writer’s block. Second, a quote from Jack Kerouac that I feel helped me refine my writing, “Someday I will find the words and they will be simple.” And, third, and probably most important and the one that has helped me the most, not just in writing but in life, is take all advice with a grain of salt. Take what works, leave what doesn’t. There will be a million voices telling you how to do something. Only you know what works best for you.
What is the one question I didn’t ask that you wish I had?
Not so much a question, but I would love to shout out some of the other children’s books I’ve illustrated, including numerous books by Evangeline Duran Fuentes (I Am Monarch: Soy Monarca, Chuckles & Grumpy, A Tale About Tails, and many more), books by Pam Ryan (The Story of the Missing Sock and Baby Bird Gets His Feathers) and a book Barbara Lieberman (Why Does the Moon Follow Me?).
I would also like to add that the majority of my children’s books have extra facts in the back of them. In the Ben’s Little Books Series, I also include comprehension and discussion questions, STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Mathematics) activities, a glossary, and more. The reason for this is when I was at the LA Festival of Books teachers often asked for books that included more that could help supplement a lesson in this way. One of the reasons I selfishly enjoy this is because for a while I wanted to be a teacher. Another reason I enjoy this, though, is because it can lend itself to other learning environments, such as homeschooling, community organizations for kids, library story times, and the like. Most important for me, though, is I find it ultimately helps further foster curiosity, imagination, and life-long learning and take those concepts outside the classroom and the words on a page.
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