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Guetty Stewart lives in the beautiful city of San Diego with her husband, two daughters and her fury baby. Guetty values the importance of family time where story time takes front and center. Staying home to help raise her children Started her on this journey to becoming a children’s book author. Writing Emily and The Red Balloon Club is just the start of something wonderful. When Guetty is not writing and illustrating she is in the kitchen cooking and spending time with the family.
Emily and The Red Balloon Club is such a sweet story about embracing who you are and the value of friendship. What inspired you to write this book?
I have two daughters and they are both very shy. My oldest daughter had a really hard time making friends, So I was always finding ways of trying to teach her how to start conversations with other children.
I love your illustrations! The colors are vibrant and they are somehow simple yet complex with details. What was your vision when you set out to illustrate this book?
I didn’t have a vision. All I know is that I wanted to draw a little girl and the animals that live in the garden. It started off looking one way, but by the time I was done, it came out looking a lot different than what I started with. While putting pictures to the story the illustration takes on a life of its own. I did enjoy the time I put into illustrating this book.
In my opinion, you beautifully highlighted the strengths of an introvert and I referenced this in my review. Did you set out to intentionally do this or was it just a natural part of the story?
I intentionally used her strength because it was a natural part of the story. That’s the only way Emily was going to grow and overcome her fears. I have a daughter who is shy, as you know and we had to focus on her strength all the time to help her out.
The video of Emily and The Red Balloon is what initially caught my eye when you shared it on Twitter. I haven’t seen many videos of children’s books. What made you create one and what was that process like?
The reason I created the video was to catch the eyes of potential readers like yourself. If people can see how cute and beautiful the illustration is in this book, the more likely they would show interest. It was so much fun creating this Video. I had to teach myself how to work with different apps to create it. Working with the narrator was a pleasure as well. Seeing it all come together was a proud moment for me.
I’m always curious about an author’s writing journey because there are so many different paths to becoming a children’s author. What has your journey been to becoming a children’s author?
After the military, I became a stay-at-home mom. Shortly after that, I started telling my children stories. At some point, my husband suggested that I take up a hobby. I can clearly see that he does not know what it takes to run a household and take care of two small children. So, I thought to myself, bless his heart and I picked up a hobby. I started drawing again since it was simple and I thought I was good at it. I taught myself how to illustrate on my laptop, that’s a journey in itself. When I became good at illustrating, I decided to write a book.
Do you intend to turn this into a series? What other adventures might Emily go on?
Oh yes, Emily and The Red Balloon Club will definitely be a series. Throughout Emily‘s journey, she will be making more human friends. They will have plenty of adventures in the garden because the garden is such a big place.
Yes, I do want to write a romantic novel. I have this idea that has been dancing around in my head for almost a year now.
What advice do you have for other indie authors?
Keep going and don’t stop until you get to where you want to be. This is what I tell myself every day until I get to where I should be.
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