Hi Heather, thank you for agreeing to participate in this interview.

1.      Tell me a little bit about yourself and your background?

My name is Heather S. Iversen-Merillat – pen name, H.s.i.Merillat.  I am a mother to four adults and grandmother of two toddlers. 

After raising my kids and seeing them off to their adulthood, I began my professional career in the world of commercial real estate. But when my grandchildren arrived my creativity took a giant leap forward and I tapped into a world that I had forgotten – a land of whimsey and song. I began to paint the images imprinted on my mind and have been in hyper-drive, ever since!

2. What can you tell us about your book?

“Frogilly Digilly Doo” started as a little counting ditty that I wrote when my grandson was born. I pictured a dance number of dancing frogs who sing a catchy tune. My mind lives in a musical world of soft colors where alliteration and rhyme are my thought language. In this strange landscape, the swamp came alive and “Frogilly Digilly Doo” was born.

3.      Give me an insight into your main character/s. What does he/she/they do that is so special? Will there be a sequel?

As I developed the illustrations, I began to see “Frogilly Digilly Doo” as something more. Each of my frogs were unique and I wanted to promote a concept that we are all created with our own set DNA. As the mom of a son who is neurodivergent and being on the spectrum myself, I understand what it’s like to be uncertain of how to fit into a very complex and often socially dynamic world.

In a world where kids are taught that they can be anything and anyone they want to be, I want to promote the idea that they are A-MAZING, just as they are. My goal is to encourage children that they can achieve anything they set their mind to, but that means they need to learn to be comfortable in their own skin. I want to challenge them to be their best selves, by learning to be kind, compassionate, brave and, most of all, happy with that kid in the mirror. Their DNA was knit together to make one fantastic and unique person. Dare to be incomparable! Nobody is you’er than you!

4.      What’s the most surprising thing you learned while writing your book?

In 2020, my granddaughter was born and the first set of poems that I wrote centered around The Dreamery, the place where whimsey and imagination come from, and daydreams are born. From there, The Whim Dreamery came into being. I began writing them for the grand kiddos, but I wished for a way to put them into a book format with pictures, to read them as bedtime stories. 

I soon found out that the publishing world isn’t as easy as submissions and rejections. After a ton of research, I decided to get the poems copyrighted and began my query process for an agent. Every professional writer’s group warned against vanity publishing and self-publishing. It was 2020 and financially, I wasn’t in a position to pay the cost for any type of self-publishing, even if I could. 

I wrote query after query to different agencies and got plenty of rejections! Poetry is a hard sell in any genre, and I wasn’t getting any traction. Finally, I found a small publishing house who had just gotten started and was looking for new authors. Unfortunately, the company closed a year into the process, just as we were getting ready to do the final formatting for my first book! I had already been working towards a deadline of getting it out by the end of the year, but everything was on hold. I quickly scrambled and grabbed a contact for a hybrid-publisher that I had made early in the process, back in 2020. 

My next series, The Swamp Swing, started as a poem as well and has since developed into several stories.  I am developing a whole series about the “Swamp of Digilly Doo”. My next book will be an ABC book which also has the “Frogilly Digilly Doo” concepts of ‘being you’.

You can find my book, “Frogilly Digilly Doo” on most of the online retailers:

Amazon.comBarnesandNoble.comGoodreads.comThriftbooks.comBooksamillion.comFind me on Www.WhimDreamery.com  

A Note about Book Angel:

“As a new author, I joined several Facebook groups as a way to connect with the children’s author community. But I quickly noticed that so many of the posts seemed to do little to actually support the authors in any meaningful way.  Many were just scammy and predatory!

Having learned that Amazon and other online retailers are driven by algorithms and clicks, I thought that the best way to help my fellow independent authors, was to try to get their books into circulation by donating them to various organizations in my area, leaving a review to boost their listing and pocket their proceeds of the sale.

Back in the day, when my children were young, I used my early childhood education to teach preschool. I know the value of a good story and reading to children. 

Presently, I volunteer at a women’s pregnancy resource center, working with young women in the Building Blocks program, in a mentorship role. Our goal is to support them through their pregnancy and into parenthood, by coaching them and teaching parenting and life skills. With these connections, I knew there were so many wonderful, child-centered organizations that would love to have new books for their kids’ programs.

I am excited to do this side venture and have been working on developing more contacts so that I can keep providing books to these groups. I am honestly hoping that this concept will spread and others will do it too. I certainly don’t intend to corner the market on spreading the love of reading to kids in all walks of life! I know that God will certainly bless anyone who decides to become a Book Angel too.”

It was a great privilege for me to get to interview Heather S. Iversen-Merillat, who has inspired me in many different ways. Thank you Heather!!! Good Luck with everything!