Have you always been a writer?

CESwardson: I guess I’ve always had something of a way with words, but there was no indication or I never sensed that I had any talent for writing. I was an air traffic controller for 31 years, until my retirement in 2018. I delved sporadically into certain areas of writing – speeches, toasts, things for my kids – but I’d consider it more of a latent realization.

During my air traffic control career we were tasked with writing reports on our trainees. Many people just stuck to the basics, but mine took a little longer. Much to the dismay of a number of my trainees – I was a bit more wordy.

My mom was creative – she was an aspiring actor/playwright. Later in life it seemed more of a hobby. My dad did PR for some large corporations. His job often entailed quite a bit of writing and he was frequently published in the local papers. He actually started his own neighborhood paper in St. Paul, MN, the Grand Gazette. It was a periodical which, in my memory, focused on local stuff that was going on in the area.

But at some point, this “way with words” blossomed into actual fiction writing for kids?

CESwardson: I’d say it was sort of a gradual process. When the concept for the book presented itself, I’d get little snippets/lines that would pop into my head. Then, when I decided to actually write it, I organized/arranged all the snippets/lines into the initial semblance of a story. Obviously, that was a rough draft, but through numerous rewrites, proofreads, and some input from others, it began to take shape. It’s an ever-changing and fluid process, which eventually settles on a flow and rhyming scheme that feels comfortable.

Yes, your focus on wordplay stands out. I’m also wondering how being a parent has affected your writing of books for children.

CESwardson: I always knew I wanted to have kids, but I didn’t settle down and get married until I was 39. Maybe it was that desire that made me think early on that I could write children’s books. Starting and building a family certainly changed my mindset, and with that came the desire to teach my children some of the things I had learned. Not so much book-type information, but more life stuff.

We read books every night. They would pick, and we’d read them over and over and over. They loved reading books. There’s nothing like sitting there with a physical book in your hand, flipping the pages and wondering, “What’s going to happen next?” That’s why I like the book to flow as it does through the neighborhood. It’s almost like you’re walking through it with the characters. I think that’s intriguing to children and keeps them engaged.

I don’t necessarily consider myself all that poetic, but I can put words together in a rhyming sequence. The first poem that I wrote was for my oldest child, Shanna, when she was in first grade. She was ‘Star of the Week’ for school, which seemed a big honor at the time. My wife, Monica, would implore me: “You’ve gotta write something for that. It’s going to be her day. You write it – I’ll read it.” So I wrote a poem about 12 stanzas in length one day on my breaks at work. That’s the first time that I realized things could flow once I got going. I might even do something more with that poem one day.

In hindsight, I think that may have been the initial inspiration to impart some of my thoughts and ideas in a more public forum.

Do you feel that you can relate to children more than the average adult?

CESwardson: That’s possible. Maybe because I’m fairly immature myself! I’m like a big kid. I meet people who are my age now, and sometimes I feel like they could be my dad. I guess I feel somewhat immature for my age, if that makes sense. Someone once coined the phrase “It’s odd being the same age as old people!” That’s kind of it in a nutshell. So, yeah, maybe that’s part of it. 

I never had any irritation issues with kids either, like when they cry on planes. That’s just kids. I had four younger siblings, so I had lots of experience with the little ones. I imagine that might make me more in tune than if the family dynamic was different. Having siblings and now having my own children helps me remember what it’s like to be a kid. Hopefully they’ll have their own kids someday and keep the ball rolling. At this point anyway, I can’t imagine not being youthful of heart and mind.

Caught on a Thought is your first children’s book. Tell me how you arrived at its conception.

CESwardson: Back when I was 20-something, I thought, “I bet I could write a kid’s book.” I had no inspiration other than my upbringing. I was single with no children of my own. It’d been in the back of my mind somewhere since then. I thought about it now and again, but apparently it took some time to reach a state of mind and/or environment to get the creative juices flowing.

Then it just surfaced out of the blue about seven years ago. On New Year’s Day, I woke up at 3 AM and started putting pen to paper. I didn’t know it at the time, but that book will eventually be the second book to come out in the series. That book is where I started to figure out my own personal process for putting something like this together.

What came to you first – plot, character, or concept?

CESwardson: I came up with the title first, actually. It was called Grouch on the Couch. I wrote something based on that. I guess I was feeling the holiday spirit because it had a Twas the Night Before Christmas feel to it. Just the tone of it, an offshoot of that. One wouldn’t recognize it as such now, but that’s how the process began. Then I looked up Grouch on the Couch, but the name was already attached to another project of some sort so I had to regroup. I came up with Grump on a Lump, and the story progressed from there. He was a grumpy dude who got a lump of coal for Christmas due to his attitude and poor decision making. It became sort of a lesson book that hopefully doesn’t feel like one.

So how did you get to Caught on a Thought?

CESwardson: Well, I began to develop some concepts/ideas for other books as well. Hope on a Rope, Troll on a Roll to name a couple. I didn’t know which one to put out first, so I decided to combine abbreviated versions of all the concepts/ideas into one book and Caught on a Thought was in the works.

Caught on a Thought starts in the morning with a boy awakening in his home. There is a mouse who lives there, too, and he accompanies the boy on his journey. When you go through Caught on a Thought, there are words from the other titles throughout – grump, slouch, hope, cheat, bully, troll… All those words will be in the titles of the subsequent books.

When you read through the book, you’ll notice that it flows through the neighborhood. The next scene is often in the background of the previous picture and there are many things to keep your eyes open for. There are aspects to keep the little ones engaged and plenty of conversation starters.

It seems like you have a “master plan.”

CESwardson: Yeah, it’s really taken on a life of its own. Especially after I wrote the first book introducing all the concepts. That’s when the creative juices really started to flow and parts of books were being written almost on a daily basis.

Each book will have its very own ‘mascot.’ The mouse in Caught on a Thought, for instance. Grump on a Lump will have a penguin. In addition, all the books will be seasonally themed. Caught on a Thought takes place in the fall, Grump on a Lump takes place during winter. I have yet to determine the ‘mascots’ for the subsequent books, but they will be relative to the season or the concepts.

As far as a timeline for the release of subsequent books is concerned, I have one completely written but for some fine tuning, two that are approximately at the halfway point, and the remainder are in the conceptual stage with numerous scribblings and scratchings to refresh my memory.

There might even be some crossovers from book to book in the future. For example, there’s a bully in Caught on a Thought and there is a story floating around in my head about a bully and why he’s a bully. It would maybe follow him through his day and showcase the influences that turned him down his negative path.

These books are not necessarily a money-making endeavor. My main goal is to introduce some concepts/ideas to children that might also start a conversation between the child and the parent or person reading the book to them.

Can you tell me a bit more about some of the other books you have in mind?

CESwardson: Sure. Hope on a Rope will be about an aerial dance girl in a traveling circus. She goes from city to city spreading good cheer and hope. It’ll be springtime themed and the mascot will be a caterpillar.

There’s also Slouch on a Couch. It’s a summertime one about laziness – and how you should be active instead and not just waste your summer away on the couch.

Troll on a Roll uses trolls of different colors as the characters – purple, orange, yellow, green, etc. It’s about prejudice and empathy. Those kinds of things. One of the lines in the story is, “Trolls come every shape, color, and size – but a troll’s still a troll, don’t just use your eyes.” I use a fantasy figure to take the human element out of the picture. My hope is that maybe this approach will make it more comfortable to have a conversation about the concept. Maybe it’s more welcoming to somebody who’s not even really thinking about it. Kids aren’t born with bias or prejudice, this seems a learned response.

 It seems like you have certain central themes in mind for each book, but there’s a unifying mission to teach values throughout your books. What feeds into that for you? 

CESwardson: I wanted to think of a way to introduce or at least start a conversation with children about these concepts early so maybe they can handle them a little better when/if they arise in a real life situation. I don’t think it’s ever too soon. Some of the concepts might end up being a little out of their age range, but if I present them in this way, at least it gets in the head of a child in a less abrasive way. Of course, it’s up to the parents to discern the appropriate age for introduction of certain concepts/ideas.

And what concepts or themes are you intending to explore?

CESwardson: Laziness, responsibility, cheating, prejudice, empathy, hope, having a positive attitude to name a few.

Can you expand on some of those?

CESwardson: Well, let’s take “hope” for example. There’s always hope no matter what, even when it may not seem like it. I want to explore how much a friend can influence that in the right direction – as opposed to the negative things that happened to a boy or girl that made them feel that way.

Or empathy. This is exhibited in Caught on a Thought when the two boys meet up with the homeless person. The mouse shows empathy by giving him a piece of cheese – even though throughout the journey he seems to be heading in the wrong direction – he wants to fight the bully, he eats the doughnut instead of the apple, etc. But in his heart, he means well and he is learning.

One thing that really stands out about Caught on a Thought is the beautiful artwork. Tell me about your working relationship with the artist.

CESwardson: I actually met him on the website Fiverr. I wanted the illustrations to be whimsical, fun, and colorful, so I described everything that was in my head in detail in a couple of paragraphs per page. I indicated that I like the use of light, shadows, and perspective, and gave him the freedom of creativity from there.

We didn’t even have the main character yet. He drew the picture in the bedroom of the kid jumping out of bed and the mouse coming out of his mouse hole with a cup of coffee – I didn’t change that picture one bit. It’s like he drew it out of my mind, and it was just perfect.

We were pretty much on the same page throughout. We just worked really well together, and once we started, things flowed relatively effortlessly.

What other influences do you have?

CESwardson: I guess one thing that may have influenced me – why I focused on friendship in the book – is my parents splitting up when I was at a young age. Being separated from them and watching their interaction with each other. Though I never, ever felt a lack of love from either parent and never felt any animosity, I confided more in my friends at a younger age than my parents. As I grew, it was a lot easier for me to talk to my folks about personal matters, but friendship is very important – being able to engage with your friends, especially if you’re not comfortable doing so with your parents. I want to help parents and children build that bridge.

You mentioned the importance of dialogue with your kids.

CESwardson: My basic belief is that it’s never too early to introduce things that are hard to talk about. That’s why I think parents should read this book with their kids. I didn’t necessarily write it intending for a child to pull it out of a bookcase and start reading it, though that’s fine, too. One of the goals would be to have kids and parents engaging in something that may provoke questions and conversations. 

 I think the stories might induce questions from the children, as opposed to the parents just telling them what it means. Hopefully it opens the children’s brains a little. It might be good for parents and kids who don’t really talk that much about stuff. 

I don’t profess to be an expert on these matters, but my general advice to parents is: Engage at a young age. It creates a whole different dynamic if you’ve had discussions with your kids about stuff before they get into the real serious things in life. If you engage at a young age, I think it may be easier to be more of positive influence in their lives when they enter the teen years and beyond.