About Peter Ross

How did you get started writing for kids?
As an artist, I exhibit my work at local art fairs. The feedback from the public is wonderful. So much of my work is imaginative, whimsical, and childlike, and I love when it brightens the day of someone and makes that person smile or laugh. I feel that each piece is a seed for a story, and I have always enjoyed expanding these short stories in my imagination. I truly dreamed of one day going the distance and creating a complete children’s picture book, and that is what I have finally accomplished.

Why do you create paintings and stories?
I am an artist, and I have an active imagination. Writing and painting are two terrific ways to get the ideas in my head out into the real world. Since I was in early elementary school I have drawn and colored and painted. Writing and painting are creative outlets for me, and they are ways for me to entertain others. As a grade schooler I would draw silly creatures and scenes, and I reveled in the reactions of friends, classmates, and adults. This is odd because I am a very shy person. In many ways I am petrified to have anyone see my art, but in truth I absolutely need to have others see my work and share their feelings about it. Thankfully, the reactions I receive are mostly positive otherwise I probably would have stopped long ago and become a professional football player or a famous movie star.

Do you try to educate?
My goal is to bring joy to peoples’ lives. Of course, my values are found in my work. The short list of these values are: be kind; look for nature everywhere and respect and appreciate its beauty; try to find the joy and humor in the everyday world around you; the quiet and unassuming have value and in the right light can shine; and, of course, birds and other wildlife are fabulous! My work trends toward the positive, so the message I try to teach is about joy and respect.

Where do you get your ideas?
Ideas are merely seeds. I love to daydream. Ideas come to me all the time because I practice the art of being receptive. My imagination is active, and I believe that to be creative one must treat the imagination like a great athlete treats her body. Exercise the imagination regularly and practice, practice, practice. As I stated earlier, an idea is a seed, and not all seeds are going to grow and blossom into something wonderful. For the seed to grow I must put in work, but thankfully this is work that I love. So, I must decide if an idea is worth nurturing, and I must do it quickly because more ideas are surely heading right at me. Write the idea down. The original idea for Uh-Oh! We’ve Got Birds! came to me in the middle of the night at a Country Inn & Suites Hotel in Madison, Wisconsin. I had been sleeping. I wrote it down on a hotel notepad, and I still have that notepad. What I jotted down in the middle of the night in that hotel room is quite cryptic, and it’s really just a vague hint of what the final story became.

When you began writing Uh-Oh! We’ve Got Birds! did you know what the ending would be?
The answer is no. When I started writing the book the initial idea had all the birds in the kitchen and pantry area, each eating some fun human food; a puffin eating sardines, an ibis eating clams, an oriole eating orange marmalade, quail eating corn, etcetera, and I hadn’t thought beyond that. I had great fun expanding on that initial idea, to get to the point where the story now has birds throughout Oliver’s home. This took much time and work, and at some point in all those months I came up with the ending. (Spoiler Alert… maybe?) For quite some time I had the puffin looking longingly down the chimney.

How long did it take to complete your book?
Wow! It took a long time, so I’ll give a long answer. I had a full-time job the whole time I was creating Uh-Oh! We’ve Got Birds!, and at times I found it difficult to find the extra time and energy needed to create a picture book. The initial rough draft came first. Once I got the draft to a good place, I started sketching and painting illustrations. I continued rewriting the text as I produced the thirty-three illustrations. Yikes! All those paintings took time. Looking back, though, it was all really fun for me. Creating all those illustrations gave me ample time to edit the rewrites. And then I edited those rewrites as well. This part of the process took about a year.

I finally got my book to a point where I had to seek outside help to move forward. I talked to an acquaintance who was a retired editor, and she agreed to read my book. At our initial meeting she was rather expressionless as she read, and I was extremely nervous, thinking, of course, that she did not like it. When she finished, however, she had liked it, and offered to help me. We became friends, and she is the person mentioned in my book’s dedication. She provided so much help to get my book to the next level. Again, carving out the necessary free time, this part of the process took approximately a year.

My next step was shopping my book around to publishers and agents. I will admit that I did not spend much time on this step, perhaps a few months. I received several rejections, which is absolutely to be expected (J.K. Rowling received numerous rejections for Harry Potter). I did, however, receive some great feedback from the agent of an author I knew, which lead to me replacing three illustrations with new, better artwork. And believe me, most agents don’t have time to offer feedback. It was much appreciated.

I really believed my story was one that many people, especially children would enjoy, so, after several dead ends, I decided to self-publish, and I contacted Beaver’s Pond Press, a publisher located conveniently close to me in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I submitted my book idea with the illustrations, and the owner of Beaver’s Pond Press quickly responded, asking to meet and discuss publishing Uh-Oh! We’ve Got Birds!. The “Pond” was very helpful, and they guided me through the entire process. My text was edited again, at least twice, which really helped the rhythm and flow of the story. At the same time a designer really gave the book a professional look. I think the end result is quite polished.

So, from the initial idea of Uh-Oh! We’ve Got Birds! to the arrival of my beautiful, finished books it took about three years. It was well worth it!

Do you really like birds?
I love birds! I love nature in general, but birds really fill my heart with awe and joy.

What are your favorite children’s books?
There are so many wonderful books from my childhood. Some of my favorites were: The Mitten by Alvin Tresselt, Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson, Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling, and anything by Dr. Suess. I also loved poring over the Golden Guide series created by Western Publishing. I especially loved Pond Life, Birds, Insects, and Mammals.

Will you write another book?
Yes, I have some wonderful ideas for future books. I look forward to writing and illustrating many, many books. Stay tuned!