Angela DiTerlizzi, THE MAGICAL YET
[0:08]Hi, I'm Zivi Owens and you're listening to the award-winning podcast,
[0:11]Moms Don't Have Time to Read Books. Thanks so much for listening to my podcast.
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[1:22]Angela DeTerelysy is the author of The Magical Yet. She is a mom, wife, and author who
[1:28]delights in writing rhythmic charming picture books to be enjoyed and shared by both children
[1:32]and parents alike. Prior to her career as an author, Angela worked for over 15 years as a makeup
[1:37]artist, most notably in the film and TV and music industry. In 2013, her debut picture books say
[1:43]what appeared in over a million boxes of Cheerios as part of the General Mills' Spoonful of
[1:49]Stories program. Her book, Some Bugs, which by the way, My Kids Love and we've had forever.
[1:53]I had kids in critics buzzing and was chosen as one of Buzzfeed's best picture books of 2014
[1:58]in spring of 2015. Angela celebrated the joys of a new baby in her picture book Baby Love.
[2:04]She and her husband, who's also a best-selling author and illustrated named Tony DeTerelysy,
[2:09]live with their daughter and their dog in Amherst, Massachusetts.
[2:12]So welcome Angela. Thanks so much for coming on momstone. Have time to read books.
[2:16]Thank you. Thank you so much for having me, Zibi.
[2:18]And thanks also for writing the magical yet, which I just read again with My Kids and I said,
[2:24]what did you like about this? And my daughter, who's almost seven said,
[2:27]I think it was really inspiring. So there you go.
[2:32]This mission accomplished. That is so great to hear. Thank you so much.
[2:38]I will. So can you tell listeners, please, what the magical get this adorable
[2:44]inspiring children's book is about and also what inspired you to write this one?
[2:48]So the magical yet is a special companion that is with you when you're down
[2:56]and your dreams haven't come true or you're upset by the things you can't do.
[3:01]If you've lost or failed or cried just a bit, you're fed up with waiting and ready to quit.
[3:08]Your magical yet is with you and your magical yet is kind of like your coach, your teacher,
[3:14]your cheerleader and supporting you along the way in when you're trying new things and having
[3:20]new adventures. You're going to have to, you're going to have to just rhyme the whole rest of our
[3:25]chat here. Only rhyming couplets, please. And nothing else is accepted. That's how I pretty much
[3:30]hear everything in my brain. I think it's because I listened to so much Dolly Parton as a kid.
[3:36]I just hear, you know, all my stories kind of come to me and rhyme.
[3:40]Nine to five was one of my favorite movies. Did you see Nine to Five with Dolly?
[3:43]Oh, yes. Of course. Absolutely. I mean, the fact that you could be funny and beautiful and
[3:51]sarcastic and in charge. I mean, those were, those were the icons that I remember, you know,
[3:56]growing up and seeing those women and be like, that's what I want to be like when I grow up.
[4:01]I was like, I don't want to be in an office. That's what going to go away from that.
[4:06]Sad and working girl. I was like, yeah, I'm not thinking the cubicle life is for me.
[4:11]Same, same. Absolutely. And the scene for the magical yet began when my daughter, who is now almost
[4:20]13, was about nine years old. And she was playing basketball on the team for the very first time.
[4:26]And her team had lost every single game of the season, which is just so painful as a parent
[4:33]to see. And it was the very last game. And she got the ball. And it was this slow motion moment
[4:40]in which the ball soared from her fingertips through the air and into the basket. And just as I
[4:49]cheered, I realized in that moment, she had just scored for the other team. Oh, no.
[4:56]It was crushing. And so the pep talk started immediately after getting in the car, leaving the
[5:06]game. And the words of Dr. Carol Dweck, who is a psychologist and professor from Stanford, who
[5:15]talks about the power of yet, kind of came to me. And I thought, this is the thing, you're not there
[5:20]yet. You have not mastered basketball yet. But you will get better if you keep trying.
[5:27]In that same week, we had a studio assistant who worked with my husband and I. He's an author
[5:32]and an illustrator. And she was finishing up her senior year at college. And she wanted to be a
[5:39]comic book artist. And she showed up one day having a complete meltdown because she couldn't draw
[5:45]hands. And she said, I've thrown away my entire college career. How can I ever be a successful
[5:52]artist? I can't draw hands. So my husband gave her a book of drawing anatomy and sent her home
[5:57]and told her to draw a hundred hands. And the conversation that we had was you can't draw hands
[6:02]yet, but you will be able to and you'll get better. And those two things combined. And I'm really
[6:08]thinking about where a nine year old was at where a 22 year old was at and myself as a 47 year old,
[6:14]sometimes we have to be often reminded that we're just not there yet. It's true. This is a timeless
[6:20]message. Because giving up is just so much easier than keeping going. Absolutely. Absolutely.
[6:29]It's timeless. And right now feels extremely timely as well because there's just so many things
[6:35]we can't do yet. You know, and we're having those conversations too. You know, we're not
[6:40]we're turning to life as it used to be yet. We're, you know, our daughter is not back at school yet.
[6:44]You know, people can't go back to work yet. So that has been something that I need to,
[6:49]again, remind ourselves of often and and became quite timely in this conversation.
[6:54]It's true. I feel like one of my kid's goals in particular, that is one of their sort of mantras is
[6:59]always adding yet onto the end of a sentence. So when I saw your book, even the title of it, I was like,
[7:04]ah, yes. This is like preaching to the choir here. But it is. It's such a good message.
[7:10]And it's not your first children's book. And I realized that we have two of your other books that
[7:15]I have read countless times. The one about the cow is going new and what's it called? Say what?
[7:21]Yeah, I love that with the cow shaped clouds and the tweeting birds and how you don't know what
[7:29]animals are thinking. And they could be saying all different range of things.
[7:32]Yes, yes. That was actually my first picture book that I ever wrote, which was also inspired by
[7:38]my daughter. So I feel like becoming a parent became a wealth of inspiration for me as an author,
[7:45]considering I had a whole another life in a career where I was a makeup artist.
[7:49]Really, I was actually going to ask you how you got into this and what you, if you wanted to do
[7:53]this from the start or how you got it. So tell me what, what happened to you? Backing up, I worked for
[7:58]15 years, about 15 years as a makeup artist. When we lived in New York, I worked on the Today Show.
[8:04]I worked on Saturday Night Live. I worked with a lot of musicians and politicians and celebrities.
[8:11]And it was actually 9-11 that we decided to relocate out of the city. And I was working on
[8:17]the Today Show that morning and it was so stressful and so anxiety-producing. And I just thought
[8:23]I can't go in and have this experience every single day. So we relocated to Amherst, Massachusetts.
[8:30]And as I mentioned, my husband's a children's book author and there's a huge community
[8:34]of children's book authors and illustrators. And we're just down the street from the
[8:38]Eric Carle Museum, a picture book art, and just a great literary legacy within this community.
[8:44]And I joked that, you know, I moved to a town where no one wears makeup. So I had to find a new job.
[8:49]Which is a joke. I have a lot of friends here who wear makeup. But I realized quickly I wasn't
[8:55]going to be commuting the three hours into the city. And it was after our daughter was born that
[9:01]I wrote my first manuscript. And I showed it to my husband and he said, this is really good.
[9:07]I think we should show it to the publisher to Simon and Schuster and show I showed it to our
[9:12]publisher at the time. And they showed it to an editor and didn't mention that I was Tony's wife
[9:17]and they decided to purchase the manuscript. So I just kept going and kept writing. And so here
[9:24]we are 10 books later. And yeah, I'm continuing to to keep writing and get inspiration even in
[9:32]times like this when it's challenging to be creative. So actually you'll have to give me advice.
[9:37]I sold it a two-book deal to Penguin Random House for Children's Books also.
[9:41]We're so congratulations. So I wrote the first one. But now I have to write the second one.
[9:48]And now I feel like how did I even write the first one? And you know 10. So every single time
[9:56]I have that same reaction it's like you know how did I
[10:00]do this? How did I get here? Why am I doing this? Does anybody want to read it? Is it terrible?
[10:06]I feel like I recognize that that is part of my process too. So it's just about digging into
[10:14]the work and thinking about, you know, the original seeds of inspiration that got you to that
[10:20]first book. And it's like learning how to do it. Once you have a recipe for something, you know,
[10:26]you can change it up. You can add some different ingredients, but it's all there. You've got it.
[10:32]If you had to say something that you can't do yet that you need the encouragement of that
[10:38]magical yet for what would it be? So as we talked about, all of my picture books are in rhyme.
[10:47]And so the thing that I've been challenging myself to do is to write a picture book that's not
[10:53]in rhyme. So that's what I am doing right now and I'm going to be collaborating with my husband on that.
[10:59]And it's funny because I feel really comfortable on this path of like, this is how I've done things.
[11:05]This is how I know it's done now. I know part of my process is that insecurity, but I could always
[11:10]hear the rhythm in my head and writing in rhyme. And now I don't have that safety net. And so when
[11:17]you don't have that safety net, how does that feel? Well, it's really scary, but that's okay. I've
[11:22]been there before too. So that's the thing I'm having to remind myself of my of my yet is writing
[11:27]a manuscript, not in rhyme. There you go. How about not? How about not? How about you play lately?
[11:32]I'm learning you play lately, right? I was going to say non book related. There you go.
[11:38]I actually I interviewed Ross Chast and her co-author who I'm blanking on her name about a book
[11:44]they had done. They both came with their ukuleles and played on the show because I guess they like
[11:49]have this little ukulele band that they take all over the place. So you know what? You can go far
[11:54]with the ukulele career. That's hilarious. I feel like I've seen so many ukuleles and sourdough
[12:00]starters in my social media feeds right now. Totally. I know. I'm like, I'm just not going to get to
[12:06]the sourdough. I'm just not. I feel like my baking has leveled off. I feel like I was doing a lot of
[12:13]baking at the beginning. And now I don't know maybe because my clothes are really fitting. I've
[12:18]stepped away from the baking. And I was following Christina Tasi of milk bar fame. And she's doing
[12:26]a baking club every day at 2 p.m. And I started following along and I was baking things. And
[12:32]everything tasted amazing and delicious. And I made things that I'd never made before. And then
[12:38]I realized, okay, time to take a break. Roll back on the butter flour and sugar.
[12:44]There is something really nice. It's the same feeling of getting reading a children's bag and
[12:48]getting your hands in the sugar. There's something so satisfying and emotionally fulfilling
[12:54]about both of those that like take me back to being a kid. I don't know. I feel like whenever I
[12:58]bake it's me pretending I'm like a kid with my mother or some I don't know. Absolutely. And it's
[13:05]comfort and nostalgia and sweetness and connection. And yes, I feel the same way. Crazy.
[13:14]So what is it like being married to someone who is also in the same exact creative field
[13:20]as you? I mean, that's it. Like there aren't that many. I can think of some couples I know who
[13:25]are both authors of like literary fiction or things like that. But two children's book authors. What's
[13:30]that like? Well, we've been together for 27 years. So I can't imagine my life being any other way. And
[13:41]it is for for both of us being with our best friends, our support system. Tony is my first line
[13:49]of editing of connection of his opinion. I trust it more than anything. I wouldn't be in this
[13:56]career path if it wasn't for Tony because I feel like in observing his career, I got this amazing
[14:03]masterclass in writing books for children. We we haven't really collaborated a whole lot
[14:10]prior to the book we're working on before. It was difficult for me sometimes in the beginning
[14:16]because I thought, how could I be an author when we already have a number one New York Times best
[14:23]selling author illustrator in the house? He set the bar extremely high. But you know, we would discuss
[14:29]that along the way. And just say, you know, my path is my own. My challenges are my own and my
[14:35]accomplishments are my own to experience. And we were going to be there for one another throughout
[14:41]that entire process. But you know, we both love children's book art. We both love reading children's
[14:48]literature. So it's also, you know, it's like walking out of a movie with your best friend. And you
[14:54]immediately start talking about all the things that you liked and all the things that you critique
[14:58]and criticize. We we're that for each other every day. Oh, that's so nice. That also makes me very
[15:04]nostalgic for going to movies as friends. Right? Everyone that reminds me of the day when we sat
[15:11]in theaters and pop and popcorn. And does your daughter get inspired by all the stuff you guys are
[15:20]doing? Yeah, she absolutely gets inspired by all the stuff that we're doing. I mean, we are just
[15:27]a creative household. We were speaking with somebody last night who is also creative. He's a screenwriter
[15:32]that we're working with. And he said sometimes it can actually be a little challenging for our kids
[15:38]to wrap their heads around the idea that we get paid to do this thing that we love so much that
[15:43]takes place in our house. You know, I was a kid. We always equated like your parents leave for eight
[15:50]hours a day. And this is how much they get paid an hour. And that's why they're gone. And when
[15:54]they come home, the paycheck is equated to that time. We don't have that. So, you know, that is
[16:01]it's sometimes difficult to kind of set the limits of like, okay, I'm going to work a little bit.
[16:06]And you know, we're going down to the studio. Tony has a studio downstairs. I have one upstairs.
[16:12]But you know, she is super super creative. She loves to make stuff. She loves nature. She loves
[16:18]animals. So, we are always making things. I feel like that's kind of the go-to of self-expression
[16:25]and of boredom is, you know, taking a break and just sitting around and making stuff together.
[16:31]And what kind of stuff do you like to read when you're not writing children's books?
[16:35]So, the funny thing is I was always a very reluctant reader before the term reluctant reader
[16:42]when I was a kid. I had, I didn't grow up in a house reading a lot of books. I didn't have
[16:46]parents who were modeling, sitting down reading for pleasure. And so, when I went into middle school,
[16:53]I got really frustrated because I loved illustrations and books. And those were, were waning. Those
[16:59]kind of islands of taking a break in the middle of a bunch of words were gone. And so, you know,
[17:06]I was being forced to read books like where the red fern grows and flowers were aljernon and the
[17:11]outsiders. And just these really traumatic stories that, you know, I just, I just thought, I don't,
[17:18]I wasn't just a non-reader. I was an anti-reader. I thought, why would anybody want to read this stuff?
[17:24]Why do you want to, what do you want to read about gang violence? And so, I really didn't read
[17:31]a whole lot from my teen years on. And it wasn't until I met Tony that I kind of rediscovered
[17:38]this literary childhood. But even now, I tend to, I'm drawn to books with illustrations in them.
[17:46]I love reading books, graphic novels. I love reading picture books. I love reading art of books.
[17:53]I do love writing, right now on my bedside table is pretty mass, the autobiography of Erica
[18:00]Jane, the real housewife of Beverly Hills. So it's definitely makes for an interesting mix of books.
[18:07]But picture books are definitely my go-to because I'm such a fan of words and pictures together.
[18:14]There is something very special about that combination. And something that makes it very easy to
[18:20]remember as opposed to the eight bazillion other books. I don't know, a picture can just,
[18:25]at least for me, I feel like I'm very visual. It can take me right back. Absolutely. Well,
[18:31]I mean, you're such, you're such a huge reader and, you know, moms don't have time to read.
[18:36]I just felt like moms don't have time to write. I'm just trying to figure out that time to,
[18:41]you know, make space for work time, creative time, family time, self time. I feel like,
[18:48]especially now in the stay of social media, it makes us even more aware of the things that we're
[18:55]not doing for ourselves, each other and our families. So it's just trying to parse out some balance
[19:02]in that in for myself. Yes, that is a huge challenge. I know. I feel like I don't have time
[19:10]to do anything or I'm doing a lot of things, but I feel like I'm not doing hardly any of them
[19:14]well anymore, especially now. You know, like everything is quick and rushed and I'll do this
[19:19]and I'll do that. And, you know, I don't know. I long for the time when I could like sit with a book
[19:26]finish it and write up that for questions. It's like now I'm like lucky if I read half a book,
[19:32]but whatever. I feel like the messaging right now is like, well, you have all this time at home,
[19:37]you know, but for someone like you or someone like me who in addition to doing our job is also
[19:43]creating content in this time, it's not really free time. We don't really, I don't really have a whole
[19:49]lot of free time. It's exciting because it now is challenging us to connect in many different ways,
[19:57]but it's not necessarily free time in that time.
[20:00]Right, and you collaborate with your husband on Facebook
[20:03]in that story time.
[20:03]What's draw time?
[20:05]How would you describe it?
[20:06]Draw time.
[20:07]Yes, it's called Draw on to Fantasy every afternoon.
[20:10]Well, we've been doing kind of just, I guess,
[20:13]it's almost like a visual podcast in a way.
[20:16]So he's drawing and sketching.
[20:18]And we're talking about books and reference
[20:20]and it's interactive since we're doing it live.
[20:23]We're talking with fans and other artists.
[20:26]And so we are just giving, offering a glimpse
[20:30]into our creative space.
[20:32]So I think that's the thing that we thought
[20:34]we could do at this time.
[20:36]That's the thing that's been making me feel better in this
[20:39]is being of service and just saying, what can I do
[20:43]for others to kind of share a little bit of what we do.
[20:46]That's great.
[20:47]I know you've already included advice here for aspiring authors.
[20:51]But if you had one final piece of advice, maybe something
[20:55]that can help people get to there yet, what would it be?
[21:01]I would say you're never too old to you'll never forget
[21:07]you're yet.
[21:08]Your yet is always with you.
[21:10]And I think back to the places that were always
[21:13]the most challenging for me, the places that were the most
[21:17]difficult, the places where I thought
[21:19]I was up against challenges that I could never overcome
[21:24]and here I am and I've made it through them and passed them.
[21:28]So don't give up and know that there's always a place beyond
[21:32]where you are right now.
[21:33]And if you're an aspiring author, don't be afraid
[21:37]to put your creativity down.
[21:40]Don't be afraid to tap into your innermost emotions,
[21:45]thoughts and feelings and just put it down
[21:48]even if it just begins for yourself alone.
[21:52]And without the pressure of thinking, this is something
[21:54]I have to share with the greater world.
[21:57]That's great advice.
[21:59]Well, thanks, Angela.
[22:00]Thanks for coming on Mom's No Time to Read Books
[22:01]and sharing your story and all of your stories with the world.
[22:04]So thanks.
[22:05]Thank you so much, Zibi.
[22:06]Thanks for having me.
[22:07]My pleasure.
[22:09]Thanks again for listening to my podcast.
[22:10]Moms don't have time to read books.
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[22:45]Thanks so much to Steve and Ryan at Texture Sound
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[22:50]for providing this fantastic intro and out trim music.
[22:53]Thanks for listening.
[22:54]You could always email me at Zibi at Zibi Owens.com.