Little Milly and the Great Lakes

Little Milly and the Great Lakes

by Kelly McInenly

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GENRE: Children's

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BLURB:

Kelly knew Little Milly Lake as Grandma Mill McInenly. The usually serious Mildred would occasionally surprise her granddaughter with tales of the fun and mischief that she and her five older sisters found growing up in the Maritimes in the early 1900s. The combination of little money or supervision, and a notoriously grumpy father, made for simple stories with just the right blend of silly and sweet.Little Milly and the Great Lakes is Kelly's first creative writing endeavor... she has been distracted by Little Mateo and Little Lucas.

Get silly with Milly on her other adventures...Bess and the Boil, Marj and the Medal, and Peg and the Party Line.

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EXCERPT

In the Lake girls’ time – nineteen hundred and nine,

Many homes were connected by telephone line.

Neighbours had their own numbers – but the phone line was shared:

You could pick up and listen to all, if you dared.

And the Lake girls did dare – they goaded each other,

“Peg, pick up the phone and pretend you’re a mother!”

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Kelly knew Little Milly Lake as Grandma Mill McInenly. The usually serious Mildred would occasionally surprise her granddaughter with tales of the fun and mischief that she and her five older sisters found growing up in the Maritimes in the early 1900s. The combination of little money or supervision, and a notoriously grumpy father, made for simple stories with just the right blend of silly and sweet.

Little Milly and the Great Lakes is Kelly’s first creative writing endeavor… she has been distracted by Little Mateo and Little Lucas.

A Word With the Author

1. Did you always want to be an author?

I did not always want to be an author, but I did always want to write and be creative. I started writing and entering contests in junior school, with small achievements along the way like first place in the Ottawa Legion’s Remembrance Day poetry contest ($50!) and publication in the University of Winnipeg’s campus magazine. I eventually settled on becoming an advertising executive as an ideal career, which morphed into becoming a Marketer when I realized there were no degree programs for Advertising (Thankfully, there are now – I teach a 4^th-year course for Humber College’s Bachelor of Creative Advertising (BOCA) program). I have enjoyed a 20-year career in Marketing, Communication, Sales and Negotiation that has involved many different types of writing but authoring the Little Milly and the Great Lakes series has been the most fun and rewarding experience, by far.

2. Tell us about the publication of your first book.

It took me quite a while to get around to publishing! Little Milly is based on my grandmother’s childhood adventures with her five sisters. I heard the stories my entire childhood but did not write them down until my grandmother passed away. It was then another seven years before I published them, when my children became young readers and I realized there weren’t many sweet and silly books available (tastes had migrated to frenetic, sassy and strange). I decided to self-publish with Tellwell, and they made the process painless. From sourcing the perfect illustrator, to layout to distribution, I felt more excited than stressed knowing I was working with an experienced team. Their project management pushed me to see the books through to existence and I am so satisfied to have a tangible record of my grandmother’s stories to share with my family and many others.

3. Besides yourself, who is your favorite author in the genre you write in?

Ludwig Bemelmans – author of the Madeline series – is my favourite in the children’s genre. The series is one of the best-selling of all time and its sweetness and simplicity certainly inspire the Little Milly series. Although written in the 1940s and 50s, his books are enjoyable to read today, and kids still find them giggle-worthy. I prefer templated, rhyming stories like his, as children love repetition and knowing what comes next. You will see Little Milly is similarly ‘book-ended’, with each story beginning and ending the same way. I know I am unlikely to sell 15 million copies as he has with Madeline’s daily adventures, but I do hope any child that does read a Little Milly story will similarly appreciate the fun that can be found in everyday events.

4. What's the best part of being an author? The worst?

The best part of being an author is having a very tangible accomplishment to point to; a book is a permanent record of your work and effort. Most importantly, it is something that my children can understand and get excited about vs. the abstract notion of career/work/meetings/projects/business. Before I published Little Milly and the Great Lakes, they were always asking me ‘But what do you DO?’ since, as a negotiation consultant, you can’t point to a house you built, a fire you put out or a bad guy you captured. Now they, along with their nieces, can say mom is a writer and have me sign books for them to bring to school, read to the class and give away.

The worst thing about being an author is that people assume you are making a lot of money. In spite of the largesse of the role in my kids’ minds, it is the likely least financial return on effort out there, but because it is higher visibility/tangibility that gets equated with wealth generation. You have to write because you love writing, not because you need an income. Any monetary outcome is just a bonus!

5. What are you working on now?

There are six Lake girls… Bess, Ene, Flo, Peg, Marj, and of course Little Milly. So far only three of the sisters’ stories have been told, so I am working on the next three – Ene and the Ivy, Flow and the Fishermen and Milly and the Mail. My nieces are giving me a lot of input, and I am inviting Little Milly fans to submit their photos in order to be featured in the books’ illustrations. Little Milly also had three brothers who entered the military underage and were killed at war. I am sketching out a more somber book, Postcards from Heaven, that tells their story through the correspondence they sent home from the front lines and could be used as a learning resource for young people around Remembrance Day.

Connect with Canadian author Kelly McInenly on

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/little-milly-and-the-great-lakes

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littlemillyandthegreatlakes

Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/19237406.Kelly_McInenly

Check out Little Milly and the Great Lakes: Marj and the Medal (Book 1) Amazon:  https://www.amazon.ca/Little-Milly-Great-Lakes-Medal/dp/0228808960/

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-milly-and-the-great-lakes-kelly-mcinenly/1131792651

Indigo/Chapters: https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/little-milly-and-the-great/9780228808961-item.html

Check out Little Milly and the Great Lakes: Peg and the Party Line (Book 2) 

Amazon: https://www.amazon.ca/Little-Milly-Great-Lakes-Party/dp/0228808952/

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-milly-and-the-great-lakes-kelly-mcinenly/1131792650

 Indigo/Chapters! https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/little-milly-and-the-great/9780228808954-item.html

Check out Little Milly and the Great Lakes: Bess and the Boil (Book 3) Amazon:  https://www.amazon.ca/Little-Milly-Great-Lakes-Bess/dp/0228808766/

Barnes and Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-milly-and-the-great-lakes-kelly-mcinenly/1131792655

 Indigo/Chapters! https://www.chapters.indigo.ca/en-ca/books/little-milly-and-the-great/9780228808763-item.html

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE

Kelly McInenly will be awarding a $20 Amazon/BN GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

a Rafflecopter giveaway