My preschooler loves to ask: “What’s your favorite fill-in-the-blank?”. And I love that he asks these questions, because he’s probing for what the other person appreciates and not what they hate! Though when my son asks the bug question, the other person’s immediate response tends to be a narrowing of the eyes and scrunching of the nose. Currently, my son’s favorite bug is a grasshopper. Consider this: when the adult cringes in response to a question that has no wrong answer, what message is that sending to the child?

Many people would not place the words appreciation and bugs in the same sentence. Bottom line, bugs keep our ecosystem in balance. Without bugs, human existence couldn’t thrive. According to BBC Science Focus, if all bugs suddenly disappeared, we would have complete ecological collapse and global famine. That is enough to convince me! Bugs pollinate crops, enrich the soil, control pests, and serve as food for many species. 

Even the cringiest of all bugs, the cockroach, serves a purpose (although I would much prefer he serves his purpose in my yard and not my house).  Cockroaches are decomposers. They eat decaying plant matter, and in turn, deposit nitrogen back into the soil. Nitrogen is crucial for healthy plant growth. Am I saying don’t terminate the critter if you find him in your house? No, as cockroaches do carry bacteria and trigger allergies, but if you see him outside in his appropriate habitat, let him decompose that organic matter in peace.

It’s one thing to shrink in disgust at a cockroach, but what about the amazing pollinators, like butterflies, moths, beetles, and bees? Media often centers on the honeybee, but there are over 20,000 species of bees. With the focus on honeybees, one would assume it’s the endangered bee, when in actuality, the native bees are threatened ones. See The National Wildlife Federation for more detail. Native bees like a natural habitat, which you can create in your own backyard. For a list of pollinator-friendly plants by region click here, and check out my tips on creating a pollinator garden.

If your child is squeamish around bugs, try the following:

• Acknowledge their feelings and talk through fears. Consider your own reactions to bugs and how those reactions might be impacting your child.
• Talk with your child about bug safety. Some bugs are best observed at a safe distance, like bees and wasps. Other bugs, like ladybugs and dragonflies, are safe at close range. Maybe you’ll be lucky enough to have a dragonfly land on you! 
• Teaching your child to remain calm around bugs will also improve safety. Kids understand size differences. Bugs are tiny, and they are probably more scared of you! Rather than shrieking and flailing when you see a bug, practice remaining calm. If you stay calm, the bug is more likely to stay calm as well.
• And most importantly, talk about how important bugs are to our ecosystem.
  
  

In my second yoga-inspired picture book, When Mama Grows with Me, Mama models how to calmly observe the bees, and the pair practices bee’s breath in honor of their fuzzy friends!

“During the daytime, Mama and I stand very still so we can hear the buzzing bees. The sound comes from their wings beating very fast, which makes the air vibrate. To our ears, the vibrations sound like a hum.

I know all the waiting has been worth it since the bees love our colorful flowers! Mama and I thank the bees for keeping our garden healthy by making our own bee sounds.”
        -from When Mama Grows with Me

The next time you’re asked, “What’s your favorite bug?” I hope you have a long list!
Keep Growing!
​Becca

Life consists mostly of waiting, punctuated with moments of excitement. It’s in the waiting that we prepare, learn, and change so we’re ready when opportunities emerge. I am thankful life isn’t an endless sequence of noisy excitement, how exhausting that would be! The waiting makes the positive moments worth it, and the negative moments easier to tolerate.
​
I like to write about the moments that exist in the between, because that’s where the really good stuff happens; that’s when the growth occurs. We meet people in all stages of waiting: waiting for a birthday, a graduation, the arrival of a baby, for a vacation, better job, a diagnosis, or a new horizon. What makes people fascinating is how they handle the anticipation.

Waiting is at the heart of my second yoga-inspired picture book, When Mama Grows with Me. In the book, the parent and child move through all the steps of gardening from seed to flower, and in doing so, learn together to be more patient and grateful. Those times we do not see evidence of growth on the outside, are the times we are growing on the inside! The book ends in autumn with the parent and child planting bulbs in preparation for spring.

Even in the warmth of the late summer air, I can smell the beginning of autumn. As the first brown leaves crunch under our feet and the queen bee prepares for a long winter sleep, we hide bulbs in the earth for next spring’s flowers. During the winter, when we cannot see the sprouts and blooms, our garden works beneath the surface. Mama calls it a biochemical process. The cold temperatures help the bulbs prepare for spring.

"Just because we can’t see them doesn’t mean the plants aren’t growing on the inside,” Mama says.
-from When Mama Grows with Me

When Mama Grows with Me also pairs yoga poses with each stage of gardening.  Pairing lessons with movement allows young readers to make connections between the natural world and their own emotional experience. And what better practice to exemplify the power of waiting than yoga! Like with gardening, in yoga there is no “perfect”. Over time, yoga provides a path to an improved sense of body awareness and mental focus, which requires patience and not perfection.

So what are you waiting for? How will you fill the time until the future arrives?

Keep looking up,
​Becca

Google “reading fiction teaches empathy” and you’ll be provided a lengthy list of articles to peruse. Reading fiction allows a person to step into a character’s experience and perceive the world as someone else. When a reader experiences a character’s feelings, such as sorrow, anxiety, and even joy, the reader strengthens their empathy toolbelt, which can be utilized in the reader’s “real life” daily interactions. No other medium accomplishes what books can. With a
movie, the character’s world is built for us, no imagination required on our part. As we read fiction, we imagine the world as the character perceives it.

I began my career as a high school English and psychology teacher. After my sixth year, I started a master’s degree in Professional Counseling. I carried my love of picture books into the role of an elementary school counselor. Using literature to teach social-emotional skills just makes sense! Empathy is a critical social-emotional skill. Being able to recognize and process emotions is foundational to cultivating positive mental health practices.

Social Emotional Learning is not a new trend. CASEL (Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning) first used the term in 1994. Youth of all ages benefit from social emotional learning. SEL is the process in which children learn to manage emotions, establish and maintain healthy relationships, make responsible decisions, and other similar tasks.

Reading and discussing fiction creates a safe space for youth to process emotions and coping strategies. Discussing a character’s feelings and decisions allows the youth to contemplate their own reactions at a safe distance.
And as a writer, being able to empathize with others is crucial to writing dynamic and dimensional characters. Authors can also use the following questions to explore theircharacters’ feelings and motivations.

Consider a specific event in a character’s experience, and ask the following:
● How was the character feeling at the time of the event?
● How did the character cope with their feelings?
● Did the character’s reaction improve the situation? Why or why not?
● Could the character’s behaviors be misunderstood by others? Explain.
● If you were in a comparable situation, would your reaction be similar to the character?
Why or why not?
The above questions may be used with any level of literature from picture books to novels.Whether you’re reading to a child, in a book club for grown-ups, or writing your own stories, I would encourage you to ask these questions of the characters you meet. A few of my favorite picture books for SEL lessons:

The Most Magnificent Thing By Ashley Spires
The Bad Seed By Jory John
The Invisible Boy By Trudy Ludwig
Jabari Jumps By Gaia Cornwall
The Rabbit Listened By Cori Doerrfeld
The Very Hungry Worry Monsters By Rosie Greening

And my latest release When Mama Grows with Me not only provides lessons on gardening and yoga, but how to grow in patience!

Keep looking up-
Becca
​

As published on https://suebe.wordpress.com/2023/02/06/writers-and-therapists-a-guest-post-from-rebecca-wenrich-wheeler/ February 8, 2023 for the WOW! Women on Writing blog tour. 

In graduate school, my Group Counseling professor said so many gems that I still remember 14 years later. Two in particular: “The only experience you can speak to with authority is your own.” and “Counseling is one profession where age is always on your side.” Over time, I’ve found these two statements not only apply to the counseling profession but also to my writing life. 

I have wanted to be a writer since elementary school. My second grade teacher, Mrs. Hodge, encouraged us to write our own stories. She entered my story, The Funny Cat, into the Young Author’s contest. I won first place, and my dream was born. In the eighth grade, we were asked to write our life plan, and I wrote that I would earn a master’s degree and write a book before I was 30 (only one of those things happened “on schedule”). I earned a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in English, and later another one in Professional Counseling, but it wouldn't be until many years later that I would publish my first book. 

Which brings me back to my Group Counseling professor. I’ve learned that age is also on the writer’s side. The more life experience I accumulate the more layered my work becomes. Characters, like people, can surprise you; their motivations don’t play out in a neat line. Motivations may be influenced by environment, personal history, desires, and social norms. Motivational interviewing is a counseling method of asking questions to help a client uncover their own motivations and reasons for change. A writer might consider asking questions of their characters to help create dynamic personalities. For instance, a writer might ask “What does happiness mean to you?” Or my favorite question, aptly named the miracle question, “If overnight a miracle happened and one thing changed that improved your life, what would that thing be?”  Answering these questions for my characters helps guide me to how they respond to conflict and change.

Over the years I have often repeated the sentence: “The only experience you can speak to with authority is your own”. Not only is this statement appropriate for when I teach professional development, but it’s also true for writing. I’m a believer in the adage write what you know. I tend to set my writing in environments that I’m familiar with, which allows for more nuanced setting descriptions. I do incorporate characters with different life experiences than my own, and I must be cautious not to infuse my own assumptions onto the character to avoid falling into stereotype traps. Researching and choosing beta readers with diverse backgrounds helps to improve authenticity and provide a well-rounded viewpoint. I think of my characters as real people, like at any moment, I could meet them in the real world. A reader may see themselves in a character, and they deserve an authentic experience. 

Coming-of-age is my favorite YA genre to write. Recently, I found myself pondering why so many adults love to read YA, and then it dawned on me. We spend our entire lives processing what happened to us in childhood and adolescence. As we mature, we understand more how the events of our youth affects us as adults, so when an adult reads YA, the reader gains more insight into their own experience. A truth that will keep therapists and writers employed for life. 
Keep looking up.
Becca

As published on https://readingismyremedy.wordpress.com January 28, 2023 for the WOW! Women on Writing blog tour. 

Life consists mostly of waiting, punctuated with moments of excitement. It’s in the waiting that we prepare, learn, and change so we’re ready when opportunities emerge. Those times we do not see evidence of growth on the outside are the times we are growing on the inside! Dormant spells are inevitable, for gardens and authors. We cannot expect ourselves to bloom creativity 100% of the time. We must learn to use those dormant times to rest and rejuvenate, so we’re ready to bloom when the time comes!

I like to write about the moments that exist in the between, because that’s where the really good stuff happens; that’s when the growth occurs. We meet people in all stages of waiting: waiting for a birthday, a graduation, the arrival of a baby, for a vacation, better job, a diagnosis, or a new horizon. What makes people fascinating is how they handle the anticipation. 

Both of my 2023 releases find characters waiting. 
In the YA novel Whispering Through Water, characters wait for their futures to begin and for the truth to be discovered. As the protagonist, Gwyn, finds herself in the between of high school and adulthood, she unearths fundamental truths to understanding herself and her relationships. (released January 4, 2023)
In the picture book When Mama Grows with Me, the parent and child move through all the steps of gardening from seed to flower, and in doing so, learn together to be more patient and grateful. (summer 2023 release)

My childhood was filled with gardening. When I think of my Grandma Helen, I picture large bushes of parsley and rows of crocuses. My mom reminds me of lilies and irises. Now as an adult, it’s truly a joy to build a garden with my own children. In particular, I love creating pollinator gardens, and the kids love it too! Even if you are new to gardening, these steps can help you create your own pollinator garden.

1. Know your yard.

I’m sure we have all purchased plants that seem to promptly die as soon as they are planted. To help avoid this, understand your planting zone and research plants that work best in your zone. Link to hardiness zones.    
     2. Learn about your soil.
Talk to your local nursery staff to determine what type of soil you have and what plants work best for those conditions. For instance, if you have clay, it’s helpful to add conditioners. If you know your soil isn’t the best, you might choose to use a raised bed, that way you can add healthier soil. Link to understanding soil. 
   3. Understand your garden’s light. 
Does your garden space offer full sun, partial sun, afternoon sun, morning sun? Different  areas of your yard might receive different levels of sunlight. When you buy plants, check the tag for recommended sun levels, that will help you get optimum growth! Link to understanding a garden's light.
   4. Discover what critters live in your yard.
Have you ever spent money on beautiful dahlias or impatiens only to have them plowed    down by bunnies or deer? Save yourself the heartache (and money)! I have so many bunnies in my yard that I only buy plants that bunnies won’t eat, like zinnias, beardtongue, and coneflower. And you’re in luck! Many of the plants pollinators love bunnies stay away from. Link to bunny proof plants.

And one other tip when you are purchasing flowers, perennials come back year after year. Buy perennials and build your pollinator garden over time.
Happy gardening! Follow me on Instagram @rebeccawwheeler_author to watch my yard bloom this spring!

Keep looking up.

​Becca

As published on https://authoranthonyavinablog.com/​January 24, 2023 for the WOW! Women on Writing blog tour. ​

I write how I read, in multiples. I typically have several writing projects going on at once, usually a picture book, middle grade, and a YA (and then the occasional non-fiction piece for work). Switching between genres helps keep my brain fresh. If I have been working on one piece for a while, and writer’s block looms, I switch to another project for a while to maintain momentum.
 
The variance in my approach to writing picture books versus novels isn’t necessarily intentional, but rather the formats of the genres lend themselves to different paths. Of course, every author must discover their own writing groove, and the following is what works for me.
 
Picture Books
 
Picture books are recommended to be 1000 words or less, with the emphasis on or less. To keep focused, I have to be methodical. The limited word count requires every word to have purpose. After the idea hits me, I list all the page spread numbers first. I favor writing picture books in short bursts, mirroring the brevity of the picture book’s page length.
 
First, I determine the climax and hook and which page spread the climax will fall. Of course, this spread is moveable, but I like to have a target to build toward. My current books all contain back matter, as they are addressing facts about the natural world and yoga. I calculate in the back matter to my page count, as to not go over the recommended page length. All of the back matter is referenced or connected to the book content, so I ensure to use consistent terminology through the book.
 
Also as illustrations are involved, I think about which pages lend themselves to full page spreads and which are single-page illustrations. Having a vision for the overall book concept helps me to balance the text. Of course the editor might suggest moving things around, but my picture book editor likes for me to have some vision for the illustrations before we start.
 
Picture books consist of many moving parts!
 
YA Novels
 
With picture books, I tend to write more than required and then cut back on the unnecessary details; however, with novels I do the opposite. For the first draft, I focus on assembling the skeleton, which for me means dialogue and the major plot points. I add descriptive details and the “color” in subsequent drafts.
 
For novels, I have the exposition, climax, and resolution determined first, and then figure out how to get there. After writing the exposition, I formulate a timeline of major plotline events. I never know how many chapters a book will have until it’s finished.
 
I prefer to write novels in longer strides, so if I don’t have at least time to knock out a chapter I wait and work on something else. When I get stuck, I take a break (notice I said when and not if, blocks happen to every writer). Often my breakthrough ideas come when I’m doing something else, like driving, gardening, and particularly after teaching a yoga class!
 
Understanding your typical patterns will help you to be a more efficient and productive writer; however, most importantly, know how to take a quality break.

Keep looking up.
​Becca
 

As published on www.mindymcginnis.com/ January 10, 2023 for the WOW! Women on Writing blog tour. 

For the better part of my adult life, I have edited other people’s work, first as a high school English & Creative Writing teacher, and then as an adjunct college instructor. I tend to provide a lot of feedback, namely because I want my students to reach their capabilities as a writer and researcher. If I didn’t believe the students had the potential to improve, I wouldn’t spend so much time writing feedback.
 
When my first picture book, When Daddy Shows Me the Sky, was accepted for publication in 2020, it had been a long time since I was on the receiving end of the editing pen. Even though I would have loved to have been published earlier in my life, I am thankful that by the time I worked with an editor on my first book, I had developed a confidence in my own voice that didn’t exist in my twenties. That confidence allowed me to enter this new editor-author relationship as two professionals collaborating rather than a writer with an inferiority complex.
 
Book editing happens in a variety of ways.  For my two picture books, a single editor went through four revision rounds with me, and my editor served as the intermediary with the illustrator and designer. She was truly my partner through the entire process. My second picture book, When Mama Grows with Me, will be released in Spring 2023. Both picture books are published by Belle Isle Books, an imprint of Brandylane Publishing.
 
The editing process with my YA novel, Whispering Through Water, was very different. Instead of one editor I had three. Each editor served a different purpose. The first was a developmental editor, then copy and line editors. In terms of the design process, I communicated directly with my publisher at Monarch Educational Services, LLC.  
 
For me, switching editors through the publishing process was more stressful, because the communication style changes with each editor. I learned that I prefer for the editor to ask me clarifying questions, so I have a chance to extrapolate the intended meaning, rather than the editor making content changes without asking questions. Also, I am turned off by sarcasm in comments, as I personally don’t find that professional. An editor isn’t an author's boss or teacher, rather the editor serves more as a coach guiding the plays to improve the writer’s game. If something isn’t working in the relationship, it’s okay to communicate with the editor about the concern. Or if a particular question or piece of feedback was helpful, tell your editor that as well, which also helps her know how to best communicate with you. 
 
With each editor change, comes a new relationship to navigate. Though fundamentally, whether I have one editor or three, I just want to know she is as invested in my work as I am. For the relationship to work, the writer and editor must respect each other’s expertise and passion. Respect is reciprocal.
 
For those new to the writer-editor relationship, keep this in mind: the editor chose your work, which means she believes your work deserves to have an audience. You both have the same goals: for your unique author’s voice to shine, the book to be loved by readers, and hopefully make a little money in the process.

Keep looking up.
Becca