1659: Children’s Book Self-Publishing and Strong Heroines with Amy Hawk

Amy Hawk explains how a story written for her niece became a children's fantasy about courage, independence, friendship, and believing in yourself. She began writing The Tales of Rumpus in 1998 because she wanted her niece to have a strong female hero who did not wait to be rescued. Rather than outlining everything, Hawk developed her characters, let their personalities guide the story, and even changed the ending as the adventure evolved. She revisited the manuscript roughly every decade and found that its themes continued to feel relevant. Publishing required collaboration with illustrators, compromises on some visual details, and persistence with the elements she considered essential. She also discovered that self-publishing shifts much of the difficult promotional work onto the author, including interviews, signings, and finding trustworthy marketing support. Her most useful takeaway is that meaningful creative work may not be easy, but staying true to the story and continuing forward can make the effort worthwhile.