DANI VEE “A few days after the interview, I asked if I could pitch two stories and he signed My EXTRAordinary Mum within two weeks.”
Today on Kelly’s Writerly Q&A, I’m featuring podcast legend, Dani Vee! Her Words and Nerds podcast reaches over 52,000 listeners every month, dominating the literary landscape. And her debut picture book My EXTRAordinary Mum is available for pre-order now: a delightful story on motherhood and how women are so much more than breeding machines!
Tugging at my heartstrings, Dani’s debut picture book is one I absolutely love; which is why I’m so thrilled to feature this amazing woman on my blog!
Dani is a rising star in Australia, you won’t want to miss this blog, especially if you’re a mum who writes.
Hi Dani, thanks for taking the time to answer some writerly questions. First of all, congratulations on signing a 9-book deal, including international publication, and the upcoming birthday of your debut picture book! Your first book baby, My EXTRAordinary Mum is a winner!
Blurb:
A fun-filled adventure and celebration of an extraordinary mum and her daughter who find magic in unexpected places.
We are all extraordinary, sometimes we just need reminding.
How did you come up with the idea for this story?
It’s something that bothered me after I came out of the fog of new motherhood. It seemed that once you became a mother you were expected to put aside your own identity. While my kids were 3 and 5, I struggled to remember who I was apart from being a new mum. This is how the Words and Nerds Podcast was born, I was craving deep conversations about books. Fast forward 400 episodes later, I had an idea for a picture book of a mother who didn’t lose her identity after motherhood. Instead, she leaned into who she was and brought her child on that journey. It’s a quirky story, but at its heart, it’s about a mother showing her daughter that it’s best to be whoever we really are and ignore societal expectations. Once I had that idea, I thought of all the things I liked to do and what other mothers around me were doing and created My EXTRAordinary Mum!
This resonates with me so much and is the reason why I started writing novels. I love the way you were inspired by motherhoods challenges, going on to create such a current picture book! How long did it take you to write?
The draft was complete in about a week, which was enough to get it signed. Publisher James from Larrikin House loves concepts and he likes stories that go against the grain. In our first meeting after signing, he told me he ‘hated the ending’ so I deleted it on the spot. It took another nineteen endings to get it right. It was hard to end the book without being predictable and too sweet because although the book has heart, it’s meant to be quirky and offbeat.
Super fast! Let’s talk about querying and publishing, how did you get your yes?
I interviewed James Layton for the Words and Nerds spin-off series Publishing Insider because I already loved what Larrikin House was doing. I thought their books were beautiful, quirky and weird and loved how they were leaning into something unique. A few days after the interview, I asked if I could pitch two stories and he signed My EXTRAordinary Mum within two weeks. It was a surreal feeling knowing I’d finally signed my first book deal.
What great initiative! I love your Publishing Insider series. What are your thoughts on motherhood and how that has impacted you as a writer?
Motherhood is amazing, but it changes you in unexpected ways. There is no human you worry about more than your own children. My son was born via IVF, so there is a feeling of being very grateful to have him. As a writer, I guess it changed my process because I need to write in the cracks of a very busy life which include in bed on my phone, early in the morning, scribbling things when you’re waiting for them to finish sport or at school pick up. I think when you have kids time becomes so precious you actually learn to use it more effectively.
So true. Life becomes busy, but you learn to prioritise, always fitting in the things that matter.
As an author who hosts the brilliantly successful podcast Words and Nerds, featuring the whos who of Australian literature, what can you share on podcasting and how that can aid a writer?
As a host it’s taught me how best to answer interview questions - honestly and with vulnerability and a side of laughter - as a listener, I’ve taken on all the advice of the writers I’ve interviewed. I recently thanked Trent Dalton because when writing My EXTRAordinary Mum, I remembered the advice he gave which was to write with ‘heart and soul.’ Without this advice, my book would be very different. He encouraged me to bare my fears and my questions without feeling self-conscious.
Fantastic! I am inspired by my interviewees too, and am learning how to be a better listener. I love doing these interviews so much! What does your typical day of writing look like?
Writing in the cracks of a busy life. Fifteen minutes there, an hour here. Sometimes I will take half a day to nut something out, but I have to really carve out those minutes to write but when I do, I am totally focused and I love it.
Brilliant, and I can relate. When I get in the zone, it’s the absolute best! What kinds of books do you like to read?
I love crime fiction, I love Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Gray. Another favourite is Love In The Time of Cholera and anything by Jane Austen. Austen was well ahead of her time in terms of feminism and giving women a strong voice. I love Elliot Perlman’s work. I love any writing in any genre that makes me think about the world, particularly how humans think and react to the world. I also like dark books that take me into darker worlds. Of course, picture books are magical because they represent more than a book, they are memories of reading to your children.
What a great list of thought-provoking books. I too am a Jane Austen fan. Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?
Know the publisher you want to write for, read their books and understand their brand. Write what’s real, then write something funny, stretch yourself and just keep writing, knowing that more than half of what you write is going to be terrible!
Great tips! So, what can we expect from you next?
I have a six-book deal called Unlucky Dad which I wrote to brief for Larrikin House. It's about an engaged and adventurous dad who just happens to have terrible luck. It’s meant to be a fun, slapstick, joyful book that kids will laugh at when they read. I’m having a crack at junior fiction and writing a crime short story for an anthology and hope to write another crime novel. My last one just missed out on the Banjo shortlist.
I love writers' festivals and meeting people, so I intend on doing more of that and continuing to record episodes for the podcast!
Lots to keep you busy. I look forward to seeing Unlucky Dad come to life and am also interested in your junior and crime fiction. Hopefully we will cross paths in real life one day, but until then, I will continue streaming your podcast via Spotify in my car, while I’m in the taxi-driver phase of motherhood.
Thank you so very much for all your insight and advice on writing and motherhood, its been such a treat to interview the interviewer!
Pre-order My Extraordinary Mum
