Okay, here’s my official bio. It feels weird writing about yourself in third person.
Kristy Jackson is a communications professional by day, writer by night. Kristy loves books of all kinds, and has led a program to help Santa bring books to kids in remote Indigenous communities each Christmas since 2018. She is also a volunteer board member with a local non-profit dedicated to improving literacy in her community. Kristy is a member of Whitefish Lake First Nation #128 (a.k.a. Goodfish Lake) who lives near Saskatoon, SK, with her husband and their two sons. She has been practicing the writing craft since TVs had rabbit ears, and writes for middle grade, YA, and adult audiences. Her debut novel, MORTIFIED, will be published in spring 2024 by HarperCollins and with illustrations by Rhael McGregor. Kristy is represented by Olga Filina of the 5Otter Literary agency in Toronto.
âcimow is the Cree word (y dialect) for "he/she tells a story." I only know a few words in Cree, and many thanks to my grandfather Bill Jackson, who is a Cree language speaker, for sharing this with me.
Side note: Thank you to Dave at Stobbe Photography for figuring out how to make me look good without the use of filters or photoshop (lights and angles and poses that feel very weird, like sticking your neck out like a turtle with your tongue glued to the roof of your mouth; sounds bizarre, but it works). Also thank you to Coralee at Sparrow Coffee on 2nd Avenue for giving us a cool background so I look more “writerly.” Sparrow makes the best coffee and their cookies are to die for. If you’re in Saskatoon, check them out here.
The best gift ever
When I was a discouraged writer, dreaming of having her book published, rejections filling my inbox faster than a firehose fills a bucket, my husband got me the best gift ever.
He started by asking me if he could read my completed manuscript for SUPERS, the first book I had finished writing in 20 years. Thrilled (and terrified) that someone wanted to read what I wrote, I sent him a copy.
First of all, he read it. All the way through. That in itself is a gift to any writer, because we know it takes your precious time and you chose to spend it with our work.
And even better, he liked it. My husband is the type of person who will tell you straight up. If the pants I’m wearing look bad, he’ll be like, “those pants look bad.” So I knew if my book sucked, he would tell me, “your book sucks.” And if he felt like that was too harsh, he might add something like, “But I think it’s promising. Keep working at it and you’ll get better.”
Which really, is good advice. But (lucky for me) he didn’t think it sucked. In fact, he really enjoyed reading SUPERS. So that was gift #2 – my very first fan. It was the encouragement I needed to reach out (tentatively) to my other fans – Mom, Dad and his partner Angie being the first.
But it gets better. On Christmas morning that year, Kevin surprised me with 12 copies. Of my book. With my name on it – right there under the title.
I couldn’t believe it. He had taken it to an online service, designed a cover, and printed copies for me. It took him hours of time. And it was beautiful.
I did what any writer would do in that situation – I cried. Alarmed and confused, my kids were like, “but Mom, I thought you’d love this!” And of course, I blubbered, “I DO love this!” and then cried some more.
And then we had a discussion about the difference between sad tears and happy tears. I’m still not sure they believe me that happy tears are a thing.
There’s something about seeing your name in print on the cover of a book when it’s been your dream since you were a little kid. After 40 years of dreaming, I had something tangible that I could hold in my hands. I saw that my dream of being a published author was possible. And I wanted it more than ever. But I had to keep writing, and keep trying, especially if I wanted to publish traditionally, which is the route I wanted to go if I could.
Every time I got a new rejection letter, I would have a little pity party, grumble a little about how hard the querying process is, and then looked at my book published courtesy of Kevin Aebig publications. Then I would take a deep breath, look up the next agent, and write another query.
If you want to encourage a writer in your life, use one of these many online services available to publish a few copies of their books. Happy tears (and renewed motivation when the times are tough) are practically guaranteed.
(But…don’t make your home-published books available to the world. It hurts your chances of traditionally publishing later. Just a few copies for you and the other fans in your life who want you to sign it so you can feel like an author).
Thank you, Kevin. For both of my books that you published for me, for your constant support, and as always, for your honesty.
It’s gonna be pretty hard to ever top that gift. Angie still bugs my dad about it to this day. “Oh, that’s a pretty good gift, Tom. But it’s not a book, is it?”
*Note – these are NOT the published covers. These beautiful covers were designed by my artistic husband, Kevin, who designed these limited editions just for me. The books you will find in the store will be amazing, but different than what you see here.
Recommendations
/ TOP PICK
A very cool series for middle grade; a Narnia adventure meets traditional Indigenous stories. Morgan and Ely are such relatable characters and the series is just fun. David A Robertson is a swampy Cree author who has written over 30 books. Which really impresses me, because it takes me forever to write one.
/ CLOSE SECOND
Maggie Lou, Firefox by Arnolda Dufour Bowles. Funny middle grade novel about a Metis family. Maggie Lou’s adventures while being taught to box by her Moshôm (grandfather) will delight readers. Written by a fellow Saskatoon author too (go Saskatchewan)!
/ SOLID THIRD
Fatty Legs by Margaret-Olemaun Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordan-Fenton. If you’re looking for an introduction to the topic of residential schools, I think this is a good one for this age group. My kids reacted strongly to the story, but there’s nothing in here that I thought was too heavy for ages 9-12.