Q & A with Author Carolyn McWilliams Brown

All You Want and Then Some by Carolyn McWilliams Brown

Writers often draw from real life for their books.  Parents find lessons to learn and stories to tell from raising children. 

Carolyn McWilliams Brown shares, in her picture book,  All You Want and Then Some,  a situation when youngsters must share the attention of their parents, especially when a sibling has a disability.  Carolyn’s daughter Katie, as well as the whole family, learned there could be joy in their family challenge.

Mary Emma:  Your book is based on a true story.  Tell us about that.

 Carolyn:  When our daughter, Katie, was three, we welcomed the arrival of her little brother, Parker, and then eighteen months later our third child, Cash, was born.  Parker was a happy, very busy baby, and right before his second birthday he experienced a seizure in his high chair. He was diagnosed with epilepsy and a developmental disorder (PDD-NOS, which is on the same spectrum as autism and Asperger’s syndrome). 

In the months that followed, Parker’s seizures increased.  My husband and I, with three small children, were sleep deprived and struggling to meet the children’s emotional needs and still have any time for each other.  Soon Parker required one-on-one attention and for his safety and those around him, could not be left alone. 

It was then that God sent us a special neighbor, who was a nurse, a grandmother, and a disciple of Christ, to serve us during our time of need.  She loved our family unconditionally, and because she was a seasoned parent herself, she anticipated our needs even when we couldn’t think straight.

Mary Emma:  Explain the significance of your title.  It’s unusual. 

Carolyn: My dad frequently used the phrase, “All you want and then some,” referring to the volume of food at the dinner table or his supply of duct tape, rope, baling wire, Old Spice aftershave, and anything else he kept in great quantity.  I wanted to remember him in my first publication, and this phrase, which was never delivered with any spiritual meaning, made the connection I was looking for between Bella and Christ.  Our Lord faithfully provides for our needs, and because he is a loving and generous God, he is eager to satisfy some our wants as well.

Mary Emma:   What message would you like readers to get from your book?

 Carolyn: God intentionally puts people in our lives at just the right time for a specific purpose in order to fulfill his plan.

Mary Emma:  You decided to self-publish your book.  Why was that important for you? 

 Carolyn:  Because this story is personal to our family, we wanted the characters and setting to be portrayed as they really are.  We also wanted to be in control of the final text, because if the story were altered then it would not be our own.

Mary Emma:  Were your children involved in the writing of the book? 

 Carolyn:  They were!  They were involved in making the illustrations come to life.  By the time I got around to writing the story, several years had passed; Katie had grown, and that created a challenge for the illustrator.  So little brother Cash posed as Katie during the photo shoot to capture the emotions Katie feels throughout the book.  Katie, on the other hand, posed for all the shots that didn’t show her full face. The artwork shown in the book – on the refrigerator, the Gallery, and on the final page – are all actual pieces by Katie that were scanned into the illustration.

Mary Emma:  Thank you, Carolyn, for stopping by and chatting with me.  I’m sure readers of your book will enjoy knowing how involved as a family you were in writing it.

Visit Carolyn at her web site.

(Amazon image)