It’s been a few months since I had the pleasure of hosting a fellow Kidlit writer on the First Stories blog! A few months filled with lots of fun book events surrounding the release of Trunk Goes Thunk! A Woodland Tale of Opposites, which is available in many bookstores across the country as well as online.
And for those of you who are looking for more outdoor wonder and adventure, I’m thrilled to announce my second picture book, Backyard Stew, which will release in the fall of 2026, also from Gnome Road.
Today, I’m delighted to welcome one of my debut group members (and a fellow nature enthusiast), Cynthia Mackey, to First Stories!!
Cynthia Mackey is the author of Katie Shaeffer Pancake Maker and The Lullaby Monsters and her poetry appears in The Toy, The Dirigible Balloon and Little Thoughts Press, Hit the Road magazine. Her debut picture book, If a Bumblebee Lands on Your Toe is set for publication with Yeehoo Press in Spring 2025. Her next book, Butterfly Sea, is forthcoming with Tielmour Press. She was mentored by highly acclaimed Canadian author, Jean E. Pendziwol. With a Bachelor of Education degree, Cynthia views children as capable beings and works to bring elements of joy, playfulness, and social-emotional learning to her writing. For more information, visit her website at www.booksbycindy.com
And today is a SUPER SPECIAL day because…
Cynthia’s debut picture book, If a Bumblebee Lands on Your Toe, released YESTERDAY – on May 20th!!
That’s right!!
This lovely tale of mindfulness and our interconnectedness with nature is available online wherever books are sold!! (Links to order below)
And now, to welcome Cynthia (who also goes by Cindy) to First Stories!
Me: Cindy! Welcome!
Cindy: Thanks so much for hosting me, Heather, and for celebrating my book birthday!
Me: It’s SUCH an incredible feeling and an amazing accomplishment to release a book into the world! Congratulations! So fun!
I’m really looking forward to hearing about the story behind this lovely book as well as what you’re working on next. So, here’s my standard first question:
Tell me about your “first story.” The one that really pushed you to consider publishing. What inspired you to write it? What was it about?
Cindy: Creative writing was my favorite school subject, and I’ve always thought it would be amazing to write a book. My first story as a young writer was about a rag doll named Cynthia who had no mother or father. (I did have parents – heehee.)
As I got older, I became more determined to do all the things I ever wanted to do. I realized the only thing getting in the way of writing was just… me. And then it became easy to write. I decided whether it gets published or not isn’t the point. I wanted to focus on the joy of writing and become fully engaged in the process.
My first official picture book manuscript was titled, ‘My Tree’. It started out as the story of a girl who is shy and so she befriends a tree named Douglas. It didn’t have much of a plot or a fully developed character. I wrote a couple of drafts and sent it out too early. When nothing happened with it, I didn’t feel discouraged because by then I realized getting any book published was a long game. I posted the story in the 12×12 Picture Book Challenge Forum. As I got feedback and revised the story (there were multiple revisions), it became better, and one of the ways I improved it was by giving the main character a name and a reason to befriend the tree. Who is this girl? What kind of child is she? Why did she go to a tree for friendship? Yes, she was shy, but was there more going on? Answering these questions helped with character development.
I decided her name was Fern and her parents were separating. I consulted with a child psychologist to make sure the right messages were being communicated for children who need support during a parental breakup. Those revisions, and a new title: FERN AND DOUGLAS, brought a more emotional layer to the story. I also added a layer about forest bathing, which shows how time spent in nature can be emotionally healing and a layer about the changing seasons to show the progression of time and that like Fern’s changing family changes, the seasons change too.
There is scientific evidence that forest bathing works! I even consulted with a forest bathing guide! It was good talking with her about the book. I eventually had feedback that it brought people to tears (in a good way). Even though I haven’t sold that story, I think it’s a good sign that it gets such an emotional response. I’ve had people say they wished they had a book like it when they were little or they wished they had a book like it for their young children. I have learned that books like these (bibliotherapy) can be harder to sell and are more often written by counsellors or psychologists. Maybe it will sell, maybe it won’t but I am proud of that story and the work I’ve done with it.
Me: I love how you put it – “the only thing getting in the way of writing was just…me.” And how you write because you MUST and for the joy of it! I can definitely relate to both ideas – for so long, I wrote stories and never finished them. So, I didn’t think I could finish anything. But when I began to dedicate time to learning craft and to daily writing, it transformed so much!
Are there any themes in the story that you see in your writing today?
Cindy: I love writing about how connected we are to nature and that pops up in a lot of my manuscripts. The social emotional content and the empathy in this book are also themes I love to write about. I spent a couple of years as a ‘Roots of Empathy Facilitator’ – it’s a Canadian school program created by Mary Gordon to help increase empathy in children and picture books were a big part of that program. So I view picture books as a wonderful tool to show and facilitate discussions about empathy. IF A BUMBLEBEE LANDS ON YOUR TOE is a book that shows how we are connected to nature. Most of my other work either has a nature or a social emotional focus.
My second book, BUTTERFLY SEA, which is scheduled for release with Tielmour Press in December 2025, also has nature connectedness themes as well as a social emotional component related to sibling relationships. That story shows that it is still possible to get along with a sibling even when each of you has a completely different goal or desire. And how having empathy can help the relationship stay strong.
Me: YES! Congratulations on announcing a second picture book! I also love being outside in the natural world, which is partly why I studied biology. 🙂 My corner of the world is blessed with lots of hiking trails, hills, waterfalls, and oodles of plants, insects, and animals, which makes being out in nature interesting and exciting: you never know what you might find/observe/notice.
Why is that “first story” special to you? How was it important for your writing journey?
Cindy: I think that first story taught me a lot about writing. I needed all the elements – plot, character development, a universal theme. I needed to clearly communicate emotions of the characters. Getting feedback from writing partners and getting a paid editorial letter, and revising over and over really did help the story grow into something beautiful. And looking back and seeing that growth showed me how much I was learning along the way.
Me: It is so helpful to pause and look back at your journey (whatever it is – career, parenting, spiritual, etc.). Thanks for that reminder!
I would love to hear about your latest project! Your debut picture book – WHEN A BUMBLEBEE LANDS ON YOUR TOE – releases next year! What a fun title. How did you come up with the idea for this book?
Cindy: Thanks! It’s fun to get to talk about it. IF A BUMBLEBEE LANDS ON YOUR TOE came out of multiple experiences that eventually merged themselves into one story. I started out thinking about our fear of bees when an exterminator came to our child care center refused to remove a bumblebee nest from the playground. At first, some of our staff we a little surprised that we wouldn’t try to protect the children, but bumblebees are a species that need protecting so it’s a balance. The book began with a completely different title- HONEY CAKES FOR OSCAR – a book about a little bunny who was afraid of bees.
Several years (and drafts) later, I had taken my nature preschool class for a picnic in the woods and a bumblebee did land on a child’s ankle. The child was so calm about it and it made me think about all the different ways people react to bees and wasps. I wondered – was this child so connected to nature that he was able to keep calm? I wrote a poem about that moment and that poem quickly became a picture book manuscript.
Me: I love hearing about all the different versions of BUMBLEBEE that you tried! And now it’s out in the world with gorgeous illustrations by Vikki Zhang!! Very exciting, Cindy! Thank you for spending your book birthday with all of us here at First Stories!
Cindy: Thank you so much for having me!
Please consider ordering a copy of Cindy’s debut picture book, If a Bumblebee Lands on Your Toe, (or leave a review!) using the links below:
Heather C. Morris 
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