¶ Mom Podcast With Nikki Bergstresser
You know if you're just beginning this or if you're in the middle of it . Just enjoy those small steps . Every small step may seem like a lot of steps , but every small step is going to get us where we are meant to be .
Welcome to the Moms Who Create podcast . I'm your host , kelly Hile , and I am thrilled to share a podcast that celebrates the incredible moms who are pursuing their creative passions . Are you a mom who feels like you just can't balance your creative pursuits with the demands of motherhood ?
Each week , i'm bringing you interviews with accomplished and talented moms who have made their creative dreams a reality . I talk to writers , artists , musicians and entrepreneurs who have successfully found a way to do what they love while raising the ones they love .
Some of the writers I talk to are New York Times bestselling authors , while some are self-published first-time authors . I also share my own insights and resources to help you navigate the unique challenges of being a mom who creates .
So , whether you're an early bird or a night owl , a seasoned pro or just starting out , i want you to know that you can pursue your creative passions and be an amazing mom at the same time . Grab a cup of coffee , a notebook and get ready to join our community of like-minded moms who are on a mission to live intentionally and create with purpose .
This is the Moms Who Create Podcast , and I can't wait to share this journey with you . Hi everyone , and welcome back to this week's episode of the Moms Who Create Podcast . Let's jump into it . Nikki is awesome . Today I'm talking to Nikki Bergstresser , from Canada . She is an educator and author of children's books and one sweet romance novel .
Her latest picture book , called Lila Lou's Little Library isn't that the cutest title ? It's from Cardinal Rowe Press , 2021 , and it contains themes of activism , generosity and community .
Her other children's book , seasons of Stone , from Brandy Lane Publishers , 2020 , shares with readers the power of a young girl's kindness as it just ripples through a neighborhood , saving Heart . and Home , from a Lang Books , 2021 , is a sweet romance novel co-written with Denise Jaden .
Nikki lives on the west coast of British Columbia with her husband , two daughters and a plethora of critters . She facilitates online book clubs awesome instructs writing classes for children also awesome and presents literature seminars for parents and educators .
Inspiration for Nikki's writing comes from spending time in nature , traveling to new places and spontaneous adventures . She believes taking small steps will lead to beautiful journeys . Enjoy today's episode , nikki . thank you for joining me today on the podcast .
I was looking at your website and I saw you have two children's books and a sweet romance which I'm excited to talk about that one too . So you kind of do different genres . So thank you again for being here and talking to me today .
Well , thank you so much , Kelly , for having me , and I'm excited to kind of share a little bit of my journey and hopefully encourage everyone listening on their journey .
Just to start off by having you introduce yourself to everybody and just give us a brief overview of who you are .
Okay , i am Nikki Bergstresser . I live on the west coast of British Columbia , canada , so I am right near the water and near the mountains . It is lovely . I grew up in Manitoba , so in my heart I'm a prairie girl , but oh , the mountains have my soul .
And so I've been married , for I think it's 23 years and we have two daughters One just graduated and the other is having one more year of high school , and so it's a whole different season for us , trying to navigate , moving from being the hands-on parent to the facilitator in their life , to be the listener , and so that's a new stage that my husband and I
are enjoying . It's a fun stage . Each stage has its hard point , but it's fun . And then , as well , i'm an educator . I teach online book clubs and writing clubs to students . Oh nice , it's really fun .
And I do my author bit , and , as well , i do speaking to schools and parent groups and community groups , just to kind of instill that love and passion of literacy . So , and then in our spare time , we love traveling , we love nature . I'm a huge hiker . Just getting into nature , oh , it just fills me . So that's yeah , that's a little bit about me .
Tell me what got you into writing , What first inspired you to become a writer .
Well , i grew up in a household with parents who really encouraged a love of books and a love of writing . My dad , my dad loves to write poetry and he's 86 years old And , yeah , having a dad who loved to write poetry , that was a little unique , right , and so he really encouraged me .
My mom was a huge cheerleader And then , once I got into teaching , i would find I'd be teaching something and I couldn't find material for it . And so I'm like , oh well , maybe I can write it . And so I would start writing poetry or little plays for my classes and things like that , and I really It just kind of it gave me a passion .
¶ From Rocks to Books
And then , once I became a mom and I was home , i needed that creativity to continue on , and so I started writing here and there , for I'd , you know , write a poem to friends or things like that . And that just kind of spiraled it until about six years ago And I'm like you know what ? I'm gonna do this ? I'm gonna dive into this world .
And it was scary to dive into it And I thought we're just gonna try . And again , if you surround yourself with friends and cheerleaders that say you can do this , that's a huge hurdle . And so , yeah , i jumped into it from there .
So having a dad that was a poet , i feel like that is rare , right . It's like that romanticized life that you see on like movies . To have that lifestyle around you probably was super inspirational , like you were always kind of in that zone of words .
You know what , being surrounded with words exactly , and expressing your feelings . And you know my dad did it best through his writing , and so special occasions , i would always get some type of poem or something , and as my girls were growing up , from when they were itty-bitty , he would write them his own little poems .
He'd create and send them cards that he made by hand And so to this day they have in a box . They have all the cards that Papa made for them with the poems . So it's pretty neat .
That is so special . Has he ever put these poems into a ?
book . He has never . He has never , and you know what . We've chatted about it . So I'm going to Manitoba next month , so I'm like maybe I'll chat with him . He's 86 and he loves writing , so .
Oh , you should just do it for him . Just take all the poems . Or your children , they should take all these poems and just secretly make it into like a self-published book . You know , i like that , kelly . I love that . You should do that , please do . Oh , then think of some like super special title . No , i'm just getting emotional . I love it .
Okay , anyway , back to you , back to you , love , love it . Love it in your journey . Tell me about your books , tell me about everything that you've put out so far , okay well , i started with Seasons for Stones .
That was my debut , and I will never forget getting that email , because those of you who are sending your writing out into the world , you know it's filled with rejection And that can be really hard . It's a huge hit And so you know you just go . Is it worth it ? Do I keep on trying ?
But every no leads to a yes , and that yes , that was a huge day , that was a huge day of celebration . And so , yeah , seasons for Stones was born from that , and that is my first children's picture book . It has a special meaning because seven years ago that's when I started to write it my dad was diagnosed with cancer And so they were in Manitoba .
Of course , and because of his love for words , i thought what can I do ? I have two little kids at home . I can't just jump on a plane to help him and my mom , because my mom was carrying a huge load there . And so I'm like how can I encourage ?
So I went to the store and I bought Stones And I came home and I painted a word on each stone and I put a flower , because he loves to garden , so I put a flower with each stone and put them in a burlap bag . And for every day of his cancer treatment I had a word that I wanted him to draw out , to focus on that word for the day .
And so it was funny . When I go to the post office to mail this package , the lady lists it up and she goes oh my goodness , this is heavy , what's in here , rocks . And I'm like actually , yes , yes , it is actually So . Seasons for Stones was born from that idea , because their neighbors also pitched in , like the neighbors around them , were incredible .
They shoveled their snow , they brought them meals , they did everything . And so the sense of community and just having that empathy , seasons for Stones , came about . And it's Tilly Tilly's , my main character .
She knows her elderly neighbor is not doing well , she can tell because the garden is not well taken care of , and so she wants to go on a journey to help her . And so through her words , through the love of nature , they make a connection .
And the theme of the book is that there's hard seasons in our life And to be able to recognize we will have hard seasons , those around us will have hard seasons . What do we do ? Where do we go with that ? How do we take it . So that was the first book . Then came Lila Loo's Little Library , and again that again was born from my love of books .
I love sharing books with everybody . If I read a book I'm like , oh , you have to read this . And I'm constantly sharing books . But my house also is piled to the sky with books . So Lila Loo is again my main character , and in both my picture books my main characters have problems that they need to solve .
They need to be empowered to solve these problems of their own . And so Lila Loo's mother says there are too many books in this house , lila Loo , and Lila Loo is spunky . So she says , well , maybe our house is just too small for all these books .
And so you know , tongue in cheek , she realizes , yes , she has a problem with her books , and she shares her books with the community .
However , the community isn't quite as excited about Lila Loo's books as she wants them to be , and so she has another problem that she solves , and from there she gets to share her books with the neighbors And as well , they get to share new books with her too .
And so from that story , i built with my husband actually , my husband built a little library that we put in our front yard And it is massive . It's got three levels picture books , middle grade books and then adult books .
Wow , Yeah , it's pretty neat . That's amazing , thank you . Oh , my goodness , those stories are phenomenal , nikki . And then you made like a triple-decker box . I am obsessed with you . You're amazing , you're so sweet .
Well , all three of my books came out during the pandemic , and so that was hard . I could not celebrate them the way I wanted to , and so I'm like , oh , i can sit and get all chuffed about it , or I can , how can I do it ? And so , yes , i had the neighborhood , i invited them over And we gave space and everything . But I read outside to the kids .
Everyone was spaced out , and now I met neighbors I've never met before . There are little kids that are coming up pulling books out every day , and other people are putting the books into , so there's always new books as well . And the one day I saw a grandparent with their grandkids And the grandparent got a book And the kids got books .
And so every season I decorate outside of the little library And I want others to see the celebration and the joy of books .
So Also congratulations on getting that yes . Finally , That's getting a yes is something that usually doesn't happen a lot of times , if we're just being honest . So was that during the pandemic as well .
No , it was the year before the pandemic . So this is the other hard thing with children's picture books . It's often it can take from signing that contract . It can take up to two years to get it out into the world . There's a lot that goes behind the scenes with that , And so , yeah , did I imagine celebrating my books released during a pandemic ?
Absolutely not So . Sometimes , and that's the thing with dreams , You have to be able to weave and ebb and flow through it all right , right .
Oh man , that's amazing , though , and we're getting past it and your books are out , And do you have more ? We'll talk about your next book in a second , but do you have any more children's books ? you're working on that . you want to get out .
Well , i have several manuscripts that I'm working through and trying to get out , as well , as I have a middle grade novel that I'm in final revisions with , oh wonderful , so it's yeah , the publishing process . It's a long time , right ? It's like you have to have that patience , and some days I don't , some days I don't at all , and so I have to .
Just , i have to remember , on the days where answers aren't coming to me from others , that I need to take control of my own writing . It's like that's when I'm like , okay , i'm gonna ignore my email and I'm just gonna write .
I'm still gonna write , and that kind of helps me through because , yeah , you can get down with it sometimes , especially when the industry is slow .
Oh yeah , there was a indie publisher , a very big one that I will not name , but I sent them an email about one very tiny , tiny thing that I needed to get fixed . They took them I think it was 19 days to return my email for one tiny thing And I was like what ? I can't check in my email every day and I would follow up . This is a five second fix .
I just , you know , this thing isn't working for me to input my book that's coming out in the fall . I'm glad I'm doing it early , you know , because you can do imagine like something happening on your self publisher . You do it all yourself right On your release day And then the company that you're going through not responding for three weeks .
That would just crash everything And that would be the worst . So I guess in any aspect of publishing whether it's self publishing or with a publisher there's always you gotta wait , and I'm a big instant gratification person , like if I want something , i want it to happen right , then It has to be completed . I have to do it now , like I hate waiting .
But it's worth it in the end , right , but congrats on your books too , kelly .
Way to go .
So you also , if you want
¶ Balancing Motherhood and Creativity
to talk about it . You also have a sweet romance book . Can you tell us about that ?
I do . It's called Saving Heart and Home And I co-wrote it with another mom friend that we met each other . As you know , i was her home learning support teacher . She was homeschooling her child And , yes , she is a YA author as well as now a cozy mystery author .
And so I love Hallmark , i am the biggest cheese of Hallmark movies , and so I had this idea in my head , and I'm also a big , i love intergenerational stories , and so that's what Saving Heart and Home is . It's set in an assisted living home And the Zany seniors there . They love their nurse , their sweet nurse , emma , and they want her to find love .
And Emma's a little bit jaded with love And so they go about some zany ways to try and find her true love . And there's a rescue dog named Charlie in there And , yeah , there's some there's some meat cute moments And it's . I love it .
It's a project , a passion project for me , like when I was writing it and I'm sobbing , or the one day I was driving my daughters And they're like mom , why are you crying ? I'm like my characters are having a really good conversation in my head . You're always thinking about it And it just becomes such a part of you .
So yeah , saving Heart and Home is actually really close to my heart as well .
That sounds so good . In my mid 30s I'm finding what I like to read , more than just . I love bestselling fiction , but cozy mysteries you mentioned that too with your friend . I didn't know . Now I didn't really start reading a lot until , honestly , my mid to late 20s .
I was never a reader And then I don't know what happened Maybe it's getting older thing and then I got so into it And I'm just it's just one of my favorite Things ever now to do . But you don't have to go breeding to like being a reader and a writer . I'm learning . But anyway , when I was younger I would always watch murder . She wrote with my mom .
Have you ever watched murder ? She wrote with Angelina's loved murder . She wrote , yeah , and I don't know what it was . It just it was . You know it's about people dying and stuff , but it was very Tongue-in-cheek , you know like off-camera , but I don't know there's something I loved about it And then it wasn't .
Until recently I was like that's a cozy mystery TV series . And then I found this whole world of cozy mysteries that apparently I was completely blind to . And then I read it And I was like it feels like I'm watching murder . She wrote and I found I found my place , i found my people and it's wonderful . I like them .
I like , i don't like to read , you know Terrible , you know cycle some . I like some psychological things , but I like more about we died Oh , who did it ? You know , it just feels good Like . I like the bookshop ones with cats too . you know those guys , i love those . Oh my goodness .
I love that . Yeah , yeah , check out Denise Jaden , then she she actually series that has a cat in it as well .
So I love those love . Everything sounds so cool that you've done your books are just phenomenal . You've had a way with words , you know , ever since you were young and it wasn't till The past six years , just so that you put that into to books . But your whole life you've been creative .
You've been , let's just say you've been a writer your whole life , you know , and you've had words in your head . And then becoming a mom and going through all this , how did you find , how did you find the time to write and like , harness your creativity with ?
you know the tasks of being a Just present in motherhood , even if your kids are older or they're younger . You know You're still a mom but you still want to do your creative bits . So how did you find that balance ?
But it's hard , right , it's hard , and I think it takes trial and error with it too , right , there are some days where I was in the middle of something really good and I needed to stop everything and drive them places or whatever , right , and so so that is hard .
I think The thing that , um , being a parent has made me more creative Part of it is made me more creative , right You're , you're seeing the world from a different place , and that's what I love , because , as a writer , you're always observing .
And so I kind of brought my , i brought my girls along for the ride , right , like we would have adventures together and go places and do things and just connecting with them . Now , my husband , he loves Lego and he loves building Lego and he's very creative . He , he doesn't just build the sets , he actually designs full buildings and skyscrapers all over .
Oh , and so amazing , we we brought the girls along with this Lego journey because I wanted to be part of Lego with him too , because that was something he had a passion about , and so Lego is storytelling . It really is telling .
When I go into the classrooms and talk to kids , some children are worried about writing stories and getting the words and like do you like Lego ? You can tell stories with Lego and you just see their eyes light up , right . So I think that's how I kind of balanced .
The motherhood and the creative aspect is Yeah , we'll , we'll go to Lego conventions , we'll build together . Or the girls are old enough now that when I was writing that sweet romance I would read them sections . And Teenagers are brutal . They're honest , they will tell me , or they'll go , oh , mom .
And so so they , they kind of came along on my journey in a way and they also saw Like I hope I modeled for them , like Reaching your dreams , striving for your dreams . But also , how do you handle when you fall ? You know , it's like when you face that rejection , how do you handle that like ?
and they've seen me cry like when I'd get the rejections or things like that . They , they saw those moments and I didn't think I didn't want to hide those from them either . Right , and so I think that's yeah , that's kind of how we balance things . We also get out in nature a lot .
That's where I , that's where I kind of declutter my mind is to go into nature , and so they come along with us for that too , and it's just like breathing it all in and I get some really great ideas When I'm out in nature . Both my girls are creative too , so it's fun . I Think that my main thing is Connection . I'm all .
I'm a huge person about connection and I think first you need to connect with yourself . You need to journal , you need to find your why , like why do I want to do this ? Who am I ? because sometimes , as moms , we lose who we are .
And so , like when I left the classroom and I had my daughters and I didn't go back right into the classroom , i lost who I was for a few years or , and it was , it was hard . And so to be able to journal and say , like , why do I want to go on this dream or this journey ? What , what's my end goal ? What's it gonna look for me ?
And then , if it's writing , then you know what . Find your cheerleader , leaders in your life . Find those cheerleaders , those friends that They're gonna motivate you . They're gonna build you up when you're kind of tearing yourself down in the tough moments , they're gonna say you can keep on doing this and then learn , be , be an advocate for your own dream .
And so learning , like if you're an author , if you're looking into children's writing like I would join the Society of Children's Bookwriters and illustrators It's called SCWBI fabulous wealth of resources .
There's a story storm group it's called And it's free , and Tara Lazar is an author and she runs it , and one month out of the year you commit every day to coming up with a story idea , and so it's really great . It gets those creative juices going . There's 12 by 12 , judy Headland is an author .
Julie , sorry , headland is an author and she organizes it , and that's where you will try and write a picture book manuscript every month .
And so but you have the community of your authors behind you right , Just learning about what a picture book entails Like there's a fabulous book out there called Writing Picture Books by Anne Whitford-Paul And it takes you from the full process And so it's a great thing .
But , yeah , if you can connect with yourself , connect with others and then just be an advocate for your learner being a learner Like dive into what does it take from me ? So that's my encouragement .
That's brilliant . Thank you so much for those resources too . I will go ahead and take those and I will link those in the show notes .
So , for anyone listening that wants to dive into all the resources she just shared , i will put that in the show notes , along with your info , nikki , of where people can connect with you and also buy your books and everything . So , actually , good segue Go ahead and tell us where everyone can find you online and also purchase your books as well .
Sure , i love going on Instagram , so you can connect with me on Instagram at Nikki Bergstressor . There I share a lot of my love of books , different book resources and things like that , as well as just motivation .
Facebook I'm on Facebook , you can also find me on Twitter and my books are in all bookstores as well as online resources such as Amazon and Barnes and Nobles . But hit up your indie bookstores , ask them first , and libraries . Libraries are a fabulous resource to get your books , so , yes , it's perfect .
Yes , see if Nikki is in your local library .
If she's not , request her books to be in your library , I loved chatting with you and hearing a bit about your journey and everything as well , and just be able to support each other in our creative goals . I think that's so important . So you know if you're just beginning this or if you're in the middle of it , just enjoy those small steps .
Every small step may seem like a lot of steps , but every small step is gonna get us where we are meant to be .
So how are you doing on your reading journey this year ? Did you do my 2023 reading challenge ? I , personally , am trying to read 24 books this year . I am at 16 , i think almost 17 , which is amazing . I'm not putting pressure on myself , but I'm giving myself that time to read And it's really paying off .
Well , i invite you to join the Moms Who Create Book Club . Go to Facebook , search , literally Moms Who Create Book Club . It'll come up , join And every month , we read one book and we meet on Zoom once a month and talk about it . So it's not something that takes over your life or you have to , you know , find childcare for your kids .
It's one day a month . We talk about a book . So if you just joined that , there's 12 books in one year . So if you're used to reading like three , there's 12 . If you're reading like 52 , then there's 12 of your 52 , i guess . Anyway , join the book club . We would love to have you .
Don't forget to connect with the podcast on social media on Instagram at Moms Who Create Podcast , and on Facebook at Moms Who Create Podcast . Thank you so , so , so , so , so much for listening . I hope you're having a great summer . I'll see you next week .