Caroline Moss dazzled us with the first two books in the Work It, Girl! series, JK Rowling and Oprah Winfrey, last year, and now she’s back to talk about her two upcoming titles in the series Michelle Obama and Mae Jemison! Take a look at Caroline’s process for the two new books, which publish March 2020, and get a sneak peek at the two additional titles publishing this Fall!
What prompted you to write this series? Who did you write it for?
I work with an amazing editor at Quarto, Katy Flint, who dreamed up this idea and approached me about writing it. I have never said (screamed, really!) “Yes!” to anything so quickly. It seemed so obvious, since as a kid I remember wanting so badly to read more non-fiction about women by women. I wrote this series for girls who still enter a library feeling this way.
How do you choose which women to feature?
Ultimately, it all comes down to telling compelling stories. The good news is everyone has a compelling story to share. The bad news is…everyone has a compelling story to share! Katy, Sinem Erkas (the illustrator), and I try to pick women whose stories have a range of emotion, adversity, character-building elements, and success. We want to write about the women who inspire us and tell the stories of their career successes. Choosing different women across a variety of careers means there’s something for everyone to resonate with.
What is your research process like for each book? Have you found any differences in your research style based on the titular character?
I am usually writing creative fiction, so diving into a world of non-fiction was like going back to school (in the best way!). A lot of people assume writing a book for kids is really easy—not a lot of words, right? In fact, it’s actually way harder. How do you tell the story of Oprah Winfrey in ten short chapters? When I research I try to find tidbits of information about the women that don’t make it into their mainstream stories too often, and I try to approach each book as my 10-year-old self. What would I have been inspired by at that age? What kinds of details would I have held onto if I had read about them as a kid? And then I whittle my way down from there. A book about any of these women could be written a million different ways, a million different times, and you’d get something new out of each telling. So I want to make sure my research reflects my desire for a child to really latch onto just one or two anecdotes or facts that they’ll remember as they venture out to make their own success.
What has been the biggest challenge in creating this series?
I feel a great responsibility to the kids who will read these books, so I am pretty hard on myself while I write. I am a very competitive person, but only with myself. It can be exhausting, but I have been proud of each book in a different way. The challenge is worth it.
What are you working on now?
I just finished up the text to our Work It, Girl! Beyoncé Knowles book so it can go into edits. Here is a sneak peak of the two covers!
While I wait on those I am getting back into my fiction romcom novel I came up with over the summer. My agent said to call her when I have 50k words. I have 15k right now!
What do you do when you’re not writing?
I have a product recommendation podcast called Gee Thanks, Just Bought It! where I interview people about the stuff they buy that they couldn’t live without. And I write. Oh wait, you said what do I do when I’m not writing. Um… sleep? Watching a lot of Bravo! I have been learning how to bake, too.
About Caroline Moss
Caroline Moss is a freelance writer and author based in Brooklyn, New York. She has written for The New York Times, New York Magazine, Cosmopolitan and more. Her Work It, Girl! series features biographies of empowering, modern women in the world of work, from designers and musicians to CEOs and scientists, and offers young readers key takeaways and self-reflection questions to help them apply these lessons to their own lives. Visit Caroline online at CarolineMossWrites.com.