Monday Guest Blogging Post: Helene Boudreau of Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings

Today on GotYA's Monday Guest Blogging segment, we have the lovely and talented, Helene Boudreau. She penned the ultra cool Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings!!


Cake and Books!

Probably two of my favourite things!

So it’s no wonder I was such a happy camper when one of my best pallies, Kathi of Sugar Honey Tea Cakes, offered to make a cake for my recent book launch of Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings.

Cake and books all in one place! Heaven…

Kathi had made me a cupcake bouquet for my birthday once, which is just the tip of the icing of her immense talent so I was REALLY looking forward to seeing what she’d come up with for my book launch.

The cake was to be a surprise (and what a sweet surprise it was) but afterward, Kathi shared her Cakerator secrets with me and guess what? I’ve come to realise that cake and books, and the creation of both, actually have a lot in common.



Her process for developing and executing her cake ideas are very similar to the way I write novels.



Observe…



Kathi begins her cakes with a list of ideas:

Kathi’s ideas are well organized and coherent.

I begin my books with a list of ideas:

My ideas are rambly, incoherent and written on the back of grocery lists. Apparently we needed hotdogs and a zebra shirt that day.

Kathi outlines her idea in a beautifully detailed sketch:

I also outline my book idea, but in a 9-step process, which I describe HERE.


And I get my 8 year-old to draw me a beautifully detailed sketch (of the setting of the book in this case).

Finally, Kathi applies her keen Cakerator skills:

And she works her magic to transform her initial idea into a work of art.



I look at my initial notes:





And can’t read my own handwriting, then I stare at my outline and wonder what the heck was I thinking. Then I start writing, and writing, and writing…

And, unlike Kathi, I’m not above using child labour to meet my deadlines.



(Okay. I guess this is where our cake-making and novel-writing paths diverge a bit…)

Kathi adds amazingly nuanced details, bringing the cake to life:

While I complete my 912th revision, hopefully adding amazingly nuanced details, bringing my book to life. (Well…that’s the plan anyway…)

So, there you have it!






Cake and books. Books and cake. It’s like they were made for one another.

Hélène Boudreau is the author of Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings. She’s never spotted a real mermaid in the wild but the writer in her thinks they are just as plausible as seahorses, flying fish and electric eels.

In a fun promotion, Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky is offering signed Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings bookplates with proof of purchase. More info HERE.

*You can find Hélène on Twitter, Facebook and on her Website.