Today we’d like to introduce you to Melissa Cannioto.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
Writing and drawing have been such a backbone of my crazy life – a life filled with adventure, the military, and just generally being a chatterbox!
I am so thankful to now call myself a published author and illustrator. Through an array of big dreams, wild whims, and hard work, I’ve somehow ended up being an award-winning children’s author who has been featured on TV, in schools, and at libraries, but it all started as a little British girl writing poems and sketching pictures.
I’m originally from a little town called Thatcham in England but moved to America in 2018. My husband is a pilot in the Air Force and we got married at the Winding River Ranch up in Grand Lake. At the moment, we live wherever the military takes us, but it’s been incredible to call so many places (and communities) home.
I did an English Literature degree at the University of Warwick and worked in marketing for a while before taking the big step of moving to San Diego for my master’s. I didn’t know anyone to begin with but made the most of every adventure. Since then, I’ve become an Adventure Guide for Disney, volunteered during the pandemic, climbed Kilimanjaro, and published ‘The Bear and the Hug,’ my first children’s book.
The tale follows Bear as he wakes up in a world where hugs do not exist. I wanted it to be an analogy to help young readers navigate difficult feelings
Being an author has opened up so many opportunities to connect with families, and I hope that Bear has helped young readers affected by the pandemic, illness, or times of military deployment. My husband and I know from experience that the best Bear Hug of all is the one when you reunite with someone you love.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
The biggest challenge in publishing my children’s book was creating the illustrations. Although it was wonderfully fun to bring to life the characters and visions I had in my head, it also proved to be a huge journey to get to a place where I felt happy with the final product.
The whole illustration process took me about nine months and involved pencil sketches, initial paintwork, transferring to ProCreate, and adding final details. I had to ensure that every page of the book had the same tone, colors, and ambiance and that the main characters such as the Bear, Frog, Sloth, and Chameleon looked the same on every page. Bear’s facial expressions were a hurdle – on one particular page, it took me 82 attempts to get his eyebrows just right to connote confusion and sadness rather than anger!
Doing your illustrations for a children’s book allows you to add some little touches and tributes to loved ones. In ‘The Bear and the Hug’, for example, there is an owl for my dad, a lily for my mum, an otter for my sister-in-law, and even a sunflower for one of the children the book is dedicated to.
The most rewarding part of all this, though, is seeing children’s faces when they see my illustrations. It makes every pencil stroke and storyboard worth it to see their faces light up at something that all came from my imagination.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
At the heart of everything, I’m just a little British girl living out her dreams. It’s simply unreal to be a published author and I’m grateful every day that my book could be read for bedtime, a library visit, or as a way to help difficult conversations.
I’ve been honored to host school visits, library talks, bookstore signings, and community workshops, including some talks to over 700 children! I hosted a workshop recently with students at my high school and it was simply the most fulfilling, full-circle moment to help inspire kids in the place I started dreaming.
I was also incredibly excited to be interviewed on Great Day Colorado and on ABC News, both experiences that I will treasure for a long time.
Can you talk to us about how you think about risk?
Gosh, risk-taking has been a huge part of my life. I took a big risk by moving to San Diego to further my study. I took a risk when I quit my marketing job to pursue other dreams. When I got married and moved to a different country, it felt like I risked everything. Even sending off my manuscript to publishers felt like a risk in that I was sending off a part of me to be judged.
Without risk, there is no adventure, no reward, and no adrenaline in life. I feel like the biggest and best experiences come from letting go and jumping into a puddle where you don’t know where the splash is going to fall. Though it seems unnerving, sometimes the most memorable things in life come from losing the umbrella.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bear.hug.book/?hl=en
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/melissa.cannioto.author
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClZlBuTXJZmv439H7T-_3-Q
