Stacy Nyikos

Welcome to the newest edition of What Was on Her . . . This time with the award-winning Stacy Nyikos!

Stacy is the author of many mischievous books for children. She’s not sure how that happened. She says she never got in trouble as a child. Well…almost never. Never on Thursdays. Thursday was hot dog day at school.

While some might say Stacy has a “thing” for the ocean – five of her six picture books are aquatic – Stacy claims she likes to write everything from magazine articles to YA and younger.

In 2014, her secret passion, picture books, has taken center stage with two releases. Toby, the story of a sea turtle’s adventures from egg to ocean, came out in July. The spark for the book came from an inspiring encounter with rescue sea turtles that just keeps inspiring. Although Stacy’s home state is landlocked, Toby has been chosen as the Read Across Oklahoma Book for 2015, which means Oklahoma pre-K and kindergartners are going to get a free copy of the book, and parents are going to learn way more about sea turtles than they ever thought possible. You’ve got to love free books.

Stacy’s second 2014 release, Waggers, is the story of a newly adopted puppy that tries to be good, but his destructo tail gets in the way. It comes out in early December, just in time to snuggle with new puppies and their families under the holiday wrappings. But beware. Mischief may occur. While the books is classified as fiction, Stacy’s dog knows the real story.

Stacy is currently working on three projects. The first is a nonfiction story about an African American teacher who created a toy lending library during World War II that broke the racial barrier spreading to all schools nationwide. The second is another nonfiction picture book about a slave who was a double agent for General Lafayette during the Revolutionary War. And finally, to feed her science fiction/fantasy, well…addiction, Stacy is working on a YA novel about a prodigal prince who is kidnapped by his rebel girlfriend and forced to choose sides. It’s a pretty wide spread of ideas and themes, which means there’s no telling what this interview could unearth.

And now, without further ado, here’s What Was on Stacy Nyikos’ . . .

Shoes: Bite marks.

Blanket: A hole.

Carpet: Bite marks…a hole…and one guilty little puppy. Meet my dog Desi. We got her at the pound. She had been a street dog, or, they had found her on the streets of Tulsa when she was just a few months old. The pound named her Destiny, which was fitting in a karmic sort of way, only she didn’t turn out to be my little Buddha puppy. She’s my little Rambo. Five minutes after she walked through our door, my brand new shoes were toast. It went downhill from there. Or uphill, considering Desi ended up on my…

Mind: Nonstop. Her destructo-chewing was nothing in comparison to her destructo-tail. That thing can beat holes in walls. Literally. Okay, they’re paper walls, but still. She left an impression. A few months later, Waggers, the story of a dog who wants to be good but his tail gets in the way, was on my…

Computer: Yippee! A book about something other than sea creatures. I was beginning to worry people were right about my having a “thing” for water-themed books. (This probably isn’t the time to admit that the YA I’m working on is set in a drowning world.) Instead, let’s talk about the…

Pin Boards Around my Desk: A lot of pictures of cows. I don’t know why. And my kids when they were little. Because they’re teenagers now and every once in a while I like to reminisce about the good ole days when they were sweet and innocent and thought I was awesome. Sigh… And a hamster on a swing hanging from a bonsai tree. Because the world just doesn’t make sense without a bonsai-swinging hamster.

Netflix Most Recently Watched List: Austenland. Give me some Jane Austen any day! Anything Star Trek. Because I wanted to be a scientist of space exploration when I was little. And Blended. Because it’s hilarious, and after a day of writing, I need a little hilarious.

Agenda: A fun mix of conferences and school visits for the Toby and Waggers book launches. I get to be social! Yeay! Overcoming the desire to hang on FB instead of finish the projects on my desk. Every. Single. Day. Did I mention how quiet my office is, even with destructo dog? And smiling. Smiling with my kids who, despite teenage drama, are the most profound orbit to my life. And my husband who loves Star Trek as much as I do. And my dog. She’s a mess, but a sweet mess. They are the secret source of my writer’s mojo.

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You can keep up to date with Stacy Nyikos by visiting her online at stacynyikos.com and by following her on Twitter at @stacynyikos. If you would like to order Waggers, simply click below:

Interested in Toby? Click here:

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