Q1. Hello, can you please introduce yourself? Readers would love to know more about you.
A1. My name is Lakota Meyer, I’m an artist / illustrator from Missouri about and hour south from St Louis.
I’ve spent the last decade doing freelance art and design for individuals, businesses, bands and galleries. I’m married to a wonderful woman and we’ve got three artistic children.
Q2. What were the key challenges you faced while writing your book “The Liverwurst Tree and Other Stories”?
A2. The 2 key challenges I faced with this book was procrastinating on the publication process and making sure the poems were evergreen.
There were a handful of poems that I had to cut from the book simply because the humored relied too much on todays pop culture and I’m hoping that what I wrote will be something people 20 years from now can pick up and chuckle at.
As far as the procrastination; I just wasn’t sure if I wanted to add more stuff to it or not. The book was finished 2 years before I published it finally I had to accept that if there was something to add I would have done it by now…a lot of it was just nerves due to it being my first book I think.
Q3. What books or authors have most influenced your own writing?
This book was absolutely inspired by books like Where the Sidewalk Ends by Shel Silverstein and The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy by Tim Burton.
Other authors that inspire me are Neil Gaiman, Stephen King and Robert McCammon.
Q4. What’s your favourite spot to visit in your own country? And what makes it so special to you?
I’m torn between Estes Park Colorado and Marquette Michigan. I love the Mountains but there’s just something about the vibe of Michigan’s upper peninsula that felt like home.
Q5. What inspired you to write the book ‘The Liverwurst Tree and Other Stories’?
The book itself started as a silly illustration I did in 2016. It was the illustration from the titular poem and I jokingly posted it online saying, “hey look, it’s the title of my first kids book.”
But the more I looked at the picture the more I actually wanted to write a book with similar art and stupid titles and poems. Problem was I had never written poetry so it kind of died right there until 2018 during a long business meeting for the company I was working for I started just writing lines for the Liverwurst Tree Poem and it was coming out alright and I found out I really enjoyed the process. It was like a brain game.
Q6. How long did it take you to write your book ‘The Liverwurst Tree and Other Stories’?
I think I’m total it only took me a couple months to write the book and the handful of poems that didn’t make the cut. It took another couple months to draw and redraw the illustrations. Formatting the book took the longest. Trying to figure out where to put the pictures and how many pages I wanted each poem to take up, where to place each poem in the book. Then after that I just sat on it for waaay too long.
Q7. On what platforms can readers buy your books?
Right now the book is only available on Amazon. I will have copies available in book stores soon and a website as well.
Q8. Tell us about the process of coming up with the book cover and the title ‘The Liverwurst Tree and Other Stories’?
The Title of the book I chose just because that poem was the catalyst for the rest of the book. The cover of the book was inspired by old children’s book covers like Whinnie the Pooh. I wanted it to be a bit jarring when you saw the cutesy cover of the book and then opened it to see the real illustrations inside.
Q9. When writing a book how do you keep things fresh, for both your readers and also yourself?
I had a lot of fun writing each piece of the book and I think as long as I’m having fun that will come through for the reader.
Q10. What is the most valuable piece of advice you’ve been given about writing?
Stop thinking about it and just do it. That goes with anything. Just start doing it.
Buy The Liverwurst Tree and Other Stories on Amazon
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