How a Burlington grandmother became a successful children's author

An artist or an author may pick up creative inspiration from a variety of sources.

A moment in nature, a fleeting personal interaction or a story retold can set the imagination racing.

For Burlington author and artist Becky Vorkapich, that inspirational trigger was simply a faded store-side advertisement viewed from a cluttered Jefferson Street alley.

At the time, Vorkapich was struggling to produce her first book – a novel pointed to readers in the middle grades. But her creative energy had departed and she lacked a path forward.

“I was in downtown Burlington and I looked up at an abandoned building across the street from an alley and noticed its walls had a faded advertisement painted on them,” Vorkapich remembered. “Then I had a thought that the building would be perfect for runaway children to hide in, and from that came the idea for my books.”

It was the breakthrough that the personable Burlington author had been searching for and from that moment of inspiration has come a series of books about three fictional runaway children - Hanna, Wes and Jamie – and their adventures in finding a home and family.

However, that bypass of writer’s block proved to be only half the battle as the author still found herself caught up in the demanding battle of getting a book into print.

Her struggle to bring her three characters into print provides a how-to primer for any aspiring author who wishes to get their creative process onto the bookshelves.

'There was no room for me at Iowa an art major': Vorkapich initially turns away from creative pursuits

Vorkapich is hard-pressed to remember when she first felt compelled to write books. But she knows her first creative impulses centered around the artist’s palette rather than the author’s word processor.

“After graduating from high school, I went to the University of Iowa as an art major,” she explained. “But I soon learned there was no room for me at Iowa as an art major. So I came back to Burlington and became a computer programmer.

“It might seem that computer programming and art are worlds apart, but I didn’t find it that way. Because, as a programmer, I was still creating. That creative process was still there.”

Vorkapich and her young family moved to Arizona in 1990 and the programmer with creative ambitions was working at home for a major airline. A family illness and a separation drew her back to her hometown in 2008 as a single parent.

“I was still working remotely for the airlines and enjoying a Phoenix salary while living in Burlington. But that eventually ended,” she said. “My two sons had grown, and now there were grandchildren that I could enjoy.”

Those grandchildren introduced the idled computer programmer to the world of children’s books, and the long-dormant urge to create began to stir.

“I was especially taken by the art in children’s books, and I knew that I could do that. So I decided to create my own books. But I had no idea what I was getting into,” Vorkapich laughs.

'Critique partner' helps author get through a couple of false starts

Initially, the books were to be a vehicle to display Vorkapich’s finely rendered watercolor and graphite illustrations. Soon, the desire to tell a story took hold and the computer programmer became a poet, creating copy in rhyme.

“I was then taking online courses on creative writing, but where the idea came from for doing by books in rhyme, I am not certain. The rhymes were all about winter, but looking back, it was probably not the best idea," she said.

Vorkapich had acquired a “critique partner” as a pen pal, and that partner was offering suggestions on how to attract a book agent and gain access to publishers.

“I remember sending my first book off and was pretty disappointed by the response I got. I had learned that you don’t send finished art out to a publisher as they want to decide what the art should be," she said.

“So, I sent out my story line and rough pencil sketches and I heard back that the agent thought the book’s 600 words were ‘just too many.’ Obviously, they didn’t like my rhyming.”

She also learned that there are conventions to be followed when creating drawings for children’s books.

“I was told that any artwork should have action,” Vorkapich said, “and that action should move from left to right across the printed page.”

Vorkapich began to tailor her books to the marketplace demands.

“Rhyming was out, and I created the art and re-did the copy. But I had already written 33,000 words, so I found I had said just about all I wanted to,” she said.

Vorkapich realized that being creative is only a portion of bringing a book to print. Rules, conventions and market expectations funneled most writers of middle-grade fiction into narrow channels.

This led the determined writer to decide that self-publication would allow her the best chance to introduce Hanna, Wes and Jamie to young readers, and with two books completed and a sequel moving forward, Vorkapich’s successful approach to joining the creative process is evident.

Vorkapich has two books available for young readers. "The Children of Horse Shoe Hideout" and its sequel, "Family Trees," have been named finalists for the Independent Author’s Network award and can be found on the shelves of area bookstores.

More books will follow as her fictional characters provide an unending source of creative ideas.

And if that fails, there is always another walk down a Burlington alley.

This article originally appeared on The Hawk Eye: How a Burlington grandmother became a successful children's author