A SHEEP’S CLOTHING? Children’s author Katie McKy recently released her third picture book, Wolf Camp.

Eau Clairian Katie McKy had been teaching children around the country for 23 years. She loved it and thought she would retire from a classroom, but serendipity brought her to Harvard University for a teaching fellowship. Despite her success, colleagues told her to move on to greener literary pastures. She took the compliment and a “plunge into poverty,” with a writing career. The transition was rocky, fraught with worry and many sleepless nights.

“It’s harder when you’re old. You’ve softened, become acclimated to paychecks, pension, and health care,” McKy said.

She found relief as a freelance writer. Her secret for success: “Don’t work for free. Be a lancer, not a freelancer,” she said. She advises aspiring wordsmiths to write for magazines and learn discipline under deadlines before attempting the Great American Novel. McKy likes writing profiles for all types, including politicians, professional athletes, and Fortune 500 CEOs. Her favorite part is unearthing “off the record” truth and spotlighting overlooked talent. She aims for invisibility, saying, “My job is to find a good story and stay out of the way.”

McKy dubs herself a storyteller, and performs at hundreds of schools each year. She has news for skeptics: stories hold their own.

“When it’s just me and a story, I think, ‘How can I compete with Hollywood movies?’ But I can. Stories are magic.”

To share the magic, kids can pick up McKy’s picture books, published against a daunting rejection rate. Her philosophy? “Rejection is a writer’s life,” McKy said, unfazed.

Her latest picture book, Wolf Camp, has Maddie going to Wolf Camp for the summer, which is run by wolves. Her astounded parents discover Maddie’s new lupine qualities.

    “It’s a comedy of parents’ unconditional love for their kids as they try on different skins,” she said.

She has a darker, gothic, young adult novel in the works called Wildchilds. Her inspiration stems from accounts of feral children and the Canadian Dionne quintuplets, sisters-turned-sideshow-attraction during the 1930s. Feral children often live tragically limited lives, but they still give McKy hope.

“They show such abundant love in this world that a creature would crawl into your cave, and it doesn’t look or smell like you, but you take it in and treat it like your own.”

Wildchilds is her homage to the courage of the damaged children she has worked with in the past. “It’s a way for me to share the resiliency of a child, how much they can endure, and how they can still be restored,” she said.

McKy values the stillness of Eau Claire because it serves her writing and inspiration. She also thinks that the badger state has a unique appeal. “We have rich experiences here, and lots of people are curious about them. We generate good stories here,” she said. She finds it thrilling to belong to a community of writers, and tells them the same thing: “I used to be an unpublished fool. Now I’m a published fool. Getting published allows you to continue working, but what matters is working on your craft, telling good stories. That’s my goal.”

    Katie McKy will be signing copies of Wolf Camp at Borders, May 9 from 2-4 pm. Catch her and artist Bonnie Leick signing Wolf Camp on the second floor of Stella Blues, June 13 from 7-9 pm. Kids, look for Katie at Putnam Heights, Longfellow, and Sherman elementary schools in the coming weeks!