Why I Started Writing:

From since I was a child, I have written poetry. I love the cadence and rhyme of the lines that create the whole. I never thought about writing prose until I was challenged as a teacher in a professional development class. We were told if we required children to write we needed to be writers too.  My degree is Early Childhood Education and I taught 4K. Drawing for writing was more my children’s style, but I always read picture books to them. So when we were assigned to pick a favorite author and use a children’s book as a mentor text, I knew I was going straight to Cynthia Rylant and When I Was Young in the Mountains. My teacher leaders chose me as the mentor for the class and I suddenly discovered I might be a writer.  

Authors Who Have Influenced Me:

Picture book authors are my biggest influencers. Cynthia Rylant, Jane Yolen, and Patricia MacLachlan are my favorites. I enjoy James Prosek for nonfiction.  

Books I Have Written:

I self-published Tsali: Hero of the Eastern Band Cherokee (Xlibris), a historical fiction about the man who gave his life so the Cherokee still living in the mountains of North Carolina could remain in their homeland. I have written for Guardian Angel Kids online magazine, Devokids, and Country Magazine. I contributed to The Mighty Pen (Chalfont House) a devotional for writers. I am a contributor to ChristianChildrensAuthors.com blog and I write a weekly blog at gailcartee.blogspot.com. 

What I'm Working On Now:

I am currently working on a mid-grade mystery titled Dead Man’s Finger. A boy and his cousin find what they think are fingers rising from an old graveyard just off the Blue Ridge Parkway. Their lies lead them deeper into their fears and adventures to find whose fingers are following them all over the mountain.