435 South: Your new children’s book, Yes! You Can! An Iknowicant Tale, is a motivational story about a creature named Robootso who believes in himself despite peer pressure from “iknowicant” naysayers. How did you overcome the “iknowicants” in your life?
Shannon Bates: It’s not so much overcoming the “iknowicants” as setting myself on a path to succeed despite them. I set my sight clearly on the goal rather than letting the goal become clouded by the obstacles in its path. It’s important to remember that everyone faces obstacles, one of the biggest ones being our own fear. Robootso represents what it takes to break down each one of those fears and forge ahead to achieve the goal. Sometimes we gain more courage just from the mere effort.
You have said that the candidates involved in the election of 2008, including Barack Obama and Sarah Palin, partially influenced your book. Who else inspires you creatively?
I find different types of inspiration, from people close to me to people in the public limelight. We’re all more alike than we are different. I like to find those common threads and weave them together into something that we can all relate to. One great source of inspiration is my husband, Randy. His hilarious sense of humor has inspired my next children’s story about a cluelessly confident donkey.
As a little girl, what were your favorite children’s books?
I really liked stories with words that rhymed and stories that had something I could think about. Anything by Dr. Seuss, of course. He’s the master of rhyming prose and many of his books carry a great message. I also enjoyed the classic, The Night Before Christmas.
Your mother was an artist in New Orleans’ famous French Quarter. How did this affect your creativity growing up?
My mother had a way of bringing a life and a personality to everything animate and inanimate. She also had a surprisingly quirky sense of humor. These life qualities coupled with a love of art was something she never really taught me so much as she molded me with. Everything we did came with a creative, joyful appreciation of life.
Despite having always wanted to be a writer, you became a registered nurse because your parents wanted you to have a practical career. What prompted you to finally go for your dream?
It really was a culmination of events, including losing my mother to Alzheimer’s in April of ’08. I realized that talent not used is talent wasted. And that perhaps if I wait the rest of my life, I may just run out of time to realize my potentials. It seems so easy to talk about wanting to fulfill our dreams, but actually getting out there and trying is so fulfilling.
You and your husband, Randy, raised your first child, Austin, 20, in a much different time than your daughter Reese, 4. What do you think is the biggest difference?
I would have to say that technology is the biggest change. While it makes life easier and more enjoyable in many ways, it also has a double edge. Though I love the written word, I want to teach Reese to focus on face-to-face relationships rather than computerized versions of relationships. The key, I’ve found, is to have a plan for raising my kids.
Your family must be very proud of your recent accomplishment as a writer. How will you celebrate?
Every day is a celebration! The great response we’re getting from this book is its own reward.
In college, you played NCAA volleyball and track, and now you mountain bike and play tennis. What is your secret to staying active with such a busy schedule?
I’m not sure there’s a secret. I just prioritize my life. After God, my family comes first. I squeeze the rest in after that, and it all seems to work out.
What is the last great book you have read, and what did you take from it?
After consuming the Twilight series, I read Glenn Beck’s The Christmas Sweater. I found myself contemplating a quote in the book, “Sometimes the gift we want most is already with us, but we have to get out of our own way to receive it.”