By Mitu Malhotra

Today we are excited to welcome Cathy Petter to share her writing journey with Cynsations.

Cathy’s debut, Dear Moxie, Dear Rex, illustrated by Bryony Clarkson (Reycraft Books, 2025), was released on Sept. 16. This picture book is an epistolary experiment that reveals the true feelings of two pets. Filled with “canine correspondence” this humorous telling will appeal to both children and adults.

You can order Dear Moxie, Dear Rex from these bookseller links: The Silver Unicorn, Acton MA or Books of Wonder, New York City or anywhere books are sold.

Congratulations on your debut picture book. In our conversations, you mentioned that once upon a time, you lived with nearly twenty dogs in your home! What was that experience like and how did that translate into a story about Moxie and Rex?

Yes, we were the dog house in a town filled with apple orchards and golf courses outside of Boston. We bred and showed collies (think Lassie). I married into the hobby, and when we started out, we had five or six dogs, and puppies once or twice a year. Gradually, our numbers increased because some of the dogs were doing so well in the show ring that you want to keep them, and some of them might do well in the future, so you want to see if they like it, and some of them were amazing earlier, but now they’re old, and you can’t bear to part with them.

By the time my three kids were in the juicy middle part of childhood, we typically had 15 – 20 dogs living at our house.

It was very fun to have puppies. If you’ve had a terrible day, there’s nothing like holding a puppy in the crook of your neck. Most of the time our kids liked having the dogs. (But having so many dogs is a lot of work!) Even though the collies all looked alike (except different colors) they had very different personalities.

We had one, Bubbles, who would follow my son up the ladder and down the slide on our swing set. She was a riot. Our dog Nike was a terrible counter surfer, and she ate anything and everything. One morning, she chewed up a box of crayons on the coffee table when I ran upstairs to make sure the kids were getting dressed for school. Indie looked sweet but was a terror to all of the other, younger girl dogs. She would get right into their face and bark them down. Plus, she could open gates with her nose by jumping up and hitting the latch in just the right way.

I used to make my kids laugh by telling them what the dogs were saying to each other as we’d watch them in various pens in our way-too-big backyard. I promised the kids I would write them a book narrated by a dog someday.

So, it’s really no surprise that it’s worked out that my debut is a dog book.

When I was writing Dear Moxie, Dear Rex I wanted the things that Moxie and Rex write to each other about were the things that dogs actually care about: who gets the most food, breaking out of jail (I mean the yard) and comfortable cushions.

Your witty salutations and sign-offs in the “canine correspondence” signal the co-protagonists inner characteristics and add variety to the read aloud experience.  How did you decide on using the epistolary form for this story?

I started Vermont College of Fine Art’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults in January 2018. I wrote the first draft of Dear Moxie, Dear Rex at the beginning of my second semester, working with Mary Quattlebaum. Although I didn’t think of myself as a picture book writer at the time, it seemed foolish not to take advantage of Mary’s deep knowledge and expertise in picture books once I was assigned to work with her. She requires her students to read Anne Whitford Paul’s craft book Writing Picture Books: A Hands-on Guide from Story Creation to Publication (Penguin Random House, 2018). The book goes through every style of picture book, with a couple of exercises at the end of each chapter. It was easier for me to take in the content by trying to write my own sample of each style as I read through her book. Dear Moxie, Dear Rex was my epistolary picture book example. Truthfully it never occurred to me that a picture book could be made up of letters until I read Writing Picture Books.

Once I decided that the dogs were writing letters to each other, I realized that the openings and salutations were the place where I could really show their personalities – how much Rex was sucking up to Moxie trying to get in her good graces, and how disdainful she was of him. Then, once they were writing to Fluffy the cat, it was so fun to picture them writing it together, and who’d add what to the letter they wrote. Of course, Fluffy’s letter (and her response to the dogs’ game) is completely different than theirs, because we all know that cats do their own thing.

In your book, a month and a half of Moxie and Rex’s shenanigans pass, and then there’s a twist, a new pet arrives on the scene. This final flourish of your story ending, a delightful coda, is very satisfying. What was your process of revising this picture book? When do you know a story has arrived at its end or if there is still more to tell?

My first draft, the one I turned in with my VCFA school packet, ended when Rex got picked up by the animal control officer and then taken home by the Bensusens. I saw the dogs as being in kind of an endless loop of mutual dislike. I definitely saw the letters as being funny, but it was kind of a mean funny.

Mary Quattlebaum, my advisor, told me that it reminded her of some marriages she knew (yikes!). I didn’t like that negativity as a read aloud for kids, so I put the manuscript away and forgot about it.

In the summer of 2021, I decided to do another semester at VCFA, because I wanted to revise a novel that I was working on, and struggling with. I had wanted to work with Amy King (a goddess of revision) while I was a student, and doing a post-grad semester gave me another chance.

We talked about my goals for the semester in our opening meeting. One of my goals was to set myself up for a long career in children’s books. Amy suggested that with each of my packets (there would be fpir) I should include something from my writing archive that had the potential to be a viable project, and what steps would be required in order to make it viable. Dear Moxie, Dear Rex was the project I identified in my second packet, that September. I realized that what it needed was a different ending, to change it from being a mean story that spirals downward into something better.

Thinking more about it after I submitted the packet to Amy, I realized that what I really needed was a way to break the cycle between Moxie and Rex, something that would totally upend them. That’s when I had the idea that they need a new pet to arrive. Cats and dogs are so different. Dogs are very invested in their humans, watching them, trying to please them, while cats totally do their own thing.

I realized that I could exploit that by adding Fluffy the cat, who of course doesn’t play their game. Rex is thrilled to suddenly be aligned with Moxie. And Fluffy either doesn’t understand or doesn’t care about their rules. My initial revision stopped after the joint letter from Moxie and Rex. I sent it out for review to my agent.

A day or two later, I was taking a bath when it dawned on me that there was still one more letter needed: a letter from Fluffy to the dogs, letting them know that she liked them and didn’t care about the rest. I made a new draft and asked her to replace the one they had with this new one. At the time, it felt like my inexperience was showing, but looking back on it, that last letter makes the story.

And Bryony Clarkson totally got it – that picture of Fluffy on the dogs’ cushion for Fluffy’s letter, her invention not mine, is genius.

The illustrations of the dogs are expressive, and the use of a non-cursive black font in the letters written by Rex and a daintier pink typeface used by Moxie add a visual layer of meaning to the character traits of these pets. As an author did you have any interactions with the illustrator Bryony as she created these visuals? Most beginning writers wonder about putting art notes in their manuscripts. What would be your advice to them?

Like most other picture book authors, I didn’t have direct contact with Bryony. My editor, Winsome Bingham, managed the illustrations. Reycraft Books had worked with Bryony before, and thought she would be a great fit for this project. I saw her portfolio when they were picking an illustrator, and I loved it.

That said, I had no idea what she would do. My text included very few art notes. I specified that a few of the lines were captions under photos in a scrapbook. I also specified that the “kind caretaker” was actually an animal control officer. But truthfully, I had no idea what someone would do with my packet of dog letters.

My editor asked me two questions about the text: 1) Any specifics about the family? 2) Should the dogs be any particular breed? I asked that it be a family with two moms, because my kids’ other parent is a transgender woman. I told my editor that I had always pictured Moxie and Rex as pound dogs, even though my own backyard was filled with collies, and that Bryony could do whatever she wanted.

I had no idea what Bryony would do with my text, and seeing the sketches for the first time was an incredibly delightful experience. It was beyond my wildest dreams for the book. I couldn’t believe how much her illustrations elevated what I had written. I think I am too “on the nose” to illustrate my own work. I am very literal in my thinking, and it can give me kind of a tunnel vision. With that in mind, I intentionally gave as few art notes as possible.

My editor, Winsome Bingham, knows so much more about picture books than I do. I had complete faith in Reycraft. Bryony’s choices were amazing, especially using a tiny dog with that little red bow for Moxie, and a big galoof of dog for Rex. Moxie is such a Napoleon! The physicality of them together really adds to the humor in the book.

And beyond the illustrations, the book is just beautiful. I love the color choices. I love the typefaces they chose. I loved everything about it and I can’t believe my name got to go on the cover.

This interview, it seems, is like coming full circle for you in connecting with your literary community. Any special moments you want to share with our readers about your writerly journey so far?

Short story. I have been incredibly lucky to have met and been inspired by a lot of people who work in books for young people. I was always looking for more craft advice/skill/tools and that served me really well, first through SCBWI, then through some retreats that Linda Urban and Kate Messner led, then through my MFA program. I’ve gotten a lot of help and hope I will get the opportunity to publish a lot of books.

Here’s the long story. I was working as a corporate copywriter in New York and I joined a women’s group. There I met one of my dearest friends, Elizabeth Law, who was then an editor at Viking. Until I met Liz, it never dawned on me that writing books for kids was a job. (I know, duh.) Much later, after I was married and had kids, I decided to start writing fiction. Elizabeth told me about SCBWI and I went to my first New England conference in 2008.

That conference was amazing – Laurie Halse Anderson was the keynote speaker, and I believe that Cynthia Leitich Smith spoke on Sunday morning. Cyn talked about an MFA program where she taught, also about living in Texas, and teaching in Vermont. What she described about her teaching just sounded magical to me. I remember running back to my hotel room after her talk to check out Vermont College of Fine Arts, I was so excited about it. But I also realized there was no way I could do it. I had twins who were in pre-school and an older daughter in elementary school. My husband worked incredibly long hours and travelled a lot. Maybe I could do it later. Starting then I followed the program, hoping I could do it someday.

Skip ahead ten years to the summer of 2017. My husband had told me that he was transgender and that she had to come out. We’d agreed that we would tell our kids in the fall and she would come out in the spring. I’m making it sound like it was all very calm and civilized, but she was overjoyed and excited and I was terrified, especially because we lived in a tiny town. No one knew. I was with one of my kids and her best friend in New York, while they were in a summer program.

Elizabeth invited me up for drinks with one of her author friends because she thought we’d be great friends. The friend was Martha Brockenbrough, and it was the day after the end of the residency where she’d been teaching at…wait for it…VCFA. It was like a gift from the gods. I needed a huge distraction and this was it. I applied in August and started in January 2018.

The thing I didn’t expect when I got to school was how much I would adore the whole thing: the lectures, the workshop, the readings, talking with all the writers. I didn’t want it to end. All the lectures that have ever been given were recorded and available through a database. When I got home I listened to even more lectures when I drove around in my car. The next summer I was incredibly lucky when I was selected to be part of a residency in Bath, England, that included Katherine Paterson. She was so inspiring and game for anything.

We learned David Gill’s The Sticky Note Plot (Thunderchikin Ink, 2024). We spent a day with MFA students from Bath Spa University’s WYCA program discussing books that we had all read in advance, including John Lewis and Andrew Aydin’s  graphic novel memoir, March Book 3 (Top Shelf Productions, 2016) Illustrated by Nate Powell. Katherine had been the chair of the committee that had selected March for the National Book Award. She described the process they had gone through, why she became such a fan of that book (and graphic novels) and the presentation ceremony. That time with Katherine really opened my eyes to the power of what we are doing, and the impact our work can have on young people.

I got to work with amazing writers during my MFA program: An Na, Tom Birdseye, Martha Brockenbrough, David Gill, Varian Johnson, Amy King, Cory McCarthy, Kekla Magoon, Mary Quattlebaum, Linda Urban, and Jenny Ziegler. I am so grateful to all of them for their wisdom.

There are different ways of being competitive. Some people see what they want as being like a pie, where there are only so many slices. If someone else gets one, that means there are fewer slices left, and you might not get yours.

Instead, I like the image of a table, where having success as an author means you get a seat at the table. But the table is an amazing thing, it keeps growing and growing and growing to make more seats. There’s always room for another person, and the more people you know who are already sitting at the table, the more likely it is that you’ll get to sit there with them.

I started a shelf many years ago of books written by people I met or know. It was just a few books. Right now, I have three overflowing shelves of books written by friends, and I’m behind in my buying. I’m envisioning a house full of them.

How would you describe your collaboration with your editor? Was there an editorial moment that helped you see your manuscript—or your own voice—more clearly?

Winsome Bingham, my editor at Reycraft, is one of the best picture book writers in our industry working today. Her debut, Soul Food Sunday (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2021) illustrated by C. G. Esperanza was named one of The New York Times’ best picture books of the year when it was published.

The companion, Fish fry Friday (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2025) also illustrated by C. G. Esperanza, is already showing up on best of 2025 lists. And those are just two of her published books. Her other picture books have been award-winning as well: The Walk, illustrated by E. B. Lewis (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2023), Missing Momma, illustrated by Rahele Jomepour Bell (Abrams Books for Young Readers, 2024), and Life is Beautiful, illustrated by Molly Mendoza (Beach Lane Books, 2024), just to mention three more.

I was lucky enough to meet Winsome in graduate school. We began sharing work with each other both as accountability (writing can be so lonely) and, for me, a check before turning something in to my advisor. I shared Dear Moxie, Dear Rex with Winsome when I was trying to figure out a new ending. By then she was a new editor at Reycraft. I was shocked when she told me that she wanted to bring it to acquisitions.

I’ve learned so much about language from Winsome, especially how important it is to give children juicy, tasty language through techniques like alliteration, repetition and onomatopoeia.

Looking back, what surprised you most about your path to publication and how you are holding space for joy during your debut experience?

I think the thing that has surprised me the most is how many people have loved my funny dogs! I’ve been so moved by people who pre-ordered the book inscribed – I saw their orders as I signed the book for them, and most of them were people I know from all different parts of my life. I’ve also been moved by how many people have told me they want more funny books or more from Moxie and Rex.

What message would you like young readers to take away from this book?

Winsome was the one who really helped me see what this book is about. I was hoping that it wasn’t still a mean little story. But Winsome told me that the reason she loved it was because it shows how hard it can be to welcome the newcomer, that’s really what it’s about.

I think there is a lot of me in Moxie, Rex and Fluffy. I am a younger sister, and when I was a kid there is nothing I wanted more than to be welcomed in by my sister. She was way less excited about me. I was a new kid at school, and I wanted so badly to find a friend. I’m an older sister, where I haven’t wanted to share because I’m afraid the new kid will get everything. And I’ve even been Fluffy, where the people have some crazy dynamic that is very important to them and it totally doesn’t matter to me. I like them anyway. I’d like to encourage everyone to be a Fluffy. I picture her snuggling with one or both of the dogs on the couch, too.

You have created such fun characters in Moxie and Rex with your wry sense of humor. And Bryony has done full justice to them with her visual imagery. Hope there is a sequel in the pipeline. What are you working on next? Any new writing projects you can share?

I hope this won’t be the end of Moxie, Rex and Fluffy. I have some ideas… I’ve been so happy with the response to this book. One thing I didn’t expect is how many people have told me that they are longing for more funny books, and how much they love how funny this book is. So, I’m working on some (I hope!) funny picture book manuscripts. I also have a new middle grade novel that I hope will find a home.

In what ways do you approach writing as a form of advocacy or care for readers?

I am always very conscious that my audience is young people. While I don’t necessarily want to tell them what to do, I’m very aware that what I present in my work can present a choice that might not have occurred to my reader. As an example, I read an article that discussed that books and TV programs that presented bullying, in an attempt to show kids how to manage it, but they had actually taught some kids how to bully.

Gosh, that is not something I want to do. So, I do think about what the impact of some of my literary choices might be on my readers. Am I okau if my reader tries out the thing that I’ve put into my writing?

As I’m working on new manuscripts, I also like having someone read who knows nothing about what I am writing about, to get their feedback on what they’ve seen in it. It’s so good to get fresh eyes and a fresh take. I’ve learned how important it is for me to be super clear in how I communicate in order for my reader to get the takeaway I intend.

How are you approaching the transition from writer to author in terms of your self-image, marketing and promotion, moving forward with your literary art?

I’ve been lucky to learn how important marketing and promotion is by watching my other writer friends manage their own book launches. Historically, I have not been great at self-promotion. I was raised in a household where we were carefully taught not to brag, to the point where you barely tell anybody about yourself. So talking up the book has been very uncomfortable. One of the reasons I was so determined to find a way to be traditionally published is because I know as a self-published author I would have a garage full of unsold books!

One of my teachers, Cory McCarthy, has talked about the four-burner method of working: ideas are like that first burner on the stove, where stuff is just being put on, then you have a project that is starting to get off the ground, your second burner. The third burner is the pot that is at a full boil, so much is happening to finish it up, get it done. The fourth burner is after the project has launched, the work you need to do to get it out in the world. I’m trying to do a little work on my promotion every day, thinking of it as managing the burner, instead of bragging about myself. That makes it easier.

Writing in itself is an introspective and solitary pursuit, yet writers engage in social interaction for inspiration, feedback, and accountability among other things. What have literary friendships brought to your writing life?

There have been so many miracles that came as a result of me going to graduate school. I discovered my people there, not that I hadn’t ever met anyone I connected with before, but I realized that there was a whole swath of people who were interested in the same kinds of things as me, were determined like I am, wanted to talk about writing like I do.

I graduated in January 2020, a minute or two before the start of the pandemic. My class was small – fifteen of us graduated then – and we were worried about how we would continue working at this amazing pace that we’d had to in order to complete our program. (It was very rigorous!)

One of us was a software designer, and she got us using Slack to stay connected during the program. We started a new Slack and brainstormed ways to remain together. One person (I can’t remember who) came up with something we named “Motivation Monday,” basically a zoom where we would announce what we were working on. Keep in mind, this was two months before the world shut down. It was perfect. During the pandemic we added “Keep Typing Tuesday.” Those two zooms still happen, and we’ve added other grad school friends in the meantime. They have kept me sane and working and feeling my community.

We also have a slack channel called “Accountability” where people announce what they’ve done over the past week, no matter how small. That has also helped me.

Finally, I have friends from grad school who I trade manuscripts with. They’ve been a huge gift to me. I don’t do a critique group. Back in the day, when I worked for the ad agency, my very best thing was giving the client exactly what they wanted. I was incredibly good at listening to everybody’s feedback and then putting it together in a way that made everyone happy.

When I was in a critique group, I suddenly realized that that’s what I was doing in the group: adjusting my manuscript to make all the other members happy. But in the meantime, I totally lost my voice. Now I tend not to show anyone anything until I have a full draft. My slower, less formal way of getting feedback, has helped me hang on to my own intentions and process.

Cathy Petter was born and raised outside of Detroit. She received her BA from Duke University and her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators.

Cathy writes books for kids of all ages. Her debut picture book, Dear Moxie, Dear Rex, from Reycraft Books, is available wherever books are sold. Cathy lives in New York City. When she’s not writing books, she’s busy going to the theater, looking at art in the Metropolitan Museum, making her own art in class at the Art Students League or making dinner for her family and friends.

Mitu Malhotra holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts. She is the 2021 winner of the Katherine Paterson Prize for Literature for Young Adults and Children. Her short story Toxins is part of ELA curriculum. In previous avatars, she was a textile and fashion designer. When she is not writing, Mitu paints, sews, and builds miniature dollhouses out of recycled materials. More on www.mitumalhotra.com. Follow her on Instagram @mituart or Bluesky @mitumalhotra.