Pam Scott is a self published author of the children’s book, Two for Tea. The second edition includes a friendship perspective which makes it a great little gift for women to give their female friends. Pam wrote, illustrated and self-published her creative work.

Anthology: Thanks for sharing your book with us, Pam! I imagine you have your own story behind this topic of tea parties. Could you tell me what prompted you to write a book about tea parties?

Pam Scott: It actually was a poem I wrote one year for my girls. I wrote the poem on scrolls and placed it in teacups I purchased from Goodwill and gave it to them for Christmas. The idea was to encourage my girls to have tea parties with their own little girls, my granddaughters, to grow their relationships. I believe that if we don’t take the time to develop those relationships with our children when they are young, it’s hard to do that when they become teenagers. My daughters loved the gift so much, it was their suggestion that I make it into a book. I also just love teacups. The artwork on them is so beautiful.

Anthology: My guess is that your target audience for this book is mothers and daughters. Am I right?

Pam Scott: Mothers and daughter, yes, but also women in general. I have grown women purchase the book as a gift for their women friends as well as their daughters. The second printing includes the friendship aspect. It’s a kind of invite in a relationship that says: “It’s time to talk, time to laugh together, or sort out a problem.”

Anthology: How have the children in your own life responded to your book?

Pam Scott: I have a granddaughter who is five. She recognized our family members in the pictures I painted for the book. But she asked, “Grandma, where is my picture?” So I added the last picture in the book in the second edition. That picture is of my granddaughter with my old rag doll having tea. The table cloth in that picture is a family heirloom that was passed on to me and we use it at our tea parties.

Anthology: You self-published this book. Can you tell me a little bit about that process?

Pam Scott: That was definitely a process. My initial goal was to have it out by Christmas the year I made the first edition. I just used PowerPoint because that is what I had; and I took it down to Kinko’s and got it printed and bound. Then I took it to my long-time friend, Maryjo Morgan, a professional writer, and I showed it to her. Maryjo said “We can improve on this!” So she worked in PhotoShop and made some changes. My original just had square pictures in the center of the pages. That was all I could do with it in PowerPoint. When we were finished making changes I took it back to Kinko’s and had it reprinted. Maryjo helped me make it what it is today.

Anthology: After tackling this process once, do you think you will self-publish in the future?

Pam Scott: Yes, I have a plan! My mom, who died two years ago at the age of 93, has manuscripts of children’s books she wanted to publish. There was one particular manuscript about two trees in the forest. One was misshapen, but always full of birds and squirrels. The other was a perfect-looking tree that wanted nothing more than to one day become a beautiful Christmas tree. Well, the second tree got his wish one year when a family cut him down and took him home and decorated him. But in the end his decorations were removed and the tree was thrown out. Years later, a town grew up around the first tree and that tree eventually became the annual Christmas tree in the center square of the town. At my mother’s 90^th birthday, I told her I wanted to illustrate that manuscript and publish it. And although I didn’t get it finished before she passed, I plan to self-publish her book.

Anthology: Thank you for your time, Pam! We loved hearing about your family and the value you place on your relationships. I look forward to the tea part at Anthology on Sunday.