South Dakota children's author, inspired by pets and family, holds book signings in Sioux Falls
They say a dog is a man’s best friend. For Tammy Knudtson, that best friend inspired her to become a children’s author.
While the idea for "A Family for Riley" came over 22 years ago, Knudtson didn’t start writing her book until 2020 after the COVID-19 pandemic hit.
Knudtson grew up in Yankton, South Dakota, and attended college at the University of South Dakota. After living and working in Minneapolis for a time, Knudtson met her husband and the couple moved to Sioux Falls.
At the time, Knudtson’s husband, Ken, was in medical school, and that was when the two started thinking about getting a dog.
“It was really to keep me company,” Knudtson said.
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The couple bought their first corgi, Riley, from a woman in Iowa who said he was in a litter of six; the other five puppies were already spoken for and gone by the time the couple was able to pick up Riley.
Knudtson turned that story into the first book of her Corgi Lovers Tales series, “A Family for Riley.”
Eventually, Knudtson and her husband would get their second puppy, Dexter, and the real Riley would become an “older brother” of sorts.
“It was then that I started thinking it’d be cool to write kids’ books about Riley and his life,” Knudtson said.
Writing a story for families
One of the reasons Knudtson wrote the book when she did was because she wanted to “create something meaningful and possibly bring happiness to people during this time,” she said.
“A Family for Riley” follows Riley the corgi as he awaits meeting his adopted family.
Knudtson said her stories’ topics of getting adopted, moving and getting a baby brother are things other children might relate to.
“It’s such a sweet, simple story, but it’s basically about love and about family,” Knutson added. “It’s meant to remind us what’s really important.”
Knudtson said while writing, she envisioned grandparents and parents reading the book to their children, something that came true.
“One lady told me her grandchild carries the book all around the house and won’t put it down,” she said. Knudtson said the woman sent her a picture of the grandchild holding the book.
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“It’s things like that that really makes me happy, because that's really my end goal,” Knudtson said. “I’m not in this to make a ton of money. I just wanted to make something meaningful, bringing the generations together through a story about love and family.”
Trusting her own process
Knudtson officially started the story process in October 2020, and by December 21, 2021, she had the finished book in hand.
“I had a lot of free time during the pandemic to work on this project, and I kind of did it backwards," Knudtson said. "But I still got a finished product in the end.”
To start with, Knudtson studied math and computer science during her undergrad before going back to get a degree in music, which she likes to point out when she says she’s an author.
People typically think of English majors being authors, she said.
“It shows people, especially young people, you don’t have to be stuck in one thing just because it’s what you went to school for,” Knudtson said. “You can always try something new.”
Knudtson began the book process by finding an illustrator, which is one of the reasons it took so long to get started, she said. She connected with Robert Saber, who lives in Connecticut, online.
“I’m not an artist myself, and I was really looking for someone who was able to portray emotions well on animals,” she said. “I think the illustrator did a really beautiful job with the paintings and pictures, so I think we achieved that goal.”
Once she had the illustrator, Knudtson started to write the story and set off to find a publisher.
The challenges of publishing
Knudtson went through a hybrid publisher, Mascot.
In hybrid publishing, the author pays for part of the production costs, but has more input on the design and what happens with the story.
“It allowed me to really bring my vision into reality,” Knudtson said.
The first draft of the story only took a couple hours to write, she said, since she had had the story idea for so long.
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The book went through about five or six iterations before its final draft, and Knudtson mentioned some of the changes were meant to fit the illustrations better.
Knudtson also experienced several delays with COVID, including shipping delays, printing delays and paper shortages. But those challenges don’t compare with marketing the book, she said.
“It’s really hard to toot your own horn,” Knudtson said with a laugh. “We’re just not really raised that way in South Dakota, so that’s definitely been the hardest part of the process for me.”
“A Family for Riley” released on March 1, and the book is available at Barnes & Noble, Target and Amazon as well as at a few local businesses.
Corgi Lovers sequel
Knudtson has already finished her second book, “Riley: The Little Lost Corgi,” which will hit shelves some time before the holiday season. In it, Riley gets lost in the woods.
The plot is loosely based on the many times when the “real” Riley ran away and got lost for a time. The woods were inspired by the illustrator's home state of Connecticut.
Knudtson says in the first book, there’s a squirrel on every page named Skippy, who is Riley’s friend. In the sequel, Riley sees a squirrel and, thinking it’s Skippy, chases it into the woods and gets lost.
“I don't want to give anything else away," Knudtson laughed. "But I'm really excited for it to be out for the holiday season. And the artwork for this book is even more beautiful and detailed.”
Knudtson says she has several other book ideas to continue Riley’s story, but after the second one is released, she’s going to take a little break to focus on marketing the two.
Knudtson and her husband bought another corgi, Liza, after Riley and Dexter, and their two current dogs are PJ and Murphy. The couple now lives in Brookings with their dogs and two cats, and Knudtson also teaches in-home piano lessons.
Upcoming book signings and readings
Saturday, September 10 at 11 a.m.
Child’s Play Toys, downtown location (233 S. Phillips Avenue, Sioux Falls)
Sunday, September 18 at 2 p.m.
Kidtopia at Dawley Farm Village (901 S. Highline Place, Sioux Falls)
Where to find the book:
Barnes and Noble, in-person and online
Amazon, online
Target, online
Walmart, online
Brookings Children’s Museum, gift shop
South Dakota Art Museum in Brookings, gift shop
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Brookings author publishes children's book for corgi lovers, families
