Author Name: Kaitlyn Jain
Genre: Non-fiction, travel, memoir
Book: Passports and Pacifiers—Traveling the World, One Tantrum at a Time
Are you a full-time author? If not, what’s your side gig? I spent fifteen years doing marketing and project management in corporate America. As of a few weeks ago, I’m taking a (short?) break to focus on writing, along with overseeing virtual learning.
Favorite author/books: Bill Bryson, Isabelle Allende, Malcolm Gladwell, To Kill a Mockingbird
What experiences or people have influenced your writing the most? I’ve been blessed with great teachers and a fantastic college professor who encouraged my creativity. Traveling with the kids in Scandinavia inspired the book. I recognized the absurdity of what we were doing, but also the pure joy, and I wanted to encourage others to see the world.
Do you keep a writing journal and if so, how do you use it? I’m not the best at keeping it current, but I use it while traveling and write in it when I have time.
Do you belong to a writers’ group? If so, describe your experience: Yes. We meet twice a month to review two pieces. Each of us brings diverse strengths and we’re all at different phases. It’s been a great learning experience—and I’ve read more sci-fi in the past year than I have in my entire life.
Are you up with the sun or do you burn the midnight oil? Neither. I love sleep so try to get in as much as I can while the kids are asleep.
How do you get over a writing slump? Reading a good book, writing in my journal, or just getting out there and experiencing new things. I come up with my best ideas when I’m running or putting my littlest down for a nap—and try to remember what I was thinking in case I fall asleep before she does!
Do you prefer writing dialogue or descriptive passages? I usually start with descriptive passages and change to dialogue to improve the flow. Descriptive is easier for me but the dialogue balances it to make the reading less dense.
What are you working on now? Since I’m launching my first book February 2021, I’m focused on successfully getting this out the door! I have started a second book, similar in content, but with a different spin.
What advice would you give to someone thinking about writing and publishing a book? Go for it! It’s important to try new things and push yourself to do things you’re not quite sure you can do. I find that challenges are merely opportunities you haven’t succeeded at yet.
Do you listen to podcasts? If so, which podcasts do you find the most interesting? Not really.
Favorite escape: I love reading and travel. I’ve visited nearly every state and 25+ countries. This year, when we couldn’t travel, I read a lot and hiked with my family.
Have you ever tried Kombucha tea? No. My mom loves it though so, based on my genes, perhaps I will at some point.
Do you prefer a couch with pillows or no pillows? Pillows, for sure, though they’re always a mess in my house. They need to be put back or rearranged since they’re inevitably removed for some fort or turned wrong when the kids are pretending the floor is lava.
Would you rather rake leaves, shovel snow or weed? Not weeds. I got poison ivy this summer and it was MISERABLE. I like shoveling because that means there’s snow to play in and go sledding. You can take the girl out of Michigan, but can’t take the Michigan out of the girl.
Favorite mask – disposable paper, plain fabric, colorful print or something else? Reusable and colorful. I usually wear a green mask bearing the name of my kids’ school since I’m PTA president and need to encourage sales.
Biggest writing challenge since Covid-19: Focus and time. Without childcare for three months (and my husband and I both working full-time), it was quite difficult to do much beyond put food on the table. Plus, for my genre, actually going anywhere! I can’t wait to travel with my kids again.
Website and social media links:
Website: www.kaitlynjain.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/PassportsandPacifiers/
Twitter: @KaitlynJain
Instagram: kaitlyn.jain
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Email bvitelli2009@gmail.com for a bio template and other details.
Book Club Mom 
Great interview, ladies. I enjoyed learning a little about Kaitlyn. I love the tagline on her cover…it’s perfect! Wishing her the best on the release. Thanks for the introduction, Barbara.
Thanks, Jill. I also enjoyed meeting Kaitlyn. I can’t imagine traveling with four little ones! Thanks for stopping by – hope you are well 🙂
Thanks so much!
Lovely meeting Kairlyn. I’m envious of all the traveling she’s done – and what a challenge with little ones!
Challenging but worth it. I have found it just as (or more!) challenging to be stuck at home with them this past year.
Hi Teri – yes I’m ready to award her the gold medal for traveling with little ones! Thanks for the visit – hope you are doing well 🙂
We couldn’t afford foreign travel until our kids were grown, but I remember seeing travelers with toddlers and wee babes! Thanks for bringing this travelogue to my attention today. I’m glad memoir is still thriving!
We took advantage of every deal we could. Flying free under 2, credit card airmiles, even a Kids Fly Free promo (which is especially good when you have 4!). Thanks for reading my interview and hope you get a chance to review the book.
I shudder to think of the idea flying with our four when they were little. We finally did it but they were teenagers and college age by then – all went well – no need for pacifiers though!
Thanks, Marian – we didn’t travel much either when our kids were little. We’ve made two big trips in recent years (before the pandemic) and all went well 🙂 Thanks for reading and commenting.
Hi Barbara, I am pleased to meet Kaitlyn and learn about her books, writing, and travelling. I also started with a travel book, Silly Willy goes to Cape Town [outside of the picture books, of course]. Wishing her success with managing it all.
Hi Robbie – travel books are interesting to me – I’m in charge of buying them for the library, which is ironic because I have not traveled much in my “mature” years. My parents took us all (4 kids too) to Europe for 3 weeks when I was 6 and I went again after college. Definitely worth it. Thanks for the visit 🙂
Yes, I like travelling too, Barbara.
Thanks Roberta! Yours sounds fun as well. We visited Cape Town before the kids but I know they would have loved the penguins.
Good interview questions. Equally good answers. It was a pleasure to read this. If you’d ever like to interview me, I’d be honored.
Lynn
http://www.writeradvice.com
Hi and thank you for reading and commenting! I enjoyed reading about Kaitlyn too. If you would like to be interviewed, email me at bvitelli2009@gmail.com and I’ll send you a template with instructions. Thanks for your interest!
When traveling in Scandinavia, I remember observing how put together all the young mothers seemed – attractive families with really nice strollers, and you look like you would have fit in with your baby strapped to you, ready for the next adventure. But even so, I imagine it must have been quite a challenge! Best of luck.
Hi Karen – yes I also have that sense about Katilyn and her family fitting right in to the travel scene. I totally admire the ability to travel with ease – you should have seen my nearly adult family travel to California!
Thank you for your kind words. Finland certainly had a lot of babies out and about. I was shocked at how many young fathers we saw (with the really nice strollers!). It wasn’t just the mothers. 🙂
Thank you for introducing us to Kaitlyn Jain. I love the book title. Clever and captivating!
Hi Donna – yes I love it too. How brave to go traveling the world with little ones. We stayed put with ours – taking them food shopping was enough for me! Thanks for visiting and saying hello to Kaitlyn. 🙂
Thanks for the hello! I wrote the book, my husband came up with the title. Ha ha to the food shopping comment. That can be a hard one!
So nice to learn about Kaitlyn and her new book – what a great title!! And I’m envious all of the traveling you’ve done, Kaitlyn. Of course, I’m feeling so rootbound right now anyway. Best of luck with your new book. I’m working on a memoir also, so I will enjoy reading yours and seeing how you “did it.” 🙂
Hi Pam, thanks for stopping by to learn about Kaitlyn and her book. I had the travel bug when I was young, but once we had children, the thought of going on a trip with them (other than to the Jersey shore) made me sweat! We finally took a couple big trips with them about 5 years ago, but they were much older 🙂 Thanks for stopping by!
Same with us, although since we lived in the SF Bay area, we did take them to Maui for a week’s vacation once they hit the age of 10ish. Our son and daughter-in-law spent a year in Prague when their two kids were 18-months and an infant. And they traveled to a different European city every weekend while there!! I think they may enjoy Kaitlyn’s book. 🙂
Thanks for reading the interview and I hope you enjoy the book. Prague with an 18-month old and an infant sounds amazing! (Perhaps not the flight for the older one.) Being 1/4 Czech, it’s definitely a place I want to visit once travel opens back up.
My son/DIL absolutely loved Prague, and met many wonderful people there. They did miss vegetables, though. 🙂
Wow they would definitely enjoy it. Your son and daughter-in-law are adventurers!