Meet Timbray Shafer | Writer, Sketcher, Teacher

We had the good fortune of connecting with Timbray Shafer and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Timbray, what role has risk played in your life or career?
As a culture, we love to idolize artists who take huge risks and strike it big. But it’s important to remember lots of amazing artists take the same risks and fail, or choose to create in safe anonymity. And I think that’s okay. Artistic risk is something of a privilege. I often wonder how my life and writing/art might have been different had I taken more risks, and attempted to forge a more mainstream creative path. But I have also learned to enjoy the ‘safe’ road I took instead- choosing a more traditional career path and pursuing a full devotion to art alongside it. I’ve shied away from an abundance of risk, but that has also given me freedom to make things the way I want to, at the pace I want to.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’ve loved writing and illustrating stories since I was a kid. There was seldom a time in my childhood where I was not working on a new series– picture books in preschool called “Monet, Crove, and Bincher,” about a red ram, an ice cube, and a rainbow-colored bat who were, of course, best friends, and went on zany adventures. There was “The Adventures of Roothoot the Owl,” and then “Nemo and Thrist,” about a fox and a dog finding their way home while battling clam armies, rock football players, and dancing wizards. Though the creative passion never died, I lost confidence to finish out these stories. Thankfully, college courses gave me some tools and guts to say, hey, I might not be the best writer in the world, and the stuff that excites me may not be everyone’s cup of tea, but bringing them to life anyway conjures too much joy to ignore. I started writing The Rens, a young adult fantasy satire series about a group of siblings coming to terms with their privilege as they try to save their parents from permanent transformation into sauerkraut zombies. Many who read my drafts asked who on earth my audience was. The social critiques and language felt too advanced for small children, but the zany tone and humor was unlikely to attract huge swaths of adult readers. I knew my friends were right, but I was happy to write the books even if I would be the only person who ever thought they were worth anything. Thankfully, I’ve found a few others who appreciate the oddities. I’ve been writing and working on new projects obsessively ever since, and now it’s hard to imagine my life without the process. I want to always be improving as a writer. Also as a human and observer. There’s a lot of overlap between the two. I don’t want to be limited by genre or style, and want each new project to be an evolution.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
I would do what I’ve done before- bounce from cuisine to cuisine at different hole-in-the-wall restaurants. In between, lots of traffic, of course, but also walks along the beach, down busy streets, or browses through The Last Bookstore

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My grandmother, Sally who we affectionately referred to as Smam, was a hugely impactful tornado of joy in my childhood, and definitely birthed and shaped my creative spirit. She would hand-write and illustrate kids books for me, my sister, and our cousins. She would lead ‘jungle treks’ through her living room, complete with sound effects and dramatic gestures. She performed in puppet shows and dance recitals through her 80s, giving us all a sense of how much magic and joy could be spun with just a bit of creativity and excitement.

Instagram: timbrayy