THE BACKYARD BOOKSHELF

ONE MILITARY SPOUSE'S MOBILE LOVE LETTER TO READING

A Continuation of our Q & A with Kaitlynn Steen

MILSPO Social Co. Magazine: What do events and story times look like for you?

Kaitlynn: We show up at county fairs, breweries, festivals, wherever people already are. Families having dinner out will stop by and say, "Now you have something to read at the table tonight." Story time is my favorite chaos: kids treat the trailer like a clubhouse, running up the ramp and down the stairs like it's a racetrack. People are always surprised and delighted to see a bookstore somewhere they don't expect one, especially in towns that lost their local bookstore years ago.

MILSPO Social Co. Magazine: You know you're moving every couple of years. How does that shape running a business like this?

Kaitlynn: My husband's job is niche enough that we know a PCS is coming every two years, so I built the business to move with us. It took four to five months just to get the base permits sorted, which means I get to actually enjoy having them for about six months before we start the process all over again somewhere new. As long as we stay CONUS, the plan is to keep towing it along. If we go OCONUS, that's a much bigger question I haven't solved yet.

MILSPO Social Co. Magazine: You've started featuring local authors. How did that come about?

Kaitlynn: A neighbor connected me with two self-published military spouse authors here at Fort Riley, one sci-fi and one historical fiction. They come out to festivals with the truck as local features, and people love talking to them. It's opened their eyes too. One of them now sets up her own vendor table at other events, something she never would have thought to do before. It's a small thing, but it's changed how she sees herself as a business owner.

MILSPO Social Co. Magazine: How do you balance the entrepreneurial hustle with being a mom, especially during deployments or solo parenting stretches?

Kaitlynn: My boys can handle about half a day of heat and boredom before they get restless, so my parents drive two and a half hours to help during the brutal events. We're also working on getting the kids involved with their own mini business inside the business, they want to sell popsicles at "Popsicles and Pages" in the park, though getting them motivated before allowance money burns a hole in their pocket for Legos is its own project