Author Q&A With Samantha Macino
Samantha Macino is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and children’s author dedicated to helping families build resilience, emotional regulation, and strong connections. Through her work with children and parents, she has developed practical strategies that make everyday parenting more effective and less stressful. She is the creator of the Move Adventures series, an interactive collection of children’s books that combine movement, storytelling, and learning. Her work focuses on supporting children ages 3 to 7 through developmentally appropriate tools that encourage confidence, engagement, and growth. Samantha’s mission is to provide parents with simple, actionable approaches that create lasting positive change in the home. Meet Samantha:
You are an author, but is it your day job? I am a psychiatric nurse practitioner, and that work deeply informs everything I create as an author. My days are spent supporting children and families, helping them build emotional regulation, resilience, and strong parent-child connections. Writing allows me to extend that support beyond the office and into homes in a practical, fun way.
Did you always want to be an author? I have always wanted to be an author since I was a little girl. I remember writing short stories in grade school. I have always had a passion for helping children and families, and writing became a natural extension of that mission. Once I saw how powerful stories and simple tools could be in shaping behavior and connection, becoming an author felt like the right path.
What is your most recent book, and what inspired you to write it?
My most recent work is Arctic Edition, which is part of my Move Adventures series, an interactive children’s book collection that combines storytelling with movement. It was inspired by my clinical work, where I saw how movement, engagement, and play significantly improve a child’s ability to focus, regulate, and learn.
How do you hope your book will uplift readers? I hope my books help children feel capable, engaged, and confident, while also giving parents simple, effective tools they can use right away. The goal is to reduce stress in the home and replace it with connection, structure, and positive experiences.
What are you most excited about with this book? I am most excited about how interactive it is. Children are not just listening to a story, they are moving, participating, and learning at the same time! It turns reading into a full experience rather than a passive activity.
What advice would you give someone who wants to succeed in your professional industry? My biggest advice is to focus on solving real problems. Whether in healthcare or writing, the most impactful work comes from understanding people’s needs and offering clear, practical solutions that can be used right away. Consistency also matters, so keep going, keep moving forward, don’t give up. Small, steady efforts will yield meaningful results over time.
How do you handle setbacks and criticism? I view setbacks as part of the process rather than a reflection of failure. Feedback is useful when it helps improve the work, and I stay grounded by focusing on the families and children I am trying to support. That perspective keeps me moving forward.
Being an author today is like running a business. How do you manage your publicity and social media and maintain engagement with readers? I focus on providing value first. I share parenting strategies, insights, and tools that are useful in everyday life. When content is helpful, engagement follows naturally. I keep things simple, consistent, and aligned with my overall mission. I often create a single post to share across multiple social media platforms.
How do you hold yourself accountable and achieve the goals that you set forth? I break larger goals into small, manageable steps and stay consistent with daily progress. Having a clear purpose behind my work also keeps me accountable, because I know it directly impacts families.
How do you structure your day and make time for writing? I prioritize writing in focused blocks of time and treat it like any other professional responsibility. Even short sessions add up quickly and allow ideas to develop over time. If I get stuck I take a short break, I will bounce ideas off of my husband, and then get back to writing or jotting ideas down. I often have my best ideas when I am about to fall asleep at night, so I quickly jot them down in my Google Docs form on my phone. This keeps my idea alive and allows me to fall asleep better at night, knowing I am making progress and won’t forget anything.
What do you find most fulfilling in the career that you’ve chosen? I like seeing real impact in the community I serve. Whether it is a parent feeling more confident or a child engaging more positively, those changes are meaningful to me and fulfilling..
What book uplifts you? Books that focus on growth, resilience, and understanding behavior are always uplifting to me. I am especially drawn to work that helps people feel capable, validated, and supported.
Anything else you’d like to share with your readers? Small changes in how we respond to children can create lasting impact. You do not need to be perfect; consistency, calm leadership, and connection go a long way toward building resilient, confident children.
Meet Samantha and learn all about her books and her inspiring work through her website.
