Archive for the ‘Freaky Friday’ Category

Jan

2010

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Sam Hranac

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring authors; writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

Sam Hranac is today’s aspiring author and you can tell from his very cool picture (taken by his daughter) that he had no trouble stopping by and being a little freaky. I’ve had the pleasure of hanging out with Sam on Facebook and thought it would be fun for all of us to get to know him a bit better.

Lets get started. Sam, can you tell us how you got rolling as a children’s writer?

As a child, two things I excelled at were reading and expressing myself (or mouthing off as others called it). I also spent hours playing a game I called People. Bits of wood, rocks and sometimes even candy became villages of people who had adventures, gathered together and declared war. When the populous was candy, I played the part of carrion crows, eating the dead after a battle. By age eleven I started writing about some of my characters and made a half-hearted attempt at pulling together story lines. I remember one secret novel I was working on about a boy named Sandy who lived in an alley with a variety of stray animals (non-verbal animals, though I love reading talking animal books). Sandy cleaned store windows for cash. The problem was, I didn’t want anything bad to happen to Sandy. As far as I could tell, he was living the high life and I didn’t want it to end. No story arc. Death on wheels.

About that same time, I picked up Tom Sawyer. I instantly devoured all things Twain. It was a binge that increased the range of my sense of humor and perspective on the world. I longed for more funny adventures. Too many people take themselves far too seriously, from what I can tell. As I fell behind in math and science, I ran circles around my classmates in terms of library books consumed.

I kept writing secret novels as I grew older. It is a great comfort to me that all copies of my earliest works have been destroyed. They were a learning experience, and a game for my mind. For a while I played those monster killing video games, but they always lead me back to inventing characters with odd quirks to populate those worlds – people who lived a step out of pace. It was a release for me, and more entertaining than the games.

Around 2002, I decided to take my hobby of writing to the next level. I studied the art of story telling and character development. I also took my current WIPs to a kindly yet forthright group for critique. They helped me move forward by leaps. I joined SCBWI and attended workshops and conferences. Online community came next. Support abounds.

In short (too late!) I write because I have to. I write for kids because I feel young and am irresistibly drawn to the humorous perspective that many of us loose as we age.

I love it when good books change the trajectory of a life. I wish those early stories you wrote were still around. I think it’s interesting to read a piece of a young mind. Can you tell us a little bit about your current work-in-progress?

Between 2002 and 2007 I spewed rough draft after rough draft of complete mss, regurgitating the stories that had backed up in me until I admitted I had to write more regularly. I have 3 or 4 that show promise. The one I chose to continue hammering on first is something that I’ve been longing to write since I was a kid hanging around a haunted Victorian mansion that had been converted into a nursing home. My birth mother was the owner, so I was allowed to play in the attic with the abandon wooden legs and tattered bibles left behind by the departed. On cloudy afternoons, I met ghosts and dreamed of secret passages. GOLD BRICKER arose naturally from this setting and is beginning to hit the query stage.

The next one I am revisiting is based on my high school summers working at a small Midwestern amusement park. I ran lights for the magic shows, manned the game booths and rides, and dressed as Papa Bear and the Big Bad Wolf in 95 degree weather. The dangers and criminality lurking so close to the sweet, sweaty faces of over stimulated children has to be woven into a story. The story line is close, and the main characters are nearly so, but the entire thing needs to be taken up a notch, and tightened. I LOVE this stage. Cutting the fat. Amping up the bad guys. Writing background that nobody will ever see so that I can get the characters down cold. Good clean fun for all ages!

You’re real life was way too exciting. I can see why you had to write about it. Both stories sound very cool. Good luck with the query process.

You mentioned earlier that you joined SCBWI and attended workshops and conferences. How has that experience altered your journey as a writer?

All networking is a good thing. Networking with a well oiled, wide reaching organization like SCBWI has been HUGE for me. SCBWI and conferences have been like going to school regarding the business of publishing. Meeting agents, publishers, and successful authors who all

have graciously taken time to discuss what they know helped me to avoid some of the rookie mistakes that anyone would be bound to make. I say some, because it was just too tempting to send that first complete ms WAY too early for me to have avoided that completely. But

at least I was warned. And I learned.

Online community, such as Verla Kay’s Children’s Writers & Illustrators Message Board, have also been a great help. These provide more day-to-day interaction than waiting for conferences, even if they aren’t face to face.

These things have given me patience and a road map. I know more about how to approach an agent or publisher now because of them. I know how to research agents and publishers. I know that I SHOULD research agents and publishers.

Beyond that is the sharing of resources to help me study the art of writing. A lot of people have put together web sites and books and presentations that highlight different aspects of the art. These networking groups help me to find the best.

And then, there is the schmoozing itself. I’m not a cocktail butterfly by nature. I imagine most writers aren’t. Otherwise we might be actors and directors. Conferences force me to step forward and smile. “Ta-da! Here I am you lucky people you!” Or, maybe at least stay in the same room as people in the industry and enjoy some conversation. Rubbing

elbows never hurts. Unless of course, if I did step out and shout, “Ta-da! Here I am you lucky people you!”

I’m a big fan of SCBWI, conferences and Verla’s Blue Boards. Children’s writers have a wonderful sense of community that I feel has enriched my life and my writing.

Can you tell me a little bit about your day job and how it has influenced your writing? You also mentioned you have a daughter. How does that impact your writing?

My daughter (who took the picture above when she was 10) just turned 11

this month. I also have a 14-year old son. They are an unhealthy

audience for me to listen to regarding my writing. I love them, but

they may be partial and not the best critique group. I DO pay

attention to what they and their friends are reading, watching and

talking about, however. Having them around keeps me in touch with how

kids today differ from when I was a kid, to some extent.

As for the all important day job, it eats tremendously into my day. My

wife and kids are supportive and try to help me carve out some time

each week devoted to writing. Normally we’re successful. My job is

creative, but not associated with writing or the publishing industry.

But it (mostly) pays the bills, so here’s to it.

I have to ask because not everyone has easy access to eaves dropping on an 11 and 14 year old LOL! How do you think kids differ today compared to when we were kids. How does that difference effect the way we write for kids?

My kids differ from me to about the same degree that I differed from

Opie Taylor. I didn’t go “fishin’ wit Paw” much. Then again, my kids

have had a lot fewer chances to catch toads or race bikes through an

unpopulated ravine than I did. We live in a city.

The world is smaller. They don’t disengage from friends because of

distance. My son just bought his first laptop and he can video

conference with kids he met at summer camp.

Fundamentally, from Opie on up to my kids, we have a lot in common.

We’re people. We don’t evolve that fast. But, the times have changed

around us, and there are fewer places to be free in. I also wonder if

the tension and divisions in the world weigh heavily on them.

One interesting thing. When I was a kid, I was in awe of the future

with the promise of flying cars. My kids seem to be in awe of the

past, with streams you could drink from. Steampunk comes to mind. The

future envisioned as an early time.

Since this is just between you and I, I’m going to ask a silly question. What exactly is Steampunk??? I’m hearing about it all the time. LOL!

Steampunk is kind of like newly futuristic or alternate universe Jules

Vernes in aesthetic – and the aesthetic is the important thing. Lots

of steam operated machinery with brass fittings and gauges and dark

wood. Do a Google image search for “steampunk fashion” or “steampunk

computer” to get an idea. People are really having fun with the style.

Very interesting, I’m happy to finally be in the know. I’ll have to look into it some more. Well, it is about that time. Can you give me your top 5 books and tell us how they have influenced you?

I’ll keep this to the books that influenced me early on, rather than a

list of current favorites.

I mentioned Twain previously. I suppose I would lump HUCK FINN and A

CONNECTICUT YANKEE IN KING ARTHUR’S COURT as two early influences. Is

lumping allowed? I’ve lumped and cannot separate them despite access

to surgical equipment. Twain shows how a character can say one thing

and mean another, and how a character’s perspective can be blind to

something even as it serves to illuminate things for the reader. These

may not the best examples of story arc, but humor, insight and

characters carried them.

My next lump would be the HITCHHIKER’S GUIDE “trilogy.” Whimsy: one of

my favorite twists to humor.

HARRIET THE SPY spoke to a more angsty space within me when I was

young. I came from a family tree that resembles a twisted willow

because of all the marriages and separations/remarriages. Harriet’s

way of ditching her world for one she preferred rang a bell.

CHARLOTTE’S WEB is poetry in prose form. I fell in love with a teacher

when she read it to our class out loud. Also, the simple, examples of

loyalty and friendship in action gave power to my spine that humor

alone could not manage. E. B. White used a loving hand to softly

deliver these messages.

Can I add one more even though I lumped? Just one though, I swear.

WIND IN THE WILLOWS. (I told you I liked to read about talking

animals.) And again with the poetry! I do try to take time in my

writing to make it beautiful. This book proves that beautiful language

can support rather than overshadow touching sentiment and humor.

Had this been current favorites, more current titles would have made

the list. Such a thing is ever changing as I continue reading at the

pace I set for myself as a child. My early influences are at least

somewhat stable.

I’m a big fan of lumping. I get a huge kick out of watching all the creative ways book lovers find a way of mentioning more beloved books. We let everyone off very easily for this understandable offense.

Thanks so much for agreeing to do an interview. I look forward to hearing good news once you get those query letters out there. Make sure you report back to us, so we can help you shout it from the roof top! Don’t forget to stop by and read Sam’s blog and pop on over and friend him on Facebook too!

Early tomorrow I’ll be heading down the Hudson River Line for the 2010 NY SCBWI Conference. I’ll take lots of pictures and blog when I get back. I’ll also have periodic update on Facebook and twitter. You can also follow live conference tweets at #SCBWINY10 or the conference blog.

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Jan

2010

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s writer Katie Carroll

Filed under: Freaky Friday

It has been awhile since I’ve posted a Freaky Friday interview, but this one will be worth the wait. I had the pleasure of meeting Katie Carroll last April at the Eastern PA Poconos Mountain Retreat. We were roommates for the weekend and had a wonderful time getting to know each other. I think you are going to like her too…

Can you tell me a little bit about how you came to be a children’s writer?

Fair warning, my journey to becoming a writer starts off on a very sad note. I was 19 and a sophomore in college. I was on track to start graduate school for physical therapy at the end of my junior year. I was an English major who was also taking a lot of science courses (in preparation for physical therapy work), but I had chosen English as more of a diversion than anything else. It was something to break up all the science and math that I had to take for graduate school.

So I was well on my way with my 6-year plan that would ultimately lead to a Masters in PT and job in the health field. Then, my previously healthy 16-year-old sister, Kylene, got sick. We thought she had pneumonia. A week later she was admitted to the hospital. It wasn’t pneumonia, but the doctors at Yale couldn’t figure out what was essentially eating away at her lungs. Bottom line, within two weeks from being admitted to the hospital, she was dead.

You don’t go through something like that without it irrevocably changing your life. None of us really knew what to do in her memory. There’s no causes to join for people who die of unknown lung diseases. After reevaluating my life and life in general, I realized that I loved to write and that I wanted to write books for young adults and children as a career. A good portion of my family thought I was crazy to just ditch my whole 6-year plan to become a writer (very unlike me to start something and not follow through with it), but I had had a change of heart and there was no turning back.

Now, Kylene loved the Harry Potter books (I think only the first four had come out by the time she died). She shared them with so many people, many of whom hated reading, and so many of them fell in love with the books too. I think reading the books gave my sister so much joy that she just wanted to share that joy with the whole world. She was that kind of person. My dad, I think in a way to reconcile with my crazy decision to become a writer, suggested that I write a story for Kylene. She never got to finish her life story, so I gave her what I could by letting her live out a great adventure in fiction. That story became the first novel I wrote, a young adult fantasy called Katora. It’s been over 7 years since my sister died, and I’ve been writing ever since.

I think that she would be very proud of you. It takes a lot of courage to follow your heart… Can you tell us a little bit about Katora and where you are with that book? Maybe a little bit about your WIP too.

Katora is a quest novel. Katora’s family are the keepers of a secret healing Elixir, and Katora’s father selects her to lead a mission into the dangerous Faway Forest to retrieve the secret ingredient, which are peaches from a tree that grows on the top of a giant mountain called The Sleeping Giant. What she doesn’t know is that when she picks the peaches, she will be bound to use them to serve the greater good. In addition to all the outside forces influencing her, Katora begins to wonder whether or not she is ready to take on such a big responsibility. This manuscript has been making the rounds with a few editors. I’ve had a few nibbles of interest with it and I’m keeping my fingers crossed for the big bite.

My current WIP is a reimagining of The Little Mermaid, tentatively titled Ariel. I started this for NaNoWriMo and got a good start on a first draft. I’ve borrowed some of my favorite elements from the original Hans Christian Andersen story and from the Disney version. I used to watch the Disney movie everyday when I was little. My niece gets mad when we’re watching it and I sing all the songs! I’ve also added a major character, who is Ariel’s best friend. He’s a human whose family runs a pearl farm. I’m totally in love with him. The ending has a big twist in it too, which I’m really excited about. This novel is still in a really rough form and it’s new enough that I’m haven’t gotten sick of it yet.

Both stories sound great! I’ll keep my fingers crossed that good things come your way. As I mentioned earlier, we had the pleasure of meeting through the Eastern PA Poconos Mountain Retreat last year. We had a sort of “blind date”, signing up to be roommates without having met before. Getting to know you was one of the many perks of attending a SCBWI Conference. Why would you recommend getting out from behind the lap top and attending a conference?

There are really so many reasons to attend a conference. I think anyone that is involved in a job that can be as isolating as writing, needs to step out and meet others in the field. A writing conference is a great way to learn about the craft and business of writing directly from experienced writers, editors, and agents. Even when a talk may reiterate some of the things I thought I already knew, it’s helpful to hear the ideas again (kind of like studying for a test) and there’s always new ways to apply them to my WIP. There’s also the networking factor. Gaining face-to-face time with editors and agents is invaluable.

More than all the professional things that can be gained from a writing conference, I just find them very refreshing. After months of writing, revising, and collecting rejections, I can get a little burnt-out and discouraged, thinking it’s never going to happen for me. Then I go to conference and hear a hugely successful writer talk about experiencing the same obstacles and the same feelings. There’s also all these other writers just like me, who are going through the same things at the same time. The sense of camaraderie at a conference goes a long way.

Plus, conferences provide an environment that forces me to leave my comfort zone. There’s nothing like facing a room full of strangers to make me confront all my insecurities, which is especially useful for a YA writer. I really think that pushing myself in life somehow makes me a better writer. Without conferences, I’ve never would’ve met you and wouldn’t be doing this interview right now. Oh, and I love collecting signed books from all the great writers I meet.

Katie, can you tell us about your top five books and how they have influenced you?

Okay, it was hard to narrow it down to five books, so I cheated a little and put a couple of series on my list.

1. The Harry Potter books: I think my answer to how I became a writer pretty much covers how these books influenced me. I think they also served as a reintroduction into children’s literature for me and made me realize that my passion was for literature for teens and children.

2. The Little House books: My mom used to read these to my sisters and me before we’d got to bed. Even though most of these stories took place over a hundred years before I was born, the Ingalls family was a lot like my family. We shared many of the same values and a similar sense of closeness. It’s amazing no matter how much time passes, the most important things in life tend to stay the same. My mom even made us bonnets just like the ones the Ingalls girls wore.

3. Bears in the Night: This is the only picture book on my list, but it is very deserving. (Big Dog…Little Dog and Go, Dog, Go! were a close second and third.) I’m not much of a picture book writer, but Bears in the Night shows great use of sparse text, pacing, rhythm, repetition, and allowing the pictures to contribute to the story. Everything about it, from the setting to the language, sparks my imagination. I particularly like how the last page is only a picture of the mother bear quietly sitting in her chair, seemingly none the wiser of what her little bears have been up to. My mom made up a line of text to wrap up the book, and after awhile, one of us kids got to make up the line.

4. Little Women: I loved this book for a lot of the same reasons I loved the Little House books. Family has always been one of the most important things in my life, and this book was a mirror of my family in many ways. The March sisters were Meg, Jo, Beth, and Amy, and the Carroll sisters were Kelly, Kerrie, Katie, and Kylene. The female characters in Little Women are just so rich and unforgettable. I see a little (or a lot) or myself in each of the March sisters. When Kylene died, I told my sister Kelly that Kylene was “just like Beth.” They were both too good for this life.

5. The Giver: Believe it or not, I was not a big fan of fantasy or science-fiction as a kid (I still have never been able to finish A Wrinkle in Time). I read The Giver in fifth grade, and it totally blew my mind. When Jonas suddenly realizes the weirdness he has been seeing is color, I was floored. In my eleven-year-old mind, the reveal of this book was just perfect. As the layers kept being peeled back and more and more truth was revealed, the book just got better and better.

Thanks so much, Kim, for interviewing me. It was fun to remember why I started seriously writing in the first place.

That is exactly how I felt about the Giver too! I LOVE that book. *Kim sighing with contentment*.

Katie, thank you so much for stopping by and being freaky. I can’t wait to see you in April at the Poconos Conference Part 2. If you would like to read more about Katie, you can find her on her blog the Observation Desk.

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Dec

2009

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Barbara Wells

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring writers; the same writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

Today’s Freaky Friday Friend is Barbara (Bobbie) Wells. Bobbie is the RA for Eastern NY SCBWI. She’s wonderful and I can’t wait for you to get to know her better. As you can tell from her picture…she is a kid at heart.

Bobbie, can you tell me a little bit about yourself and how you became a children’s writer?

I always thought six the best age to be. At six I could ride my tricycle to the end of the street and back by myself, and at six I would learn to read. Six decades later, I still believe it’s the best age to be.

Color, form, texture, and words have long been a part of my life. Combined with a healthy six year old mentality, you’ve got a natural born children’s book writer. Of course dual degrees in fine arts and education, and thirty years in an elementary school classroom, doesn’t hurt.

So you’re a perpetual 6 year old. I’m about 16-17 so at least you have someone to babysit for you LOL! Having 30 years in a classroom under your belt means that you’ve seen the changes in publishing from a much different perspective. What do you like and dislike about how children’s books are evolving?

Children’s books are a reflection of our social structure, and as our society changes and evolves, so do our arts. Once upon a time children were more willing to settle down for a lyrical, soft, tale that pretty much began that way. Today’s children are accustomed to getting their information and entertainment in bytes. PBs are mostly three hundred words or less, and often deliver more of a punch line than a plot. They are far more visual than verbal. And look at the growth of graphic novels. While I bemoan the loss of the literary, I celebrate the high quality of illustrations that have evolved, almost filling in the blanks.

Subject matter, too, reflects our changing social values. PBs often deliver more of a punch line than a plot. And some of the YAs, Wow! And certainly, children’s non-fiction has come into its own. So changes, good, bad? Probably a little of both. There were wonderful writers thirty years ago, and we have wonderfully, talented authors among us today.

We’ve had the pleasure of meeting through our local SCBWI. Can you tell us a little bit about your experiences with the Eastern NY SCBWI?

Until three years ago there was no Eastern NY. Ellen Yeoman, bless her heart, was RA for all of NY except the metro area (NYC incl. Long Island and Westchester). How she managed to find the energy to handle a region that size, raise a family and get published at the same time… but she did.

Finally NY State was divided into three regions, metro, eastern and western. Eastern covers Putnam north to the Canadian border, and the counties just west of the Hudson, and east to Ct, MA, and Vermont. Ellen asked if I would be willing to serve as RA for the newly created region. So Nancy Castaldo as ARA, and I took over, and with two of us we were able to add on events in addition to the Shop Talks and annual June conference. In November of 2006 we hosted an illustrators master class. In 2007 we expanded the idea, turning the event into an alternating weekend retreat. Last year was a novel master writing class. This year 2009, we did a picture book (including illustrators) master class.

In January I will be stepping down and Nancy will assume full responsibility for this region.

Thanks so much for having been involved-we will miss having you as RA, but you must promise to keep popping into Shop Talk.

How was this year’s Picture Book Retreat? Any tips we could all benefit from?

Falling Leaves Picture Book Master Class was excellent. How often do you get to spend 25 minutes, one on one, with an editor discussing your writing? The emphasis in a master class is the writing process, yours in particular. So what I came away with really pertains to my own work, and the general information is pretty much what you would hear at any conference. It was basically an immersion weekend, and I highly recommend it to every serious writer.

Sounds like you are inspired! Since we all like a little inspiration, can you tell us your five favorite books and how they’ve influenced you?

Favorite is such a difficult word for me; it seems so final. And to pick out five books, well… So I’m going to give you five authors whose works I greatly admire, and why. In no particular order, Kate DiCamillo, Katherine Paterson, Nancy Willard, Dick King-Smith, and E.B. White.

Language is their medium, and these authors are masters at using words to paint wonderful tales. With humor and pathos, they examine the human condition, and always speak to the highest common denominator in man, love. Their works inspire children (of all ages) to never give up hope, to be all they can be.

Some very excellent choices! I know you had the lovely and talented Nancy Willard at one of our Eastern NY SCBWI Conferences. It was a treat to listen to her speak. Glad you could stop by and be a little Freaky and thank you again for all you’ve done for the Eastern NY SCBWI. Don’t forget to stop by and say hi to Barbara on Facebook!

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Nov

2009

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Mary Ann Scott

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring writers; the same writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

For our post turkey festivus…we have Mary Ann Scott. I first met Mary Ann in person at the 2008 Rutgers One-on-One Conference. We connected because both of us are Verla Kay Blue Boarders. Another Rutgers Blue Boarder, Lisa Mullarkey, had a fantastic get together at her house giving Mary Ann and I that first opportunity to get to know each other in person. I know you’re dying to meet her too, so lets get started.

Can you tell us how you started your journey as a Children’s Writer?

I guess my journey started like many others. I was a high school English teacher who truly loved her job and her subject. I had always wanted to write, but when you have 150 essays to grade every time you give an assignment, there is little time for your own writing. But I was also a perpetual student, and when I was expecting my second child, I quit teaching and started working on my Ph.D. full time at Purdue University. Yeah, I know. Smart, huh? When the little sprout arrived, a lot of things changed. I took time off school and parked myself in the kids’ play room with a crappy old laptop. There I sat, surrounded by Fischer-Price little people, a toddler with a huge imagination, and a baby in a bouncy seat. And like so many others before me, I decided to start with picture books. No, I never fooled myself into thinking that was the easy road, it was just where my first stories were headed. And to put it quite plainly…they sucked.

But, even from the start, I took myself seriously. This wasn’t a hobby; it was my next vocation. So I joined the SCBWI and went to my first conference. After a very gracious paid critique, I figured out that PBs were not my calling. I had actually started a YA novel several years earlier, but I was a teacher. No time to write a novel! Well, now was the time. Thus was born UNDER A BROKEN TREE, my first YA novel.

Well, I never went back to school, and my husband took a job in Pennsylvania, so there I was in a new city, a new state, starting over. But two crucial things happened that set my journey in stone—I met my friend Lee (an amazing artist) and I hooked up with a the SCBWI Eastern PA chapter and attended the Fall Philly conference. Talk about feeding your soul. I knew I was in the right place. Lee became my Beta Reader and biggest fan (aside from my husband) and the SCBWI EPA Chapter was like another home to me. Before I knew it, I was working on another novel, which earned me a scholarship to the Highlights Foundation Chautauqua Writers Workshop. And Patricia Lee Gauch changed my life. As my mentor at Chautauqua, she gave me permission to really write the way I wanted. I had always constrained myself a bit. She encouraged me to listen to the voice in my head and follow my instincts. I felt as though I had been to college for 4 years! What a phenomenal experience.

So now I have a truly awesome agent submitting BEHIND THE DARKLING VEIL while I work on my next book and organize the next Pocono Mountain Retreat.

Oh, I can picture you in that playroom…I’ve been there before. Congratulations on the scholarship! Can you tell everyone a little bit about Chautauqua? I hear it is an amazing experience.

Oh wow! Chautauqua in itself is an amazing story—rich setting, unforgettable characters, lots of action. First, it is set in what started as a utopian community, filled with gingerbread-style houses and lovely gardens at the edge of a beautiful lake. Every evening was filled with music as the symphony or the opera or a touring rock band played in the amphitheater, the sound wafting over the whole village. The workshops with people like Carolyn Coman, Jerry Spinelli, and Donna Jo Napoli made you feel like a “real” writer. And the Brown brothers kept you well-fed and laughing all week long. But the most amazing part of it all for me was my time with my mentor. Everyone is paired with an editor or a published writer who does some intensive, one-on-one work with them on their manuscript. Patti carted a bag full of books everywhere so she could share examples with us. She gave me so much and encouraged me to let go and follow my voice. We were given 2 official meetings, but Patti was so dedicated, she wanted to see me one more time before the end of the week, so there I was, up until 2:00 am, pulling at my hair while I revised an extra chapter for her to look at. I looked a little like Don King when I was done, but I had hammered out an awesome chapter and Patti squeezed in the time to go over it with me that last day. I can honestly say, my work would not be where it is now without Patti Lee Gauch and all the faculty at Chautauqua. So if you can work it out, GO to Chautauqua!

Chautauqua sounds amazing and I once again take off my hat and bow down to Patti and the others in the children’s writing community who pay it forward everyday.

I’d also love to here a little bit about your books and why you’re called Ghostgirl.

Ghost Girl…I grew up in in a house that was haunted by the ghost of a young Miami Indian who loved to rearrange the furniture from time to time and sit on the bed in the middle of the night. Ever since those early mystical experiences, I’ve been fascinated with ghosts and the possibilities of what happens after this life, especially if this life has been a rocky one. UNDER A BROKEN TREE is a contemporary take on some of those explorations. But I’ve always loved cemeteries, too. Not in a morbid way. For me, the stones are little stories of what used to be. Love letters to the past. So now I write my own love letters to what could have been. BEHIND THE DARKLING VEIL is a ghost story set in the 1850s amid the spiritualist movement that changed our perception of life after death forever. Indian ghosts, menacing preachers, and even a god machine are waiting for some eager young readers to drink them in. My latest work is set in the same time period, but it has a much sharper, feminist twist and I can’t wait to see where it leads me.

Your books sound fascinating and I hear you have an awesome agent who thinks so too. Can you tell us a little bit about where you are on the journey to publication?

Thanks! I took my first step into publication this month with the appearance of my article, “Abe and the Magic Lantern” in CRICKET MAGAZINE, and I’m hoping to add a book contract to that soon. No doubt, one of the things high on my list of things to be thankful for this season is my fabulous agent, Elena Roth from the Caren Johnson Literary Agency. She has seen me through two solid rounds of revision and is now submitting my darling child to some amazing publishers. We’ve had a few very encouraging rejections so far, as ironic as that may sound—very complimentary, but not a perfect fit. Yet. Through it all, I’ve had a great mentor and a phenomenal advocate in Elana. So, while I continue to pull my hair out in anticipation as Behind the Darkling Veil makes its rounds, this Ghost Girl will keep walking through cemeteries, writing haunting YA stories, and obsessing about a shiny new contract.

I had the pleasure of having Elena at my 5-on-5 table at Rutgers this year. She was very sweet and helpful. You guys are a great match.

I also know that you’ve been very active in the Eastern PA SCBWI but have recently moved. Can you tell us a little bit about what its been like to be such an active SCBWI member for Eastern PA and what its like to have to pick-up and start over again?

Talk about a rough year! I have a whole new understanding of what it means to multi-task. And I think SCBWI is what kept me sane through it all. I joined in 2001 (when I still lived in Indiana) and a year later we relocated to PA. One of the first things I did was hook up with the SCBWI EPA crowd and go to my first Fall Philly. It really is true that you would be hard-pressed to find a more inviting and supportive crowd than kidlit writers, especially the EPA group. Never in a million years would I have imagined I could coordinate a conference, though. But with my husband starting a new job in Georgia and me staying in PA with the kids, waiting for the house to sell (which took 8 months), I was glad I had the Retreat to focus on. They always say, the more you have to do, the better you are at time management. (Well, somewhere somebody said that!) Doing the single mom thing with two kids who went through withdrawal every time Daddy came up for a visit and left again, revising a novel with my new agent, and coordinating the retreat faculty and workshops and putting up a new website…let’s just say I’m not exactly sure when I would have considered myself sane—before, during, or after all of that. To top it off, we actually moved from PA to GA exactly 5 days before I had to be at the Retreat. So I had to turn right around and fly back up to PA, which I didn’t mind one bit!

The move to Georgia has been much more challenging than our move to PA. While it is a beautiful state, we have landed in the most isolated corner of it. One chain bookstore in the mall and that’s the closest thing I have to a writing community. How would I ever survive without the internet and all my Blue Board buddies? I have met a fabulous group women, though, and we meet every Thursday night for what my husband refers to as our “stitch ‘n bitch.” For now, I am very happily continuing my work with the Eastern PA chapter of SCBWI, but I look forward to meeting more of our Southern Breeze friends as we get settled. Who knows? Maybe I’ll catch the whole Flannery O’Connor vibe and start writing some Southern gothic.

My hat is off to you! I’m sure you will have Georgia eating out of the palm of your hand in no time. Time to hear you top 5 books and how they’ve influenced you.

This is the toughest question of all because there are just so many books that have shaped my life, both as a writer and as a person. One of my early favorites was THE WITCH OF BLACKBIRD POND, by Elizabeth George Speare. I immediately connected to Kit and admired her spunk and sense of loyalty. She was the lone voice of reason and compassion. At that time in my life, I knew just how that felt.

I didn’t read kid lit a lot when I was in Jr. & Sr. high school, so I tended to be hooked on some heavier stuff, like George Orwell’s 1984 and most of his essays. His descriptive style blew me away and kept me thinking about the “big picture” all the time.

It was really in my adulthood that I started seriously reading YA and MG books. One book that has never lost its hold on me is Robert Cormier’s I AM THE CHEESE. I cried when I came to the end, when I truly understood the significance of the title. How desolate! And I loved his experiment with different POV’s. It still haunts me.

I’ll round out my 5 with a couple of more recent YA reads. First, THE SONG OF THE MAGDALENE by Donna Jo Napoli. Here’s a historical piece that hit me at so many levels. Her story of Mary Magdalen spoke to me as a writer, a reader, and spiritual person who is always looking for the less obvious answers.

Finally, I can’t leave out one of my all-time favorite authors—Neil Gaiman. It’s difficult to choose just one, but I’ll go with his most recent THE GRAVEYARD BOOK. Atmosphere, expert story-telling, unforgettable characters, and of course…Ghosts! I couldn’t put it down.

Thanks so much for allowing me to raid your blog and blab about my life. I hope to have some good news to share by the time we all meet at the Retreat. And happy Thanksgiving!

Love it! Thanks so much for dropping by and being Freaky. I have a feeling you won’t be an “aspiring author” for long, so I’m glad we got you in while we could. If you are interested in keeping up with Mary Ann, she has a great blog called HAUNTING THE BROKEN TREE. You can also find her on Facebook, Twitter and Livejournal.

Mary Ann, I’ll see you in April at the Pocono Mountain Retreat. If you’re interested in attending a GREAT Conference, registration begins on Tuesday December 1st. Happy Haunting Ghost Girl!

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Nov

2009

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Laurie Krauss Kiernan

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring writers; the same writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

Today’s Freaky Friday interview is with Laurie Krauss Kiernan. I had the good fortune of meeting Laurie at the 2009 Rutgers One-on-One Conference.

Can you tell me a little bit about how you got started as a writer?

I had a fabulous boss and eight year career with (RESS) Remediation and Educational Support Systems, securing government funding and implementing programs in several states, before stepping down to devote more time to my children. I had five unforgettable years as a stay-at-home mom before my youngest started first grade. Then I decided it was time for me to go back to work. Unfortunately, RESS had folded, but my former boss was principal at a local school district, so I started working for him as a substitute teacher. At the same time, I went back to school to earn a Master’s Degree.

I hated substitute teaching and I sat in evening graduate classes, listening to fulltime teachers complaining about their jobs and students. The only enthusiastic person was my children’s literature teacher. His passion for books was infectious. I decided that I wanted to write the stories that would instill that kind of passion in readers. I also decided that I didn’t want to teach, but I had to earn money, so I thought about a brainless job that I could do, while I pursued a writing career. I started an in-home pet care service and have never once looked back. I love doing my brainless work. I get some of my best writing ideas while walking dogs.

From the look on your face in the picture it appears that your job is full of heart. I also have to say that it takes a smart woman to know what you love and how to be happy.

On your journey as a writer, you’ve had the opportunity to be an SCBWI RA. Can you tell us a little bit about the experience?

It’s really kind of funny. It begins in that children’s literature class. One of the assignments was to read and critique 40 children’s books. I read a lot of picture books and thought I could write those. No problem. I pounded out two in one night. Simple. HA! Another assignment was to read Laurie Halse Anderson’s Speak, because Laurie was going to visit the class. I remember standing in line with my copy of Speak to be signed by Laurie. I was so excited, I was shaking. When I made it to the front of the line, I fell into babble mode, telling Laurie how I wanted to write books and how I wrote 2 picture books in a few hours and asked her how I could get them published….quickly….like by Christmas. Laurie was very kind. She didn’t tell me that I was an annoying newbie with unrealistic expectations. Instead, she suggested that I join the SCBWI. She also mentioned that the Eastern PA Chapter of the SCBWI held an annual fall conference at this university.

Another reason to LOVE Laurie Halse Anderson :o)

I went home, looked into the SCBWI and signed up for the Eastern Pennsylvania Chapter’s Pocono Retreat. That event just made me more enthusiastic. But then the sad announcement came: There would be no annual Fall Philly Conference unless volunteers came forward. Well, I couldn’t let them cancel the conference that Laurie told me to go to, so I put my name on the list of volunteers. The other two people that wrote their names down didn’t want to direct the conference, so I agreed to plan and implement a conference that I had never attended for an organization that I had just joined. Yes, I’m insane! And I should probably mention that I had only a month to get the program together and mail out the brochure. Somehow, I managed to pull it off and over 100 people registered. Travel, hotel, venue, etc. were all in line. Then four days before the event was to happen, terrorists attacked our country. That’s when I realized what a great organization SCBWI was. Volunteers came forward to help me piece this program together and Jerry and Eileen Spinelli agreed to fill in for two scheduled speakers who couldn’t get out of airports as planned. A handful of people didn’t show and asked that their tuition money be donated to the Red Cross. The day was full of hugs, warmth, and a shared determination to show the terrorists that they could not stop us from doing what we had planned.

I’ve never heard that story, but it only verifies what I already know…you guys throw a fantastic conference and Children’s Writers are some of the BEST people in the world.

A few months after that infamous 2001 Fall Philly Conference, I reluctantly agreed to take LauraLee Wren’s place heading the Eastern PA Chapter of the SCBWI.

WOW! I must ask, even though I’m now sitting here with goose bumps on my arm…was there a downside to being RA? Do you have any regrets?

I won’t say that I regret my time as a RA, but I will say that I wish I had time to be just a member of SCBWI before taking on that role. I never had an opportunity to develop my craft before becoming consumed by the responsibilities of running events and a chapter of the SCBWI. I loved organizing, but it took me away from my original goal. I found that I wasn’t writing at all. I was putting every spare moment into running the chapter.

After two years of looking for somebody to replace me as RA, I became very ill with a crippling case of Lyme Disease. I could barely walk, form a full sentence, or make it through the day with less than 16 hours of sleep. I had no other choice than to announce that I would fold the chapter if no one came forward to take my place. I am so grateful that Marilyn Hershey stepped forward and she’ doing a great job.

I attended my first Eastern PA Poconos Conference with Marilyn last April. She had big shoes to fill, but she did an amazing job. I’ll be back this year for sure!

I know you just got back from the Rutgers One-on-One Conference. What’s currently on your agenda?

I’m still on the mend. After months of unsuccessful oral antibiotic therapy for the Lyme, my doctors had to get aggressive. They inserted a PICC line into my arm and taught me how to give myself a daily antibiotic IV drip. With the help of some awesome visiting nurses, I did that for a month and now am beginning to remember what life was like before Lyme. My friends and family helped me to keep my business alive when I was sick. Now I’m back to running the business and writing. And I’m loving life!

Yay! Before you go, can you give us your top 5 books and how they’ve influenced you?

My five favorite books :

Richard Peck’s A Long Way from Chicago. I love Grandma Dowdel! To my family’s dismay, I want to be just like her!

Joyce Moyer Hostetter’s Blue. Fabulous writing and I learned a lot too ☺

Jordan Sonnenblick’s Notes from the Midnight Driver. Sol is so real! Reminds me of my dad.

John Grogan’s Marley & Me. I still don’t know who the three anonymous people were that put that book in my mailbox, but I laughed and I cried and it helped me to get through making the difficult decision to euthanize my 16 year old yellow lab.

And my favorite picture book is Eileen Spinelli’s Sophie’s Masterpiece. Eileen just has a way of telling beautiful stories that make me say, “Awwwwwwwwwwwww”.

Thank you so much for stopping by and being freaky :o) Don’t forget to check in with Laurie Krauss Kiernan about her writing, SCBWI, Dogs or Lyme. Thanks Lauire-I’ll see you in April…watch out Poconos…here we come!

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Nov

2009

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Laurie Bryant

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring writers; the same writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

Today’s Freaky Friday Interview is with Laurie Bryant. Laurie has an amazing amount of information to share so I’m going to get right to it.

Laurie, we’ve been attending the same local SCBWI Shop Talk meetings for quite some time now. I’m privy to your unique corner of children’s writing, but can you tell us a little bit about what you do and how you got started?

My start in writing sounds like a movie-of-the-week plot. About 14 years ago I had a car accident that looked pretty serious (I rolled over a van), but I walked away. I had a rather spiritual friend who visited soon after and she posed an interesting question: “If that had been it for you and you had died that day, what would have been your biggest regret?” And she insisted that I could not use anything like missing my kids grow up because that was too easy. It had to be personal and only about me. I didn’t hesitate. I said that despite the encouragement of professors at college and a deep desire to do so, I had never submitted any writing for publication. That realization of a second chance hit home and I knew I had to give it a shot.

My first submissions were nonfiction articles. I had attended a workshop by local author Pauline Bartel at DCC and she had correctly pointed out that new writers often aim too high–shooting for that picture book or chapter book with a big publisher. She introduced the writers to all the article possibilities with magazines of all sizes and markets and taught us about the value of published clips. I wrote some humor parenting pieces and bought a Writer’s Market and sent my first two submissions out. Within a few months I was in print in Christian Parenting Today and Hudson Valley Parent, and soon after my first article for kids was purchased by a now-defunct magazine called The Flicker. That editor really liked my work and wanted more. They quickly went under, but that gave me the confidence to branch out. I sold enough humor and simple pieces for parents and kids to realize I could do it, but knew I really couldn’t grow as a writer until I forced myself to do research work that required quotes and interviews. I HATED the idea and knew that my own phobia of approaching strangers and using the phone would get in the way! I’d never do it on my own. To overcome my hesitation, I wrote an editor at the Poughkeepsie Journal who also wrote a weekly family column. I thought his style and voice were similar, so I sent clips. He assigned me some freelance work and I was forced to confront my fears and get over myself. It worked and I wrote a few dozen stories of all kinds for them. I still don’t like doing interviews or getting quotes, but I can do it.

My first fiction work was actually more of an experiment. I wanted to know if I could craft a story of length with multiple plot threads, so I turned my hobby of reading fan fiction into a writing test. I wrote a serious adventure novel in the Hogan’s Heroes TV fandom and posted it online. It won three online fic writing awards and still stands as the single most glorious writing experience I have ever had, even if I can never make a dime on it. The immediate feedback from hundreds of passionate fans who are waiting for the next chapter was incredible, as was their reaction to the story, and I am now at 40,000 hits on that work.

From there, and since I tend to see stories as scenes of dialogue first and fill in exposition and narration later, I started work on a play alongside my seventh graders who were doing an assignment based on O. Henry’s The Ransom of Red Chief. My story of a kidnapping gone awry (The Ransom of Miss Elverna Dower) is now being published by Pioneer Drama and won their 2009 Shubert Fendrich Award for playwriting. As a director, I think it’s hard to find intelligent non-musical plays to produce in middle schools, so doing my own work kind of filled a void there, too. I’ve also written and produced a musical parody of the musical parody Spamalot, and that was an absolute blast. (Don’t know how to sell that one yet as music and parody rights confuse me.) Seeing an audience react to your work on stage is incredible. I’ve written a middle grade novelization of the Ransom play, and am well into a second middle grade novel–an historical fiction piece that includes one of my heroes, Babe Didrikson. I also have a novel for adults in progress. I like writing in different genres and for different audiences, and every bit of it informs the next thing I do. I am, however, committed to getting my middle grades out there as I need to see a book in print and on the shelf to satisfy my final writer’s bucket list goal.

WOW!! Thank you for sharing that. I love how you found your way back to writing. I had a similar experience when my dad passed away. I didn’t want to live my life with any regrets.

I’d like to focus a bit on your playwriting for a minute if you don’t mind. Can you tell everyone a little bit about how you get a play recognized with an award and on its way to publication?

First off, unlike the magazine and book markets the play market is limited to a handful of publishers and they do it all–they publish, package merchandise and handle sales of performance rights and royalties. To qualify for submission, most want proof of performance, or at the very least proof of a formal workshop reading for the script. I found that frustrating at first because you need to find that opportunity on your own and then wait for after production to submit with photos or printed playbills or reviews. In retrospect, it was the right thing to do as seeing the play workshopped and staged really helps with fixes to stage or tech directions and you can hear any problems with dialogue flow.

I submitted to Pioneer Drama as they are probably the leader for school and local theatre markets. After seeing the play staged, I really believed it would be picked up by someone. Upon your first submission to Pioneer you are automatically considered for their annual scriptwriting award. I was notified of publication first, and that my script was also a finalist for the award. About a month later I received a nice plaque and even nicer check as the award winner. That can be valuable as it means my script will be pushed a bit harder and receive a designation as such in the catalog and hopefully attract attention of directors. I think it’s rare that a comedy win the award. Most winners are plays with heavier content dealing with social issues. The award and play publishers are listed in the Writer’s Market books and online and most guidelines are posted at the publisher website.

The most daunting thing is getting formatting right, but I used MovieMagic Screenwriter software and it takes care of all that for you as you type. That really lessens the anxiety for the writer! I’m lucky that I also direct in my middle school, which makes getting that production credit or access to actors for a workshop easier. I’m trying to get other playwrights and directors together in a Yahoo group for networking and linking up writers with theatre groups who are always looking for the next play to produce. I just formed a Yahoo group called Fifth Word Playwrights and I hope it takes off. We really need each other.

Producing plays is not like adopting a novel for use in a classroom, you can’t do the same one every year. We use a different musical and a nonmusical play each school year. Believe me, the school market especially needs quality and intelligent work to stage. It can be hard to find something to produce in a middle school as our kids shy away from romance and corny melodrama, yet want something fun and edgy. I started writing my own plays because I had a hard time finding ones I wanted to produce–even in the catalog that I will appear in. I couldn’t stand to look at one more formulaic madcap murder mystery comedy with an alliterative title. Like most directors, we wanted something sharp, smart and with strong characters and plot. We really stretch our young actors and it works if you choose the right play. If any writer loves to write dialogue, I’d suggest experimenting with your story as a play. You have no room for lots of narration, your dialogue has to move the story. It’s a great exercise.

I’m fascinated! Do you plan on continuing to write plays? Will you be notified if a play of yours is performed elsewhere? How does that work?

Yes, though when I started writing I had no interest in writing plays, I am sure now that I will continue. I love dialogue, and the feeling of seeing your characters come to life on stage is indescribable. Watching an audience watch your play is like having the greatest critique group ever! You get completely honest reaction. I have two more plays in progress and Pioneer said they’d like more from me, so although I will continue in other genres I guess I’m a playwright for good. Some publishers post online when and where plays are being produced, so I guess you could keep track that way. I’ll get annual royalty payments and statements, but I am honestly not sure whether I will always know who is doing my play in time to try to see it. I hope to. I’d love to see someone else interpret it. I did get to see the original cast at Lagrange Middle School because I directed it. Some playwrights don’t even get to see that much. I think I’d eventually like to take a stab at writing material for adult actors and audiences, too.

I would love to know the next time you put something on. It would be a treat to come and see it…and I can because we are in our local SCBWI together!!!! What advice do you have for everyone who is writing for middle grade. It seems to me that you are getting so much insider information in a large variety of ways. What should we remember when writing for this age group?

I like having the seventh graders at my disposal, not so much to test out my writing, but to reassure me that there are kids out there that still read and who can appreciate edgier work or more intelligent comedy. You see a lot of really bright, unique kids in theatre, and their grasp of vocabulary and plot twists is amazing. I think I write for them. I like comedy that comes from characters, not from slapstick situations. I also tend to resist writing to the lowest common denominator in that I really hate the idea of toning down vocabulary or writing ‘fart humor’ in my plays or other works.

You see a lot of that out there in the play market, and that is what makes it hard for me to find things I want to produce. I take the Pioneer award to mean that they also appreciated that my play hit the mark that others may miss. I like the idea of important characters who can speak in more than on sentence and use multi-syllabic words, even in a middle grade whose characters may not be perfect or even good students. I know exactly those kids in my school—and it reinforces that they can and do pull off higher-level thinking and conversation.

That alone helps me with dialogue for both plays and novel work. Of course, I have yet to publish a middle grade novel, so I am only shooting for being true to the story I want to write. I did get a great critique at our SCBWI conference in June, where I was told that the dialogue in the book, an historical fiction piece set in the midwest in the ’30s, was spot-on in terms of believability and colloquial dialect and expression.

Like I said, I think that ear for dialogue is what helps me in both styles of writing and there is no doubt that my work on plays has fine-tuned it. The old idea of not talking down to the kids is good advice, but I also think there is a lot of heavy content out there, and those kids aren’t all into social awareness stories. Some just want something smart and fun.

I think your students are very lucky to have you. Now I just need your top 5 books and how they’ve influenced you.

I was always an avid reader, though I read across so many genres it is hard to pinpoint just a few. I guess that reflects that now I also would find it hard to categorize myself as a writer. I honestly didn’t read YA much. I read lots of nonfic and bios of my favorite old movie stars, and I simply loved The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster. It is so rich with language and imagery and humor, and I just loved that it was smart and the way it played with words. The sharper the reader is, the more you can ‘get’ out of that book. When I started directing, I made sure to produce the stage version and try to bring it to life. I think that may be the single most brilliant book I have ever read. That is the poster book for not talking down to your reader and lifting him up to you instead.

I tore through dozens of Star Trek fiction titles when I was young. (Yes, I confess to being a Trekkie!) I guess that was my entry into the fan fiction world, and through those books I learned that I didn’t love each writer’s take on ‘my’ characters and I would sometimes imagine my own stories–and I found that much more rewarding.

I remember reading lots of mysteries and all of Agatha Christie’s stuff, and reading her Curtain very slowly because I didn’t want to get to the end. I’ll cheat on the rest and change the rules a bit…I was very much a TV kid. I even majored in TV in college as an undergrad. The greatest influence on my writing life was really a handsome ghost who may have gotten his start in literature, but first came to me via TV.

The Ghost & Mrs. Muir was one of my favorite series and I lived for it in reruns throughout the ’70s. Carolyn Muir had the life I always wanted (still want!); she lived in the wonderful old house overlooking the ocean and had this never-ending supply of freelance assignments and fictional stories to bang out on an old Remington typewriter, and all the while was haunted by the dashing ghost of a sea captain who happened to be in love with her. I’m a character-driven person, and even at a young age I just loved their interplay and the hopelessness of their relationship. I’ve written two fanfic novellas for that fandom and it was great crafting experience to play with characters I knew and loved so much and give them my version of the happy ending they got in R.A. Dick’s original novel and the original film in the ’40s, but never had on the TV screen. The TV characters more closely matched my vision than even the original novel, one of the few cases of something being better or more developed on TV than in print. Imagining fanfic stories for G&MM and for Hogan’s Heroes actually helped first get those creative plot bunnies hopping. Both series needed endings, and in my writing I was able to wrap up all the loose ends dangling in my head. Any fiction I write really began there.

Thanks for the chat. It’s great to revisit the whys and wherefores.

Laurie, I can’t thank you enough for stopping by and being freaky. I feel like you have great things ahead of you and I appreciate you sharing your experiences with us. If you’d like to follow Laurie’s progress or ask a follow-up question about play writing, you can find her on Facebook.

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Oct

2009

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Eileen Feldsott

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring writers; the same writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

Eileen Feldsott is a fellow Blue Boarder and we were able to meet in person very recently at the 2009 Rutgers One-on-One Conference. We had so much fun that I had to have her do a Freaky Friday interview.

Eileen can you tell us a little bit about how you started writing for children and how your journey took you to Rutgers last weekend?

I began writing middle grade fiction about three years ago. I wrote my first middle grade novel with a good friend – we went to law school together and had done several legal research projects together – so we knew we’d be a good match writing-wise.

It took us about 8 months to complete that novel, and we’ve been revising it since. My second novel – which I wrote alone – is a middle grade mystery. That’s the one I went to Rutgers with. I’d heard great things about Rutgers, and I was so excited when I got in. It was great experience.

Can you tell our massive readership (we dream big here) a little bit about your Rutgers experience and who you would recommend it for next year. I’d also love to know more about the process of co-writing. What are the ups and downs? It sounds like so much fun!

About Rutgers: my initial reaction is that I’m glad I didn’t go any sooner. It’s a conference I’d “save” for when you’re almost ready to sub to agents/editors. It’s such a great networking opportunity, it would be sort of a shame to have access to all those fab agents and editors when you don’t have a completed, well-revised MS ready to send out. I also think it would be intimidating to go too early on in your writing journey. So, I’m not sure I’d recommend it for true Newbies, but I think if you’re like me, and trying really hard to get to the next level with your writing, it’s a tremendous opportunity.

About co-writing: the pros are, I’m not sure I would have completed that first manuscript without someone else pushing along too. Working with another person definitely keeps you motivated, and makes it FUN! Two times the brainstorming/creativity. Plus a built in critique partner. But I don’t think I could have done it with just anyone. Kari (my writing partner) and I were a particularly good fit – we have similar working styles, writing styles. And we are very, very close friends, so we can be really honest with each other.

The only real con is that when our schedules are out of synch (as they are a lot these days) its hard to find time to write at the same time. We definitely work better when we conference call and write vs. emailing drafts back and forth. This has been especially true during revisions. So that gets tricky. And it’s how I ended up writing a second book alone – I have a lot of daytime hours when I can write and Kari can’t.

I agree about being ready for Rutgers. It might even be better to have more than one thing ready, so that you can maximize the imput you get from your mentor. They are usually happy to give advice on more than one project. One of the big topics of conversation at the conference was “Staying Power in Children’s Literature.” It’s hard to think about that when its so difficult to get your foot in the door. What has been your worst low point on your journey to being published and what has been the high point that has motivate you to move forward?

My low point – I guess was about a year ago when I stopped subbing my first MS to agents because I realized that it just wasn’t strong enough to keep putting it out there without a pretty major overhaul. And then, my co-author and I hit a bit of a slump where life just got in the way of writing, so it felt like we just weren’t moving forward the way we wanted to.

My highpoint happened pretty recently, right before Rutgers, when I realized that we’ve FINALLY made the major pacing change to the beginning of the novel that we hope will give it the sparkle it’s been missing. Plus, one of my critique group members just signed with an agent, so I’m feeling pretty optimistic that if I keep at it, something good will eventually happen. And we’ve been much more productive this fall, which feels really great.

You mentioned that you went to law school. Are you currently working as a lawyer? What does being a lawyer bring to that table as a writer?

No, I’m not practiced and really never have. I got married the weekend after my graduation and found out I was pregnant weeks after passing the NY and NJ bar exams. We planned to start a family right away, so I didn’t plan on working when my kids were small. (They are now 10 and 12 and I still have no plans to practice law).

But a background in law was helpful in writing. Legal writing (not overblown legalese, but clear, direct legal writing) is a very sparse, no extraneous verbage kind of writing, so in a way, it was good training for being a fiction writer, too.

I also worked with my co-author on several legal writing projects in law school, so it laid the groundwork for that partnership as well.

Being a mom has its upsides and down sides when it comes to being a children’s writer. Any advice? Tricks of the trade to share?

Advice about combining writing with motherhood? If you’re lucky enough to be a stay at home mom with kids in school (like I am) my advice is leave the laundry and write as much as you can while they’re at school! Writing is a good distraction from middle school homework torture, too, if you have a son like mine – the absent-minded professor type. Smart, lovable, completely disorganized. Writing has been a source of sanity this year!

I think that when you are a mom, the writing can give you a true north on your internal compass. I think it allows your children to see something deep and real about you that isn’t necessarily completely wrapped around them. (Let’s be honest…they can be all-consuming sometimes LOL!)

OK, time for your top 5 books and their influence on you…

My top 5 kids books – ooh, tough. Let’s see: completely unoriginal, but Harry Potter is my absolute favorite. I think they are brilliant, brilliant books. I also love Millicent Min, Girl Genius, and A Curse Dark as Gold by Elizabeth Bunce. (And I think Cheryl Klein edited all 3 – so you could say I’m a huge fan of hers!) My other two faves are much older books – The Mixed Up Files by E.L. Konigsburg, and The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, both of which I have always loved.

You’ve got some of my favorites in their! Thank you so much for stopping by and being freaky :o) If you’d like to find out more about Eileen Feldsott stop by and friend her on FB or visit her on Verla Kay’s Blue Boards.

Have a Happy Halloween everyone!

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Oct

2009

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Marie Cruz

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring writers; the same writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

Marie Cruz is a wonderful friend that I met on Livejournal, but haven’t had the opportunity to meet in the flesh. I know this sounds kind of strange, but I really do consider the friends I’ve made in this wonderful writing community real friends. The idea of some day meeting Marie at a writing event, is the ultimate cherry on top of a conference sundae.

Let’s get to it. Marie, can you tell us a little bit about who you are and how you came to be an aspiring children’s author?

I have to start by saying that I’m not one of those people that wanted to be a writer when I was a seven. What I wanted to be at that age was an artist. Throughout my life so far, I’ve had a creative compulsion that needed to be expressed. Drawing and painting were my first forms of creative expression. Then as an adult I fell in love with all forms of textile arts and crafts. I’ve tried all kinds of different embroidery forms, you name it, I’ve done it! I’ve also crocheted, knitted and quilted. Throughout my adventures into the various art forms, I was also an avid reader.

I LOVE BOOKS. My book collection is bigger than my yarn stash! Oh, wait … yup, my husband just confirmed it … sigh. 🙂 I read whenever I can (even while cooking). My friends would ask about what I was reading and I would tell them about the story. The desire to write my own stories came to me quite suddenly. You know, like those light bulbs that light up above the heads of cartoon characters! I was browsing in a book store one day looking for a gift for my niece. I saw lots of picture books that featured stories set in Chinese, Japanese and Korean cultures but very few books (pubbed here in the US) with stories with Filipino kids and culture in them. Since I am a Filipino American, I realized that I could tell those stories. I. could. do. this. And so began my journey as an aspiring children’s book writer.

I wrote picture book stories for a couple of years then joined SCBWI. The moment I realized that I really do this was when I won an honorable mention in a writing contest at the 2007 SCBWI Los Angeles Writer’s Day conference for my picture book manuscrpt. It was at this same conference that I first heard Lisa Yee speak about her journey to becoming an author. She was so inspiring. What I remember most about her talk was how she challenged those at the conference to say they wanted to be an author, to say it out loud, to not be afraid to tell people about it. This was also the moment I decided to try my hand at writing a novel. Since that time, I’ve completed the novel, joined a critique group, revised it a few times and attended as many SCBWI conferences I could afford. It’s been a blast. I love every part of the writing process. It’s hard work but wonderfully gratifying!

You just gave me chills! Your Liss Yee experience is so much like my Laurie Halse Anderson experience. It changed me. I’m also sooooo envious that you can crochet and knit. I try-but not enough to get good enough to be relaxed while doing it. I always picture myself watching TV and making a sweater, but I end up with a lot of knots. At the end of the day my artistic side is better suited to dance, which means I only count to eight…maybe that’s why I get all those knots!

Congratulations, it had to be VERY empowering to win that 2007 honorable mention. I think any little nugget of encouragement can fill and fuel you, (and that was a pretty big nugget) especially when it seems like its getting harder and harder to swim up the stream of publication. Can you tell us a little bit about your WIP and where you are at in the process of trying to get published. We also accept shameless plugs about the awesome people in critique groups. :o)

My WIP is titled NORA’S GRAVE. It’s about a girl who lives as a squatter in the Manila North Cemetary and what happens when her mother makes a decision in a desperate attempt to rise out of poverty. This story was inspired by an article I read online about a missionary and his quest to save homeless children in the streets of Manila from a life of prostitution.

This book was first drafted in 2007. I’ve been steadily revising since then with my uber fabulous critique group (Edith, Steph and Carlynn — you ladies rock!) for the last year and a half. I was so fortunate to have found my group through SCBWI. They have taught me so much, challenged and pushed me when I needed it, and got me through my difficult months of revision.

As far as where I am in quest to go from pre-pubbed to pubbed author, I am actively querying/submitting to agents. This process has made me a student of patience and perseverance. It’s been tough but I’m learning so much!

Yay!!!!! The book sound fantastic and I can hold your hand and be neurotic with you-I’m in the same phase of searching for an agent.

It has come to my attention that by day, you’re a scientist. Is this where your secret inner type A personality comes out? Or have you managed to make science artistic and creative? How does your job inform or affect your writing?

Secret? LOL! Unfortunately, my tendency to obsess with details comes out in both my writing and my day job! As far as how it affects my writing, well, I just wish I had more time for writing. Working fulltime and taking care of my family PLUS making time to write has been a challenging balancing act for me but a worthwhile one. My family is very supportive even when I sometimes (sigh) lose track of time when writing …. 😀

My next project is going to be about a young scientist set in an alternate universe so my background in genetics will definitely help me with the science I’m going to have in my new story. I’m so excited about it I’m going to try NanoWriMo next month!

Wow-NanoWriMo scares me. I’m much better with JoNoWriMo. I need to be mothered in a YA kind of a way.

SCBWI has played a big role in your progression as a writer. I know a lot of people are making tough choices in these difficult economic times. Some people aren’t familiar with The Society of Children’s Writers and Illustrators and others just aren’t sure if the expense is worth it at this time. What would you tell other aspiring writers who haven’t had as much SCBWI experience? How can they get the most for their money if they do decide to join?

JoNoWriMo? Where have I been? If I had known about this community then maybe I would have joined up. Perhaps it’s not too late? I definitely agree that NaNo is scary. I’m not a fast writer or have large blocks of time to accommodate all the time I spend staring at the screen so coughing up 50,000 words in one month is terrifying. I want to try just the same and get a good head start on my next book.

Times have definitely been tough but I do think that membership is worth it. Even if you can’t afford to go to the big conferences, there are always regional events you can go to. As a member you have access to lots of information about the publishing industry. The SCBWI website is easy to navigate. Members have the opportunity to apply for grants and have access to a message board where you can ask questions, look for a critique partner or get advice from a lawyer who understands the ins and outs of the publishing industry.

The best thing though, is chance to meet other writers, to make new friends. Children’s book writers and illustrators are some of the nicest people in the world. 🙂

I’ll second that motion. The friends I’ve made and continue to make are one of the nicest things about being a children’s writer. I want to wish you good luck on NaNo-can’t wait to hear all about it.

I’m dying of curiosity…tell me your top 5 books and how they’ve influenced you.

Here are my top 5:

1. Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott – This book taught me so much about how writing can be its own fulfillment.

2. Coraline by Neil Gaiman – I love his storytelling style. I loved Neverwhere and Stardust as well. I’ve been a fan of his writing for fifteen years.

3. Ombria in Shadow by Patricia McKillip – She is also a long time favorite. This book in particular is one I’ve read a few times over the years. Her writing is lyrical and breathtaking. It is something I definitely aspire to acheive in my own writing.

4. Speak by Laurie Halse-Anderson – This book taught me a lot about the importance of a character’s emotional depth.

5. The Giver by Lois Lowry – This was the first of her books that I’ve read and my favorite. This book in particular is a wonderful example of creating a compellingly realistic alternate world and culture.

There you have it. I’d love to hear about your favorites.

I won’t give you my top 5, but I will tell you that you share some of my absolute favorites. Marie, I can’t thank you enough for stopping by and being freaky. If you’re interested in following Marie Cruz and her up and coming NaNoWriMo journey-stop by livejournal and say hi! Or you can visit her on Facebook. Thanks again Marie and I can’t wait until I meet you in person and maybe I can even get a knitting lesson or two.

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Oct

2009

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Edith Cohn

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring writers; the same writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

I’m going to hop right to it and introduce you to Edith Cohn. Edith is one of those great people who has a gravitational pull. I know this because we’ve never met, yet she’s made me feel as if I’ve know her forever. She’s also intuited how much time I spend with frogs. (Shameless plug for the Fishkill Frogs at Fishkill Elementary) Without having met, I’ve already shared many laughs with Edith on Livejournal and I bet by the end of this interview, she’ll have pulled you in too.

Alright Edith, tell us a little bit about yourself and how you started your journey as a children’s writer.

This might be cheesy (those who know me well are familiar with my fondness for cheese), but I’d say my journey as a writer started when I learned to read. I have seriously wanted to be a writer since I was like five. There’s a book with a construction-paper cover, illegible handwriting, and hideous drawings of elves in a landfill somewhere. I’m sure it doesn’t make a lick of sense, but man, I wish I still had it ’cause it was my first. Funny how we get sentimental later in life. I threw it away (along with everything else I ever wrote as a child–including years worth of diary entries) when I went to college at 18 and didn’t even flinch. I guess I figured I’d write more. Luckily I was right.

Mmmmmmm I love cheese! Elves in a landfill sounds like an epic eco-fantasy. I do believe you may have been ahead of your time. What are you currently working on?

I’m working on a YA novel called PHOBIC. It’s a romantic comedy told in alternating perspectives about an extremely claustrophobic boy and a seemingly fearless theater girl.

Theater is in right now…get that book out there. I know Molly O’Neill has made a public plea for YA ala Glee.

I’m looking forward to meeting you in person at the NY SCBWI this year and maybe in LA too. You just got back from the LA Conference in August and I thought you could tell us a little bit about your experiences and shed some light on the pros and cons of attending. There was a recent thread on the Blue Boards about this topic and you really have some great insight having lived in both NY and CA.

I am sooo looking forward to meeting you as well! You are a funny gal, and I already adore you.

The timing for my book does seem good with all the chatter about Glee. I hope to be finished by the new year in time for the NY conference! I am a fan of both the winter and summer conferences, and each have their advantages. I haven’t found a match for the variety of workshops on craft at the summer conference, which is my fav. But if your mission is to meet the most editors and agents humanly possible, then I’d say the NYC winter conference is your choice. I recommend adding the Writer’s Intensive Day to your winter conference package though to make the weekend more worthwhile.

I strive for funny and I’m glad to occasionally hit that mark. :o) I have two NY conferences under my belt, but last year was my first time at the Writer’s Intensive. I plan on attending that event again too.

Your Bio talks about how you had a chance to study under the very awesome Sarah Dessen. You must give us the scoop!!! How did it happen? What was it like? What did you learn?

For a few years I worked in the Student Affairs office at UNC-Chapel Hill helping with their summer reading program. And one of my employee benefits was a free class each semester. So I took all the creative writing classes they had to offer, and one of them was taught by the fantabulous Sarah Dessen. It wasn’t a young adult writing class per se–but I wrote my first story with a teen protagonist in that class. Sarah really liked it, and she suggested I submit it to this local magazine contest called Carolina Woman. So I did, and it won 2nd place! And I got to read my story at a special event at Barnes and Noble, which was pretty much the coolest thing ever. Sarah gave me my first taste of what it would be like to be a professional writer, and I’m so grateful that she gave me that encouragement.

Wow! What a great experience. I’ve had the good fortune of attending a couple small workshops with the amazing K.L. Going, I can imagine how empowering the whole process was for you. Congrats on that 2nd place. Now I’ve held off as long as I possibly can…I’m very hungry right now…talk about the pizza!!!!

Mmmm…pizza! I always say my love affair with pizza began in NYC, because NYC and CT (yes, we drove to CT just for pizza) make some darn good pie. But it isn’t actually true. Long before this, Hubby was making homemade pies in North Carolina. And I remember vacationing to Italy and spending pretty much the entire trip tracking down pizza joints! I am not even kidding you that we didn’t ride a gondola or set foot in a museum. We ate pizza until we practically popped. Hubby is a great cook, and before I met him, I’m not sure I even liked food. Now I live for it, and if I eat a bad meal–even if it’s just lunch on a weekday, I get really upset. Foodie freak? Afraid so. Hubby spoils me! It’s both a blessing and a curse. For the record though, I only care about taste. The best pizza in the world is made by this old man who looks like Geppetto at a hole-in-the wall in the middle of nowhere Brooklyn.

I’ve been salivating over your pizza pictures for what seems like years now. One day you’re going to open your door and I’m just going to be standing there with my stomach growling. Oh and by-the-way. Don’t forget to check out THE SWEET LIFE OF STELLA MADISON, a great foodie YA by Lara Zeisis.

When you moved from NY to CA how did you make the transition as a writer? Did you keep the same writing group? Did SCBWI play a role in you finding new support? I know that there are lots of people who have to pack up and move…any tips?

It’s funny that you should ask me this, because just today I found out that I’ll be moving to Boston! Eeek! Moving across the country, it’s what I do. This will be like my sixth time? I don’t know, I’ve lost count. SCBWI is my savior when it comes to making friends and finding critique groups. Most areas have an SCBWI critique connections person and a list serve so you can find people who live near you. I’m actually the SCBWI Critique Connections Coordinator for Southern CA. I guess I’ll have to pass my crown now that I’ll be a Boston girl.

As for tips, I try to look at every life experience as writing fodder. Every new place I live is a new setting for a book. And meeting new people inspires new characters. I think this philosophy can get you through so many painful things. I just keep thinking, you know somehow I can use this in a story.

Ummmm all I’m going to say is Go Yankees!!! *giggle*. It has also come to my attention that you’ve worked as a 7th grade english teacher and as an online writer for a bookseller. I was wondering what these two life experiences have given you as a writer?

Working for Bookspan/Doubleday Entertainment taught me discipline. I had to produce what at the time felt like an impossible number of words every week. I learned how to put in the hours that writing a book really requires. And writing author bios all day, I was constantly reminded what I wanted my future to look like.

I’m psyched to put everything I learned as a teacher to good use doing school visits and readings. I can put together a presentation and feel comfortable in the classroom. And it’s great to know what the teacher is thinking when I write school scenes. I believe being inside the heads of all my characters, even if they aren’t the protagonist enriches my writing.

We have time for one last question. We need to know what your top 5 books are and don’t forget to tell us how they have influenced you.

1. Self Editing for Fiction Writers: How to Edit Yourself into Print by Renni Browne and Dave King—This is the best book on revision I’ve ever read, and I felt like my writing went to a new place afterward.

2. A Confederacy of Dunces by John Kennedy Toole—This is probably my favorite book of all time. It’s a rip-roaring comedy with an incredible main character, and I hope someday to write a book this funny and poignant.

3. Before I Die by Jenny Downham –I am in awe of this book about a girl with leukemia. The voice is amazing and life affirming.

4. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins—Of course there’s been tons of buzz about this book and for good reason. I can’t remember a time when I was so riveted while reading. The pacing is something to marvel over.

5. Weetzie Bat by Francesca Lia Block—The language in this book! Weetzie Bat reminds me that as artists we should let our inner creative go wild.

I have to agree with you on the HUNGER GAMES by Suzanne Collins. It had me up until 2am every night. It was an absolute page turner. The rest are going on my list to check out.

I want to thank Edith Cohn for being a little freaky and joining us. If she now has you in her gravitational pull, feel free to stop by and say hello to her. You can also find her on Facebook, Livejournal and Twitter. Edith, I’ll see you in NY…we’ll meet for pizza :o)

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Oct

2009

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Tara Lazar

Filed under: Freaky Friday

If you’ve seen the movie Freaky Friday, you know that its premise is about change and growth through role reversal. For my Friday Blog entry I thought it would be interesting to interview aspiring writers; the same writers who spend lots of time reading the interviews of published authors and dreaming of the day when they might get their book on the shelves…

This week’s Freaky Friday Interview is with Tara Lazar. She has a wonderful blog called Writing for Kids (While Raising Them) and I can certainly relate to that. Like I usually do, when I ask someone to get their Friday Freak on and join us, (by us I mean me and my cat that likes to drool on my computer and YOU since you did stop by) I asked Tara to jump in an tell me a little bit about herself.

Tara, could you give me a brief intro about yourself? I like to let the interviewee pick a starting point because it’s interesting to see how people choose to describe themselves.

I always cringe when people ask me to briefly describe myself. I’m not a high-concept novel. I cannot be boiled down to one line, people!

(How’s that for a start?)

–Tara

Oooooo that is perfect. I love a sassy interviewee LOL! We will jump right in and see where we land. What do you write and how did you start writing for children?

I write picture books, short stories and middle grade novels. Well, the novels are in progress so I suppose I can’t claim to have written one until they’re actually done.

When I was seven years old, I wrote a book of fractured fairytales and my best friend Francine illustrated it. I stretched the truth and told my great-grandparents that we had “published a book.” This 70 year-old Italian couple–who only got in the Buick once a year to attend midnight mass–drove 30 minutes to the nearest bookstore and gave the evil eye to the manager when they couldn’t find it. Whoopsie.

I got serious about writing for kids exactly two years ago, when my youngest daughter turned one year old. Now, instead of being up with a crying baby at 2am, I’m crying over my baby (my manuscript) at 2am.

Your great-grand parents are the BEST!!!! I see a future book dedication in there.

I’ve talked to many aspiring authors who are working in some combination of picture books, short stories/articles, middle grade and young adult novels. I know from my own experience my YA is deeply routed in my own development. I think my social/emotional growth hit a speed bump during the teen years so now I find myself writing the things that I needed to read and still think about. My picture books are driven a bit more by the day to day life of my three boys. How does this work for you? Since your MG is your current work in progress, do you want to tell us a little bit about it?

Right now I’m focusing on picture books. In November, instead of doing NaNoWriMo, I’m sponsoring PBIMo (Picture Book Idea Month), where picture book writers are encouraged to develop one new picture book concept a day. It’s an exercise in idea generation. We’ve already got some awesome authors participating: Tammi Sauer (CHICKEN DANCE), Michael Sussman (OTTO GROWS DOWN), and Corey Rosen Schwartz (HOP! PLOP!). Illustrators Sarah Dillard, Jannie Ho, Jennifer Thermes and others are going to create one illustration a day to join us. Hey, join us, too! You don’t have to pledge anything, just give it a try. You might end the month with 30 new picture book ideas.

Wow!!! I heard about PBIMo at Rutgers last year and it sounds great. Where can other interested PB writers go to get on board?

(Not sure you heard about it at Rutgers last year. I did it on my own last year and it didn’t have a name. I may have mentioned I was doing it on the blueboards, when people said they were going to try to write a PB a day during November and I said I’ll do an idea a day instead. Paula Yoo did a PiBoWriWee last May, which isn’t the same thing as this.)

Picture book writers can sign up on my blog, “Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)”: http://taralazar.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/a-nanowrimo-alternative-for-picture-book-writers/

You’re right, it was a picture book a day. I remember, now that you mention it. I love your idea of having an idea every day. Its something that can be done no matter where you are or what else you’re doing. What a great treasure box to have when writer’s block hits.

We had the pleasure of briefly meeting at a Blue Boarder event at the Rutgers One-on-One Conference last year, but we’ve gotten to know each other better on-line. Your blog captured my attention because you had the best notes post-conference!!! Now you might think that I’m going to ask about conferences and on-line relationships, but I want to know about attention to detail. Obviously, from your notes, you have that skill. I could use more of it *sigh*…I tend to be a fly-by-the-seat-of-my-pants-kind of a girl. I have moments of organizational brilliance, but sometimes it feels as if I’m trying to find the corner in a round room. It worries me sometimes that my process may come off as scattered and unprofessional when its really just edgy and quirky (I’ve renamed it in case any editors or agents ever read this). Tell me a little bit about what it feels like to be on the other side?

Regarding my conference notes–I write fast! No big secret there. The best way for me to learn is by taking detailed notes. Then I go home and type them up. If I simply sit and listen, I forget things. Even if the speaker says, “I have a hand-out, don’t bother writing this down,” I STILL take notes. Because if I don’t write it, I don’t learn it.

So don’t let the notes fool you. I’m not some super-organized A-type personality. The beds are unmade, I’ve hit the “de-wrinkle” button on the dryer for the 17th time today, and I forgot to defrost the chicken for tonight’s dinner. Oh yeah, I’m a rebel!

But as I’ve learned over the past year, picture books require organization and structure in order to work. While I can sometimes pump out a story in fly-by-seat-of-my-pants mode, sometimes I do better outlining first. I guess I’ve got both a yin and a yang side to me. I’m ambidextrous, which probably explains it.

Phew…good to know that you aren’t in possession of super powers. Maybe the perfect combination is to have a little bit of both. By-the-way…its really cool that you’re ambidextrous. You can comfortably color with your kids no matter where you are sitting in the restaurant!

It’s that time a year again…Banned Books Week and the The Cybil Awards. Any thoughts on either of these two topics?

I think one of the most disturbing trends is parents asking young adult books to be moved to the adult section of the library, under the falsehood that they’re not actually censoring or banning these books. What’s more, the books in question are often found objectionable by out-of-context words or passages that don’t necessarily reflect the content of the entire book.

One of the best quotes I’ve heard about book banning is this: “Censorship, like charity, should begin at home; and unlike charity, it should end there.” If parents are concerned with what their children are reading, they should read the book themselves and engage their children in a guided discussion. It’s okay for parents to tell their child “no” if a book doesn’t agree with what the parents teach in the home. It’s not okay for parents to assume that the rules in their home are the rules by which the rest of the world lives. Other children shouldn’t be prevented from accessing a book that may speak to them. Richard Peck says, “A book might be the companion that a child needs.”

Regarding the Cybils, I can’t wait to start nominating some of my favorite books!

I love your thoughts on Banned Book Week and we would all be smart to heed the wise words of Richard Peck.

I’m having so much fun, but its about time to find out about your top five books and how they have influenced you.

My top five books include short story anthologies, like Joyce Carol Oates’ “Heat” which I re-read constantly. You’ll often find it in my handbag. I’m obsessed with the story “The Swimmers” which is told from a young girl’s point of view, piecing together details of her uncle’s affair with a mysterious new woman in town whom he meets at the Y pool. I’m drawn to the innocence of the narrator as she analyzes adult situations beyond her understanding. I try to think of that point of view whenever I write for kids. I have to make sense of the adult world, but through a child’s eyes.

Story collections from Flannery O’Connor, Alice Munro, Jhumpa Lahiri, Tom Perrotta, T. Coraghessen Boyle—these are the favorite books on my shelf, along with the annual anthologies from Pushcart and The Best American Short Stories. I can’t explain why I often get more satisfaction from reading 6 pages than I do from 600. Maybe some novels meander and tell me too much.

My childhood favorite was (and still is) Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. I thought Dahl had the craziest, most wonderful imagination to be able to create such a deliciously wacky world. The irony kills me, though: I don’t even like to eat chocolate! But that’s how I want to write–fun, wild, outrageous, on the edge of suspended belief.

It’s going to sound trite that some of my other favorite children’s books are now movies, but it’s true. I’m a foodie, so Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs fascinated me as a child. I wanted to live in the land of Chewandswallow. Imagine eating whatever fell from the sky, and it’s all delicious!

And on the non-fiction side, the book Playful Parenting affected my life as a mother. My blog is “Writing for Kids (While Raising Them)”, so I can’t get away without mentioning the kids. Lawrence J. Cohen showed me how to connect with my children as a fun *and* firm mom.

OK, that’s more than five, but I’m lumping all those short story collections into one book. Does that count?

It is perfect…except that part about the chocolate. :o)

Make sure you join PBIMo, check out Tara’s SUPER INFORMATIVE blog and catch her on twitter or Facebook. She is a wealth of information and destined for the bookshelves of your local bookstore. Thanks Tara.

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Archive for the ‘Freaky Friday’ Category

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Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Eileen Feldsott

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Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Marie Cruz

Filed under: Freaky Friday

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Edith Cohn

Filed under: Freaky Friday

Freaky Friday-Interview with aspiring children’s author Tara Lazar

Filed under: Freaky Friday

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