Mrs. Magoo Reads

Interview with Lauren Oliver

Lauren Oliver is the author of one of my favorite books, Before I Fall.

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What is the one, most important message you hope to send through Before I Fall?

Hmmm. I think there are a lot of messages I'd like to convey in the book, but I guess the single most important one is that we are all interconnected; we exist in a community, and the more we honor and respect that community, and look beyond ourselves, and try and do well by other people, the happier we will be.

What was your high school experience like? How did it influence Before I Fall?

My high school was similar in many ways to the high school depicted in Before I Fall, although I'm happy to say that people were, for the most part, nicer than the characters in my book. But I definitely felt that there was a social hierarchy, and that people got assigned identities that may or may not have conformed to their actual personalities--and of course, there were petty cruelties and rumors and ways that we all lashed out at one another. I tried to channel those social dynamics into the book.

Do you see bits of yourself anywhere in your novel or in your characters?

Everywhere. I believe firmly that novels are like dreams: in some ways, all of the characters are reflections of yourself.

Can you tell us about your second novel, Delirium?

Yes! Delirium is kind of a dystopian Romeo and Juliet story; it takes place in a society that has deemed love a contagious disease, and also figured out how to cure it. The book is very different from Before I Fall, but I very much hope that readers will connect to it just as strongly.

What advice would you give to any aspiring young writers?

Write, write, write! Write every day. And read everything you can get your hands on: blogs, newspapers, books, poems, essays. All of it helps.

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Thanks so much, Ms. Oliver, for the interview!  Click here to buy Before I Fall.

Interview with Sara Bareilles

I'm very excited to announce that I have interviewed Sara Bareilles about her love of reading and the importance of literature in her work! Her album, Little Voice, contained the hit song Love Song, which was nominated for two Grammy's. She also recently performed at a concert hosted by Michelle Obama!  Her second album, Kaleidoscope Heart, is being released in September 2010.  Check out the interview below:

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Why do you think reading is important?

I guess what it boils down to is that reading is our best source of information. Information is knowledge. Knowledge is power. We’ve all heard it before, but it’s so true. We have access to just about everything through written language, and it enriches my life every single day.

How has literature affected your music and/or lyrics? Do you see a connection between music and literature?

I was an avid reader growing up and I think all the time I spent in my books helped me nurture my imagination. I loved getting lost in a fantasy world with different characters feeling like they were so real I actually KNEW them. It made me want to create stories like that in my life. The way I know how to do it is through song. I think that’s a special connection between music and literature... They take you places. They can create entirely different worlds for the audience member that inspire all sorts of things.

What were your favorite books as a teen? What are your favorite books now?

My favorite books as an early teen were books like the Secret Garden, Black Beauty, and the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. Fantasy tales about kids on adventures really spoke to my overactive imagination. As an older teen my tastes changed with the help of my English classes in high school. I was so distracted in high school it took excellent teachers (Mrs. Salter and Mr. Miller, thanks) to get me to remember how much I loved reading. I loved Catcher in the Rye, Catch 22, and A Tale of Two Cities to name a few.

Do you do much writing (stories, poems, journal keeping, etc) in addition to your songs?

I definitely keep a journal and I have for years and years. I try to be open about letting myself express my creativity in whatever way speaks to me, but I love writing songs. Those are really my stories and poems.

Do you ever have songwriter's block? Does it exist? How do you deal with it?

I absolutely struggle with writing sometimes. It’s a tough thing to be disciplined about because sometimes you just can’t force it. I have to really balance needing to stay in front of the piano to finish an idea and just needing to walk away sometimes. It’s an ongoing process that I haven’t figured out yet. I think the trick is to not fall into the stressed out, fear-feeding part of trying to be creative. That’s not where anybody’s best work comes from.

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Thank you so much, Ms. Bareilles!

Click here to buy her album, Little Voice!

Interview with Gwendolyn Glover

Gwendolyn Glover is the author of Cast the First Stone. Enjoy the interview!

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Do you relate to Denny or Haley more? Why?

I relate more to Haley because I was very shy in high school. I didn’t have a boyfriend. I hid in books a lot. I was extremely devoted to and protective of my two younger brothers. My family was lower class for many years. We got our clothes passed down from cousins, from the thrift store or, when we were lucky, from Kmart. It was tough, but it made us really appreciate the things we had.

In college, I acted a little more like Denny. I was a little wilder. :) But I still relate more with Haley. I know firsthand her struggle between taking care of her family and wanting to go have her own adventures.

Was the character of Denny based off of yourself or anyone you know?

Denny was based off my best friend in high school. She was a really tough girl. The first feminist I knew. We were like yin and yang. She was the dark, angry one and I was the sweet, happy one. On the outside. We listened to No Doubt and Metallica, created our own sci fi comic book world, stayed up until 1am watching Mystery Science Theater 3000, and could eat a half gallon of strawberry ice cream between us. We didn’t fit into any kind of group at high school. She was a little goth while I was nerdy and shy. We spent every day together until I went off to college.

Once I got deep into writing the book, the characters became their own. Denny and Haley no longer looked like me and my best friend. (My best friend never had a drinking problem.) But their friendship dynamic is based on us.

Can you give us a sneak peek into your second novel?

I’m currently working on a novel entitled Invisible Elephants. It’s about a 15 year old girl, Abby, who feels like she’s invisible. She’s hides in books and identifies with fictional characters more than the people around her. She really wants to please her perfectionist father. Abby sees her older brother as having it all: popularity, good looks, charm, and talent. That is until a hot, mocha-skinned guy interrupts the normalcy of their community. Both of the siblings fall in love with the enchanting stranger and chaos ensues. You can read one of the chapters on my blog if you’d like. I hope to have the book finished by next summer.

When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?

I was nine years old when I decided that I wanted to be a writer. I was making up and telling my brothers stories before I learned how to write. I wrote and illustrated my own stories. Growing up, I was very interested in writing mystery, fantasy, and science fiction. My parents were very supportive of my writing, but didn’t really know how to give me advice. It wasn’t until I went to college that I learned about good literature (I hadn’t even heard of Toni Morrison until then) and how to actively read and dissect literature. Then I had to learn how to find my own style instead of trying to write like someone else.

What advice would you give to any aspiring writers?

Read, read, read. Then read some more. Write down everything. Keep a journal. Write poetry, no matter how bad it is. The more you write, the better your writing will become. Also check out New Moon Girls magazine. It’s a magazine written by girls and they take submissions.

My writing is inspired by many amazing, female authors. Here are just a few of them: Alice Walker, Maxine Hong Kingston, Miranda July, Dorothy Allison, Jeanette Winterson, and Madeleine L’Engle. I totally recommend checking them out.

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Click here to buy Cast the First Stone.

Interview with Lee Nichols

Lee Nichols is the author of Deception.

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How did you create the character of Emma? Did you try to base her off of a modern girl, or an old-fashioned one?

I think she's a very contemporary character dealing with a history she didn't know she had.

Do you believe in ghosts?

Not in the way I've imagined them here. But I do feel like places and things can hold the spirits of people who've died, and sometimes that can invoke a spooky feeling.

If you could go back and change one thing about your novel, what would it be?

Whenever I finish a book I always think of a Picasso documentary I watched years ago. He would paint whole paintings and then say, "Okay, now I really know what it is I'm trying to say," and paint a completely different picture. So there's no one particular thing I'd like to change, but I can see whole new directions to go in. And if I were Picasso, I probably would do that.

Can you tell us what to expect from you in the future?

There are two more Haunting Emma books. BETRAYAL comes out March, 2011. Emma's powers really take hold and Bennett turns into more of a bad boy. And POSSESSION, which if I finish writing it, will be out late 2011. Ghosts start to possess kids at Emma's school.

What advice would you give to any aspiring young writers?

Start writing right now. Nobody understands your experience as a teenager, better than you do. I'd love to see more, authentic young voices in YA. I think committing to a writing schedule really helps. Promise yourself you'll write 2500 words a week, and in six to eight months you'll have the first draft of a novel.

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Click here to buy Deception.

Interview with Elizabeth Eulberg

Elizabeth Eulberg is the author of The Lonely Hearts Club.

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Have you ever vowed to stay single? How long did it last? Did it turn out well?

There have been a few moments in my life where I wanted to swear off boys forever (usually after a bad break-up), but it never lasted long. I’ve also been very busy with things that I’ve put my dating life on hold, but I’m a firm believer of “it will happen when it’s supposed to happen.” So I try to put a positive spin on any speed bumps I’ve encountered on my path to meeting Mr. Right.

Have you ever started/been in any clubs? How did that turn out?

I was in a bunch of clubs in high school, but none nearly as fun as the Lonely Hearts Club. The clubs I were in were mostly academic: the German Club (although I don’t speak German, that was the name of our foreign exchange club, not sure why…AND I was even President senior year!), Student Council, etc. The “clubs” that I feel I got the most out of were the bands I was in: pep band, marching bad, combined band and jazz band. I felt a sense of community with my fellow music students and that is where I felt most comfortable during high school. Music is still a big part of my life.

Are you a big Beatles fan? What's your favorite song by the Beatles?

I’m a huge Beatles fan. Even though my parents aren’t fans, I grew up playing Beatles songs in music classes for piano and clarinet. I think I became an even bigger fan in college when I studied abroad in London and went on a Beatles walking tour – complete with a walk across the infamous Abbey Road zebra crossing. It is really hard for me to pick a favorite song, I have about 20! “Here Comes the Sun,” “Revolution,” “Ticket to Ride,” “Something,” “Blackbird,” “Come Together,” “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band,” “Penny Lane,”… I could seriously go on and on.

Can you describe your road to publication?

My road to publication was a long one. I came up with the idea for The Lonely Hearts Club in the spring/summer of 2004. Over the course of two years, I wrote about four drafts before sending it to an agent whom I knew. With my agent, I did about seven more drafts before we had a manuscript that she felt comfortable sending out. I did about 3 rounds of editing with my editor at Scholastic. I made A LOT of mistakes at the beginning of the process – I didn’t have an outline or character studies. So the first few drafts were figuring out where the story was going and fleshing out the characters. I made sure I had a better understanding of the plot and characters for my next book: Prom and Prejudice and it paid off. I only did two drafts before it got sent out and only had one round of editing. I will never start another project without an outline and character studies.

What advice would you give to any aspiring young writers?

Read, read, read and read! Read everything and anything you can get your hands on. In terms of writing, the most important thing, in my opinion, is to write for yourself. I get asked “I have an idea for a book, how do I get published?” a lot. You shouldn’t worry about getting published or finding an agent. The main goal should be to write what excites you and to get it in the best shape possible. THEN you can worry about everything that comes with getting published.

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Click here to buy The Lonely Hearts Club.

Interview with Dale Peck

Dale Peck is the author of Sprout.

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How much of Sprout's/Daniel's story is your own?

Only bits and pieces. I was born on Long Island and lost my mother at a young age and moved to Hutchinson, Kansas shortly thereafter. But my dad remarried once we got there, and I was raised with my sister and stepsister. My best friend in high school was very much like Ty, but our relationship was never romantic, let alone sexual. Oh, and, like Sprout, I’m a writer. Duh.

Have you ever dyed your hair a strange color? Did a nickname ever come out of it?

I grew up in the eighties, the era of Goth kids and New Wave, so yes, I dyed my hair a lot. I was big fan of reds and pinks, although I also had this jar of blue dye and would put a streak in my hair sometimes. Sometimes people called me Spike, which came from the way I wore my hair, not the color (it’s pretty self-explanatory, no?).

If you could go back and change on thing about Sprout, what would it be?

The two typos in the fourth paragraph of the first page. Yikes!

How is writing for adults and teens different? Which is harder?

Neither is harder, and on some level there aren’t any differences. Whether you’re writing for adults or teenagers or younger readers, you always have to think of your audience—what you want to tell them, what you think they’re looking for, etc. The high school I went to was very conservative, and the books in its library reflected that. I suppose what I wanted to do was write a book that would slip past the censors on the school board, so that kids—all kids, not just gay ones—could see a slightly different view of the world from the one they’re normally exposed to.

What advice would you give to any aspiring young writers?

Strangely enough, the advice I would give is: don’t be in a hurry. Being a writer isn’t like being a jock. You don’t peak early, you peak late. I’m 42, and I’m still learning! So: Live your life. Keep your eyes open. Learn to see both sides of any story. In the best writing, the bad guys are at least somewhat sympathetic and the good guys have negative qualities. You can only learn that kind of empathy by paying attention to what’s going on around you, whether it’s in your family, your school, or the world around you.

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Click here to buy Sprout.

J. Ruth Gendler's Guest Blog

J. Ruth Gendler, author of The Book of Qualities, has written a very interesting guest blog.  Check it out:

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Thinking and feeling have always been joined for me. Thinking without feeling seems too cold and logical; feeling without thinking seems overwhelming.

Bringing thought and feeling together was essential to writing The Book of Qualities, which portrays 75 qualities like Contentment and Fear, Anger, Truth, Loneliness, and Courage. Writing in the form of poetic vignettes, Qualities are described as everyday people who go to our schools and live in our neighborhoods, drop in for dinner and bring unexpected gifts.

One of the qualities that was most surprising to me was Beauty. I wrote: “Beauty is startling, she wears a gold shawl in the summer and sells seven kinds of honey at the farmer’s market. She is young and old at once, my daughter and my grandmother. In school she excelled in mathematics and poetry. Beauty doesn’t anger easily but she was annoyed with the journalist who kept asking about her favorites--as if beauty would have one favorite color or one favorite flower. Beauty doesn’t mind questions and she is fond of riddles. Beauty will dance with anyone who is brave enough to ask.”

Turned out that was just the beginning of my third book, Notes on the Need for Beauty. When people ask out of all the Qualities why did you write a whole book about Beauty, I say, it’s because beauty is one of the most essential and misunderstood of all the qualities. She is found in all the usual places, of course, but also in so many other places we don’t expect it. And Beauty adds delight and joy and meaning to our lives and our tasks.

Even though I am sometimes impatient, my work takes a long time to gestate. The Book of Qualities had its roots in the poems about colors I composed in fourth grade, Notes in the Need for Beauty had its origins in Qualities. The creative process is endlessly interesting and mysterious.

One of the great joys of Qualities has been seeing how the book is so helpful to others. It has taken on many different forms, becoming the basis for sermons, coming to life onstage, being adapted for dance. Most recently the wonderful Lineage Dance Company, which is devoted to raising money for nonprofit groups, premiered a piece based on 27 Qualities at the Pasadena Arts Festival.

I don’t have any exact method for going about writing a quality. I am looking to learn something, to surprise myself, to find out the hidden gifts in a quality that is difficult. I am curious about the connections among Qualities that are similar and opposite. What are the relationships between Courage and Fear, Fear and Terror, Courage and Truth? Often I think of the qualities as families. Trust is the mother of Love.

I may think about the Quality for a long time and have one or two lines in mind. I recently wrote a Courtesy quality and for a long time I just had an image, something about how Courtesy likes to address envelopes. One night when I was sick I stayed up late and wrote out most of a quality. Then the rewriting began! Discipline is important to me but so is paying attention to inspiration.

I still enjoy playing with Qualities even though I rarely write them any more. I am probably the only person in the swimming pool thinking about Qualities as I do my laps but I find it stretches my mind as I exercise. And when I’m waiting in line, making lists of qualities, often in alphabetical order, is a good antidote to my restlessness.

Every year in December, I start to consider one or two qualities I want to emphasize during the next year. I also keep a handmade bowl with the names of qualities written on slips of paper. Around New Year’s I pick a quality from the bowl to join the qualities I have already listed. I end up with with three or four qualities for the year--Inspiration and Acceptance, Clarity, Courtesy--the ones I picked and the ones that picked me. Choosing these qualities is different than making New Year’s resolutions--it is less about doing specific things to improve and more about giving the year a gentle focus. Sometimes I just stay with the quality for a season. Although it is past new year’s now, It is not too late to choose a few qualities that you want to cultivate this year...or this month.

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Click here to buy The Book of Qualities.

Interview with Justin Allen

Justin Allen is the author of Year of the Horse.

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Year of the Horse is a mix of western, fantasy, and historical fiction. If you had to pick just one of the three genres to write in, which would you choose and why?

Darn! That’s a beast of a question. The whole basis of what I do, writing-wise, amounts to finding or making connections. How is fantasy connected to western? How is history related to fantasy? I think they’re all intertwined. Have you ever seen any of the old Clint Eastwood spaghetti-western movies? If you’re at all like me, you watch those movies and think – wait a minute, when exactly is this supposed to be taking place? You show me the Civil War, but don’t give me any details. And where are they anyway? How can that great big desert be right outside a Confederate Prisoner of War camp? That doesn’t look like any part of Georgia I’ve ever seen. Plus, how in heaven’s name does Clint’s gun always have just the right number of shells in it?

The realization you come to, if you ponder on such bits of malarkey for long enough, is that those movies are actually fantasies. The whole western genre is a sort of fantasy, I reckon. The heroes are stronger than normal, nobler, purer, faster on the draw, or just plain chuck full of bravery. Sometimes they get hurt or killed, sometimes they even fail. But they never give up, never give in, and always meet every challenge with their head up, their eyes open, and a sneer on their lips. It scarcely matters whether they carry the Sword of Gryffindor or an old brass revolver. We count on them to do what they think is right, to struggle against nearly impossible odds, and to remind us that being on the side of goodness and decency, while not always easy, is a thing to be revered and respected.

I guess that what I am trying to say is that for me these genres can not be separated. They are one and the same. They are ALL fantasy.

Which of the characters in your novel do you most relate to?

You know, I’d like to say Lu. I really, really like Lu. Plus, he is the boy who gets chosen. But facts being what they are, I guess I am probably most like Sadie. Her upbringing is not so very different from mine. She grew up in the west, and so has a generous dollop of that coarseness that we westerners so like and admire. I think I am fairly loyal, as Sadie most assuredly is, and I hope I am as open to new ideas, new people, and new experiences (maybe I’m not, but at least I’m trying). Plus, I gave Sadie my desire to travel. I wish I could be as good-looking as Sadie, and could wind up with all her money, but those are just surface things. Money and looks aren’t everything - they’re not even the most important things. Sadie knows that, I think. I think she would agree with me in saying that character, the deepest most core attributes of a person, are what really count.

Have you ever had any adventures similar to Lu's?

Well, as I said before, I have certainly done my fair share of camping. And I have actually ridden a mule into the Grand Canyon. I hunted as a kid, though I never actually shot anything (never wanted to – don’t tell my Dad). But thus far I have managed to avoid any actual confrontations with either horse-riding fire demons or the devil. I count myself lucky in both regards.

Can you describe your writing process?

I always begin with some overarching idea, some point I am trying to make. I just can’t see how you can begin trying to say a thing until you have decided what it is you want to say. I don’t write any of this down, as a rule, I just have a strong inclination to say something about patriotism, or race relations, or whatever. And with that inclination is an image of a place, a time, and likely a single character. The character that started Year of the Horse was Jack Straw. All of this I think up well in advance. After that, writing for me is nothing more than sitting in front of my computer hitting the keys.

I know, I know, some writers have elaborate rituals they perform before, during and after sitting down to work. I don’t do any of that. Every day, soon as I get up, I make breakfast for my wife and myself, and then I go to work!!!! There is nothing for writing than just to WRITE. You are sure to write a huge amount of nonsense, trash, filler and crap. Far as I can see, there is no way to avoid this. So why spend your time thinking up ways of tricking yourself into writing the exact right word every time? Eventually, you are sure to hit on something that feels right. Then you will hasten along that path for a bit, until the next lot of trash begins to spew out, and you will have to regroup, back up, and search for that clear path once more. Writing is no magic trick. It is just work. It is clearing a path through a jungle of mistakes (sometimes you just can’t clear the path and the mistake stays – deal with it). And that path, that one semi-clear road through the wilderness of your mind, once put to paper, is a book.

What advice would you give to any aspiring young writers? 

I’ll give you two pieces of advice - no extra charge.

First of all, read! And don’t just keep reading the same thing over and over. Read widely. New insights will come from reading books, articles and stories that seemingly have nothing whatsoever to do with the subject you think you are trying to hack out of the jungle of your mind. Read comic books and medical manuals, newspapers, blogs, the backs of cereal boxes, children’s picture books, mysteries, science fiction, the textbooks you are supposed to read for school anyway (but often don’t), plays and movie scripts, books that feel beyond your level, and books that are too young for you by far. Doesn’t hardly matter WHAT you read, merely that you READ.

And second, strike adverbs from your writing. The adverb is the single most poisonous thing to be injected into any sentence. It steals from your verb, leaving it wimpy and weak. Worse yet, the adverb seldom (maybe never) adds any useful information to a sentence. The context of most any story or novel is such that the adverb is almost always superfluous. I tell you, adverbs ought to be declared illegal.

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Click here to buy Year of the Horse.

Interview with Melissa Kantor

Melissa Kantor is the author of Invisible I.  She wrote it under the pseudonym Stella Lennon.

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Can you tell us a little about yourself as a writer?

I have a lot in common with my characters, even though none of the things that happen to them actually happened to me. Callie, the main character in Book One of the Amanda Project: Invisible I, has a secret friendship with Amanda Valentino. Amanda is a MILLION times cooler than (though not nearly as popular as) Callie's "public" friends, the queens of the ninth grade. When Amanda disappears and enlists Callie and two uncool ninth graders to search for her, Callie needs to decide if she wants to keep her friendship with Amanda and two interesting but unpopular kids a secret. What will people think of her if they find out she likes spending time with Nia Rivera (freak) and Hal Bennett (weird loner guy). Callie's is a struggle I completely relate to--not that I was ever part of the most popular clique in my grade, but that fear of doing something that would brand me as uncool was POWERFUL when I was a teenager. Even now (and I'm a MOM!), I still worry about it (though I'm really trying to let it go).

So I'd have to say that I write characters I can relate to, characters whose emotional lives speak to something I have struggled with and thought about (or am maybe even still struggling with/thinking about).

The main characters in Invisible I all had animal totems. What do you think is your animal totem?

I took the "What's your totem?" quiz at theamadaproject.com and I really wanted to be a Tigress. By which I mean I thought I DESERVED to be a tigress. Fearless. Terrifying. The Queen of the Jungle (or you know, if the jungle had a queen and it wasn't a lioness, which I guess it would be--but you get my point). Anyway, I took the quiz and it turns out I'm a deer. Deers, by the way, have terrific qualities: they're loyal and generous and kind. And I value these qualities, I really do. But I have to admit I was still a little disappointed to find out that my animal totem is apparently not what I think it is. (If you haven't taken the quiz, you definitely should, btw. You can take it honestly, which I did, or in character, in which case you probably stand a good chance of being a tigress!) Lately I am trying to love and accept my inner deer.

What are your three favorite YA novels?

I'm pretty old school--I loved "Deenie" (Judy Blume) and a book that's now out of print called "It's Okay if You Don't Love Me" (Norma Klein). More recently, I've become a huge fan of "Gingerbread" (Rachel Cohn) and a novel called "Dairy Queen," which is about a girl who wants to play football--totally different from so many books out there and a terrific read.

What advice would you give to any aspiring writers?

I get asked this question a lot, and there's only one answer I feel I can really stand behind: Write a book that you would want to read. Seriously. It works every time.

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Click here to buy Invisible I.

Interview with Molly Roe

Molly Roe is the author of Call Me Kate.

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Was Call Me Kate based off of a true story? How close to real life was it?

Call Me Kate is a mixture of fact and fiction. The events in the book happened, but the actions of my great-grandmother were fictionalized. The Civil War draft riots did occur in Pennsylvania in 1862, but my great-grandmother, Catharine McCafferty, was not involved as she was in the novel. Little detail of the lives of ordinary people, especially women, was recorded back in the nineteenth century so I needed to apply what was available in photographs and books to Kate’s life. My genealogy research started me thinking about what life must have been like for my ancestors, particularly for my four great-grandmothers, so I guess you could say the book is based on my impression of the problems these women faced. 

Through family stories, I knew that Catharine worked in one of the “big houses.” Through census, church, and newspaper records, I learned that she was closely connected to some of the men hanged as Molly Maguires. When drafting the plot, I placed her in the home of a local coal baron, Ario Pardee, but she may have worked for any of several wealthy families during the time period. Her own family emigrated from Donegal, Ireland and suffered through the Great Famine as was presented in the book. The patch town setting was as close to the time frame as I could possibly make it. 

Later in life, Catharine supported her niece through one of the greatest traumas I can imagine: the conviction and hanging of her innocent husband as a Molly Maguire. Of course the word innocent has been debated for 140 years. I hope to write about those later events of Kate’s life once I complete my work in progress.

Do you relate to Kate at all? What characteristics do you share with her?

I love Kate’s sense of justice, and I totally relate to her in that way. I’m not as impulsive or as adventuresome as my heroine, but I hope I emulate Kate’s concern for friends and family. I grew up in a close extended family and interconnected community, just as Kate did. 

Can you describe your path to publication?

My original plan was to write a book for my family, primarily for my aunt who is keeper of the family lore. When I joined a writing group, however, the members encouraged me to publish it for the general public. Once the seed was planted, I began to follow up leads. The book was almost finished when I happened upon a panel discussion about publishing, held in a neighboring city. Several group members attended, and we listened to the publishers and company representatives, Tribute Books, a local start up publisher, seemed the perfect match for me and my novel. 

When not writing, what do you like to do?

A friend called me a serial hobbyist because I have several hobbies that surge and subside at intervals. I continue to enjoy family history research, and I love talking to my readers at signings, local history day festivals, and reenactments. I enjoy puzzles and games. Over the years I have practiced and taught various crafts: cross-stitch, needlepoint, wreath making, and quilling. One activity which has remained constant in my life, however, is reading. I always have a book or my Kindle with me. I often have several books going at a time. At this time of year, I tend my perennial garden. This year I’m working especially hard spiffing things up for my daughter’s wedding.

What advice would you give to any aspiring young writers?

Aspiring writers, young or not, need to persist. I would tell them to keep working on their craft, and make it an important part of their daily schedules. Join a writing group; it’s a great way to learn and get new perspectives.

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Click here to buy Call Me Kate.