Where did the idea for WORKING MUMMIES come from?
A few years ago, I was struggling to write a poem about a
witch whose house was for sale. I scribbled a few lines describing the house, but
didn’t know where to go from there. I was about to set the poem aside when I pictured
a real estate sign out front. Who, I
asked myself, put it there? The witch? An agent? If it were an agent, what did
she look like? Was she a mummy – a working mummy? What started out as a poem about a witch’s
house morphed into a whole new picture book idea.
How long does it take you to get from idea to just right?
It depends. Once in a great while the stars are aligned, and
I get lucky. A poem or an idea will come to me full blown. Other times, it
takes me months or even years before I get things just right. And let’s not
talk about the dozens of poems and stories I suspect I’ll never be able to
finish. Even after a book has been published, there are times I wish I could
take it back and tweak it ever so slightly.
What usually comes first for you, the story or the rhyme?
Probably the story, especially when I write a picture book with
a beginning, middle, and end. For shorter poems, I might play around with words
and sounds and see where they take me. I write a lot of light verse which often
ends with a punch line. Sometimes, I think of the punch line first and work
backwards, hoping I can come up with a second, rhyming line to complete the couplet
- not a method I recommend.
Many people find verse intimidating, but you seem
fearless. Are you?
Foolish might be a better word. When I first started out, I
read a lot of books on writing for children. Almost every one of them had a paragraph
or two warning the reader not to write in verse. According to the authors, editors
hate it. But writing in rhyme is what I love, so I ignored the advice and forged
ahead. I guess it was a case of, “Fools rush in…”
What were your favorite books growing up?
I didn’t read much as a child. I had a vision problem which
wasn’t diagnosed until I started school. By that time, I had lost significant
sight in one eye. Perhaps that’s why my mother encouraged me to go out and
play, rather than sit in the house with my nose in a book.
When I was very young, I loved the rhythm of nursery rhymes.
Before I went to sleep, I’d beg my dad to read from one of my Mother Goose
books. I don’t remember which poem was my favorite, but I do know Diddle, Diddle, Dumpling signaled lights-out. Unfortunately, not
all Mother Goose poems have perfect rhyme and meter. Kids as young as four or
five know when something doesn’t sound quite right. That’s why I’m pretty
meticulous about making sure my own rhyme and meter are as good as I can make
them. I owe that to my readers.
Tell us about your journey. How did you come to be an
author?
It wasn’t until I retired from my job as a medical
technologist that I gave any thought to writing. By then my four kids were
grown and on their own. It seemed the perfect time to try something new and
different. A friend told me about a conference on writing for children that was
to be held at the Hartford College for Women. I signed up, and that was one of
the best things I ever did. I came away from the conference energized and excited
about the prospect of writing. A few weeks later, I joined a critique group.
Not only were the members encouraging and supportive, they shared practical
tips on how to prepare and submit a manuscript. We’ve been together for fifteen
plus years, and I feel privileged to call this remarkable group of writers friends.
The first thing I ever wrote was an ABC book about apples.
“A is for apple,/ I’m sure that you know./ B is for branches/ On which apples
grow.” I thought it was pretty good. Editors didn’t share my enthusiasm, and
the rejections piled up. In the meantime, I was writing and submitting a group
of unrelated poems. These were also rejected, but a few editors took the time
to scribble a note of encouragement. One day, I got a phone call from an editor
who said she liked my writing, and suggested the poems would be more marketable
if they had a theme. I always loved Halloween and set about writing twenty-one
poems on the subject. When I finished, I eagerly mailed it off to that editor.
To my dismay, she rejected it. She felt some of the poems weren’t strong
enough. She was right. I reworked them, added new ones, and sent the manuscript
off to a second editor who loved it and offered to publish it. Halloween Hoots and Howls was my first picture book.
What’s the best part of being an author?
Sharing my books with thousands of kids I’ve never even met.
And then there’s the thrill of walking into a book store and seeing my book on a
shelf.
How do you work? Do you wait for inspiration to strike or
are you, as Jane Yolen says, a “butt in chair” person?
I wish I were more of a “butt in chair person”. My output might be greater. I don’t have a
regular routine. Sometimes when I have an idea, I tuck it away in a corner of
my mind and carry it around in my head for weeks or months. Other times, I write
each day for several hours.
I always write in longhand. My words seem to flow better
that way. When I’m satisfied with what I’ve done, I type it into my
computer. Some of my most productive
times are just before I drift off to sleep. I keep a pad and pencil by my bed
so I can jot down a rhyme or a couplet or two that had been eluding me during
the day. A couple of times I woke up in the middle of the night with an idea that
wouldn’t keep. I was so inspired, I hopped out of bed and went into another
room where I wrote until dawn.
What story would
you love to tell in verse?
No one story in particular. But what I’d really love is to write
a book in prose and have it published.
What are you working on now?
A picture book about
a girl whose library books are long overdue. I’m afraid it’s somewhat autobiographical.
To this day, I remember worrying about what the librarian would say when I
didn’t return my books on time.
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