This is the blog of children's book author and elementary school teacher, Stacy Barnett Mozer. I blog about my own writing journey, the journey of other kidlit authors, my classroom, and talk about books. Thanks for stopping by. Your thoughts are always welcome (and encouraged).
Each week I join Jen from Teach Mentor Textsand Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. It's Back to School week! I'm so excited to spend time with adults for a few days of staff training before we welcome students into the building. I saw this meme on Facebook and it is so true:
I hope if any of you are teachers, you have a building full of staff that you love coming back to each year. Here's what I read this week.
Middle Grade
Did you know that So B. It is releasing as a movie in October? Once I found out I had to reread it. It's the story of a girl who goes on a journey across the country to learn more about herself by finding out more about her parents. This coming of age story is wonderful, beautiful, and heartbreaking. I can't wait to see it in theaters.
Liar and Spy was another wonderful recommendation for my character change unit. When Georges moves to a new apartment building he meets his neighbor Safer at a meeting for spies. The two form an interesting friendship that helps both of them in ways they didn't expect at first meeting.
This novel in verse is the autobiography of author Jacqueline Woodson. Readers will be touched by her story.
Young Adult
All the books I read this week touched my heart in some way, but this one nearly broke it first. It is the story of a freshman boy named Julian who lost his parents and has been living with his abusive uncle and a senior named Adam, whose kindness helps Julian out of his cage.
_______________________________
Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below. It's Monday, what are you reading?
It’s the Thursday before school starts so it is time for my last
interview. Today I talk with Stephanie Ruble. Stephanie is an
author/illustrator who loves writing about and drawing pictures of all kinds of
animals: cows, elephants, bunnies, chickens, alligators, sheep, and lemurs too!
She's been making art since she could finger paint, and drawing since she could
hold a crayon. This native Minnesotan currently resides in Connecticut with her
husband. Ewe and Aye is her first picture book.
When did you decide to become an author/illustrator?
I’m not sure when I officially decided to become an author/illustrator, but
three things happened that made me want to write and illustrate books:
1. In grade school, we saw a film
about creating a picture book. I was fascinated by the process of making the
art for the book. Even though I don’t remember the specifics of how the art was
made, I do remember the artist creating underwater scenes and wanting to be
able to do that too.
2. In college, one of the assignments
in a print making class was to come up with an idea for a picture book. I had
trouble thinking of a good idea for the class, and kept thinking about that
assignment and ideas for picture books for years afterward.
3. The first book I sent to a
publisher was to show them my art and not for the story (it was a tale of a cow
with a secret admirer). I was shocked and a bit upset when they liked my
writing better than my art because I thought of myself as an artist, not a
writer! It made me think that maybe, just maybe, I could write as well as
illustrate. Surprisingly, I was not deterred that they didn’t like my art.
(Thought Process = a. ARGH! / b. They were just sketches, I can do better. c.
They’d like it if they could see finished art. / d. I’ll prove to publishers my
art belongs in books.)
Tell us about your journey. How did you
get discovered as an illustrator? For years, I built a portfolio and kept adding new art to it, put the
portfolio on my website and showed it at conferences, sent out promotional
postcards, and submitted a few manuscripts and dummies. I also attended
conferences and workshops, and signed up for professional critiques. Many years
later, at one of my critiques, an editor loved my art and said he had a
manuscript he thought I’d be the perfect illustrator for. He sent the story,
EWE AND AYE, a few days later. A few years after that it became my first book.
Note: Art is subjective. On the same day I met with this editor, I had another
critique right before that. The other editor didn’t like my work and it wasn’t
a fit for her publishing house.
Was there ever a point when you felt
like giving up?
There are lots of points when I want to throw in the towel, but it’s usually
just because I’m fighting with a piece of art or a story, so I keep working.
However, there was one point where I seriously thought about giving up
illustrating books. A couple of weeks before the editor offered me my first
book contract, I had a critique with an art director from a different
publishing house. This critique was an informal one in front of a group of
illustrators. The art director told me that she didn’t see a place in
children’s books for my art. She thought that it wasn’t suited for picture
books or for illustrating novels. She did say she liked my art, just not for
children’s books.
After that, I almost didn’t go to the
critique a couple of weeks later. I decided to go anyway, because I had met one
of the editors before. He was a fun person to talk with and also a picture book
writer. I figured that if he didn’t like my art, we could still have fun
talking about books. To prepare for the critique, I made a new portfolio with
my favorite pieces of art from the last few years (children’s book art, but not
necessarily what I thought publishers were looking for). If I had given up
after what one art director said, I wouldn’t have gotten to illustrate EWE AND
AYE!
Is there anything about being a
published illustrator that has surprised you? Yes. The process of making art for a book for a publisher is very different
than making art for a book when you’re trying to get a publisher (that’s
probably obvious, but how it’s different isn’t obvious until you go through the
process). One reason is that it’s like the difference between working on a
project yourself vs. working on a group project. Illustrators go through
revision with publishers just like writers do! Another reason is that making
finished art for a full book requires more attention to detail than making
sketches and a few finishes for a dummy (a mock-up of a picture book). It’s so
easy to overlook something, or make changes that are supposed to be on every
page, and forget to make them on one page. Even if you’re usually great at
checking for details and changes, the sheer number of pages and details vs. the
deadlines and input from the publisher makes it easier to miss something.
Hopefully you will figure out anything you missed before the book goes to
print!
For EWE AND AYE, I noticed three
mistakes, including a major mistake on an interior page and on the cover, at
the final stage before it went to print. Luckily, I was able to fix it before
the book came out, but not before it went out for reviews. And even luckier, none
of the reviewers noticed; even the publisher didn’t notice until I pointed them
out!
Any advice you would give to an author/illustrator just starting out?
Here’s a condensed version of the advice for people who want to write and/or
illustrate children’s books from my website (the full version is here: http://sruble.com/extras.html).
1. If you want to illustrate: Draw, draw, draw, and draw some more, and also
look at art and READ books.
Note: There will be failures along the way. Failures = Art Not Looking Like You
Want It To Look (but just know that it might look like an amazing success to
someone else, even if you don't like it). Failures are learning experiences and
usually mean you’re doing it right, because you are experimenting with trying
to figure out how you make art and what your strengths and weaknesses are.
Without failures, you won’t go on to make successful art (just think of how
different your art is now from when you were three or four years old). FYI,
what makes art successful is subjective. If you like what you created, it’s
successful, even if it didn’t turn out the way you imagined.
* Super Important Note #1: You don’t have to show anyone else your failed art
attempts, unless you want to (or you have to for a class you’re taking). The
important part is to try and experiment and allow yourself to fail so that you
can learn what works for you.
** Super Important Note #2: As long as you keep going, you’ll improve, and
sometimes, art that doesn't turn out the way you wanted it to ends up being
even better than you imagined!
2. If you want to write: Write, write, write, and write some more, and also
READ books and look at art.
Read the kind of books you want to write. Also read anything that interests
you, even if they aren’t the type of books you want to write. Read books you
don’t like and think about why you don’t like them. Then think about why you
like the books that you do like. What makes them work (for you)? What makes the
books you don’t like not work (for you – it might be a favorite book for
someone else)? Look at how pictures integrate and/or enhance the text (I said
this above for illustrators, but it's important for writers too).
3. If you want to write and illustrate: Draw, Write, Read, and Revise, revise,
revise, and revise some more.
If you want to illustrate AND write, do steps one and two repeatedly, then
learn to revise. Both writers and illustrators need to revise their words and
images to make characters, settings, and stories clear and inviting to the
reader. First drafts are great for getting the idea out, but revision is what
makes the story shine. Many writers and illustrators find it helpful to get
critiques to help them improve their writing and art. Some people have critique
partners, or critique groups, where they share their work and also give
feedback to other writers and illustrators.
4. If you want to write and/or illustrate: Research, research, and research
some more.
Everyone expects to do research for non-fiction, but research is necessary for
writing and illustrating fiction too (even if your art is stylized, it helps to
know what the thing you're drawing actually looks like).
Is there anything else about you or your
books you would like to tell us? I like to draw cows and make up stories about the fun things they do (that
real cows do not do). One year I drew a cow picture every day for the whole
year. It was leap year, so I drew 366 cow pictures, and many of the pictures
had multiple cows! The next year, I drew a dog a day for the whole year. These
projects really changed and improved my art, and they were fun to do (most of
the time).
My students are always surprised to hear
that many authors don’t always get to approve their illustrator and some don't
even see the pictures until the book releases. What was that process like for
you when illustrating someone else’s book? Do you want the author’s feedback? The process was hard at first because the author included lots of illustration
notes. Instead of imaging what I thought the story could be, I couldn’t forget
her notes. One of her notes ended up in the sketches, even though it didn’t
actually work for the book! After many rounds of art, my editor and I finally
realized why that page wasn’t working; it was because the illustration note it
was based on didn’t actually work for the story! It was a really neat visual,
which is why we all liked it, but since it didn’t work it had to go. Happily, I
was able to find a way to pay homage to the idea on another page, in a way that
did work for the story.
Authors and illustrators don’t usually meet or talk with each other while they
are working on the book. I got to meet Candace Ryan, the author of EWE AND AYE,
while I was illustrating the book. It was nice to hear that she wasn’t tied to
her illustration notes and was supportive of my imagining the story through the
art. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. The author and the illustrator each
bring their own vision of the story to the book.
Thank you so much for joining me today,
Stephanie. You can find out more about Stephanie and her art on her website http://sruble.com
Each week I join Jen from Teach Mentor Textsand Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. This week I spent time sorting through books in my new classroom. At one point I was so frustrated by the amount of books I asked the question on twitter, "Can a classroom library have too many books?" The overwhelming answer was no. But one person pointed out that while you can never have too many books, you can have too little space. Here's what I did with mine:
Here's what I read this week. Both are perfect additions to my character growth unit.
Graphic Novel
I really loved Shannon Hale's graphic memoir. It's the story of how she learned to understand friendship and to recognize and identify your real friends.
Middle Grade
Ravi is a boy who moved from India. He is expecting to be revered for his high intelligence like he was in his old school. Instead, he is met with criticism and prejudice. Joe has special learning needs that set him apart from his peers, even though he is one of the smartest among them. The two have many things in common, if they can see past the surface differences.
_______________________________
Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below and stop by the blog on Thursday for a new author interview. This week I'll be talking with author illustrator Stephanie Ruble. It's Monday, what are you reading?
It’s Thursday so it’s time for another author interview.
Today I talk to Carol Gordon Ekster. When Carol is
not thinking about writing or teaching, she does yoga, biking, is involved in
critique groups and works on her books. The English version of her newest
book, You Know What? with Clavis Books, will be out September 2017. She is grateful that her writing gives her another way to communicate with children.
When
did you decide to become an author?
My life’s passion was teaching. I loved influencing
children to become lifelong learners and to strive to do their best always. I
worked with children on their own writing in my classroom.My Master’s degree was in reading and
language, and I read picture books daily to reinforce the curriculum I covered.
I found picture books powerful in their ability to get across academic concepts
as well as teach about life and social skills.I think as I neared my thirtieth year of teaching, a miracle
occurred… I started to write children’s books. It was not planned, it just
happened to me. So I didn’t really “decide” to become an author. I believe
writing came to me…on a beach in the summer. It truly was the strangest
experience. I felt a need to write and walked to my car for a pen and post-its
(the only thing I had to write on) like a force was pulling me. I wrote my
first book that day. And though it’s never been published, this beginning of a
new career was a blessing! It allowed me not to fear retirement. Being a
teacher was my identity. Now I had something I could do that would enable me to
continue to communicate with children. Writing became my new passion.
Tell
us about your journey. How did you get your first book published?
I truly believe I wouldn’t be published if I hadn’t
become a member of SCBWI, which I was advised to do by a friend as soon as I
started writing in 2002. The request from a publisher for stories about divorce
and some other issues was listed in the SCBWI Bulletin in 2006. I heard back in
a few weeks, that he was interested. It took two years from that time for me to
hold my first published book, Where Am I
Sleeping Tonight? (A Story of Divorce), Boulden Publishing, 2008, in my
hand, but it’s still in publication, and it still sells. I feel very fortunate.
And by the way, that was the 20th book I had written, but the first
to be published.
Was
there ever a point when you felt like giving up?
No, I got some great responses to my work early on. And
I was teaching full-time and just enjoying this new adventure in my life that I
loved sharing with my students. Sure, rejections hurt. But I learned that it
was all part of the process and I kept persevering. This has worked for me. Imagine
if after my first rejections I gave up. Not until I wrote my 20th
manuscript did I get my first contract. Despite over 1,300 rejections, I
continue to write. I am active in a few critique groups, and I submit avidly. I
have an e-book out with a digital library, I had a story bought by Library
Sparks Magazine, and my fourth book, the 60th manuscript I wrote,
comes out this September 1st with an international publisher. You Know What? came out first in Dutch,
Mama, Wist je Dat?, in December 2016.
And I recently heard that a Korean publishing company bought the rights as
well. In this business you have to hang on to all the good news you can.
Is
there anything about being a published author that has surprised you?
Yes! I had no idea about the marketing side of writing
books. I dealt with being a teacher for 35 years, interacting with others so
intensely, that I enjoyed the quiet side of writing, that going inward that
writing requires. I didn’t realize I’d have to be selling my books and myself.
It’s a bit uncomfortable for me, even though I was completely at home in front
of my own classroom of fourth graders.
I’m also surprised that I continue to get rejections
from publishers who I’ve already worked with. But I’ve learned that in
publishing, whether something is rejected or accepted is all about each
individual story. It’s not personal.
Any
advice you would give to a writer just starting out?
Join SCBWI, persevere, and read as many books as you can
in the genre you write in. I’m an avid reader of picture books. I am a frequent
visitor to my local library.
Is there
anything else about you or your books you would like to tell us?
I have over 75 picture books that I’ve submitted and
many more that I am working on. Every book has gone through revisions with the
help of my critique groups. I am open to the suggestions of others as I feel
they are given to me for a reason, allowing me to take advantage of ideas that
help me write the best books possible. I work hard on each and every sentence
to see if I can improve it in some way.
My
students are always surprised to hear that authors don’t always get to approve
their illustrator and some don’t even see the pictures until the book releases.
What was that process like for you? Did anything surprise you when you saw the
illustrations?
Yes, I was surprised by the illustrations of my first
book. It was not at all what I expected, but it ended up being right for that
story. In my first three books, I did get to preview the illustrations and let
the publisher know if there were any corrections that needed to be made.But I did not actually communicate and
work with the illustrator. With my new book coming out, it was an amazing
process. It was the first publisher who encouraged that the illustrator and
author should work together. I absolutely loved the back
and forth with the illustrator as well as getting input from the art director.
I felt they were always interested in what I thought, and accepted my
suggestions. We worked as a team. And I am thrilled with the result!
Each week I join Jen from Teach Mentor Textsand Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. As of today I have two more weeks of summer. That doesn't leave a lot of time for reading and planning, but I am doing what I can to get ready. Today I will step foot in my new classroom for the first time. I haven't seen it since the former teacher left so I am a little nervous about what I will find but I'm also excited to begin. Here's what I read this week. All four books share the theme of self-discovery.
Middle Grade
Did you know that some people see colors when they hear sounds or read? I had never heard of synesthesia until I read the book A Mango-Shaped Space. Mia has always seen the world in color but when she tried to explain her colors to her class in third grade she quickly realized that she was different. For years she decided to hide this difference but when she meets a little boy who also sees the world her way, she realizes it is time to embrace it.
Esperanza is a rich girl who lives with her parents on a ranch in Mexico. When her father is killed by bandits, she and her mother have to give up their wealth to hide as migrant workers in the United States. At first Esperanza refuses to see herself as anything but a rich girl, but when her mother takes ill she realizes that it is time to stop complaining and start working.
Abby wants to be outside climbing mountains instead of inside doing schoolwork and homework. Unfortunately there are no mountains where she lives in Illinois. When she is forced to choose an extra credit project in order to pass sixth grade, she decides to write to someone who lives in the mountains, specifically in the country of Afghanistan. Sadeed is given the task of writing to Abby but because he is a boy and she is a girl, he has to pretend the letters are written by his sister. As the two get to know each other, Abby's extra credit project becomes much more than a way to get a better grade, it becomes a window into another part of the world and as they get to know each other, they also learn a lot about themselves.
Connor's mother is very sick with cancer. At home he has become the primary caregiver and at school the kids and teachers treat him like he is the one who is dying. When the Yew tree outside his window turns into a monster, Connor and tells Connor that he was the one who called it, Connor thinks the monster is there to help his mother. But saving Connor's mother is not why the monster calls. A very sad book about dealing with illness of a parent and the guilt and isolation that can be attached to the situation.
_______________________________
Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below and stop by the blog on Thursday for a new author interview. This week I'll be talking with Carol Gordon Ekster. It's Monday, what are you reading?
It’s Thursday, which means it’s time for another author
interview. Today I talk withElly
Swartz. Elly’s debut novel, FINDING PERFECT (FSG 2016) is about a
twelve-year-old girl named Molly, friendship, family, OCD, and a slam poetry
competition that will determine everything. In 2018, you meet the spunky and
big-hearted Frankie in SMART COOKIE (Scholastic, 2018). Frankie is all about
family with a dash of mischief and mystery! And then in 2019, say hello to
Maggie in GIVE AND TAKE (FSG).
When did you decide to become an author?
I have been creating stories since I was a little girl, but
never with the idea of becoming an author. Simply for the love of story. I
remember writing short stories and a lot of really bad poetry at my yellow
desk. As a young mom, I dove into storytelling. I would weave adventures with
my sons until they fell asleep, the hidden doorway was discovered, or the world
was saved. Then, sixteen years ago, I started the journey to writing a
children’s book. I wrote my first book. Then I wrote another. And, another.
And, another. And, finally, I wrote Finding
Perfect. Then Smart Cookie.
And now Give and Take. I
love telling stories and writing for kids. I love the way the words weave and
bounce, and the way the characters unfold. I consider it a true privilege.
Tell us about your
journey. How did you get your first book published?
Finding Perfect was
my first published book, but not the first book I wrote. It was the fifth book
I wrote. The first four are fondly known in my family as practice. Those books
taught me how to be a better writer, and for that, I thank them. My journey was
15 years to yes. A long and winding road that happily led me to my agent, Trish
Lawrence of Erin Murphy Literary Agency. She believed in me. And that meant
everything. After revisions and submissions to about thirty editors, Finding Perfect sold. It was a
moment I will always remember. The wait was finally over. My dream had come
true.
Was there ever a
point when you felt like giving up?
It was never about giving up writing, but more about
accepting the idea that I may not ever get published. Because no matter how
many no’s I got, and over 15 years there were many, I always ended up back at
my desk, writing. On a recent school visit, one student asked me
why. It was a good question. A valid question. I thought about it for a long
time. Ultimately, I realized that I love writing more than I hate rejection.
I heard you talk
about your motivation for writing Finding
Perfect at a conference this year. Can you share some of those
influences?
Every story I tell, begins with a character that is with me
long before I write the first word of the story. With Finding Perfect, that character was Molly. I woke with her in my
head and the more I got to know her, the more she tucked into my heart. I knew
she was scared and worried, but I also knew that she was braver and stronger
than she realized. In this gap, I found the heart of her story.
I knew Molly had Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) and I
knew she didn’t understand what was happening to her. I also knew, like many
with OCD, she saw herself differently than the world saw her. She was scared
and vulnerable and struggling. But to the world, she was confident and smart
and so capable. This disparity drew me in. I wanted Molly to discover her voice
and her strength. I wanted her to find her courage. Happily, she did.
Your new book, Smart Cookie, releases on January
30, 2018. What can you tell us about this new book?
Smart Cookie (Scholastic)
is a story about family and secrets and eleven-year-old Frankie who is equal
parts spunk and heart.
Frankie knows she’ll be in big trouble if Dad discovers she
secretly posted a dating profile for him online. But she’s determined to find
him a wife, even if she ends up grounded for life. Frankie wants what she had
before Mom died. A family of three. Two is a pair of socks or the wheels on a
bicycle or a busy weekend at the B&B where Frankie and Dad live. Three
is a family. And Frankie’s is missing a piece.
But Operation Mom is harder to pull off than Frankie expects.
None of the Possibles are very momish, the B&B’s guests keep canceling,
Frankie’s getting the silent treatment from her once best friend, and there’s a
maybe-ghost hanging around. Worst of all, Gram and Dad are definitely hiding
secrets of their own.
If a smart cookie like Frankie wants to save the B&B
and find her missing piece, she’s going to have to figure out what secrets are
worth keeping and when it’s time to let go.
Is there anything
about being a published author that has surprised you?
Everything! But the one wonderful stand-out has been the
community of educators and librarians who have welcomed me and my books so
warmly into the kid lit fold. I am honored to be a part of this gracious
community.
Any advice you would
give to a writer just starting out?
Write because you love writing. Because you have a story to
tell. Because you can’t not write. Then follow your heart and embrace the
journey!
Is there anything
else about you would like to tell us?
Thank you for reading. All books. In my heart, I believe
books are that unconditional friend, that safety net, that next great
adventure. https://www.blogger.com/null
What’s next?
Smart Cookie (Scholastic)
comes out January 30, 2018 and then in 2019, get ready to meet Maggie in Give and Take (FSG). Twelve-year-old
Maggie. Maggie has a big heart and a hard time letting go. Of stuff. Of people.
Of the past. With the help of her turtle Rufus, a baby named Izzie and the
almost all-girls trap shooting team, she begins to understand that people are
more than the things that hold their memories.
Thanks so much for
coming by, Elly. You can find out more about Elly Swartz and her books by visiting
her online and on twitter. And don’t forget to preorder Smart Cookie!
Each week I join Jen from Teach Mentor Textsand Kellee and Ricki from Unleashing Readers to share all of the reading I've done over the week from picture books to young adult novels. This week I continued to work on my new curriculum. I also played around with ideas for this year's reading journal based on bullet format. Here's a good post that got me started. So far mine has a Neverending reading list, a 100 book challenge, and a Newbery book reading and rating page. I left 6 front and back pages for the neverending list and I've already filled two and a half with books I want to read. I am sure more will be added today. Here's what I read this week:
Middle Grade
This book was recommended to me last week when I was looking for characters who go through significant character change. In Restart, that change is caused by amnesia. When the school bully, Chase, falls off his roof and forgets his past, he sees himself through a new lens. He wants to be a different person. But his fall hasn't erased his past from the memory of others and not everyone is ready to give him a second chance.
If you are taking the time to read this blog, then my guess is that you will want to be a member of The Loser's Club. Alec is a book addict. In fact he has missed so much class time because of reading that his teachers and parents are now watching him every moment. At least he thinks he can read in after care, but the program is set up so you can't just sit and read, you have to join an activity or a club. Alec realizes his only choice is to create a club for others who want to sit and read, but since he wants quiet, he decides to call it The Loser's Club to discourage participation. It turns out that Alec isn't the only one who wants to be a loser. This is the book for kids (and adults) who love books. I won't be surprised to see a Loser's Club trend moving around schools faster than you can say, "Frindle."
Young Adult
Another incredible novel in verse from Kwame Alexander. Blade is a rich boy from a famous family but all he wants is for his father to give up his addictions and be there for him. When Blade learns he is actually adopted he travels across the world to find out if there was a different life he could have known. But his past life won't let him leave it behind. I hope they make an cd with this book's playlist.
When Kahlen's ship is brought down by sirens who send her whole family to their death, Kahlen gains the Ocean's attention and instead of death, she is claimed to be a singing sister. Now it's eighty years later and Kahlen still can't stomach the destruction she causes each time she sings. When she meets Ankli, a kind boy who sees through her outer beauty to the person she is inside, she is immediately drown to him. But how can you love someone when your voice is a deadly weapon?
_______________________________
Stacy Barnett Mozer is a teacher and a middle grade author. If you like what she's been reading follow her on Goodreads. Please leave a comment below and stop by the blog on Thursday for a new author interview. This week I'll be talking with Elly Swartz. It's Monday, what are you reading?
It’s
Thursday so it’s time to interview another author. Today I talk to Holly M. McGhee.
Holly is both a literary agent and a writer. At her agency, Pippin Properties,
Inc., Holly's clients include Kate DiCamillo, Jandy Nelson, Doreen Cronin, Sean
Qualls, and Peter H. Reynolds. In 2009, her first book was published under the
pen name Hallie Durand, and this year, with her debut novel Matylda, Bright and Tender, which has a plum line straight to her heart, she
decided to integrate both parts of her creative life, and is now writing under
her given name. Her picture book collaboration with Pascal Lemaitre, Come with Me, will be published
by Putnam on September 5.
Holly, you are a published author and a
literary agent. Did one thing lead to the other?
Not so much
in a straight-line kind of way—but for sure, my work as a literary agent and as
a writer are connected. I started as an editor, and I brought along that
interest to my career as a literary agent, helping my clients in the early
creative stages of their projects in addition to negotiating the publishing
deal. I generally get right in there and roll up my sleeves on the manuscript
or storyboard, long before the project is submitted—it's just part of who I am.
And I think it's true that my own stories come from that same creative
reservoir inside of me.
How do you balance working with your
client’s books and working on your own?
That's the
hardest part. I'm kind of obsessed with my job as a literary agent and it's
hard for me to step aside and be still and ponder my own stories. It was easier
before my kids became teenagers because they would go to bed at 9 and I would
write. They stay up late now and the house is seldom quiet; trumpet practice
begins at 9:30 p.m. every night! If I'm deep into something I go away, but the
breathing space it takes to get going on something new is the hardest to find.
I've recently decided to honor my writing career by setting aside every Friday
for my own work. It starts this week, so my fingers are crossed that this new
balance will be good.
Tell us about your journey. How did you get
your first book published?
My first
book is titled Dessert First,
and the character came bursting into my life while I was pleasantly reading a
manuscript on NJ Transit one morning. Her name was Dessert Schneider and she
would not be quiet till I wrote down her story, in her words. I did it all in a
spiral bound notebook, longhand, in 2007. But I was concerned that when it was
submitted, an editor might be influenced one way or the other because of who I
was as a literary agent. That's why we used a pen name—Hallie Durand—nobody
knew who I was until the deal was done; that way I could always be sure that
the book was acquired because of the writing itself. The knowledge that my
story was acquired solely because of the words has helped me along my path,
especially during the too frequent times when I doubt myself as a writer. Under
my pen name, I wrote two more books in that series and then three picture books
(Mitchell's License, Mitchell Goes Bowling, and Catch That Cookie!).
With Matylda, Bright and Tender, my debut middle-grade
novel, I decided to integrate my writing and agenting career under Holly M.
McGhee, partly because Matylda is based on the emotions from my own childhood
and partly as an acknowledgement that my writing and agenting comes from the
same place inside of me. (Also the original idea of having a pen name was long
past the point of serving its purpose.)
Was there ever a point when you felt like
giving up?
With Matylda,
I don't know if I consciously felt like giving up, but I did put the story down
for a year. The book had started out as a sweet story of two best friends which
I wrote over the summer of 2012, up to page 25. At that point I realized one of
the friends would have to go on without the other, and I couldn't bear it. I
set the pages aside for an entire year. In a way, I felt tricked by my own
psyche, because it lured me into unraveling something I'd buried in my own life
for decades, a fatal car accident I was in as a teenager. But as I began to
give myself permission to go to the darkest places inside of me, the book ended
up being such a gift—it helped me work through my own grief, and I'm so
grateful for that.
Tell us a little bit about your novel, Matylda, Bright & Tender.
Matylda, Bright and Tender is the
story of best friends Sussy Reed and Guy Hose, neither of whom has siblings.
They very much want something to love, all their own, and together they adopt a
leopard gecko and they name her Matylda, with a "y" so it's all her
own. When the unimaginable happens, on a simple bike ride to get some vitamins
for Matylda, Sussy is left to go on without Guy, and she works through her
grief by loving Matylda fiercely—and in so doing she is trying to keep her
attachment to her friend . . . until it becomes impossible to go on . . .
that's when she comes to understand that when we love someone, we can love them
in death the same way we did in life / that we don't have to fight those
feelings / that they become part of who we are, and that we can go on from
there at a deeper level, as people who have the capacity to hold the tension of
all the feelings at once, both the dark and the light. And that we can survive.
That the act of going on itself is a way to honor the person who died.
Your latest book, Come with Me, opened a lot of conversations in my classroom. How
did you come up with the concept for Come
With Me?
My long-time
friend Pascal Lemaitre and I had been playing around with the idea of the
Native American fable of the humming bird and the forest fire, in which the
humming bird, the tiniest of all birds, doesn't think the amount of water she
can carry will make a difference in extinguishing the fire. But then there is
the epiphany that if all the hummingbirds each carried a drop of water, together they could put out the
fire. Watching the news of terrorism over and over in the Spring of 2016 with
my three children, and feeling so helpless, not knowing how to go forward, I
realized that we are like the hummingbirds, and that a simple act of connecting
in the face of tragedy and fear, if multiplied by thousands, can make a
difference.
And Pascal
had actually connected with me, sixteen years prior, after 9/11. I lived in
Manhattan. My husband and our baby, 18 months old. I remember that day so
clearly; my husband worked on Wall Street—and our lives, everybody's lives, New
York itself and the world as we knew it, changed forever that day. We were
scared; immobilized with fear. Then a package arrived in the mail, from my
friend in Belgium to me, with a painting of a frightened grieving man planting
a flag at the World Trade Center sight, the flag bearing a big red heart
blowing in the wind. This act of love, and caring, and connection, in such a
time of fear, touched my heart and gave me strength. And the idea that if we
all each reached out to one another in our own way, how different the world
might be, is at the core of Come with Me
My students are always surprised to hear
that authors don’t always get to approve their illustrator and some don't even
see the pictures until the book releases. What was that process like for you?
Did anything surprise you when you saw the illustrations?
Well in this
case since Pascal and I are friends and since I work in the business, we all
collaborated, and so I was involved along the way. Pascal is married to a
French Cambodian woman, and so he used his daughter as a model for the little
girl. I'm not sure whose dog it is though, but it's very cute! I was surprised
that Pascal found a way to work his ladybugs in :-) The jacket was a challenge;
do we curve the type or leave it as a straight line? Big discussions! We ended
up going straight across and I think that made a big difference. There was a
lot of talk about the color of the paper too and I'm really happy with what was
chosen. Just like the history behind the book, we worked as a team; I know
that's unusual but it was amazing!
Is there anything about being a published
author that has surprised you?
One of the
most surprising things about being a published author is the direct connections
that are possible between writers and teachers and librarians. As a literary
agent, which is what I do as my full-time job, I don't often have direct
relationships with educators. It has been incredible to be able communicate
with teachers and librarians through twitter. It has been so exciting to see
how many people there are out there who are dedicated to creating lifelong
passionate readers. I have loved connecting to teachers of every subject who
are eager to read books and share them with students. Seeing how seriously
these teachers take their reading material has made me think even more
carefully about the books I want to bring in to the world, the ones I want to
invest my time in, both as a writer and a literary agent.
Any advice you would give to a writer just
starting out?
Yes.
Write every day. That's an easy one to nod yes to, but it takes commitment and
passion to show up every day and actually write something. Even if you only
have ten minutes, show up & honor your dream.
Is there anything else about you or your
books you would like to tell us?
I'd love to
share a few events I'm doing with Pascal Lemaitre for Come with Me, which pubs on September 5. (Lucky for us
he is here from Belgium until 9/15)
New York
Times Facebook Live Illustration with Maria Russo, August 9 at 3 p.m. (join in
on New York Times facebook page)
Rizzoli
Bookstore, NYC, our launch: September 7 at 6 p.m.
Albertine
Bookstore, NYC: September 9 at 11 a.m.
Maplewood
Memorial Library Community gathering for Come with Me, with
sidewalk chalk: September 9 at 3:30 p.m.
And I'll be
at the Brooklyn Book Festival on Saturday, September 16.
Good luck with all of your events, Holly.
Thank you so much for stopping by.
Thank you
for inviting me to your blog, Stacy!
For more
information about Holly and her books, visit her online and on twitter. Don't forget to leave a comment and check back next week for a new author interview. Here's a video to enjoy before you go:
