An Interview with Lois Lowry

Photo credit Rhys Lowry

Today’s guest is Lois Lowry, who has long been one of my favorite authors of children’s books. The following are only some of her numerous literary awards: the International Reading Association’s Children’s Book Award (1977), for A Summer to Die; the Boston Globe-Horn Book Award (1987), for Rabble Starkey; the Newbery Medal (1990), for Number the Stars; the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Award (1991) for Number the Stars; the Mark Twain Award, (1991), for All About Sam; a second Newbery Medal (1994), for The Giver; and the Margaret A. Edwards Award (2007), for The Giver – this last is an award given for outstanding lifetime contribution to writing for teens.

Q. When you were a small child you memorized the poem "Thanatopsis", essentially a meditation on death, by William Cullen Bryant. Do you think that poem resonated with you later and impacted some of your own thematic interests?
A. No, the poem had very little meaning for me thematically when I was a young child. But I connected it to my grandfather—to the pleasure of his reading to me, the sound of his voice, the feel of his vest against my cheek as I sat on his lap and listened. There were some phrases in the poem that I related to; I remember “the speechless babe and the gray-haired man” (I may be mis-quoting that, after almost 70 years!) but for the most part I enjoyed simply the cadence and sound, without any comprehension of the meaning.

Q. As a child you wrote stories and poems. You won writing awards in high school. After you married and dropped out of college, during those “interrupted education” years, did you continue to write at home?
A. Not for a while. I had four children in five years, and so had little time for the solitary pursuit that serious writing always is. Then, when my youngest began kindergarten, I went back to college, then to graduate school, and began doing serious academic writing. And eventually: fiction. But by that time my kids were teenagers.

Q. In your more serious books, the writing becomes quite lyrical. Do you still read or write poetry?
A. I read poetry often. Right now I am at my summer home, so I don’t have access to the collection of poetry books that I keep in my office in my “regular” house. But when I am there, I am likely to pick up a book of poetry at the beginning of each day. (Here, in summer, I subscribe to “The Writer’s Almanac” which delivers a poem each morning to my computer). I rarely write poetry myself---just occasional verse for some reason or another. But reading it reminds me very powerfully of the rhythm and lyricism of language, and of the subtlety of it when it is distilled, as poetry forces the writer to do. I think it is a good way, for me at least, to get my head and my ear into the world of voice and sound and words.

Q. All your writing is visual, with a strong sense of color. In the Anastasia books, Anastasia’s mother is a painter. In addition to your photography, what part do visual arts play in your own life?
A. I am a collector of art rather than a producer of it! I have many friends who are painters—or illustrators—and both my houses are filled with their work. I have one guest room in my Massachusetts house which is filled with work by children’s illustrators who are friends: Allen Say, Rosemary Wells, Diane DeGroat, others. And in another room in that house I have one of the paintings from my own book Crow Call, which is illustrated by Bagram Ibatoulline. My office—I call it the studio, actually—in Maine is a room I created off of the barn. And on its walls are photographs by me.

Q. What books most appealed to you when you were growing up? Did they have a common theme, or were they quite varied?
A. Varied, I think. But it is clear, from my memories, that I preferred realistic fiction. Two favorites were The Yearling and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I think I most liked reading about young people, protagonists to whom I could relate, who experienced enormous hardship, sometimes tragedy, and who made their way through it with determination and grace.

Q. You’ve mentioned you wrote your first book when you were about nine or ten. What was it about, and what was the title?
A. Well, I have a copy of a letter from me which was published in a children’s magazine the summer of 1947, when I was ten. It says, “I am writing a book called A Dog Named Lucky. I am on Chapter 13.” Of course the chapters I wrote at age 10 were considerably shorter than those I write now.

Q. In an interview you mentioned you often feel pulled along by ideas whirling in your head and that you have to scramble to keep up with them. How do you know when one of those ideas is going to “gel” into a new book? How do you know a story is finished?
A. When something keeps gnawing at me—a character, most often, but sometimes little more than a phrase—and doesn’t subside, then I know it is ready to be explored. Sometimes I start the exploration and it goes nowhere. Then I let it go. But usually once I begin, my interest and enthusiasm for it builds, and then it expands and becomes more complicated and is, eventually a book. As for when it is finished? When things come together. When earlier details reappear, changed (a red sled). When questions are answered. But—this is important, to me at least—when interesting questions remain, for the reader. Then it is done.

Q. You write in a range of “genres” – comical (Anastasia and Sam books; Gooney books), historical (Number the Stars), dystopian worlds (The Giver trilogy), and fantasy (Gossamer), and so many of them have won awards. You’ve also written a picture book (Crow Call). Any more picture books in the future?
A. Probably. I enjoyed the process, even though Crow Call was a story I had written (and published) many years earlier. (I did some minor re-writing to turn it into a picture book) And two current books (The Birthday Ball, published this spring, and Bless This Mouse, to be published next spring) are illustrated, though they are not picture books.

Q. It was one of your adult stories that made an editor suggest you should write a book for children, which lead to A Summer to Die. Do you think you’ll ever write fiction for adults again?
A. I could, I suppose. But I love what I do so much. And a writer for young people gets such wonderful feedback from readers. That is less true when you write for adults.

I’m 73, so I don’t have unlimited time, and there is so much I’d still like to do. I’ve written one play; working with theater directors has made me want to write another.

Q. Along life’s way, what was the best writing advice you ever received?
A. I had a professor of writing at Brown—Charles Philbrick—who told me to experience things. I didn’t know just what he meant, at the time; and now he is dead and I can’t ask him. But I’m guessing that he was saying that a writer needed to be keenly aware of feelings, perhaps even to study feelings and reactions in order to reproduce them in fiction. It might be akin to what Henry James said, that a writer is someone on whom nothing is lost.

Lois Lowry’s latest book is The Birthday Ball, illustrated by Jules Feiffer, published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2010. For those who wish to learn more about her or her books, visit: http://www.loislowry.com/index.html .

Summer Art Workshops

The summer art workshops have begun, and the class looks terrific: The kids are enthusiastic and focused. We did dot painting to get ready for a visit next week by Rachel Dillon, who wrote THROUGH ENDANGERED EYES, a picture book of poetry, wonderfully illustrated with her own pointillistic paintings, and with a glossary full of important facts about each animal. I took the book in to show the class, and the paintings were inspired by her pictures. The kids are really looking forward to her visit.

Meanwhile, a field trip to an art studio/gallery is in the works for next month. When that event arrives, I'll blog more about it then. For now, it's back to Granny's Jig.

An Interview with Jeri Chase Ferris

I was fortunate to interview Jeri Chase Ferris, the award-winning author of 12 biographies for children. She has won numerous awards in this field, including the 2000 Susan B. Anthony Award for "exceptional literary contributions to women’s history”, the 1995 Author-Illustrator Human and Civil Rights Award presented by the National Education Association, and she is a three-time winner of the Carter G. Woodson Award for the most distinguished books for young readers depicting ethnic diversity in the United States.

Q. You’ve had eleven biographies published, and a new one about Noah Webster is coming out in 2011. How did you get interested in writing biographies for young people?
A. I taught grades 2-4 in the inner city in LA for almost 30 years. About ten years into my teaching I saw (late, I know) a huge need. I wanted books with wonderful life role models for my students. Back in the 80s there weren’t many biographies of minority men and women who had made a difference in our world. So I decided to write one myself. After all, I thought, how hard can it be? As it turns out, pretty hard. After making some dismal attempts I enrolled in a NF for Children class at UCLA taught by Caroline Arnold. With her instructions in mind I wrote GO FREE OR DIE, the story of Harriet Tubman. Carolrhoda Books bought the manuscript, an editor flew to LA, we “did lunch,” and she asked me to write three more biographies: Sojourner Truth, Benjamin Banneker, and Noah Webster. In the following years I also wrote biographies of Abigail Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Biddy Mason, Mary Ann Shadd Cary, Susan LaFlesche Picotte, Matthew Henson, and Marian Anderson. Most of my biographies are about minority figures, and they all stem from my wonderful years in the inner-city classroom.

Q. What was the most difficult biography you’ve written? What made it difficult?
A. As a historian, it’s pure joy to research the lives of my subjects and the times in which they lived. My most difficult biography was that of the first Native American woman doctor, because of the richness and the differentness (to me) of the Native American culture, and because of the unspeakable destruction of that culture by my own race. I must become the person I’m writing about to the fullest extent possible. Also, it is critical to render cultures accurately, honestly, knowingly. I lived in fear that I would be found out as an outsider. With the help of the tribal historian, who also wrote the introduction, Susan LaFlesche Picotte lives authentically in this book.

Q. Your biography of Noah Webster is a non-fiction picture book. Have you ever considered other picture books?
A. My NF picture book biography of Noah Webster will be out in spring 2012 from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. Noah was a great character to write about, full of quirkiness and opinions, and with so much more to his story than “merely” the first American dictionary. It was such a joy to capture his voice (I hope) for younger children that I would love to do another picture book biography. Even very young readers can be swept away in the life of another person. Let’s hear lots of five-year-olds saying, “I too can make a difference!”

Q. Your most recent book is historical fiction about the siege of Leningrad. What made you decide to switch from biography to fiction?
A. Because I needed to tell this story. Russia is my passion. The history is accurate; the characters are a combination of several Russian friends who survived the siege. I think historical fiction is absolutely the best of both my writing loves: historical research and accuracy, and the fun of creating fictional characters to live out a real time in real history.

Q. You and your late husband made over 30 trips to Russia and collected memorabilia and artifacts and documents that you donated to the Slavic Department at the University of Southern California. Do you still travel to Russia?
A. My husband Tom taught Russian Studies at Beverly Hills High School. We began traveling to the Soviet Union in 1970. Its history, culture, art, literature, language, music, people, and tragedy were like a magnetic force drawing us into the heart of Russia. (I am still working on the language.) Our Ferris Russian Collection, described as “unmatched in the western world,” is now housed in the Shrine Auditorium, adjacent to USC. You can have a look via a link on my website. As for traveling to Russia, alas, I have not been there since 2000 due to family issues including the death of my husband and a move to northern California. However, maybe – next year in Russia.

Q. As a reader, when you were a child, did you gravitate to fiction or nonfiction?
A. When I was young, in Lincoln, Nebraska, I rode my horse to the Carnegie Library on the outskirts of town and loaded my saddle bags with books – fiction like The Black Stallion and Misty of Chincoteague and Lassie and non-fiction like Horseman’s Encyclopedia (the first book I ever bought, by the way, and here on my shelf as we speak). Embarrassing for a NF historian to say, but back then I was most definitely drawn to fiction. Also back then it simply never occurred to me that an actual person wrote the books I was soaking up like a sponge. I thought they just appeared on the shelves for me to read. In my defense, this was in the days before authors made school visits. I had never seen or met an author, and the only person I connected with books was my beloved librarian. The black stallion was real to me, Walter Farley the author was not.

Q. What books have made a difference in your life?
A. This is tough! I had a long list of adult books, but decided to stick with the important ones – children’s books. When I was little, anything about horses, the Black Stallion series, of course, Pam’s Paradise Ranch, Narnia, Mary Poppins. Books that made a difference in my writing include Charlotte’s Web, Tuck Everlasting, Hatchet, The Single Shard, Johnny Tremain. I remember reading Sarah, Plain and Tall, and almost weeping because I knew I could never write such a small and perfect book. Anything by Katherine Paterson or Richard Peck or Linda Sue Park or Deborah Wiles or James Marshall or William Steig or Jean Fritz or …. There are simply too many superb authors and books to list. Every award winner is a wonder and a lesson in how to do it right.

Q. What advice would you give a writer who wants to write biographies for children?
A. Read biographies for children. Read all the Newbery books. Read all local and national award-winning books. Be in a good, solid critique group. Join SCBWI and attend local and national conferences. Become familiar with the age group for which you’re writing. Decide whether you’re going to write a full life biography, or a slice of life in which your character achieved his/her most important accomplishments. Love research! Make your librarian your new best friend. Travel to sites your character inhabited. Haunt libraries, museums, and historical societies. Correspond with the experts in the field. Use the internet very carefully. Trace down primary sources such as letters, diaries, photos, newspapers of the time. Present your character as a real person by showing his/her flaws, doubts, and fears (in a balanced way). As much as is humanly possible, be your character as you tell his/her story. Develop your own unique style and voice. Constantly study award-winning biographies for children to learn how to create a fully alive character, in a real environment, living and interacting with historical events, and, very likely, influencing those events. Have your facts vetted by specialists. These specialists may even write introductions and blurbs for you, too.

Above all, enjoy with a passion what and who you are writing about. Your passion will make your character come alive on the page!

Jeri Chase Ferris can be contacted through her website, http://jerichaseferris.com/ , where you can learn more about her books, her awards, school visits, and the Ferris Russian Collection (under "links").

Meanwhile, for those reading this post, what books have made a difference to you in your life, and what biographies for children would you like to find on bookshelves?

Just a quick post today: Rachna Chhabria interviewed me about my book, The Fourth Wish, on her blog, Rachna's Scriptorium . You can read it at,
http://rachnachhabria.blogspot.com/2010/06/interview-with-elizabeth-varadan.html

Rachna's Scriptorium is a great site for writers, by the way. In addition to interviewing writers, she writes thought-provoking essays about the whole enterprise of writing.

Meanwhile, stay tuned for two interesting interviews coming up soon: Writing for Hire, and Writing Biographies for Children.

The Art Club and Art Shows

So much has been happening, I haven't had much time to blog. Friends visited from Spain and we were having a great time with them, doing a lot of sightseeing. Around that, I had Art Club lessons and author interviews. But before the Art Shows get too "old and cold", so to speak, I do want to mention them.

First, a word about the South Natomas Community Center Children's Art Club; Alex Vargas is the Center's director, a great supporter of art, and he is responsible for my being there. (He was familiar with an after school art club I did for years at my old school.) I teach the "club" one afternoon a week from 3:00 to 4:30. The students are ages 8-to-12, and all of them love art. It isn't an amorphous situation where kids have a variety of activities to choose from; they have come specifically for art. The parents are wonderfully supportive. Two or three of them help out in class regularly. The class caps at 20. This year we've averaged 16 on a regular basis, but the summer session has already filled up.

We cover a range of art techniques, concepts, and various artists: Still Life, Portraits, Landscapes, Abstract Art; soft and oil pastels, acrylic paint, watercolors, colored pencils, charcoal, etc. Students become familiar with bamboo brush painting at Asian New Year, works by Diego Rivera and Tamayo at Cinco de Mayo, Harlem Renaissance painters during Black History Month, Mary Cassat and Georgia O'Keefe during Women's History month, etc. Students keep portfolios and then take their work home at the end of the year. And in spring we usually have an art show at Art Ellis Art Supplies, and students sell their work.

So..., the shows:

This year, we actually had two: Art Ellis Art Supplies gave us the April Show, displaying student work in the window all through the month -- a really lovely way to make sure it gets wide viewing, and they've offered us the space for many years.

Then in May, we were fortunate to have a second show with Green Sacramento, a shop that specializes in environmental building and design products. We also had a reception on May 8th, serving punch and cookies early in the afternoon before the incredible Second Saturday Art Walk crowds arrived.

In both shows, student work was matted and was for sale -- $5.00 a painting, with $3.00 going to the artist, and the remaining $2.00 a "consignment fee". (In both cases, though, the stores refused the fee and put it back into our art supplies fund--a real kindness much appreciated.)

What has pleased me is how much these young artists are truly artists. By that, I mean they have what Robert Henri called the art spirit. Originally I planned for classes to be an hour a week, but the children asked for it to be longer so that they could paint or draw for a longer period of time! Some of them will be coming back this summer and again in the fall. With that kind of dedication, you know they are going to keep developing.

And this forces me to keep developing too!

An Interview with Laura McGee Kvasnosky

Our guest today is Laura McGee Kvasnosky, author of the popular series, Zelda and Ivy. Laura is both writer and illustrator, and she teaches at Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program.

1. Before your Zelda and Ivy series, you wrote two board books, One, Two, Three, Play with Me, and Pink, Red, Blue, What Are You?. What made you shift into the early chapter books?

I am not wedded to any particular type of picture book. My approach is to explore whatever ideas I have and as the project develops, I recognize what age group it best fits and nudge it that direction. The first book I sold was What Shall I Dream?, a picture book illustrated by Judith Schachner and published by Dutton. It came out after I had published board books and toddler books because of the time it took to illustrate. I am the illustrator of all of the rest of the picture books I have written.

2. In your opinion, which is easier to write and illustrate, a board book or an early reader?

I can’t really compare. A board book is like a beautiful pot of flowers; an early or beginning reader is like a garden bed. Both are equally satisfying when you get them planted right. As you might expect, a board book with its short text usually takes a lot less time.

3. Your novel, One Lucky Summer, was a 2002 Junior Library Guild Selection. Do you think you will write more books for the 8-to-12 year old audience?

I hope so. I have been working on another middle grade novel off and on for many years.

4. Do you have other series in mind besides Zelda and Ivy?

I have no other series in mind.

Zelda and Ivy began life as a picture book with three little chapters. Initially it was not intended as a series. But never say never. It wasn’t until the fourth book of the series, Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways, that the books were downsized to the standard 6 x 9-inch beginning reader format, which seems to be a good fit for them.

5. You have had great success in both writing and illustrating many of your books. With that in mind, what makes you decide to illustrate a book you haven’t written? And what makes you decide to have someone else illustrate one of your books?

This is easy to answer. If I wish I had written a book, then I am glad to try my hand at illustrating it. Of books I have written, only What Shall I Dream? was illustrated by another illustrator and that was the choice of the editor at Dutton who believed that since I was a new author my work might have a better chance with an established illustrator.

6. In 2007, your book, Zelda and Ivy: The Runaways, won the 2007 Theodor Seuss Geisel Beginning Reader Award. Can you tell us a little more about the award and how it felt to receive it? Did you know your book was nominated?

Of course this was very exciting. The ALA was meeting in Seattle (where we live) that year, so I was notified the night before and was sitting in the big ballroom of the convention center with a bunch of my friends when the award was announced. Very exciting. The following July we went to ALA in Washington DC to receive the award and were wined and dined by the publisher, Candlewick Press. Also lots of fun. The award is a nice affirmation of my work and also I think it has drawn more publishers to bring out beginning readers.

7. Your first book in the series, Zelda and Ivy, won the SCBWI Golden Kite Honors for both picture book illustration and text, as well as the Oppenheim Best Book Gold Award, and it was chosen as the American Library Association Notable Children's Book, in addition to other honors. Zelda and Ivy: Keeping Secrets is on the Bank Street Best Books of 2010 list. Does such prestigious recognition put any pressure on you when you write new books?

When I am creating a book, all the rest of the world goes away. I enter the world I am creating. That’s the seductive and wonderful part I love about writing and illustrating a book. The only part of the publishing equation that I have control over is to put in the time, to keep working at it. Once I send a book out into the world, it begins a life of its own. It is always gratifying when a book does well, but I put just as much passion and care into all of them.

8. You write, illustrate, teach, speak at conferences and offer workshops at schools. Which do you find the most challenging? (I’m assuming you find them all rewarding in different ways.)

I teach at Vermont College’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program. These are my peeps. A wonderful community of faculty and students. I learn so much through teaching that feeds my own work. The processes of talking about making books and making books feed each other. Because I secretly want to be a professional ukulele player and singer, I really do enjoy making presentations.

9. Can you talk a little about “The Inside Story”, a twice-yearly event started by you and author George Shannon ten years ago and now hosted by SCBWI?

George and I invented THE INSIDE STORY as a salon where children’s book authors and illustrators in the Seattle area could meet twice yearly to introduce their new books. After the first several years, our Seattle chapter of the SCBWI kindly took it over and it’s been rolling ever since – maybe 11 years? We rotate the venue through independent bookstores in Seattle and each presenter has three minutes to tell the story behind the story of his new book. Librarians, teachers, and booklovers provide the audience.

10. What advice do you have for children’s writers who want to write for very young children?

Mostly, I don’t think writing for the very young is different than writing for any audience. It helps to write every day, to foster the habit of combing through life for stuff that belongs in a story. I don’t really set out to write for a certain age of audience. Instead, I tell the best story I can and then figure what the audience is.

I am a big believer in READING as a way to steep yourself in any particular genre of picture books. If you aim to write for the very young, find ten books that are the kind of book you want to make and deconstruct them. What makes the best ones so good? Notice how the story starts, the voice, the characterization, the language, design, pacing, page turns etc etc -- all the myriad elements that make the best ones best. There’s a whole university waiting for you between the covers of a well-done picture book.

A little developmental research can help, too. If your intention is to write for the very young, spend some time with little kids. Get down on their level and look at the world. Notice what draws their attention. Read magazines for parents of little kids. What are the issues and concerns? Then reach down in yourself and connect something from that research to something from your own experience to find the story that is yours to tell.

Visit Laura’s website at: http://www.lmkbooks.com/bio/index.php .
In addition to a list of all her books, there are fun activities for children, as well as information about programs and workshops for schools and conference presentations.

As for where to buy her books, Laura says:

I think it's great if people buy books from their local independent booksellers so that we will continue to have local independent booksellers -- but amazon.com has them all, too, plus resellers who stock the out-of- print titles through the amazon site.

An Interview With Linda Joy Singleton

Linda Joy Singleton is the author of several popular YA and MG series, among them, Strange Encounters, The Seer, Dead Girl Walking, and Regeneration. Regeneration was a Young Adult Library Association Quick-Pick Choice in 2001. Twin Again won an Eppie Award for best children’s book in 2003. Here’s Linda to talk about her books and her writing process.

1. You have had several series published and have developed a loyal fan base. I’ve read several reviews, and regularly your fans clamor for the next book. Do they affect your choice of the next adventure?

Yes. I definitely listen to my fans. When THE SEER was just starting, fans kept telling me they wanted Sabine to find romance with Dominic. So I gradually added more in each book. A lot of my decisions for a new book are editorially driven. For instance, I’ve written one book about Thorn and think I have a good chance of being offered a contract for one more, so I recently pitched another Thorn book to my editor. Fingers crossed good news comes soon.

2. Your series usually deal with magic creatures, ghosts, extrasensory perception, or extraterrestrials. Have you always been interested in the paranormal? What inspired your interest?

I’ve always been interested in paranormal topics. Psychics especially intrigued me even when I was young because they seemed to offer evidence of contact with the Other Side. While I have never seen a ghost or had any woo-woo experience, I get strong intuitive feelings that I’ve learned to listen to. One of the first authors to inspire my interest in the supernatural was Lois Duncan; her YA mysteries plus a crime chiller called WHO KILLED MY DAUGHTER, based on a personal tragedy. I’ve been to psychics a lot; in fact, I plan to go to one next month. The last time I went to a psychic he predicted a TV sale and my series on a bestseller list. I’m hoping!

3. Each of your series has a different kind of protagonist. How do you know when it’s time to end one series and begin another?

With most of my series, I wanted to keep writing more books but the publisher made the decision to end the series. When REGENERATION ended at 5 books, I was so disappointed that I wrote one more book just for fans which is still available for free on www.ljsingleton.com . I never wanted THE SEER series to end. Until 1 ½ ago THE SEER was going to end with 5 books. I was thrilled when I was asked to write one more. My publisher felt a spin-off with Thorn would be a better choice since it will be a new character and situation. That book (tentative title GRAVE SECRETS) comes out in 2011.

4. Your books are mainly for teens or tweens. Have you ever thought of writing picture books or books for early readers?

I have a picture book about dogs that my agent is submitting. I am totally in love with this picture book and want it to sell very, very, very much! I’ve tried writing early readers but didn’t have the voice for it. I seem to have the most success with YA series and I’m happy to keep writing them.

5. Writers are often advised to carry a notebook with them at all times to “catch ideas”. Do you do that?

I usually have some paper in my purse, but I’ve written notes on napkins and the back of any papers I can find. I’ve even scribbled notes on my hands. I recently got an I-Phone with a notebook app that I love.

6. How do your series ideas come to you? A phrase? A problem? A new character?

Mostly I think of a set-up that intrigues me. I like situations where someone’s life takes a new twist, usually with paranormal elements. I’ve written quite a few books that didn’t sell and several of them don’t have paranormal. The idea for SEER and DEAD GIRL started in manuscripts earlier in my career that I’d submit then set aside then rework and submit again. The first character of THE SEER was a completely different girl than Sabine, and I called the series PSYCHIC SLEUTH. DEAD GIRL was originally a single-title book with a different ending titled TURN LEFT AT THE MILKY WAY. But when I switched the title to DEAD GIRL WALKING, my editor showed interest and suggested turning it into a series. I loved the idea and had a great time writing those books.

7. Do you do a first draft in longhand or on the computer, and why? If the former, when do you switch to the computer?

I write on the computer. I taught myself to type when I was 11 and have always loved the speed and rhythm of a keyboard; my form of musical instrument. I usually take notes in long-hand to get started but then I jump into the book on the computer. I edit as I go along so don’t really have a first draft but more of an evolved draft.

8. Who reads your manuscripts first? Your husband? A writing friend? Your agent or editor?

Definitely NOT my husband since he’s not a reader but he’s really smart and if I need some feedback, he’ll give me advice. I’m in a critique group that meets twice a month and they hear my work first. When I finish the book, then it goes to my agent who will forward it to my editor. Sometimes I send a new book to a friend online, like I recently did with SEER #6 to a librarian friend.

9. What is the best advice you have ever gotten from an agent? An editor? Another writer?

I’ve heard all flavors of advice and mostly it comes down to listening to my own gut feelings. Usually I’m telling myself to keep writing even though my book feels like garbage. I’ve learned that I can finish a book and I’ve learned how to deal with disappointments and success. Mostly the advice I give myself is to just keep growing as a writer and working hard. Never to give up.

10. Do you have a new series on the back burner?

There’s a science fiction YA that my agent has shopped around but it hasn’t sold. I’m planning another Thorn book if my editor wants one. I’m not really sure what’s next. I can’t wait to find out.

Thanks, Linda for sharing your thoughts with us.

For more information, visit Linda's website at http://www.lindajoysingleton.com/ and http://www.myspace.com/lindajoysingleton . New books coming out: THE SEER #6 MAGICIAN'S MUSE Fall 2010, and GRAVE SECRETS - A Thorn Goth Girl Mystery, 2011 (Flux/Llewellyn Publishing )