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takes time out from chasing squirrels to chat with Marianne in their back yard.
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How long have you been a writer? I wrote stories and poems for fun when I was a kid. But I had no idea when I was growing up that I would someday be an author. My dream was to be a flight attendant and fly around the world! Instead, I became a teacher, and teaching led me into writing. I sold my first story in 1991.
Where do you get your ideas for stories? Once you turn your "story radar" on, ideas are everywhere! They sneak up on me when I'm talking with my friends, having family conversations, watching cartoons, reading books, laughing at jokes, walking my dogs–even in my dreams when I'm sleeping.
Are you rich? Ha-ha-ha-ha! Very few authors make enough from writing to "quit their day job" or just live on writing income. Fortunately, my husband has had good jobs so I've been able to stay home and write.
What's the best part about being an author? Getting to read lots of neat books and coming to schools to talk about books and writing with everyone.
What's the worst part about being an author? Waiting. At every step you seem to be waiting to hear from someone. You write stories and send them out. Then you wait to hear from editors if they want them. Even if they do, you wait for more editing, wait for art, wait for production, wait for books to arrive, wait for reviews. But waiting to hear if a publisher will buy your story is definitely the longest and hardest wait.
What's the best tip you can give anyone wanting to be a writer? Read! Read the book first for fun and the story. Then read it again, looking for ways the author handled plot, dialogue, description, hidden clues, etc. I have learned the most about writing from reading other authors' books.
How many rewrites do you do on a story? Every story needs lots of rewrites to make it sparkle. But how many depends on how long and complicated the story is. Sometimes it comes out pretty good early on. Other times I have to tear it apart and start over several times and then do more refining of style and words until it is the very best I can do.
How long does it take to write a story? Again, that depends on how long and complicated the story is. I can write a 100 word rebus story in an hour. But a 30,000 word historical fiction novel or a mystery might take several years!
Do you use a computer to write your stories? Yes! I don't think I would be enjoy writing so much if I didn't have a computer to make it go smoothly. I love hitting the delete button and making my mistakes disappear!
Do you have to find the illustrator for your stories? No, that's the job of the magazine or book publisher. They know who all the good illustrators are. I don't. Plus, they must pay for the art so they get to choose.
Who is your favorite author? Oooooh, hard question! For adventures I like Will Hobbs and Gary Paulsen. For mysteries I like Wendelin Van Draanen, Betty Ren Wright, and Mary Downing Hahn. For historical fiction I like Katherine Paterson and Linda Sue Park. For silly stories I like James Howe. For picture books... too many to name!
What is the favorite book you've written? Another hard question! I like them all for different reasons. My "favorite" is whatever I'm working on at the moment. It's so exciting to see how it will come out.
How many books have you written? I recently published book #9. I have several "books" written, but they don't work well enough yet to be published. More tweaks and rewrites are needed!
What books are in the works? I have a young adult historical fiction manuscript out looking for a publisher.
What are you working on now? I'm writing the Bear Family stories for Highlights for Children and an English-Spanish story for their pre-school magazine, High Five.
Favorite color? Turquoise.
Favorite food? Popcorn.
Favorite pastime? Reading.
Do you have children? No human children. My "children" are my two dogs: Misty and Poni. They make me laugh every day and they keep me from working too long at the computer. My husband, Jim, is also a writer. He does private eye mystery books for adults. His website is: www.jamescmitchell.net
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