Interview Wednesday May 2012

Welcome to May's Kidlitosphere Interview Wednesday. I'm pleased to be your host. Are you looking for links to terrific interviews about children's literature? Or maybe you'd like to add your own link to an interview? You've come to the right place.

The links to the interviews are just below, and you can add your own link by leaving the information in the comments on this post (click on the "other perspectives link" in this blog post's footer) so that I can add to this list throughout the day. So let's get to it.

• First stop, it's over to Maeve at Yellow Brick Reads. She's interviewed Celine Kiernan about her Moorehawke trilogy. This author has just been shortlisted for Children's Books Ireland's Book of the Year award for her novel Into the Grey.

• And here at The Flatt Perspective you might like my own interview with Lena Coakley about how she carves out time for her writing in a busy life. Lena is the author of Witchlanders, just named the 2012 winner of the Americas division SCBWI Crystal Kite Award.

• Anastasia Suen has a treat in store at Booktalking. She has an interview with author Susanna Reich about her new book, Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat.

• Barbara at Jewish Books for Children with Author Barbara Bietz features an interview with Tina Nichols Coury  as part of Tina's blog tour. This interview is about the process of writing her new book Hanging Off Jefferson's Nose. And did you know Tina is the one who started Interview Wednesday? 

• Lindsey Carmichael has a whole bunch of interviews ongoing this week at Ten Stories Up. She interviews all the authors touring for Canadian Children's Book Week. And there's a great giveaway for you to enter.

• Jennie Rothschild at Biblio File has interviewed debut YA novelist M. Molly Backes, author of The Princess of Iowa. Find all about her, the book, and enter the giveaway!  

• Carmela Martino over at Teaching Authors recently posted an interview with author and writing teacher Karen Schreck. In addition to talking about her just-released YA novel, While He Was Away, Karen shares two great exercises—one in how to silence the inner critique and one in generating story ideas. And readers have till May 14 to enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of the book.

• Jone interviews Laura Purdie Salas and has her spill the details of what she reads and how she writes books such as BookSpeak! Poems about Books. The fun is over at Check It Out. 

• Over at Inkygirl Debbi Ohi interviews Holly Thompson to find out how she came to be the editor of TOMO: Friendship Through Fiction as well as the author of the YA verse novel Orchids. You can see the book trailers and also enter a giveaway.

• How about learning more about Erik, the young book review blogger at This Kid Reviews Books, and his new blog feature Creative Kids to showcase the creative works of kids from all over? That's what you'll find at By Word of Beth as Beth Stilborn interviews Erik and Josie. 

• And don't miss Picture Books & Pirouettes as Kerry Aradhya interviews ballerina Allegra Kent about her picture book Ballet Swan.

• Finally, Jocelyn Shipley interviews Anita Daher over at her website about Anita's YA and MG novel writing and about Great Plains Publications, where Anita is associate teen editor. 

Leave a Link?
Have you seen an interview about children's literature within the last month? If it's a written, audio, or video interview that follows these guidelines:

• The interview is with someone in the field of children’s/young adult literature, including authors, illustrators, editors, agents, and librarians.
• Interviews featuring writing tips, illustration tips, cyber tips, etc., as long as the information pertains to children's/young adult literature.

...then I'd love to add it to the list. Please leave the link to it in the comments. I'll be checking back here throughout the day and updating the list.

Do you have a blog related to reading, writing, or publishing books for children? Maybe you'd like to host Interview Wednesday. Just visit the official Kidlit Interview Wednesday sign-up page and you can do just that. Next month's Interview Wednesday will be hosted June 13 by Anastasia Suen at Booktalking.

Thanks to everyone for participating, and thank you for stopping by.

Lena Coakley: Carve Out Space for Your Creative Work

Creating Through the Clamour: Instalment 8

Feel like there's not enough time in your busy life to be creative? How do authors or illustrators continue to create while tackling everything else in their lives? About once a month as I'll ask a writer or illustrator how they do it. Because I want to know. (I need all the help I can get in this department.)


The Creator
name: Lena Coakley
resides: Near the distillery district in Toronto
website: www.lenacoakley.com
creates: Right now I’m writing young adult fantasy novels, but I’ve also published two children’s picture books and short stories for both teens and adults.

The Creations

Witchlanders (YA novel), Atheneum/Simon & Schuster

Mrs. Goodhearth and the Gargoyle (picture book), Orca Book Publishers

On the Night of the Comet (picture book), Orca Book Publishers

The Clamour

Doubt: I’m lucky enough to be able to write full time right now, but sometimes I can be my own worst enemy when it comes to procrastination and self doubt.

Volunteer Work: Although I’m no longer the administrative director at CANSCAIP (the Canadian Society of Children’s Authors, Illustrators and Performers), I still keep my hand in by designing the newsletter and organizing the Pitch Perfect critique sessions at their Packaging Your Imagination Conference.

Research: I’m writing my first historical novel right now. I love the research, but I’m not sure I’ve learned when to stop!

Crazy Interruptions: I’ve had a strange start to 2012 with everything from bedbugs to minor surgery to family crises to unexpected houseguests all taking me away from my writing. It’s been a great lesson, though: Life intervenes as it always will, but we still have to carve out that space for our creative work.

Wow, those are some crazy interruptions! How did you get started in this field?

I think I got started in this field the day my mother read me my first picture book. I have loved books ever since I can remember, and I think I started making up stories of my own at a very early age. When I first came to Toronto, the best thing I did was to enroll in Peter Carver’s course in writing for children, a class he taught for over 20 years at Mabel’s Fables bookstore in Toronto. I had always liked the idea of being a writer, but Peter started me on that long (never-ending!) path of honing my skills. It took me over 10 years from the time I enrolled in that course to the time I published my first picture book, but those workshops were where I first began to develop my own distinctive voice.

What are you working on these days?

I’m working on a historical fantasy novel that takes place in 1834 and features the four Brontë siblings, Anne, Charlotte, Branwell and Emily as characters. It’s quite a daunting task! Last weekend I went to tea with the Toronto members of the Brontë Society and I can tell you, there are some huge Brontë fans out there! I feel an enormous sense of pressure to do justice to these extraordinary siblings and to get the details right.

How do you minimize your distractions while you're working? Any tips for others? 

Decide in advance how you are going to deal with social media and stick to your plan. Some people can have a quick look at Twitter and Facebook before they start to write, but I find that I can get sucked into social media and that it can drain my creative energy. I try not to look at either until lunchtime and then just for a set amount of time. Because I need to do so much research for this book, I’ve also decided to only watch television on the weekends for the next little while.

The important thing is not to let one distraction ruin your whole day. The writing flow sometimes gets interrupted—it happens—but it’s important to learn how to get back into it.

How do you cope with times when you just can't focus on your writing?

Being a procrastinator of Olympic caliber, I have developed a few tricks:

• Try an egg timer. Sometimes if I’m really feeling squirmy at my desk, I set an egg timer and tell myself I only have to write for that amount of time before taking a break. Usually I set the timer for an hour, but if I’m really unfocused, I can set it for as little as 15 minutes.

• Make a date with a writing partner. I’m convinced I never would have finished my first novel, Witchlanders, if I hadn’t been meeting regularly to write with my friend, Aino Anto. Somehow writing regularly helps get over that bottleneck of dread that keeps us away from our desk. At this point in my career, I don’t think I need a writing partner as much as I once did, but I will still make a date to bring my mini to a friend’s house to write if I’m feeling stuck.

• Write every day, even if it’s for 15 minutes. You’ve probably heard this one before, but I’m a big believer in it. It keeps your work in the forefront of your mind, even when you don’t have much time for it.

• Try a change of scene. I love to pretend I’m JK Rowling and write in my local café.

What book, song, painting, or maybe movie has touched you or has had great meaning for you recently?

I’m reading David Copperfield right now, a book my grandmother read to me when I was growing up. I hear the intonation of her voice very clearly when I read it, and that’s something that makes it doubly wonderful to read, now that she’s gone. It’s such a funny, sweet, clever, charming, sentimental book—probably one of my all-time favourites. I recommend it to absolutely everyone. 

As a creative person, do you have any other outlets for your talents? a hobby or interest?

I love to swim and I think my swimming and my writing go hand in hand. If I have a swim in the morning I find I come to my desk with half my plot problems already worked out.

Why do you keep creating in the face of all this trouble/effort?

That’s a good question, Lizann! Sometimes I do think my life would have been much easier if I’d become a computer programmer or a paleontologist, but I seem to be committed now!

***

Thanks, Lena. Having read Witchlanders, I'm very glad you're committed. No escaping now, is there? Thanks so much for spending some of your time here. I'm going to try that timer trick.

Which tip will you try?

Susan Hughes' Ideas

It's nice to be asked how I do things. Although I'll be honest and admit I don't usually analyze how I do things, I just do them. But it was a lovely idea for Susan Hughes to ask me to think about how I generate my ideas.

Susan Hughes is May's writer-in-residence blogging for Open Book Toronto. She gives great insights into how she comes up with ideas for nonfiction in Looking for the Lightbulb--Part 1. It's a good read for anyone interested in writing non-fiction. Thank you to her for including me as part of her article.

And there's a whole month more of her articles to look forward to. That's definitely a great idea.

Page 41, Painting, and Politics

World leaders' paintbrushes

It's not often that one of the books I've written as a work for hire project ends up having something that's close to my daily life in it. That's because a work for hire book has been thought of and planned out by someone else and I just fulfill the project parameters.

But this small life/project overlap happened with a photo on page 41 of a few world leaders talking at the G8 Summit in Huntsville, Ontario in my book The Legacy of the War of 1812. And the overlap? This world leaders' meeting happened in my corner of the world and I see a commemorative display to this particular G8 quite regularly.

Painting containing world leaders' brush strokes

It's  a wall display of a painting and the paintbrushes used by the world leaders when they added their brush strokes to the artwork. The artwork itself is a large wall mural replica of a famous Group of Seven painting. I made myself stop and look at it carefully not too long ago. Usually I walk right by it as I hurry to and from the community centre for my kids' sporting activities. But I was glad I decided to stop and really look at this display for once.

There's a nice YouTube video of part of the process of the leaders actually adding their colors here. And there's lots of information behind the whole Group of Seven Outdoor Gallery mural project, which puts mural sized replicas of Group of Seven paintings all over parts of Muskoka, available online.

So what's my point? Don't know. It's nice to see painting and politicians mix. Most likely the photo on page 41 just happened because it was a recent current event...or maybe the universe is telling me to stop and admire paintings more often.

Bad, Boring Blogger?

I am a bad, boring blogger lately, aren't I? I mean, if I don't post it's just bad and boring by default. Better to post and be bad and boring while trying. Maybe?

My problem seems to be I constantly put other things before my writing or my blog. It's a sickness and I have to figure out how to cure myself of it. It's the *constantly* that's a problem, because there are legitimate times other things have to come first. But surely I could learn to put myself first sometimes, couldn't I? Here's me saying I'll try.

So to make this post not entirely whiney, yesterday I went to the local library and it's not everyday this greets you in your library parking lot:

Yes, the Canadian military is conducting exercises in the area and they were camped out at the community centre. But they were more than happy to answer peoples' questions. My kids and many other kids were able to peek inside the vehicles and find out more about what it's like to be in the military. Here's a brief article on the background for them being here: http://www.moosefm.com/cfbg/news/10067-military-on-local-training-maneuvers

So let that reinforce the lesson about libraries again--you never know what you'll learn at the library.

Pet Personality

Our cat was not impressed with my daughter's idea of a photo shoot. With apologies to ICanHasCheezburger:

We already knows we haz mad skills on this thing. We doesn't have to show you.

But I bet you guys can come up with a better caption. Hit me with them in the comments, please!

Dedication Dilemma

Oh happy day when I realized I needed to write a dedication to Counting on Fall, my forthcoming Fall 2012 picture book. But then I realized I had a dilemma.

How do I dedicate it to someone without offending someone else? The first book I got to dedicate to anybody was easy. It was Let's Go! The Story of Getting from There to Here and I dedicated it to my mom and dad. I mean, as a first dedication who could blame an author for dedicating it to their parents, right?

Now, though, the choices expand: kids, hubby, two crit group friends who've been with me a long, long time, other writers who have encouraged me, fabulous editors, two sisters, nieces and nephews.... Yeah.

But the more I thought about it the more I felt like I had to recognize my immediate family. You know, those people who live with me day in and day out and put up with my various moods, various piles of laundry left unfolded around the house, various thrown together meals because I was too busy writing all day, various other chores left undone, and so on.

Even in my immediate family there are several people to choose from. So who is first? Uh-oh. But the concept of first rattles around in my brain:

• interestingly Counting on Fall is the first of a series 
• and it's about counting, so the concept of first is in there 
• and I have a firstborn child 
• and I like to write my dedications in a way that they have a bit to do with the book itself (as opposed to just a "To Soandso") 

Is this all starting to gel?

But what about the other three books in the series? Three? Why yes, I have two more kids and a hubby which of course equals three more people. This is looking better and better.

Now what about alluding to the book content in the book's dedication? I roughed out some ideas for matching content to people...yes, it might work!

So I wrote the first dedication as an allusion to firsts for my firstborn and it's now set in stone. I'll have to do the second one shortly and I'll have my fingers crossed that this plan works out.

And from there, because I don't want anyone to feel left out, I guess I'll just hope I have to face more dedication dilemmas in the future.