IJF asks: What have you just finished?
Abbie 2 is all sewn up and in my editor's hands and I'm sweatily awaiting word on whether she likes it or not. The main thing I've learned about the publishing world is that everything moves at a glacial pace...which drags out the agony something fierce.
IJF asks: What book(s) have been life changing for you?
Hmm. That's a good question. I sometimes like to think that it was Louisa May Alcott's LITTLE WOMEN. I had a lovely old copy that had been my mother's and I read it and the others in the series over and over. I knew that Jo was Alcott's alter ego and Jo wanted to grow up to be a writer...which of course Louisa May did grow up to be...so it made the idea seem accessible to me. But any kind of book, even a trashy one can open your mind up to the idea of a larger world and different kinds of lives. I grew up in a small, isolated town in northern Canada where there wasn't even any TV. If it wasn't for books, I might have thought that was as far as the world extended.
IJF asks: Can you tell us your best fan encounter story?
Yay! I actually have one! The Witchy Worries only came out in April but in June, I went back to do an author visit at Third Street School here in LA, which my boys had attended when they were younger. I based Abbie's school on Third Street and used the names of the librarian and the principal and some of the teachers for characters in the book. So the kids really got a kick out of that, bought tons of copies and a lot of them had already read the book before I came...Well, it was as if Elvis had come back to life. Kids were hurling themselves at me for hugs and surrounding me for autographs. A bunch of fifth graders coming back from a field trip hung out the windows and yelled that they loved my book. I was queen for a day. And I have to say, personal thrill aside, I loved to see kids getting excited about meeting a writer. Justin Beiber, move on over.
Since one of your boys was the inspiration for The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams, did the other inspire any part of Abbie 2?
Absolutely. My older boy was the same age as my protagonist, Abbie when I wrote the book and he would bring home stories from the school yard and express his concerns about things that were going on day by day. I took some things word for word from stuff he told me. A large sub-plot that I had to take out of Abbie 1 (I plan to use it in a later book, they're delicious warmed up later) was based on a continuing conflict that was going on for the kids in his class that year with a boy who didn't fit in.
How long did it take The Witchy Worries of Abbie Adams to go from completion to publication?
Get out the tissues. It's a heart-rending tale. Being Canadian by birth, and after spending months soliciting agents here in the States and not being able to get a single one to read my manuscript, I turned to Canada. A dear friend, (dearer than ever now) recommended me to her agent, the manuscript finally got read and my adored agent Lise Henderson took me on. She found me a Canadian publisher in a month. It was Raincoast, which distributes Harry Potter up there, and I instantly fell into obsessive fantasies about JK Rowling having me over for tea. The book was edited and ready for the copy editor...when Raincoast decided to close the publishing arm of the business and orphaned me. Cue the handkerchiefs. In order to shield your readers' tender sensibilities, I won't tell you how many publishers passed on me before Harcourt took me on...and then Harcourt fell into financial turmoil as well!!! My nail-biting would make a manicurist weep...but my editor Kathy Dawson left Harcourt and took me along with her to Penguin, to an eventual happy ending. The short answer is...gird your loins....five years from first submission to publication.
Do you have any plans to write adult fiction?
It's a funny thing. I only had a middle-grade voice in me when my boys were younger and though I'm still working on the Abbie series, now that my boys are 12 and 15, I'm leaning more toward YA for my other projects. By the time they grow up I may find an adult book in there somewhere.
Who are your favorite authors to read?
As far as kid books and YA go, I'm about ready to kill someone if I can't get my hands on the last Hunger Games installment soon. And Laurie Halse Anderson may possibly be my hero, if it isn't Kate DiCamillo. And when I'm reading adult literature just for sheer love of it, you'd find me with Jane Austen, Dickens, Wilkie Collins, all that elaborately beautiful 19th century language..
Do you tend to let your characters lead the story or are you in charge?
Well, there are times when those pesky little critters try to take over the show and start yakking back and forth to each other and running hither and thither. (Where is thither by the way?) I love to indulge them...until they paint me into a corner and I have to haul out an outline and start laying down the law.
How many books in the series do you have planned?
At first, I thought I had a million Abbie books in me, but now I only know of three for sure. It's all such a long process getting them into print, that a lot of other ideas for different books keep moving in on me. Of course if my editor demands more books...(fingers crossed that she does) I must obey. (Toes crossed too.)
Are you friends with any other authors in your genre and if so do you all share your works in progress?
Some of my sisters in the Classof2K10 are also middle-grade but my other writer friends aren't. In any case though, I tend to not show my work to anyone until I have a full draft. Well, except for my husband, who has been carefully trained to laugh out loud and tell me how brilliant it is. I tried a critique group once while things were in progress and it really wasn't for me, I have to believe that every word I write is sheer genius...until it's all on the page and then I can prepare my tender heart for criticism.
Your "day job" sounds fun but what exactly is a story analyst?
I read scripts and novels, synopsize them and critique them with an eye to whether they'll make a good film or not. If we have things in development, I give notes and track changes on the new drafts as they come in. It is fun for the most part and though I have nothing to do with the production end, I love seeing the completed film after having been so intimate with it when the screenplay was being developed. Sometimes I find myself mouthing the words along with the actors. One of the best things about my job though is that I can work at home, so I've gotten to make a salary and be a stay at home mom.
