Eight Energizing Years: Mayhemmers Caroline, Chris, and Paul On Their Writing Lives

Last week, after I announced the migration of The Mayhem from blog form to a Facebook group, I asked our bloggers to give a snapshot of their writing careers since Project Mayhem: The Manic Minds of Middle Grade Writers first appeared in 2010. Here are the responses from three of our long-time contributors.

Caroline Starr Rose ~

My writing career really got underway around the time Project Mayhem began. In 2010 I sold my first novel, May B. Since then I've sold six more books. As I've moved from an aspiring author to a debut and into a career, I've tried to hold the things I can't control loosely and learn to take the long view.  My aim these years has been to make beautiful books of enduring value that honor and extend dignity to children.

I hope I can continue to do the same for many years to come!

www.carolinestarrrose.com








Chris Eboch ~

I'm not sure when I joined Team Mayhem. It wasn't at the beginning, but I feel like I've been part of the family for a long time. So what has happened in recent years?

I published You Can Write for Children: How to Write Great Stories, Articles, and Books for Kids and Teenagers in Kindle, in paperback, and Large Print paperback. To put together this book, I adapted many of the articles I wrote for Children's Writer newsletter, the annual Writer's Guide books, or other publications. It's one more way of sharing my love of writing Kidlit, and the knowledge I've amassed over the years of working in the industry.

Since 2015, 20 more of the educational publishing books I've written have come out. The most recent are four books in the Sweet Eats with a Side of Science series from Capstone, and Living through World War I  and Living through World War II from Rourke. In addition, I've done 10 titles in the Introducing Issues with Opposing Viewpoints series, where I curate articles and write introductions and questions. This brings me up to 52 nonfiction books and 14 fiction titles traditionally published! That's not something I ever expected when I sold my first novel, The Well of Sacrifice, way back in the late 90s.

I'm also still writing for adults as Kris Bock. I haven't published a new romantic suspense novel since The Skeleton Canyon Treasure in 2016, but I've been working on a mystery novel that's ready to send to agents.

Less has changed on the personal front. I'm still living in a small town in New Mexico, still married to a wonderful man, still hiking most weeks, and still keeping ferrets – although our current pair are only a year old, so they are relatively new. Princess Pandemonium (Panda) and Teddy Black Bear (Bear) are playful when awake and snugly when sleeping, which is most of the time.


Paul Greci ~

A close friend, who teaches elementary school, once said to me, I never teach the same lesson twice because I am never the same person twice. Life is change and over the last eight years, like most people, I’ve seen my share. As a writer, I’ve had one book come out, Surviving Bear Island (Move Books 2015) and have five more under contract with three different publishers—Move, Macmillan, and Benchmark—scheduled to come out over the next four years.

I still write in the morning before heading to my teaching job, and my wife is still my main reader of manuscripts outside of my agent and the editors I’m working with at the publishing houses. That said, the biggest change for me as a writer has been writing books from start to finish that are already under contract as opposed to writing a book for which I do not yet have a publisher. Even though I am a disciplined writer, I admit that having deadlines I’ve signed off on has kept me on task even more.


One thing that hasn’t changed is the wonder, engagement and challenge I experience when writing a novel and seeing it through the twists and turns of the creative process. Another thing that hasn’t changed (which is also something I love about writing) is the continual learning curve I’m traveling as a writer. There is always more to learn when crafting a story, and that learning keeps the journey fresh.

A New Book! Jasper and the Riddle of Riley's Mine by Caroline Starr Rose

I’m kinda obsessed with the Klondike Gold Rush. If I were heartier and braver (and had no problem with sub-freezing temperatures), I’d love to travel back to 1897 and see the frenzy that unfolded in Canada’s Yukon Territory firsthand.

Did you learn about the Klondike Gold Rush in school? I certainly didn’t, unless you count the day we spent reading Jack London’s memorable short story, “To Build a Fire.” That was my only taste of this historic event that (unbeknownst to me) fascinated the entire world.

If I could, I’d like to spy on Jefferson “Soapy” Smith, a con-man in Skagway, Alaska, who swindled, tricked, and robbed would-be miners (called Stampeders) as they were passing through. I’d love to see the never-ending chain of people climbing over the Chilkoot Pass’s Golden Stairs — steps carved into ice that men, women, and even children trudged up for days and weeks and months, until they’d finally carried their ton of supplies safely into Canada.

What would it be like to wander the muddy streets of Dawson City -- the community that sprang up at the mouth of the Yukon and Klondike rivers after gold was discovered --where the knighted and the nameless were suddenly on equal footing? Wouldn’t it be fun to catch a glimpse of Skookum Jim and George Carmack with their gold nugget belt buckles the size of supper plates? What would it feel like to endure darkest winter in a tiny claim shanty? 

Of the 100,000 Stampeders who set out for the Klondike, thirty to forty thousand reached Dawson City. About twenty thousand of those who made it to Dawson tried looking for gold. Four thousand found it. A few hundred got enough to be considered rich. But only a handful were able to hold onto their wealth.

All that hardship with so little return. Can you think of anything more daring or exasperating?

I hope my newest book, Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine, set smack dab in the middle of the Klondike Gold Rush, gives young readers a taste of this weird, wild, wonderful bit of history — from the coziness of their well-insulated, modern-day homes, of course!

Praise for Jasper:

Jasper narrates in the present tense, his homespun voice evoking both emotion and adventure. Villains and allies provide colorful melodrama, but it's the brothers' struggle to survive the Yukon wilderness with its harsh beauty and unforgiving cold that will keep readers entranced.

— Kirkus

Jasper’s voice and Caroline Starr Rose’s writing style brought her characters alive, bursting with warmth and spirit. The rich details and historically accurate setting took me back to the era of the Gold Rush.

-- Terry Lynn Johnson, author of Ice Dogs and Falcon Wild

Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine takes two brothers and plunks them right into a hair-raising journey to the goldfields of Canada. It’s a rollicking adventure, warm and funny, chockablock with bad guys and good guys, mysteries and deceptions, dangers and disasters.  With courage and persistence, Melvin and the delightful Jasper discover the true meaning of riches, friendship, and family. It’s a rip-roaring tale and a romping good read. Try to resist!

— Newbery Award-winning author, Karen Cushman

The dreams and dangers of the 1897 Klondike gold rush fuel Rose’s first novel in prose, and it’s a rousing historical adventure…Rose’s carefully plotted clues, along with colorful supporting characters and narrow escapes, keep the pace brisk until Jasper finds Riley’s mine in a suspenseful climax. Complementing a narrative rich in details about life on the frontier, the author’s note provides more intriguing facts, including profiles of characters in the book who were true historical figures. VERDICT Highly recommended for fans of adventure and historical fiction, or as a classroom read-aloud. — School Library Journal

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