How Fan Fiction Made Dorothy Winsor a Novelist, interview by Kell Andrews

Debut novelist Dorothy A. Winsor learned to write fantasy from a master -- J.R.R. Tolkien -- and the writers and readers who adore him. A college professor, Winsor had taught technical writing and published nonfiction long before she decided to try fiction, first within a Tolkien fan fiction environment, and then within her own worlds.

Her method helped her turn out an absorbing middle-grade fantasy within an original setting. Finders Keepers (Illusio & Baqer/The Zharmae Publishing Press) is a well-written, tautly paced fantasy with a vivid world and a likable protagonist in Cade, who possesses the Gift of finding magical heart-stones that could save his people from a cataclysmic change in calendar -- or curse him to life of slavery in the heart-stone mines.

Description 

Finders Keepers by Dorothy A. Winsor

The eight gods that govern the world are tricky and fickle, and even the most innocuous of their blessings comes with consequences. Those who find a blessing are cursed to dance on strings in exchange for good fortune. Which begs the question: is finding one good fortune at all?

Cade lives a simple life with his mother and brother, but when he finds a heart stone, he wonders if he can’t change that. Heart stones are said to bring luck to those who hold them, and Cade’s tiny family could surely do with good fortune.

But heart stones aren’t just tokens of good luck; simply tracking one down is a sign of a special gift. Cade is a Finder, just like his mother before him, but this gift is hardly what is seems; if the larger community finds out about this, Cade’s entire life will change.

And not for the better.

Now he lives outside the law, struggling to find a way to reclaim what was once his, all while fending off a new hardship that he never anticipated: an overwhelming desire to take back what is his. No matter the cost.

The Interview

 
Q: I understand that you began writing fiction after being involved in a fan fiction community. How does that prepare you as a writer? 

Writing Tolkien fan fiction taught me so much. For one thing, I wrote a lot. Raymond Chandler supposedly said you have to write a million words of bad writing before you can write good stuff, and fan fiction gave me the chance to do that (literally) in a low risk environment with encouragement from readers. I could try out anything I liked--first person, third person, multiple point of views, flashbacks, little kid point of view, running metaphors, whatever I wanted. If it worked, great. If it didn't, it didn't matter. There were plenty more stories where that one came from.

With my first story, I was lucky enough to have someone offer to be my beta reader. That person turned out to be the best developmental editor I've ever worked with. She pushed me endlessly not to rush a story, not to shortchange a character, not to take the easy route. It was like having my own private writing tutor.

Besides that, it was fun.

Q: How does it differ to write in a world or your own creation? How did you create the world in Finders Keepers?
 
I'd been creating my own characters within Tolkien's story, so character building wasn't hard for me. But world building? That was a shock. I hadn't realized how much I relied on Tolkien's world to lend background and significance to my story. That sounds stupid, but it's true.

I actually liked writing to canon. Having to fit my work into Tolkien's story meant I couldn't always go with my first idea for a plot or character element. I had to push farther and get more creative. On the other hand, working in my own world does allow me to fit the world around my character's needs. For me, a story grows around a character, in this case Cade. He's at a point in his life where he has to grow and change. Writing in my own world meant I could look at what kind of challenge he needed to face, and then be free to create it.

In other words, for me, the story drives world building. Unlike say, Tolkien, I create only as much as I need to put my characters in a challenging situation that feels deep enough to be real.

Q: How did you decide to write fantasy for middle grade instead of adult? What do you see as the difference?
 
I've always enjoyed writing about young characters, particularly adolescents. You know how there are endless TV shows set in hospitals or courtrooms? That's because events in those settings create moments of crisis in people's lives. Moments of crisis make good stories.

Adolescence is a natural crisis in everyone's life. Your body is changing. You're doing multiple things for the first time, ranging from driving to dating to holding a job. Your brain is not yet fully developed and you lack experience, yet you wind up making life shaping decisions. You're ready to leave your parents' guardianship and don't yet have a family you've built yourself so the chances are good you have to struggle through moments of soul crushing loneliness.

I'm interested in the strengths and wounds that a character's family has created. The family might be good, which is the case for Cade, but in order to save his brother and everyone else, he has to violate some of the things he's been taught, which is painful for him. Additionally, his father died, and that's left a real hole in his life that he hasn't yet had time to heal.

Situations like that have the potential for all kinds of good stories. How could I pass them up?

Q: What is the difference in participating in online and IRL communities for fan fiction and as a traditionally published author?
 
Participating in a community of like-minded readers and writers was one of the most satisfying parts of fan fiction. To this day, several of my best friends are people I met on fanfic sites. I travel a fair amount, and I've met fellow Tolkien fanfic writers in Ireland, England, and New Zealand, where I actually stayed with the person, whom I met face-to-face for the first time in the Auckland airport.

One of the interesting differences I see is that within fan fiction, readers and writers tend to be the same people. You see one another as being in the same realm. When a fanfic reader reviews a story, the review is addressed straight to the writer, and it's good manners for the writer to reply. One site I used (Stories of Arda) allows everyone to see both the reviews and the author replies, so conversations sometimes develop.

In contrast, in original fiction, a review is written not for the writer, but for other readers, who are deciding whether they might enjoy a book. The writer is supposed to butt out. On Goodreads, for instance, readers can get hostile if a writer intrudes on the discussion. Social media reduce the barrier between writer and reader to some degree, but those are still different worlds.

Dorothy A. Winsor

Q: Stephen King has a bestseller out with the same title as yours. What did you think when you heard that? How did you decide to keep the original title?
 
When my brother pointed out the King title, I was appalled! Finders Keepers had been the title for my book since I started working on it around 2012, and I couldn't imagine changing it. I knew you can't copyright a title, so I could keep it if I wanted to, but I didn't know if there'd be consequences I didn't foresee. I immediately passed word to my publisher, and they didn't see any need to change my title. Turns out there are lots of books with that title.

Q: You've written several stories in the same world as Finders Keepers. What is it like revisiting those characters and world? Will we hear more from Cade? What's next from you?
 
I find sequels hard to write. It feels to me like the book I've already written said what I had to say about those characters. But the short stories I've written take place before Finders Keepers, so to me, it feels like I'm filling in the backstory. I'd like to write more about Cade because I find him entertaining to have in my head, but I don’t have enough story for him yet.

I'm more inclined to pick a secondary character and write about them because they still have secrets to reveal to me.

I do have a young adult fantasy, tentatively called Deep as a Tomb, that's scheduled for publication in 2016. That has a sixteen-year-old boy and girl with alternating points of view. He's the son of the king, and she's the daughter of a would-be rebel who wind up living in the same household.

 

Visit Dorothy A. Winsor at dawinsor.com. Finders Keepers is available on Amazon and Barnes and Noble.

What's In Your Wallet by Robert Lettrick

The following is a public service announcement.

There are only 45 days left until the theatrical release of Star Wars: The Force Awakens!

This has been a public service announcement.

I know for many of you, I could end this blog entry now, and it would have been a completely satisfying read. 45 days! That’s nothing. We’ve been patient this long, and as the saying goes, good things come to those who wait (which is why Glenn better be alive after last Sunday’s Morgan-centric episode of Walking Dead, or else!).

As a person born in the early 70s, Star Wars came out when I was an impressionable little kid and POW! it hit me where I lived. New Hope grabbed my imagination like a tractor beam I could not escape (although Phantom Menace nearly jettisoned my escape pod.) From that day forward my relatives never had to ask what I wanted for my birthday, they just had to ask which Star Wars action figures I hadn’t collected yet. I spent hours dreaming up noncanonical adventures for my plastic people, and the only hard and fast rule was that Luke Skywalker always got the girl (until Return of the Jedi, and then ew.) In a way, action figures are a form of fan fiction, and in that regard they were my earliest attempt at storytelling. Star Wars set me on a creative journey that would eventually bring me to the world of publishing.

If I were to show you the contents of my wallet, you’d find some important items and some not-so-important items: driver’s license, a credit card, my business card, three different library cards, my gym membership card, a photo of my family, a boarding pass for a flight to Boston, a coupon for Mello Yellow Zero, etc… It’s a specific-to-me collection of identification that would provide a pick-pocket with a fairly good idea of who I am as a person. It wouldn't convey the complete image, but certainly a kind of composite sketch of my life. Using a wallet as a metaphor to identify why I became a writer, it’s safe to say that Star Wars (the original trilogy, anyway) is the driver’s license. It was powerfully influential at the perfect time, so much so that it nudged me in a new direction and off I went and I never looked back. 

A desire to become a writer is rarely the result of just one wallet item.  Instead it’s a combination of all kinds of things: books, music, art, people, places, etc. The content of our metaphorical billfold is the complex answer to the question What made you decide to become a writer?

As an experiment I made a list of my major influences, and the results were fairly interesting (to me, so feel free to skip the following section and jump right into the mining of your own wallet). My list is unique. Your list is unique. Do you still enjoy those influences? Do they still inspire you? Can you see them peeking out through your stories all these years later? In what ways? Make a list and pin it to a cork board for when you need a reminder of all of the powerful influences that inspired you to become a writer.  

After rooting around my wallet, here are a few of the items I found.

DC’s Adventure Comics #452 Featuring Aquaman

The very first reading material I ever picked out and bought with my own money. I knew Aquaman from the Super Friends cartoon so I was expecting something light. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Not only did the comic book introduce me to the concept of pacifism, but it featured the death of an important character—Aquaman’s son, a boy younger than I was at the time. Unlike most comic book characters, as far as I know, Arthur Jr never returned to the land of the living. I learned at an early age that characters die in stories, even the innocent ones.

Marvel’s Defenders, Issue #89

The second comic book I ever purchased. It was notable because nothing super-heroic happened at all. There was a funeral for a character’s elderly mother, Nighthawk used his robotic wings to fix a TV antenna, his alter ego was audited, and the Hulk went grocery shopping, only to come home with a hundred cans of baked beans. That was it. But it was great writing and it taught me that in skilled hands, characters can be just as compelling eating baked beans as they are when they’re saving the world.

A Wrinkle in Time

My first middle-grade book and still one of my favorites. JK Rowling ultimately convinced me to make the leap to become a writer, but Madeleine L'Engle's terrific novel convinced me to become a reader.

Nature

Growing up, nature was all around me. I lived near a swamp, a pond, a forest and fields. I chased crayfish and fireflies and frogs and rabbits, and that’s why nature is a major thematic element in my books today. #Whyiwrite To get kids excited about science. 

My Sister

I got my sister's hand-me-down books and her hand-me-down crayons. My stormtroopers raided her dollhouse. We opened our first business together, a veterinarian clinic on the muddy bank of a swamp behind our house. We played together and in that regard we co-wrote stories together.

My Ultimate Dinner Party

Stephen King, Michael Crichton, Walt Disney, my college art professors, LeVar Burton, Hayao Miyazaki, JK Rowling, Suzanne Collins, John Lasseter, Herman Hesse, John Steinbeck, Garth Ennis, Bill Waterson and more. Embrace the people in our lives who shepherd us toward our passions.

Harry Potter

Until I read The Sorcerer’s Stone, I was determined to be a comic book artist. Harry Potter changed all of that. The quality of the writing, the power of the message, and the sheer fun of Rowling's world is the lofty benchmark to which I aspire.

I’d love to hear from other Mayhemers and our readers. What are some of the influences that brought you to the world of middle grade books. What's in your wallet?

Getting Lost as a Reader - and Finding Your Way Again by Donna Galanti

Photo courtesy of Flickr

In becom­ing a nov­el­ist I soon lost the one thing I had loved all my life.

Read­ing.

Hard to imag­ine, right? My dad likes to brag that I had read every book in the school library by the time I was eight.

But it was as if I had traded my love of read­ing for a new love – that of writ­ing. And writ­ers must read. If suc­cess comes with sac­ri­fice did it have to be the one thing that I needed to do to be a writer? I suddenly feared that writ­ing and read­ing were not compatible.

It struck me in way it was like hav­ing your first child. When my son was born all my love and affec­tion went to him. It was so intense, this new love. It col­ored my entire world. It was a force that hit me and cov­ered me in need, dri­ving all my energy to it. Parents know what I am talk­ing about. You love your spouse but a child – that is a crazy intense love that takes you unaware. Even­tu­ally, I found my own iden­tity again as a mother and wife – and author. I had bal­ance again.

But I had become so sucked into the world of cre­at­ing that I needed to redefine my bal­ance as a new author. My brain burst with words, ideas, dia­logue, action, and char­ac­ters. I couldn’t slow my thoughts down. All of my concentration went toward writing.

But a writer reads! I forced myself to slow down my brain and set aside time to read. From book to book I traveled. I would read a few pages then move on like a wan­der­ing nomad. There was no joy. The words jumped and crashed into each other. I couldn’t absorb them.

Then a writer friend told me some­thing that changed every­thing. She said I wouldn’t be happy with what I used to read before I was an author. I would need books to chal­lenge me, not just the same book escape. She was right. I had become bored with read­ing. I needed more. 

I wanted to be affected by what I read. Changed, trans­formed, and moved - exactly what I yearned to achieve in my own writing. I didn’t want to read for empty enter­tain­ment. As our tastes in food, clothes, and music change as we grow, so do our reading tastes. This realization uplifted me. I had a new quest. Discover what kind of reader I had become.

My son reading one of my fave books from childhood

I kept look­ing for the book to change me. One day I hap­pened upon a sweet middle grade book, Spar­row Road by Sheila O'Connor. It was beau­ti­ful and sad and hope­ful. I cried and laughed as I read it straight through. I had fallen in love again. This time with middle grade and young adult. And this prompted me to switch from writing thrillers for adults to thrillers for children. You can read my review of Spar­row Road here.

Stephen King said, “The more you read, the less apt you are to make a fool of your­self with your pen.” I aim to be less of a fool for sure.

So then I thought, why not re-read my favorite books from childhood all over again and discover why I fell in love with reading? These are my ragged books I’ve held onto for decades. The ones close to my heart. And that’s just what I did. I re-read White Fang, Fahren­heit 451 (RIP Ray Brad­bury), The Secret Gar­den, Fantastic Mr. Fox, My Side of the Mountain, The Crys­tal Cave, The Children of Green Knowe, and Island of the Blue Dol­phins. And of course, ALL of the Little House on the Prairie books.

Sample of my bookshelf now

I fell in love with reading again and soon wished I had a whole week to just READ. A reading vacation. To gobble up as many books as possible. Of fantasy, adventure, drama, middle grade, adult, young adult, and memoir.

As writers we need to read. I’m glad I found my lost-love again. The Argen­tin­ian writer, Jorge Luis Borges, said “I have always imag­ined that Par­adise will be a kind of library.”

I’m glad my par­adise is back. Have you ever lost and found your par­adise? If so, how did you find it again?

2015 Must-Read Middle Grade: November and December Edition by Caroline Starr Rose

There are so many incredible middle-grade titles releasing this year, I decided to dedicate my posts these next months to sharing as many as I can with you. My list is not exclusive and is actually just the tip of the iceberg. I hope these glimpses get you excited enough to ask your library to purchase a copy or buy one yourself. All descriptions are taken from Amazon.com.

Happy Reading!

Dead Possums Are Fair Game by Taryn Souders (November 3)

The world would be a better place without math or messy roommates. At least, that’s what Ella Hunter believes. Life is about keeping order and avoiding long division, fractions, or really anything with an equal sign.

As the end of the school year approaches, the fifth-grade teachers at Victor Waldo Elementary conclude there’s not enough time to complete a new math unit before summer break. Great news for math-phobic Ella, right?

Wrong! The teachers decide instead to have their students host the first-ever Math Fair. And the fair project is worth two major math grades.

Add in one dead possum plus two horrible roommates who come to stay while their house is being renovated, and you have an equation for disaster. Ella is headed for summer school and math tutoring for sure. Can she stop her troubles from multiplying before it’s too late?

A Bitter Magic by Roderick Townley (November 10)

Everything is in place: the packed theater, the Amazing Thummel, and, center stage, the magician's mysterious assistant. Some have called her the most beautiful woman in Europe.

Then, in a swirl of light, she vanishes!

An astounding illusion, but she never reappears. All that remains are a bloodstained white scarf and her daughter, Cisley, who lives in a glass castle and walks her pet lobster each morning by the sea.

Enter Cole, a rambunctious boy from town and Cisley's first true friend. Together they hunt for clues to her mother's disappearance. They puzzle over broken mirrors, ever-shifting labyrinths, a closet full of whispering ball gowns, and a fatal quest for a pure black rose.

Roderic Townley spins a deliciously spooky tale of one girl's journey to discover what's real and what is simply an illusion.

Finding Fortune by Delia Ray (November 10)

Running away from home isn't as easy as Ren thinks it will be. At least she isn't running very far -- just a few miles to the ghost town of Fortune . . . or Mis-Fortune as everyone else calls it. Mis-Fortune on the Mississippi. Supposedly, there's an abandoned school on the outskirts with cheap rooms for rent. Ren knows her plan sounds crazy. But with only a few more weeks until Dad comes home from his tour of duty in Afghanistan, she also knows she has to do something drastic so Mom will come to her senses and stop seeing that creep Rick Littleton for good. 

From the moment she enters the school's shadowy halls, Ren finds herself drawn into its secrets. Every night old Mrs. Baxter, the landlady, wanders the building on a mysterious quest. What could she be up to? And can Mrs. Baxter's outlandish plan to transform the gym into a pearl-button museum ever succeed? With a quirky new friend named Hugh at her side, Ren sets out to solve the mystery that could save Fortune from fading away. But what about her family's future? Can that be saved too?

On the Run by Tristan Bancks (November 17)

One afternoon, four police officers visit Ben Silver’s home. Minutes after they leave, his parents arrive. Ben and his little sister Olive are bundled into the car and told they’re going on a holiday. Which is weird, because Ben’s family never goes on holidays. 

Things aren’t right and Ben knows it. His parents are on the run. So Ben and Olive are running, too. 

Ben’s always dreamt of becoming a detective – his dad even calls him ‘Cop’ because he asks so many questions. Now Ben gathers evidence, jots notes and tries to uncover what his parents have done. The trouble is, if he figures it out, what does he do next? Tell someone? Or keep the secret and live life on the run?

The Rosemary Spell by Virginia Zimmerman (December 1)

Part mystery, part literary puzzle, part life-and-death quest, and chillingly magical, this novel has plenty of suspense for adventure fans and is a treat for readers who love books, words, and clues. 

Best friends Rosie and Adam find an old book with blank pages that fill with handwriting before their eyes. Something about this magical book has the power to make people vanish, even from memory. The power lies in a poem—a spell. When Adam's older sister, Shelby, disappears, they struggle to retain their memories of her as they race against time to bring her back from the void, risking their own lives in the process.

What 2015 books are you looking forward to as the year draws to a close?

Cover Reveal: C.M. Surrisi's The Maypop Kidnappingby Jim Hill

A mystery has washed ashore at the coastal town of Maiden Rock. Quinnie Boyd’s teacher, Ms. Stillford, hasn’t shown up on the first day or school—or the day after that. Quinnie thinks it’s a kidnapping case. Her mom, the town sheriff, doesn’t believe her, but Quinnie’s going to follow her instincts—even if she has to tiptoe around her mom to do it.

Quinnie’s investigation will take her through a damp marsh, a lobster pound, and more of Maine’s messiest places. On the way, she’ll have help from her glamorous new neighbor, Mariella from New York, whether Quinnie wants it or not. As the girls hunt for clues around Maiden Rock, they’ll encounter a swarm of cats, two nuns with a speeding habit, and a group of tattooed rocker-types who’ve been pigging out on lobster fries at the town café. And if Quinnie’s hunch is right, the search may lead them right into danger . . .

This month I'm thrilled to introduce you to Cynthia Surrisi and her forthcoming book, the Maypop Kidnapping. It's a fun read filled with spoofing, sleuthing, and a charming cast of characters. Read on, MacDuff. Oh, and here's the full cover. Click it!

Have you always loved mysteries?

Yes. I’m crazy for novels with clues, suspense, and risky situations that twist and turn and make me stay up all night racing through to the end to find out whodunit. I also love a story of friendship, where friends collaborate to solve a problem. I am drawn especially to stories with newly formed friendships that suffer the inevitable rushes and aches of youth, and where it’s a mystery whether the friendship will survive.

These qualities can be found in many genres of books, not only those labeled as mysteries. In many ways, all stories are mysteries. Within the pages of every good book, we search for the answer to the question raised by the inciting incident.

C.M. Surrisi

Any authors or titles that were inspirations for you while writing the Maypop Kidnapping?

This book is inspired by my personal time in Maine. One summer, we stayed past Labor Day, and I got to experience our little town after all the summer people left. From that moment on, all I could think about was setting a story in that place during that time of the year. First, it was a friendship story, and then it became a mystery. It swirled in the recesses of my mind until I reached VCFA (Vermont College of Fine Arts).

Since I read about fifty fabulous books each semester, it’s hard to narrow the field to those that had an impact on this book, but I’ll try. This short list is going to seem wildly inconsistent but here goes: The Westing Game by Raskin, Holes by Sachar, Okay for Now by Schmidt, and Liar and Spy by Stead.

Beyond individual books, I am inspired by the work of so many fine writers that to list a few is to painfully omit the rest. This is a credit to the people who dedicate their lives to writing for children and young adults.

What’s the hardest thing about writing a mystery?

A good mystery needs to be tightly plotted, the clues must never purposefully mislead the reader, and it can never be solved through the use of a deus ex machina. It has to have twists and turns that ratchet up the suspense, there should be a surprise ending, and it all needs to be delivered with humor and heart. Making all that happen in one story is the hardest thing about writing a mystery.

Did you start this book at VCFA? If so, can you talk about that a little bit? (advisors, early readers, etc...)

I started Maypop at the end of my second semester at VCFA, while Tim Wynne-Jones was my advisor. Since he is a master of mystery writing, I thought it would be a good opportunity to take advantage of his expertise. He wrote me long, instructional letters about how to write a mystery. They are my treasure. What I learned first was that I couldn’t write a mystery from the perspective of the reader. I needed to first write the detective’s reveal at the end. In other words, I needed to know the backstory that led to the inciting incident. That way I could more deftly play with the clues and the twists and turns.

I wrote the first complete draft of Maypop my third semester while Rita Williams-Garcia was my advisor. Rita was my guru for finding the heart amidst the suspense. She was such an enthusiastic fan of the characters, that she really helped me develop the humanity.

I revised Maypop during my fourth semester while Tom Birdseye was my advisor. He helped me sharpen the humor, dive down into the syntax, and shake out the chaff.

In the month prior to graduation, I submitted Maypop to a call for middle-grade mysteries by editor Greg Hunter at Carolrhoda/Lerner. Shortly thereafter, he acquired the book through my agent Linda Pratt, and we launched into the editorial process. Greg’s editorial guidance took the book from a creative thesis to a finely tuned ready-for-publication novel.

Each person who counseled and advised me on this book had a uniquely helpful perspective to share. And better yet, it all came in relatively quick succession, and in line with my increasing abilities. I should add that Matt de la Peña, who was my first-semester advisor, taught me to follow my characters around and watch them cope with problems that I have created for them. That is a golden rule for me now.

Is there a sequel? More sleuthing in Maine? Will Quinnie run into Jessica Fletcher?

Yes! There is a sequel. More about that soon.

The cover is by Gilbert Ford, and the map of Maiden Rock was drawn by Ingrid Sundberg, both of whom are also VCFA grads. How’d you manage to make that magic happen? (p.s. – I love books with maps!)

Ingrid Sundberg and I were in a workshop together my first semester at VCFA. We became fast friends and she was a reader for me for portions of the book. Since I knew of her artistic talent, I engaged her, through her graphic arts business, to create a map from my very rough drawing. I love maps, too. I think a mystery is enhanced by a map and/or a family tree. I couldn’t be happier with the map that Ingrid created. I consulted it often while I wrote the book.

I get no credit for Gilbert Ford being the cover illustrator. Lerner gets it all. I briefly crossed paths with Gilbert at VCFA, I knew he was a talented illustrator as well as an author, but I didn’t have the pleasure of being in a workshop with him. My editor, Greg Hunter, surprised me with the first cover art sketches being Gilbert’s. I was thrilled. Carolrhoda/Lerner did not realize they had selected a VCFA illustrator for a VCFA author. I like to think it was kismet.

What are you reading now?

I just finished Estelle Laure’s This Raging Light, which took my breath away with its poignant beauty. I am currently reading Tim Wynne-Jones The Emperor of Any Place. That man can write a mystery! Next up on my stack is M.T. Anderson’s Symphony For the City of the Dead: Dmitri Shostakovich and the Siege of Leningrad. He is the most diverse writer I know of and handles everything he tackles with brilliance. After that, it’s The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma.

What books are you looking forward to in the coming months?

I’m looking forward to reading Ingrid Sundberg’s All We Left Behind, Jenn Bishop’s The Distance to Home, Janet Fox’s The Charmed Children of Rookskill Castle, Adi Rule’s The Hidden Twin, Kathi Appelt’s Maybe a Fox, Peter Brown’s The Wild Robot, Laura Shovan’s The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, Yuki Kaneko’s Into the Snow . . . to name a few.

Anything else you want to share?

My path has included being associated with SCBWI and attending VCFA. I am grateful to both institutions. My dearest SCBWI friends and darling VCFA peeps make up a supportive tribe. I recently moved to Asheville, NC, and I am meeting the children’s writers from this area.  I can’t wait to get to know them better and to talk story. We read, we write, we carry ourselves away to magical places and hope to take others with us.