First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server today…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
I can’t remember a time when I didn’t want to be a writer. I began writing plays when I was eight years old.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I kept my writing a secret for a very long time. In college, some people I knew were excellent writers and I felt I would never be good enough. To complicate matters, many of the things I wrote about were drawn from my childhood, and I was not comfortable sharing them with people. It wasn’t until I was in my thirties that I began submitting personal essays and short stories, which were published in the New York Times and in other newspapers and literary journals. I got a lot of encouragement at workshops and conferences when I submitted work for review. Still, I wrote my first novel, Cloud Dancer, believing that no one would ever see it in print. The story was not originally intended for young adults. It came from a short story of mine. But I had very little time to write and an editor at one conference pointed out that short fiction (say, 50,000 words) with a young protagonist might work as young adult fiction. I went out and read everything I could in that category and loved it. It seemed like a natural fit for me because many of my protagonists were young people, and I had been teaching that age group a long while and felt a strong connection to them.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
Morning in a Different Place is a sequel to Where You Belong, although it stands on its own. These characters connected in a way that was very powerful for me when I wrote Where You Belong. Each was lost, no longer able to trust their families. They felt abandoned, and they came to each other’s rescue by offering trust and acceptance. Their friendship transcends everything around them. In Morning in a Different Place, their interracial friendship upsets not only Fiona’s family but also the kids at school. Fiona sees the price she must pay if she wants to continue to be friends with Yolanda. It’s a terrible conflict for her because she so much wants to be accepted. I’ve always loved stories about heroes who defy the odds, and Fiona and Yolanda do that. So I would say to readers that if you want a story about characters who refuse to be defeated by what life throws at them, read about Fiona and Yolanda.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
My family. My mother and my sisters and brothers are the bravest people I know.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
Yes, they get a kick out of it. I’m the family egghead, I guess, so I’ve always been a little out of the family mainstream. But they tell me they’re proud of me. My oldest sister Patsy is funny. I sent her a copy of Morning in a Different Place and she left a msg on my phone saying she feels as if she knows a celebrity. My sister June is like a publicist; she sends links to my website to friends far and wide.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Chocolate.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Let the sun in, wash my face, meditate for a short time.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
My mink coat. I’m so not the type to own one, but I walk a mile to the train station every morning and it keeps me incredibly warm. But I may be punished in the after-life for that luxury.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Green. It’s one of mother nature’s favorite colors (not to mention the Irish) and it makes me feel good.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
The Road Runner. He just doesn’t give up. Even when he’s beaten, it doesn’t occur to him to stop.
Which cartoon character is most like you?
Some people would say Lucy, cause I do have an annoying habit of trying to analyze everything. But I think I’m more like the Road Runner. I keep going, even though I’m a little dumb sometimes.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?
Sometimes I have romantic notions of what it might have been like to be a Fenian and to fight for Irish freedom, but I’m sure it was a very ugly business in real life. The Fenian Brotherhood was founded in the late nineteenth century. They were dedicated to establishing an independent Irish Republic.
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
I love blues, love rock & roll. Bonnie Raitt is my favorite artist. Love John Hiatt, Keb Mo. I’m a big fan of Allison Krauss. I also love Irish traditional music, Solas, Clannad, Chieftains. Yes, I do listen to music while I’m writing, and it’s almost always classical or Irish traditional.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?
I don’t get to watch much TV, but I try to see the News Hour on channel 13. I do have favorite authors though. Among the best books I read recently are Cost by Roxana Robinson and Home by Marilynne Robinson. I love the work of Toni Morrison and can’t wait to start reading A Mercy. I also really enjoy Ian McEwan. Among children’s writers, I think Paula Fox’s fiction is amazing. One of my favorite movies was Midnight Cowboy. I just saw The Wrestler. It was so sad, but excellent. There really are no movies I watch over and over.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Read. Read as much as you can. Read the papers. Read about history. Read fiction to understand what makes human beings tick. Be informed about your world and yourself.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
Fiona and Yolanda are still shouting to be heard, so there will definitely be more about them. I have other YA novels not yet published: one is about a Princeton girl from an upper middle-class family who discovers a family secret—a grandfather who had become an outcast; another is about a high school girl determined to protect her little sister from an abusive situation in the family.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
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