Books -- reading and writing.
Home, cooking, the weather.
And whatever connections I can make between these chapters of my life.

Thursday, June 23, 2016

Have a Super Summer!

I am in awe of two teachers who pulled off one of my best ever Skype Q&A sessions on their LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.
(Okay, officially it was Facetime, not Skype, but it worked equally well, if not better than Skype...)

Their students were literally out the door! I mean, who would even attempt this? Two super teachers from Syracuse, that's who.

These same teachers from Jamesville-DeWitt Middle School were the first Skype visit I ever had, way back in spring, 2012. They've shared GLORY BE with their sixth graders and we've Skyped ever since. What a treat.

Today the questions were serious, funny, thoughtful, and challenging. I'm still thinking about the boy who asked if I could change places with one of my characters, what would I do differently. 
Or whether I saw the "times" as the antagonist/ villain. 
And how about that age-old question, asked by every writer: How do you know when your book is finished?  

(See below for more of the questions, just emailed to me.)

I suspect these kids are great readers and I hope they (and their fabulous teachers) and ALL you amazing teachers and librarians out there have a summer filled with books, friends, and maybe even time to write.

(When they asked what I would recommend for their summer reading, I just happened to have these books on the table right next to my computer!)



SUPER QUESTIONS:

After reading Glory Be, I felt that Emma kind of replaced the mom role to Glory.  Did you mean to do that?
What gave you the idea to make JT so mean? 
What made you decide to bring fact and history into your book instead of having it all fiction?
Have you written any other books?
How did Frankie's back story come to life or Who inspired Frankie's back story?
How do you know when your story is the way you want it? 
In the process of making your book how did you give (develop) Glory's personality?
Why did you choose July 4th as Glory's birthday?
How do you organize yourself for your book?
Were you a big fan, like Glory, of the Beatles, Elvis and Nancy Drew?

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