Reading a lot of books in various genres helped me to get comfortable with the structure of a novel. On the flip side, what was most helpful to you in terms of developing your craft?
Looking back on your apprenticeship as a writer, is there anything you wish you’d done differently? If so, what and why? I’ve been really blessed that A Mango-Shaped Space and Jeremy Fink have been brought into schools in the past few years, bringing new readers along with them. I don’t often hear much about Leap Day, for instance, and that was my favorite one to write. My first book was A Mango-Shaped Space (2003), followed by Leap Day (2004), Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life (2006), Heaven Looks a Lot Like the Mall (2007), Every Soul a Star (all with Little, Brown and Co.), along with 11 Birthday s (2009) and two books in a fairy tale series called Twice Upon a Time from Scholastic.Įach book feels like a child, and I always feel bad if one doesn’t get the attention that another does. Every “no” brings you closer to “yes.”Ĭould you fill us in on your back-list titles, highlighting as you see fit? When people tell me they’re going to stop writing after one rejection letter or even after ten rejection letters, I sit them down and show them my lovely stack of them.
I was pretty relentless though, in the pursuit of publishing fiction. I wrote everything from baby books with squeaky toys embedded in them, to newspaper articles about new stores opening in town, to some things that I can’t even mention because they’re too embarrassing and/or incriminating. For me, that age is between 12 and 16.Ĭould you tell us about your path to publication? Any sprints or stumbles along the way?Ī long and winding path indeed. I also think writers have a voice that stops at a certain age. Why do you write for kids and young adults today?Īt the risk of sounding corny, I honestly wanted to give something back to that time in my life when reading meant so much to me, when it helped me figure out what kind of person I wanted to be, when it offered me an escape. I used to read with a flashlight under the covers even when it wasn’t nighttime! I’ve always liked the privacy factor that goes along with reading, like you’ve hidden yourself away in a secret world known only to you and the characters in the book. So I guess we’ll leave it at that.” Note: actual wiki. Wendy Mass on Wendy Mass: “According to Wikipedia, I play the harp, have eight kids (four sets of twins), have written 23 books in 23 years, and can run a two minute mile.
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