Further below in this post I answer Scott's questions but I'm not going to tag others because I know how busy my writer friends can be and I want others to be able to participate. Instead, I invite everyone who visits to respond to my questions by leaving a comment at the end of the post or by responding on their own blog (if you are responding on your own blog, please post a link to it). You can answer many of the questions in just a few words. So, kids, parents, authors, bloggers, teachers, librarians, and all other visitors please join our game of tag. Feel free to invite others to do the same. When answering the questions, please remember that this is a family-friendly blog.
Because I write for children, I thought I'd ask questions that bring out the child in all of us.
1. What is your favorite dessert?
2. What board games do you like to play with your friends and family?
3. Who is your favorite family member and why?
4. What was the hardest elementary school project you ever had to do?
5. What kinds of books do you like to read?
6. Do you have a pet? (Tell us a little about him/her.) If you don't have a pet, would you like to have one and what would it be?
7. What was the grossest lunch your mom or dad ever packed for you?
8. Did you ever throw up in grade school? Please give us the juicy, or shall I say, disgusting, details! (If not, what was the most embarrassing thing that ever happened to you in grade school?)
9. What was the best Halloween costume you wore as a kid?
10. If you could meet a famous person, who would it be and why?
11. What is your favorite word?
Here are my answers to Scott's questions:
1. What’s your Easter egg—in other words, what unstated message do you want readers to take away from your writing?
That a kid's job is to be a kid. Play, imagine, be silly, pick on your siblings, eat sweets... shall I go on?
2. Other than your main character, which character in your work is your favourite?
I actually have two; Piggy and Stimpy. They are two guinea pigs who are really good actors.
3. Who is your favourite fictional character from any writer’s work?
Scarlett O'Hara from Gone with the Wind.
4. If you write in a genre, which convention or rule frustrates you most? Which would you like to change?
I prefer not to follow any rules.
5. Among the genres in which you have NOT yet written, which two would you like to combine in your next work?
I'd love to take old letters or postcards, you know, the kind you find in a beat-up box in the back of an antique store, and create my own context for them. So, how would you describe that genre? I don't know but I'm sure I'd be combining more than two!
6. Do you ever include real people, from your own life or elsewhere, in your work?
Yes, the characters in my book, A Reel Cool Summer, are all real people or family pets. I often get ideas for characters from the people in my life; past and present.
7. What do you hope that fans will say about your work?
That wackiness is bound to ensue.
8. What do you dread that readers will say?
Stop writing!
9. If you could appear as a character in any other writer’s work, which one would it be? And what role would you like to have in that story?
I would love to be the main character in a Rod Clement book. One of my favorite children's books is Grandpa's Teeth which he wrote and illustrated.
10. Is there a living writer, other than yourself, whom you feel does NOT get enough recognition today?
This one is hard to answer. I have met many indie authors since I published my book and so many of them are terrific children's and young adult authors. I hope they will soon get their much -deserved recognition.
11. If you have a soundtrack for writing, name the first three songs on it (yes, I’m copying carrying this idea forward from Sylvia van Bruggen).
11. If you have a soundtrack for writing, name the first three songs on it (yes, I’m copying carrying this idea forward from Sylvia van Bruggen).
My current soundtrack is the noise of a busy city and the awesome and thunderous roar of mighty military jets! God bless our troops!
Tag, you're it!
Until next time... stay cool!
Martha
