|
|
|
This month The Edge of the Forest talks with children's author
Carolyn Crimi about her writer's life.
The Edge of the Forest: First of all, Carolyn, thanks for agreeing to talk with me for our Day in the Life
series...
Carolyn: I was thrilled to be asked!
The Edge of the Forest: To begin with, please tell us a little bit about yourself. What type of writing do you do? And how long have you been
doing it?
Carolyn: I write humorous picture books, for the most part. I've been doing it my whole life. I wrote children's
stories when I was in first grade and I just never stopped. I started taking myself seriously in May of 1989, when I made
my first submission. Four long years after that I made my first sale.
The Edge of the Forest: What attracted you to children's literature and writing for children?
Carolyn: It was actually the books themselves. I was a big reader as a girl. I read until my head hurt, and then I
read some more. I remember feeling like I wanted to crawl inside the books and live there. Writing them seemed like the
next best thing. I told anyone who would listen that I wanted to be the next L. Frank Baum. Some confidence, eh?
The Edge of the Forest: Tell us about a typical writing day. How often do you write? When do you write? And why?
Carolyn: I am not a morning person. Like, at all. I like to ease into my day. I might spend the early morning
reading a book. Sometimes I'll go through a phase where I write in my journal for a half hour first thing. I'm not in
one of those phases right now, but I think I'll start again soon. Then I park myself in front of both my TV and my
laptop. I check e-mail while I watch Oprah. I might make a few phone calls. I might not. I drink loads of coffee and
snuggle with my dog. We always cheer when Oprah gives away cool stuff to her audience.
After this morning of doing just about nothing, I go for an hour long walk. I NEED my walks. I work out story problems
while listening to Beck or Cannonball Adderly. It works for me.
Then it's time for a Lean Cuisine lunch. Please note that the only writing I've done so far is in my e-mails or my journal.
I don't like to write stories if anything is hanging over my head—errands, unanswered e-mails, etc. If I'm working on a
picture book I usually spend three hours on it. Those three hours might involve taking one sentence out and putting it back
in over and over again. Picture book manuscripts are funny that way. The first draft might only take a few hours, but the
constant "picking" takes forever.
If I'm working on something longer, say, one of my many unpublished novels, I try to write 400 words a day. A low word
count like that works for me. That way every day is a successful one since I always surpass it.
The Edge of the Forest: : Some writers work in long hand. Others write on a laptop. How do you work? How does this
technique inform your creative process?
Carolyn: I write everywhere. My living room, mostly. Cafes are good, too. Evanston has roughly two billion cafes and
I've visited all of them in my quest for the perfect latte. In the summer I like working on my screened-in porch. Believe
it or not, airports are magical places for me. I've written some of my best stories at O'Hare. I think it's because there's
not much else to do there except eat Cinnabons.
I find that changing location often gives me a creative boost. If I'm feeling stuck I'll head to the nearest cafe with my
laptop and a book of writing exercises. I'll do a few exercises as a warm up and then I'll dig in to my current project.
More importantly, their coffee is always better than mine.
The Edge of the Forest: Some writers work in long hand. Others write on a laptop. Some do a little of both. How do
you work? How does this technique inform your creative process?
Carolyn: My picture books almost always start out in long hand. I buy these notebooks that have sections of
different colored paper. Each story gets its own color. It's a quick and visual way for me to organize notes and write
rough drafts. Once I've written my first rough draft in a notebook I type it up on my laptop.
For longer works I start right on my laptop. I started doing this when I wrote for R.L. Stine's Ghosts of Fear Street
series. I didn't have time to write these 100 page novels out in longhand first, since I had a month to write them. I barely
had time to shower! Longhand drafts were a luxury I simply couldn't afford.
The Edge of the Forest: I understand you’re now a blogging writer. Tell me about your new blog,
Three Silly Chicks. What led you and co-creators Andrea Beaty and
Julia Durango to the blogosphere?
Carolyn: Andrea, Julia and I share the same agent, Barry Goldblatt. Every year he has a retreat for his
clients. One day we were talking about blogging and someone mentioned sharing a blog with another writer. I remember
looking at Andrea. Our eyes met. We smiled. It was A Moment. We discussed what it would be afterwards and asked Julia to
join us. A blog was born.
We review funny books for kids. We interview funny writers. We post funny stuff. Mostly, we have a blast. I couldn't ask for
better blog sistahs. They are exceedingly silly. I admire that in a person.
The Edge of the Forest:You blog, teach children’s writing to adults, and conduct school visits to share your joy of
writing with children. How do you balance the business of writing with sitting butt-in-chair for the hard work of
writing?
Carolyn: I'm afraid I don't do it very well. I might go for weeks at a time without writing. I earn a living through
school visits, so they take top priority. Unfortunately they wipe me out. I stumble around like Frankenstein after a day
spent with the villagers. But I enjoy them so it's a nice trade off. Part of what I love about my job is that it *does*
change so often. Balance, schmalance. As long as I'm having fun, life is good.
The Edge of the Forest: Some writers work on one project at a time. Others juggle several at once. How do you work?
Carolyn: It changes, depending on my mood and how the stars are aligned. Sometimes I'll take a break from a longer
manuscript to write a picture book. Other times I worry that doing that will take me too far away from the longer project,
so I resist.
It's a coin flip every day.
The Edge of the Forest: Let’s talk monsters and muses. The longer I write the more I learn about the care and
keeping of the muse, and the techniques needed to keep my inner critic caged. Unfortunately, my muse is fickle and my
inner critic an escape artist. How do you feed your muse and tame your monster?
Carolyn: Here are my tips for goosing the muse:
Take long walks.
Change writing locations.
Buy some fun writing accoutrements at Office Depot.
Buy a book of writing exercises and try one new one a day.
Write in a journal.
Try a new genre.
As far as the monster goes, well, here's the thing. Writing isn't always fun. Some days are just plain hard. Know that no
matter what you do, the monster will always come back. It's all very cyclical. When things are tough, experiment. Find what
works best and then remember what you did to ditch the monster in the past. I generally do one or all of the muse-goosing
activities I mentioned above. I've weathered enough droughts to know that I'll always bounce back eventually.
The Edge of the Forest: Some writers write for very personal reasons, using their art to help make sense of the
world. Others feel the need to share their joy of language with young readers. Why do you write?
Carolyn: I am the youngest of five. Growing up I got very little air time when my family sat around the dining room
table at night. I think writing is my way of being heard. I had things I wanted to say then so I wrote them into stories.
I have things I want to say now and I do the same thing.
The Edge of the Forest: Humor seems to play a big role in your writing. Was this a conscious choice on your part
or something that emerged more organically?
Carolyn: Not all of my books are funny, but over the years I've seen that readers tend to favor my funny ones. This
is just fine with me. I'm happy to write them. So I would have to say that, yes, I do make a conscious effort to write
funny books now. I'm happiest when I'm writing humor, and it's all about ME and what makes me happy, right?
The Edge of the Forest: What place do you believe humor holds in children’s literature and why?
Carolyn: Oh, geez, this is such a BIG question. All I can say is that funny books have saved my life a number of
times. After 9/11 I reached for Bill Bryson's In a Sunburned Country night after night. Then, after my mom died, I
reached for his A Walk In the Woods. I don't know what I'd do without Bill Bryson. He has lead me through many
dark places with his humor. I think children often need that same solace, and they find it with funny books.
The Edge of the Forest: Time to role play. You're sent to a remote island for a year, and allowed to take one book.
What would you take and why?
Carolyn: Winnie-the-Pooh. Hands down. I think it's the funniest book I've ever read. I reread it at least
once a year. I love those characters and feel as though I've grown up with them.
About Carolyn:
Carolyn Crimi received her MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College in 2000. Her publishing credits include
Don't Need Friends (Random House, 1999),Tessa's Tip-Tapping Toes (Orchard Books, 2002),
Get Busy, Beaver! (Orchard Books, 2004) Boris and Bella (Harcourt, 2004), Henry and the Buccaneer
Bunnies (Candlewick, 2005), The Louds Move In! (Marshall Cavendish, 2006), Where’s My Mummy?,
(Candlewick, 2008), Dear Tabby (Harpercollins, 2009), Rock and Roll Mole (Dial, 2010), and
Henry and the Crazed Chicken Pirates (Candlewick, 2009). Carolyn has taught Writing For Children for the past
ten years at Chicago area colleges. When she’s not writing or teaching, Carolyn enjoys giving Author Talks to elementary
schools all over the country. Her website, www.carolyncrimi.com, gives
more details about her books and her background.
|
| |
|
|