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This month The Edge of the Forest talks with children's author
Mindy Hardwick about her writer's life.
The Edge of the Forest: First of all, Mindy, thanks so much for taking time out from
your busy schedule to talk with us about your writer’s life.
Mindy: Thank you for asking me!
The Edge of the Forest: Before we talk about your writer’s life, tell us a little bit about
yourself. Where do you live and what brought you to that part of the country?
Mindy: I live in Lake Stevens, Washington. I am about fifty minutes north of Seattle...on a good day with no traffic!
I moved to the area about fifteen years ago. I ended up in Seattle because "I didn’t know what I wanted to do when I grew
up!" I had just graduated from college and things were not exactly going "my way." I had applied for an MFA at Emerson
College and was not accepted. My family was moving to Seattle and I decided I might as well follow. Although I was very
upset about not being accepted into the MFA program at Emerson, ten years later, I was accepted into the MFA in Writing
for Children and Young Adults Program at Vermont College. By that point, I had figured out that my true love was writing
for children, not adults. Oddly, two of my advisors, Liza Ketchum and Lisa Jahn Clough taught or had taught in the Emerson
program! So, I always figured we would have met one way or the other!
The Edge of the Forest: In addition to writing, what other hats do you wear?
Mindy: I wear many hats! I teach distance-learning courses to educators for Seattle Pacific University. My courses
include: Writing the Short Story, Writing the Picture Book, Stories to Empower our Girl Readers, Stories for Boy Readers,
and a new course called Beyond the Newbery: Excellence in Children’s Literature. I also teach a distance-learning course for
educators with Heritage Institute called Helping Youth Cope with Trauma: The Literature and Writing Connection. This course
draws from one of my other hats that I wear which is facilitating a creative writing workshop for teens who are in a
juvenile detention center. I also work with youth in the community and run occasional day group writing workshops, mentor
individual youth, and volunteer one morning a week in a creative writing class at Lake Stevens High School. It always
sounds like a lot of hats! But I find that all of it keeps my writing sharp and fresh.
The Edge of the Forest: Tell us about a typical writing day. When and where do you write? Do you sit butt in chair daily
or take time off now and again to give your muse down time?
Mindy: Butt in chair...and a lot of e-mail!!! I confess, I write way too many e-mails!!!!! And that eats up my
writing time. Okay, but aside from that...what does a typical writing day look like? I write in the morning. I get up, make
my coffee, and stumble to the computer. I answer e-mail...and try not to get too hooked...and then I try to write for two
to three hours. Now, this doesn’t always happen. Sometimes my other hats interfere and I grade student packets, respond to
questions, or plan for working with the youth.
Recently, I had to stop giving myself a hard time for not writing on one story every day. I do write everyday. But, some
days I write articles, some days a picture book, some days a chapter, and some days...okay...it’s just e-mail! It’s hard for
me to write only on a novel because they take so long and I never can see the end!
When I write a picture book, I can see the whole story in front of me, same thing for a short story. The articles are the
most fun to write because I sell those pretty fast. Yesterday, I wrote an article for Children’s Writer and sold it
the same day. That was fun! I like a little instant gratification now and then!
The Edge of the Forest: Don’t we all? We also need a work space that inspires us. Can you tell us a
little bit about yours?
Mindy: : My office is a mess! Books everywhere! When I left teaching, I took home my classroom library and
added it to my home library which was already overflowing. I thought that eventually, I would move some of the books out
of my office. It’s four years later, and I have books piled on books. My shelves are two layers deep of books!
The Edge of the Forest: A large window in my work space overlooks our wooded backyard. Rabbits and chipmunks hop
past. In the spring and summer, foxes laze about on the sunny lawn. The view does wonders for my muse, especially when I
need a break. What about your office inspires you?
Mindy: On my desk, I have two pieces of broken glass that a friend gave me years ago when I started my first novel,
Girl on A Thin Wire, which was my
Vermont College thesis novel
that I am trying to market and sell! Every time I look at those pieces, I remember the journey of where I started and that
inspires me to keep going.
The Edge of the Forest: I recently taught my first writing workshop for teens and found the experience invigorating.
Does the teaching hat you wear inspire your muse?
Mindy: Very much!!! I am currently working on a two-voice romance YA novel. In the story, Christopher is addicted
to drugs and Shantel, a very smart, bright girl, falls in love with him. Christopher’s voice is inspired by the juvie boys
I work with during my writing workshops at the Denney Youth Detention Facility. Shantel is the voice of the girls who love
them. She is the voice who sees the kids as more than a drug addiction or crime. She sees Christopher as a person.
The Edge of the Forest: Where else do you find inspiration?
Mindy: Everywhere! One of my favorite things to do is to head to one of what I call my "creative hot spots." These
are small towns near me that have a lot of "creative arts energy." My favorite three are: La Conner, Port Townsend, and
Orcas Island. In these towns, there are no commercial stores like Costco or Office Max. Instead, the towns are filled with
small businesses that often focus on some aspect of the arts. Weaving stores, museums, book stores, and coffee houses. I
love to spend a day or an overnight in one of these towns, poking around and drawing in all the sites and sounds. My
stories tend to slant toward the artistic process, and so I think I just drink these towns up! My stories also tend to
take place in towns like these, so I feel for a day, I can slip into my story and just live there. It’s heaven!
The Edge of the Forest: What’s the last good book you read?
Mindy: I am in a young adult book group which is a fabulous thing to do for writers! In my book group, there are
three writers, a high school librarian and a middle school librarian. It is fascinating to hear the librarian’s
perspective. We just read The Green Glass Sea, which provided good discussion. Last month, we read Uglies,
by Scott Westerfeld, and I just finished Pretties. Although I do not read science fiction and tend to be drawn to
character-driven books more than plot-driven books, I enjoyed this series.
The Edge of the Forest: You’ve endowed the local high school in your community with a creative writing scholarship.
Tell us more. How did the scholarship come about, and why?
Mindy: The scholarship came about for two reasons. First, it is in honor of my Grandparents. My Grandparents have
supported me through all of my education (Bachelors Degree, Masters in Education, Teaching Certification, and MFA in
Writing for Children). They live in the midwest and believe strongly in supporting education and the arts. This year,
my grandma was moved to a home, and my Grandfather is very ill. (By the time you run this he may have passed on.) I wanted
to do something to give back and acknowledge the chain of support I have received for my education and writing.
The second reason was more my "activist side." Creative writing and the arts have gone by the wayside in our schools. The
focus is on State Testing and that means box, formula writing. I wanted to provide a way to support and acknowledge
creative writing. The scholarship’s emphasis is on creative writing (short story, novel, poetry or screenwriting) rather
than the five-paragraph essay. I am very excited to give it in June!
The of the Forest: Support of young writers sounds like one of your missions.
Mindy: Supporting young writers is a huge mission of mine. I attended Kirkwood High School in St. Louis and we had a
very well known journalism program. Our newspaper and yearbook won awards every year. I knew I liked to write, and tried
out for both staffs. I did not make either one of them. I was very confused because I wrote stories all the time and I read
constantly. Did this rejection mean I wasn’t a writer? My parents were both journalists, so I just assumed that if I didn’t
make the yearbook or newspaper staff, this meant I wasn’t a writer. Looking back, I think if we had a creative writer come
to our school or a creative writing scholarship opportunity, I might have seen myself as a creative writer.
The Edge of the Forest: Your scholarship is a vote of confidence for young writers. What advice do you offer for
youth and others who want their voices to be heard?
Mindy: Find people who support you. It’s a long journey and there are ups and downs. You’ll need that community of
people along the way. Also, keep the focus on the play and joy of writing rather than publication and awards. Publication
and awards are nice, but the real joy is getting up every morning and knowing that you get to do something you love. Not
everyone can say that.
The Edge of the Forest: Thanks, Mindy. It was fun!
Mindy: Thank you for asking me!
About Mindy Hardwick:
Mindy holds an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College. Her most recent short story, "Hurricanes,"
is published with Blooming Tree Press in an anthology for girls entitled, Summer Shorts. Mindy teaches creative
writing and poetry workshops to teens at Denny Youth Detention center. She also teaches distance learning classes to
educators in writing for children and children's lit with SPU Spiral's Distance Learning Program and Heritage Institute.
Currently, she is working on a two-voice young adult romance novel.
She has been published in the following: The Writer, SCBWI Bulletin, The Scriptorium, My Friend Catholic Magazine, Children's Writer, SCBWI Washington Chinook Newsletter, GROUP Magazine, WritersWeekly.com, The Voice National Writing Project Magazine, NCTE Ideas Notes Plus, Instructor Magazine, and Unity Center For Positive Living Newsletter. Mindy co-edited Call It Courage: An Anthology of Youth Poetry in Denney Youth Detention Center.
Mindy has received writing fellowships from Centrum, The National Book Foundation Summer Writing Camp, and she has been a
runner-up in the Seattle Children's Theater's Johnny Tremain Curriculum Contest. She was awarded the Hobson Dream
Foundation People's Choice Award Grant, and the Blanche Miller Trust Foundation Grant to work with teens at Denney
Detention Center, and nominated for the Jefferson Award for her creative writing work with youth in the community.
Editor’s Note: Each month, Edge of the Forest chats with a teacher or librarian about what books excite their students
for our feature In the Backpack. Since Mindy’s a teacher, too, we asked her about what books her students are reading.
Click here to learn more.
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