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This month The Edge of the Forest talks with Esther Hershenhorn, children's book author, writing teacher, and
children's book writing coach about her writer's life.
The Edge of the Forest: Welcome Esther. Thanks so much for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with
The Edge of the Forest for our Day in the Life series.
Esther: Thank you, Kim, for inviting me to chat about what I do. My website's introductory sentence is oh, so
true: I do what I love and I love what I do.
The Edge of the Forest: First of all, for readers unfamiliar with your work, please tell us about your writing and
the many hats you wear in the children's literature field.
Esther: I do indeed wear many hats while traveling about the Children's Book World: writer, writing teacher,
writing coach, children's book advocate. I also proudly serve on SCBWI'S Board of Advisors and as the Regional Advisor of
the singularly vital Illinois SCBWI Chapter. Always in my hand, though, in my head and heart as well, is a children's
book and all it can do to help both reader and writer become. It was premier editor Jean Karl who remarked that children's
books respect a child's capacity to become.
My books (picture book texts and middle grade fiction) include Chicken Soup by Heart (winner of the 2003
Sydney Taylor Book Award) and The Confe$$ion$ and $ecret$ of Howard J. Fingerhut (a Crown Award nominee).
Chicken Soup by Heart tells the tale of little Rudie Dinkins, who has but 24 hours to make his
after-school flu-ridden babysitter Mrs. Gittel good-as-new. Rudie decides to cook her chicken soup, as she would do for
him, especially since he knows Mrs. Gittel's Chicken Soup Secret: she stirs in very nice stories about her soon-to-be
soup-eaters. Response to this book continues to give me such a nice story to stir into my own writer's chicken soup.
Hospices now use my book as a way to preserve memories and visitors bring it to families in mourning.
Response to my middle grade novel The Confe$$ion$ and $ecret$ of Howard J. Fingerhut also gladdens my heart:
Howie's efforts to win the H. Marion Muckley Junior Businessperson of the Year Contest, despite the downward spiraling of
his lawn care business "A Boy For All Seasons", have touched a responsive chord in those young readers eager to learn to
how to save face gracefully, resiliently and bravely, while ultimately succeeding.
When not writing children's books (or reading them, which I consider almost the same thing), I'm working to help other
writers discover and tell their stories, via my teaching at the University of Chicago's Writer's Studio and Chicago's
Newberry Library and my personal coaching. I consider myself privileged to be privy to so many stories, diverse in format,
genre, audience and authorship. Stories such as Cheryl Bardoe's The Friar Who Wanted to Grow Peas which took root in one
of my Newberry Library workshops, or client Laura Murray's picture book The Gingerbread Man is Missing! or
client Robert Aronson's Russian picture book The Town Named Mouse which celebrates the town of Myshkin and
shares its profits with that town's orphanage
In her essay "Only Connect," P. L. Travers, the author of Mary Poppins, suggested that in order to connect with
his reader, the writer must connect first with his world at large, second with his immediate world, then finally, with
himself.
I'm all about helping children's book creators connect with their world at large (the Children's Book World), and
with their immediate world (the writing and illustrating community). I'm especially about helping writers connect with
their own stories.
The Edge of the Forest: What attracted you to children's literature and writing for children?
Esther: Truly? I don't know the answer to this question. Perhaps I played school one time too many with my
sister on the back steps of our West Philadelphia row house, or checked out too many of my Golden Books to my Overbrook
Elementary School friends while playing library or read one too many childhood biographies of famous American women.
All I know is at age six, I told the world I wanted to grow up to teach grade school; and I told myself, and only myself,
I'd write children's books someday and see my name on a book cover.
Did I concretely know then what story does for children, how it helps them make sense of their worlds, how it helps
them to discover or recover or uncover their own stories? I doubt it. However, I've always treasured stories and I've
always loved children. That's the best I can answer.
The Edge of the Forest: Let's talk about your writing life. When and where do you write? And what do you consider a
good writing day?
Esther: Though I've been fortunate to have small writing rooms for most of my writing years, I first began writing at my
kitchen table, while my then small son napped, and of course, after I washed up the apple juice stains from the linoleum
floor. Fortunately, I now know it's okay to plunge in first thing, despite the condition of one's surroundings, or even
one's life, for that matter. I'm a morning writer. I usually give my brain a problem to work on whilst I'm sleeping and my
brain has learned to deliver upon awakening. I grab my cup of coffee and I'm at my desk. If I don't write first thing,
I never write that day. I work very hard NOT to answer the phone, or even listen to the messages, or read email when I'm
needing/wanting to write.
Of course, I spend inordinate amounts of time pre-writing, usually lying in a horizontal position, daydreaming really,
seeing my story unfold like a movie being played on the backs of my eyelids.
If I'm working on a picture book, I take the story and the language and the pacing with me wherever I go, reciting the
words to myself while I ride buses, trains and the "L", while I'm waiting for an elevator or washing the dishes. Writing a
novel, however, is another matter altogether. For a novel, I need to allow myself huge chunks of time in which I go down
the rabbit hole, so to speak, to lose myself in another person's life.
Currently I'm writing a middle grade novel in lineated prose. If, after two or three days, my character has entered a
short snippet in her notebook that advances the plotline, reveals the characters and informs the reader, I'm more than
satisfied. I then return to the words, tucking here, pinching there, tweaking so the sounds and rhythms flow smoothly.
I consider myself a very slow writer, though my editor prefers to use the word "careful." I circle stories, one draft at a
time, until eventually I'm brave enough to approach the story's heart. I'm a re-writer, very conscious of rhythms and
fluency. In answering these questions, for examples, I spent time first considering my answers. Once I put my words on
paper, I returned several times, aware of the sounds and flow of my words. When crafting commentaries and comments for my
clients, I offer the same slow deliberation, the same careful consideration, especially since my comments are meant to
inform and instruct, as well as encourage and spark revision.
The Edge of the Forest: Writing can be a lonely and isolating avocation. Where do you find the support and
inspiration you need to survive the process?
Esther: The irony of what we do as writers continually amazes me: we write in private spaces, from private places,
stories we wish to tell the world!
When I first ventured outside of my tiny writing room, I found great comfort in a like-passioned writing group. I still
maintain no one knows a writer like the members of his or her writing group. My writing group today offers six high-powered
brains, six sets of strong shoulders, twelve open ears and more importantly, six open hearts. I'm lucky too that I have
listservs, writing kin, mentors and teachers to turn to when I need advice, a solution, a hug.
When fraught with woe concerning my own writing, unable to see the finish line, or better yet, unable to untangle my
forever-crossing plotlines, I send myself affirming and celebratory greeting cards. ("If anyone can do it, you can!")
I walk Chicago's lakefront, or through Lincoln Park, to tunes like "One Moment in Time" and "I Made it Through the Rain."
And when all else fails? I turn to children's books.
I reread Angel's words in Katherine Paterson's The Same Stuff as Stars—"No matter what people do, or
failed to do, it might be worth trying to be like Polaris, shining strong and bright and fixed in a swirling world of
darkness." Or LaVaughn's in Virginia Euwer Wolff's Make Lemonade—"I shall rise to the occasion that is
life." Or Louisa May Alcott's, in her journals and letters—"I am not afraid of storms for I am learning how to sail
my ship." Last week Cornelia Meigs' Invincible Louisa, a biography of Louisa May Alcott, helped me return to what
I hope is a final revision of my middle grade novel. And William Steig's Brave Irene has not failed once to get
me upright, moving forward.
The Edge of the Forest: Any advice you'd like to share with aspiring writers?
Esther: We've asked writers attending SCBWI-Illinois' Third Annual Prairie Writer's Day this November to bring, on
a 3 x 5 card, a description of that one thing they'd wished they'd known when they first began writing.
I still haven't settled on my answer.
I do know I was clueless when I first began. Short-sighted even. I dangled Publication as the end-all-be-all carrot
before my nose.
I was so sure that once I became published, my basement would no longer flood. People holding larger numbers than mine
wouldn't step forth to claim my place when it was my turn at Kauffman's Bagel Bakery. Somehow, miraculously, I would know
the Right Thing to Say and Do, no matter what.
Well, I've been published several times now. My new hi-rise apartment, on the 11th floor, flooded the day I moved in. I
now buy my bagels at Ashkenaz, but yesterday a woman cut in front of me. In neither case did I do or say "The Right Thing."
Our writing is a gift, one that keeps on giving.
About Esther Hershenhorn
Esther is a writer, a writing coach and a writing teacher. Her picture and middle grade books include There Goes
Lowell's Party, Chicken Soup by Heart, The Confe$$ion$ and $ecret$ of Howard J. Fingerhut, and
Fancy That.
To learn about Esther, surf on over to her website.
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