More Than You Can Chew

What was your favorite book as a child?
The whole BLACK STALLION SERIES by Walter Farley. I dreamed of being that kid. Of riding bareback, charging through the surf and galloping up sand dunes. I did exactly that when I was living in the Bahamas at age 11 riding ex-racehorses that had been retired from the track in Nasa. When I was 18 years old I rode full-blown racehorses in Melbourne, Australia and was paid 57 dollars a week .

What is your favorite book now?
To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee
A Prayer For Owen Meany by John Irving
Danziger’s Travels by Nick Danzinger

Who reads your new work first?
My husband, Jim.

What was your first written work (that you can remember)?
When I was six I typed out (using one finger) my first story about a girl who finds an injured horse in the woods. My aunt used my story in her thesis study to obtain her Ph.D. in English Literature and then continued to use it to teach other teachers. Unfortunately my aunt died of an aneurism and I have never received a copy of the story.

Do you have a favorite place to write? What’s it like?
I make a nest/fort with the two armchairs and the couch in the living room and barricade myself next to the fireplace. My office is too cold. I also write on the kitchen walls with a big Sharpie marker.

Where do you get your ideas from?
The end of the dock, my past, my ears and eyes, friends, coffee shops, playgrounds, pubs… Ideas are like the dust bunnies in my house — they are everywhere!

What is the best thing about being an author?
Telling lies based on the truth for a living.

What is the worst thing about being an author?
Nobody to play with.

How do you feel about bad reviews?
If the review is by a kid then I think they have a point. If the review is by an adult…I think somebody had a bad day.

If you could meet any famous person who has ever lived, who would it be?
Rob Cohen — Director of Fast and the Furious and Triple X. (my life before getting married and the size of the clothes I had to wear when I was pregnant)

John Irving — It took him 14 years to write the screenplay for The Ciderhouse Rules. (there is hope for me yet)

Sojourner Truth — Born a slave in 1797. Freed 1827. Could not read but spoke publicly until her death in 1883. Ain’t I A Woman (reminds me that I’m never having a bad day)

What motivated you to write More Than You Can Chew?
I wanted to write picture books (still do) but they were so bad you had to spray the pages with air-freshener just to read them. I wrote three paragraphs of a novel and an editor for a Canadian Press said “That’s the real stuff…write that!”. He was right.