When did you decide to become a writer, and what steps did you take from there?

When I got out of graduate school and was for the first time writing on my own with nobody telling me to, not part of an assignment, I was getting no grade. So I was a writer. What I was not was a published writer, and yes, it was discouraging. Some folks tend to think that in situations like that you need a thick skin and you don’t really feel the pain of it. But that’s not really the case. At least, it wasn’t for me. It was very painful. Every time I got a rejection slip, I wanted to put my head in the oven. But you keep plodding along, and you discover that in a couple of days, the sun continues to rise every morning. And you put your manuscript in a new mailing, and you put on the postage, and you send it out to one more place. If you try every place with your first book and that doesn’t work, you write a second book. That’s how it went for the better part of fifteen or twenty years. (more…)

Duration: 2 class periods of 45-55 minutes
Adaptation: Upper Elementary (4-5), “A Person You Admire” Prompt, Expository Writing
Printable: “Favorite Person” Lesson Plan, Middle School (6-8), Expository Writing

Favorite Person Prompt:

We all have a favorite person, someone who we like or respect more than anyone else. Think about the person in your life you consider your favorite. What is this person like? What does this person do to make him or her your favorite?
Write an essay about this person explaining what he or she is like and the things that he or she does that makes him or her so special to you. (more…)

What made you decide to be an author, and at what stage in your life were you when you made that decision?

I wanted to be a dancer when I was younger, but I couldn’t major in that in college. I always liked reading, so I thought of English – you get to read a lot of books! This brought me into some writing classes, and at that point I got bitten by the bug. I started out with poetry, since you didn’t have to fill up the page with poetry. I then moved to writing plays because it is mostly dialogue driven and is very, very natural. Then I ended up with young adult novels. That was my progression.

You indicated that reading played a role in your becoming a writer, what role did reading play in your youth?

I think it was just someone to relate to. I liked characters that were very different from me, that lived in different parts of the country, that went on different adventures; it broke a lot of barriers for me. I was a middle child, and you’re always looking to be heard and to be understood. Reading was very appealing to me for that reason, plus I lived two blocks from the library, so I went through a lot of books as a young person, pretty effortlessly.

As a Young Writer (1:44) (more…)

Duration: 3 class periods of 45-55 Minutes
Printable: The Giver Lesson Plan (PDF)

The Giver by Lois Lowry Intellimetric Prompt:

After experiencing the feeling of love from the Giver and his memories, Jonas thought about the way life must have been when there was love and realized it was probably a “dangerous way to live.” Think about what Jonas meant. What was “dangerous” about that kind of life, and what was a “safe” life like? What were the advantages and disadvantages of each choice? (more…)

What made you decide to be an author, and at what stage in your life were you when you made that decision?

Well, there are probably two different questions in there, and one is “author,” and the other is “children’s author.” For me that was two different decisions. I wanted to be an author or a writer since I was a child. It’s what I always did best, what I loved best. I went to college and majored in writing. But I married young and had children young, so everything got deferred. When I did turn my attention back to it, I was then in my thirties and I was writing for adults. It was a request from a children’s book editor that I write a book for young people that made me turn my attention in that direction. Then, it was the reaction to that book, A Summer to Die, my first novel for young adults. The reaction from young readers made me become aware of the importance of literature for young people, and so gradually, I turned my attention entirely to writing for kids.

Do you ever look back and wonder “What if?”

Do any of us not do that? There was no “what if” for me in terms of becoming a writer. There was nothing else I wanted to do. The only thing I suppose I look back on is, “What if I hadn’t dropped out of college and married at age 19?” That seems to me now a foolish thing to have done. On the other hand I have grown children and grandchildren, and I wouldn’t have those if I hadn’t done what I did. So I think we make our decisions, sometimes they’re foolish, but most often they turn out to be the right ones at the time. (more…)

Duration: 2 class periods of 45-55 Minutes
Adaptations: Upper Elementary (4-5), “A Person You Admire” Prompt, Expository Writing
Printable: “Admirable Woman in History” Lesson Plan (PDF)

An Admirable Woman in History Prompt:

Throughout our history, there have been many admirable women who have had an important impact on our lives.  Whether they were great leaders, writers, or individuals who broke new ground and gender barriers, the roles of many women throughout history are to be admired.  What woman in history do you admire most?  What did she contribute to the world or accomplish in her life that earned your admiration? (more…)

What made you decide to be an author, and when did you reach that decision?

When I was in eleventh grade, one of my high school English teachers said that I was very creative, and that I should consider being a writer. No one had ever suggested that to me, and it had never occurred to me. I always was a reader, and I would devour armloads of books during my youth, but this was the first time the thought of being a writer was presented to me. Reading has been really, really huge. I think the single most important thing about being a writer is that you must love to read.

What role did writing play in your life before your eleventh grade English teacher suggested it to you?

I started playing electric guitar when I was eleven, and at that point I really started writing a lot of songs. Also, my friend and I would make little, homemade, independent newspapers and magazines. I just always knew that I got great joy from putting words on paper.

A Writer’s Beginnings (2:07)

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Duration: 3 class periods of 45-55 minutes
Adaptations: High School (9-12) “Recommending Literature” Prompt, Persuasive Writing
Printable: “Banning Books” Lesson Plan (PDF)

Banning Books Prompt:

Some members of your school board want to ban certain books from the public library.  They feel that these books contain topics unsuitable for young readers.  Do you agree that some kinds of books should be banned from the library?  Do you disagree? Write a letter to your school board persuading the members that these books should be banned or that these books should not be banned. (more…)

What made you decide to be an author?

I wrote my first book at age 35, Running Loose. It was an evolutionary process, and after finding the guts to write the first one, I realized by the third or fourth one that I was an author with a publisher and a deadline. It may have started in high school with two teachers that motivated me to write, not in the traditional sense, though. For English, I would knock off my essay in 15 minutes for the C-minus. It was my biology/shop teacher and the band teacher that inspired me to write. When I would get in trouble with either one of them, I had a choice – the wooden paddle or a 500 word essay. I chose the essay and would stay up until two o’clock in the morning trying to write something that would make them laugh. I wrote those just like I write now; I’d write it, I’d read it out loud, I’d fix it. I wrote it with the idea that I had something in mind, a purpose behind the writing.
Beginning as a Writer (1:44)

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