Chatting with Kristin Levine

I recently met the lovely Kristin Levine at a DC Children's Book Guild meeting and had the pleasure of reading her terrific new book, THE LIONS OF LITTLE ROCK. It takes place in 1958 Little Rock, AR, and deals with the relationship of main character Marlee and her friend Liz, a black girl "passing" for a white one at school, until the day Liz must withdraw, because she's been found out.

Where did you get the idea for your new book, TLOLR?

My mother grew up in Little Rock, Arkansas. I started asking her about her childhood, and in our very first conversation about Little Rock, my mother told me about listening to the lions roar at night. Something about that detail stuck with me. In addition, I attended very diverse public schools growing up, so the Little Rock Nine and school integration is something I've always been interested in.

What was the most difficult part of writing TLOLR?

It took me a long time to really understand the character of Marlee - which wasn't so great, since she was my main character! Once I did, the story finally started to flow. I also struggled with trying to figure out how to make my main characters, Marlee and Liz, as active as possible in the plot. I didn't want them to just observe the historical events going on around them; I wanted them to actively take part in making things change.

What was your favorite part of writing it?

I really enjoyed the research, interviewing people and gathering information. I also enjoyed doing the final draft, once I had the characters and conflicts down and was just deepening and changing things. It was the middle when I was muddling through, not even sure if the story was going to work, that was the hardest for me.

Did your process change at all from writing your first book?

Yes! My first book, The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, started as a screenplay. I did lots of outlining, note cards, and actually had a complete story by the time I sat down to turn in into a novel. This time, I decided to just "start writing" because I was a writer, right? I knew how to do this. Ah, no. Turns out, I am not a "seat-of-your pants" kind of a writer. (I totally admire those of you who are!) I guess it was a good thing to learn about myself, but it was painful to realize I needed to go back and plot things out when I was already 170+ pages into the story.

As a busy mom with two small children, how do you find time to write?

This is the issue I struggle with the most. My mother babysits once or twice a week for a few hours, my husband helps out on the weekends, I try to make use of school and nap time, I've traded kids with friends, and there is always our collection of Disney movies if I get desperate and have a deadline. I had to work a lot at night after my kids were asleep when I was writing LIONS, which I did not really enjoy, but it was necessary.

On the other hand, kids can be a motivating factor too. It's awfully fun when my kids decide they want to play "book launch" or ask to look for my book on the shelf when we go to the library. They aren't old enough to read my books yet, but I really look forward to sharing my work with them in a few years.

Ultimately, I think that finding time to write is going to be an ongoing struggle while my kids are small. So instead of trying to totally solve this problem, I'm now just trying to accept it.

What do you do when writer's block hits?

I give myself permission to write something really, really bad. Basically, I have so little time to write, I can't afford to get writer's block. I force myself to write something, even if it is terrible, and usually after a while of terrible writing, something okay starts to come out. But if after an hour nothing good is coming, I'll stop and try again another day.

What's your favorite snack/drink when writing?

We have the most wonderful coffee shop near our house, so I love to hang out there. My favorite drink is probably tea - green or black with rice milk. They have the most delicious croissants and homemade pastries too.

Thanks, Kristin!

Great Quote

I found this great quote from Susan Isaacs this morning. Don't you love when you find just the right inspirational words, exactly when you need them?

Writing is a job. You have to go to work regularly or the work simply will not get done. If you're working full-time, set aside a couple of weeknights and part of the weekend in which to work. Otherwise, you should be working at least five days a week for at least two to three hours. Remember this: if you didn't show up for work, you'd be fired. If you don't show up for your writing work, you lose, too. You won't be a writer.

Right now, I'm only finding about 3 or maybe 6 hours a week to work. This reminds me I have to do better, even when the wee ones aren't cooperating.

BIC

Still creeping slowly back into work mode. My baby is 5 months now, and still not on a schedule (I've tried and tried, but she's resistant in her charming, drooly way) so finding time to work is hard. I do have a sitter once or twice a week for a few hours, but it's amazing how fast that time goes, especially when it's often filled up with dentist appointments, teacher conferences at my toddler's school, and the occasional kid-free errand.

So, I have to choose carefully what my next project will be. I have a revision I'd really like to work on, for a book that I love and know is special but needs some reshaping. And I also have an idea for a great new series for younger readers. But something new requires so much brainpower and I'm still cruising at around 50%. What to do, what to do...

The answer is simple of course. Put my Butt In Chair (as Jane Yolen says) and WRITE.

Butt in chair now.

BIC. BIC. BIC.

Back to work

I'm slowly getting back to work now that my youngest is 4 months old. Sloooooowly.

I have some school visits on the calendar, and I'm teaching two classes in Baltimore at Roland Park Country School's evening program for adults. One is called Making Time to Write in a Busy Life on 10/26, and the other is The ABCs of Writing Children's Books on 11/9. I'm excited about these classes, not only because I got to pick the topics to discuss, but because Roland Park is my alma mater, and I'm thrilled to be going back there to teach.

You can find out more about the classes here. Sign up and come and see me!

So I haven't posted in a while...

But I have a very good reason.

The stork delivered this little package in late May and I've been, uh, a little busy ever since.

I'm taking the summer to spend time playing, cuddling, and hanging at the pool with my toddler and infant, and then I'll be back to work in the fall.

It's been the loveliest summer I can remember.

Putting the Octopus to Bed

So I've gotten my feedback (all helpful -- yay!) and now I've got to start putting this octopus to bed. Meaning, when tackling a revision, you usually have about eight (or a billion) things you need to focus on, which means every time you manage to put a few of them to bed, the other ones get loose and shoot out all over the place.

It's a tricky thing, revision. In my experience, my work ALWAYS gets better when I do a large rewrite. Always. But in the days leading up to plunging back into a manuscript, I'm overcome by fear that I won't be able to do it. I won't be able to manage all those octopus legs, and I'll just end up with a big, fat, mess.

A lot of writing is just shutting up your fear and getting your fingers moving. Because nothing will get finished if you just sit there and worry.

Okay, enough blogging. I've got a date with an octopus.

Waiting for Feedback (and Considering Dentistry)

Being a writer is full of hurry up-and-wait. You hurry-hurry to get through a first draft (for me, the most painful part of the entire writing process). Then you hurry-hurry to read and revise it because you're so anxious to fix the millions of things that are wrong with it. Then you hurry to make it somewhat presentable so you can push it out of your own hands, by sending it out somewhere -- either to an agent, editor, or trusted critique partner(s).

Right now I'm waiting for feedback on something brand new. In the mean time, I'm looking critically at some old and half-finished projects, trying to see if there's a spark anywhere I should ignite and work on.

But mostly just waiting and wondering. Sometimes I think I should have been a dentist instead. Or any less emotional profession.

Weenies

I had a writing date yesterday with the lovely Pam Bachorz and we got to talking about what makes a book a must-read. What makes it marketable? What makes it punchy? In short, what makes it work?

She told me a great story about Walt Disney and how he used to carry a hot dog in his pocket, which made his dog follow him around everywhere. Walt used that idea of the dog and weenie and applied it to his theme parks and franchises. When anything at Disney was being developed, he'd ask "Where's the weenie?," meaning, What's going to make people WANT it?

I was looking over a draft of something I wrote awhile ago that never quite came together and I realized instantly there was no weenie. There was a toasty bun, generous amounts of ketchup and mustard, and even some relish, but NO WEENIE.

I'm planning my revision now, with a full-size ballpark weenie in mind.

Writing Events

When I was getting my MFA in Writing for Children from the New School in New York, we had to attend a minimum of eight writing/publishing "events" per year (or was it per semester?). They believed this helped us to embrace the "writer's life," and it was one of my favorite parts of the program.

Now that I'm in DC, I still try to attend as much stuff as I can. Local conferences, book signings, etc. And I'm lucky to have my monthly DC Kidlit Book Club meetings, as well as my DC Children's Book Guild meetings. The Guild had a wonderful midwinter party last weekend where we all got a chance to eat, mingle, and discuss our writing, and today we had a luncheon with editor Namrata Tripathi (of S&S's Atheneum) as the speaker.

I always mention how solitary writing can be, especially when one is home with kids and not able to get out and do as much stuff as one would like. But attending a few events each month, making time for writing dates with friends, and just hanging out at the bookstore every once in a while to browse really keeps the juices flowing.

I'm mid-revision right now, so I need to be gunning it every day, but I'm glad I took some time this week to catch up with my fellow writers and get re-inspired. Tank refilled!

Writing Dates

I'm lucky enough to have friend and fellow teen author Jenny Han in town this week. Right now we're sitting at my dining room table hacking away at our respective manuscripts. We type, we drink tea, we stop and toss an idea or two at each other, and go back to typing.

Sometimes with writing dates progress appears slower than when working alone, but I find that the companionship, the sounding board, and the shared energy of working WITH someone, even if you're not working on the same project, more than makes up for it. One of the few things I miss about having an office job is having colleagues to make the work go a little faster.

So yesterday and today, I have a colleague. And, so far, a bunch of new pages in my manuscript and a clearer idea of what I want the climactic scene to be.

(Also a toddler running around asking for more Elmo's World, but let's ignore that, shall we?)

Something for the Mom-Writers

When I'm having a week where I can't get enough writing done, or I'm completely distracted by toddler antics, toddler illness, pregnancy insomnia, and broken garbage disposals, among other things, I read this quote from Elizabeth Berg's Escaping Into the Open, and I feel better.

When you have young children, and you are the primary caretaker, I think they must come first. If they don't, I think it will hurt both of you. This is not to say that you should put your writing aside when you have children; rather, it is to encourage you to work around their schedule as much as you can...

In order not to cheat yourself, you have to make writing a high priority... But you have to live the rest of your life, too; you have to allow room for all that makes you you, for all that feeds you. In my mind, being more than a writer, means you're more of a writer.

My hats off to other writers who are also full-time moms to young children and manage to get a little work done everyday. I shoot for four days of writing a week, and usually do it. But sometimes life happens and nothing gets done, and then I feel guilty, when really I shouldn't bother feeling that way. Because I will never make the choice of writing over caring for my sniffly daughter, or taking her to get a balloon on a day that she really, realllllly wants one, or lying on the living room floor while she gives me a pedicure with a crayon.

What I'm reading now

I always like to have a good stack of books on my bedside table. Here's what I'm reading now:

Sophie Simon Solves Them All by Lisa Graff - Chapter book about an 8-yr-old genius who solves her classmates' problems.

Sweet Treats & Secret Crushes by Lisa Greenwald - MG novel about three best friends and their mission to spread a little community love on a snowy Valentine's Day in NYC.

Forge by Laurie Halse Anderson - The sequel to Chains, one of my favorite reads last year!

Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly - A new contemporary/historical fiction YA about how a teen in today's Brooklyn finds the diary of a girl living in Paris during the French Revolution, and the effect it has on her.

Mother/Daughter Books & Tea

Fellow author Jennifer Allison and I hosted a Mother/Daughter Books & Tea event at Politics & Prose bookstore last Sunday and, happily, it was a huge success! The event was sold out, with both daughters and mothers squeezing into the downstairs "Remainder Room" at my local indie, anxious to discuss their favorite tween books, ask Jen and I questions, and get their books signed.

Several of them were aspiring writers, which always makes for

great questions.

The Chevy Chase Patch covered the event here.

If you are a bookseller, librarian or teacher and would like to host a similar event, please email me!

The Highs of Writing

There's a great interview with Coe over at School Library Journal.

In it Coe states how one of her favorite surreal moments as an author was the day she sat and signed books next to Ann M. Martin. She doesn't even mention winning the LA Times Book Prize, which most people would expect to be the answer. That's because the book lover in her is still more jazzed to meet an author/hero, than to be one.

I think it's neat how the things we expect to be big moments for us as writers are often not the ones that resonate the most. I remember thinking that selling my first book would be huge, but getting an agent was actually more exciting for me, because that was the moment I felt I was On My Way. And seeing my books on the shelves is nice, but not as great as having a kid ask me when I'm going to write a sequel.

One of the happiest moments I've had as a writer was at the ALA conference in 2007, where I was able to sit in on a session with Judy Blume. When she got up to the podium I got teary-eyed, just thinking of the effect her books had on me as a kid, and the many, many times I've read them. I think that in my mind and ego, I will always be a Reader first, and a Writer second.

*caroline hickey

Do Your Research

My new WIP takes place on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, where I spent time as a kid. It's a beautiful, rural, somewhat insulated community, and I really want to infuse my book with its atmosphere. I hadn't visited in several years, so last week my husband and I took a two-day trip there and toured a few of the smaller towns.

Just being on location gave me a huge rush of inspiration! I jotted down tons of notes for places my characters should go, little bits of local trivia and details I can add, etc. I want to weave in some of the history of the town without taking the reader out of the story, and since it's told in first person present that will be difficult. But I plan to try it.

I'm still foggy on what the next few major scenes of my book will be, but I feel so in tune with the setting and flavor of the book. I just hope it translates. (And that one day I actually finish this draft!)

*caroline hickey

Calling Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler...

Anyone read this article in the New York Times about a small wooden crucifix bought by the Italians for $4.2 million because it is thought to have been carved by Michelangelo? Now there's a big debate about whether it is, or isn't.

Where are Claudia and Jamie Kincaid when you need them???

*caroline hickey

Image Boards

In my ongoing effort to be able to leap instantaneously from the world of dirty diapers and mashed banana to the world I'm creating for my characters in my WIP, this week I'm making an image board.

My hope is that by creating a strong visual representation of my characters, setting, mood, tone, etc., I won't waste so much time "getting into" a scene when I sit down to write. It'll be like putting on gardening gloves and immediately pulling up weeds. I've been ripping pages from summer catalogs, from magazines, and from the newspaper, even putting random words on the board that remind me of key elements to my mc's personality, so that I can put on her voice as soon as I sit down.

Some of you are probably thinking this is a bit of a time-waster, a stall tactic, and you're right! :) But being able to SEE in front of me what I've been seeing in my head for over a year now is really gratifying, and makes me feel that the book is starting to come alive.

When the board is done, I'll post a picture of it. For now, the image here is just a hint of the feel of the book.

*caroline hickey

The Seuss is Loose

These are from Pottery Barn Kids, and YES, you can order them for a queen-size bed! Do you think my husband would object??






*caroline hickey

A Sharper Eye

I've started to notice lately how much sharper and more critical my reading and editing "eye" has become.

As I slowly chug-chug along in my WIP, I'm seeing holes and missteps in my writing that I never noticed in my first two books, and not because they weren't there. After B was born, I took five months off from writing. It gave me some space from my WIP, but it also gave me time to read a list of great books I'd been meaning to get around to. I think the combination of reading really great stuff, not being on a deadline, and taking a little time away from typing has given me a new perspective on my own work.

I hope this means my new book will be stronger and tighter and my best yet. But this new sharp eye is also a little paralyzing, because it won't let me move on to a new scene until I've gone over the current one 50 times. And that's not a good way to get through an early draft.

I'm going to speak to my Eye about this, and tell her to just chill out until the next draft. I'm going to tell her over a cappuccino at Starbucks this afternoon, where I'll be writing a scene where my main character embarrasses herself. YAH!

*caroline hickey

Jump to the Middle

I'm trying something new(!).

After some discussions with Jenny and Siobhan about the progress I am and am not making with my WIP, they both suggested I stop writing sequentially and just pick a scene in the middle that I'm excited about it and write it.

WHAT? I said. How do I write a scene without knowing how my characters got there?

JUST TRY IT, they said. It frees you up. It shows you where you're going, and helps you figure out how to get there. And it keeps you from writing boring little scenes that only serve to get your characters from point A to point B.

So I'm trying it. I'm sitting here now writing a scene that's going to happen about 70% of the way through the book and, unbelievably, it's going okay. The writing feels fun and loose, like it does when you start a completely new project and aren't hampered by the hows and whys yet.

Anyone else write this way? I'm diggin' it!

*caroline hickey