It’s spring here in Georgia, and our gorgeous dogwoods and azaleas are sending me out into the yard with my clippers, snipping a frenzy of bouquets to spruce up our home. I’m not at all a gardener, but our house rests on property where generations before me still share their love of natural beauty.

If you’re like me and love flowers, then I must tell you about a new young adult book I recently read by Amy Brecount White. It’s called Forget-Her-Nots and shares the story of 14-year-old Laurel’s blossoming realization that she has a supernatural gift of being able to communicate through flowers.

As I read this book, I felt the author to be one of those few kindred spirits I have in this world. She has a fantastic love of literature and her depth of knowledge blew me away. After reading the book, I wanted to know more about her, and I was thrilled when she agreed to answer a few of my questions.

I hope you enjoy meeting Amy Brecount White and will visit her website to learn more about what she’s up to.

Welcome, Amy! How did you get the idea to write a book about the Victorian language of flowers?

It was a combination of factors. I was freelancing a lot of non-fiction articles and always on the lookout for new story ideas. I came across a beautiful coffee table book on tussie-mussies, which are symbolic Victorian bouquets. Although I tried to sell an article on this topic, I never did.

Later, I went to hear author Toni Morrison speak, and she advised aspiring writers to “write the story that only you can write.” That struck a chord with me, and I started to think about my loves and what I cared about most. Flowers, teenage girls (since I’d taught at an all-girls school), literature, and relationships.

I hope you can see all my loves in Forget-Her-Nots.

Oh, yes definitely! That was great advice from Toni Morrison, and I think it’s what makes your book so unique. Are you anything like your main character, Laurel?

Yes, although I don’t have the gift of flowers, I do have a very sensitive nose and adore flowers and gardening. I think all characters have something of their author in them too, even the mean ones. I also coach my daughter’s soccer team and used to play myself.

I’m not surprised to hear that you’re an experienced soccer player and coach! I really enjoyed jumping right into the game with Laurel since I’ve been a soccer mom for several years (though never a player!) Amy, Can you tell us more about how you became so interested in tussie-mussies, which play such an integral role in the plot of your novel?

It came from the book I mentioned earlier and a lot of research into the language of flowers and Shakespeare’s use of flowers. There isn’t a definitive language, but the list in the back of my book contains the most common meanings associated with flowers throughout Western culture. I would love to explore flower mythology and meanings from Eastern cultures — especially India, China, and Japan — in a future novel.

Do you ever send anyone these little bouquets of flowers?

Yes. Before the idea of Forget-Her-Nots was born, a friend and neighbor of mine had ovarian cancer, so I made her a bouquet with flower messages for her health, hope, and strength. I wished so much that it would come true, and that was one of the seeds that led me to write my novel.

I’ve also created a tussie-mussie out of photos of flowers for a niece who lives too far away to send fresh ones.

That’s a great idea, sending a digital bouquet to someone you love. What is your favorite flower?

I love all flowers, but I adore gardenias for their sweet scent and loveliness. Bleeding hearts, lilacs, and dogwoods are other favorites, as they are all blooming in my yard right now.

Oh, I’m sure your yard must be beautiful! As we’re approaching Mother’s Day next month, what flowers would you recommend for a pretty Mother’s Day “tussie mussie?”

I recommend any combination of these flowers and herbs that would smell lovely, and don’t forget to include a card deciphering the meaning of the flowers.

Rosemary – I’ll remember you always.

Sage – I esteem you and all you do for me.

Gardenia – To “transport” you to a place where you’ll be ecstatic.

Fennel – You are worthy of all praise.

White bellflowers – I’m so grateful for all you do.

Irises – To send my message to you.

These are all so lovely, and most should be blooming or available easily around Mother’s Day.

You’ve inspired me to really give careful thought to the meaning of flowers! Back to your novel, was this story based on actual people or places?

I tried to stay true to the countryside and architecture around Charlottesville, Virginia, but there’s no Avondale school there, and I’ve never attended boarding school. I also used historical details about orchid hunters, Charlotte de Latour, and Mt. Kinabalu. Everything else is a product of my over-active imagination!!

Did you ever sneak around like Laurel reading really old books about the secret language of flowers?

Oh! Fun question. I wish. When I was her age, I did stay awake long after I was supposed to be, reading a good book under the covers. In fact, I still stay up too late reading, but I don’t have to hide it anymore. I just have to drink more coffee or green tea the next day. 😉

Are there really people known as “Flower Speakers?”

You never know…. Truly, I think anyone who gives flowers to another person in a spirit of love and good will speak the language. You can lift another person’s mood for days by giving her or him flowers. (This was proven in a study at Rutgers University.)

What do you hope readers will gain from reading Forget-Her-Nots?

My Publisher’s Weekly review said I had “a reverence for the natural world,” which thrilled me. I definitely hope that all my readers young to older will look at flowers differently and see how truly amazing they are. Also, most of my stories are intergenerational and emphasize our connectedness through the generations. I hope young readers see that especially.

Do you have any advice for moms who are trying to take care of their families while also squeezing in a little time to write?

Yes. I freelanced for newspapers (The Washington Post) and magazines (FamilyFun, Washingtonian, Notre Dame Magazine) when my three kids were younger. It was very satisfying to do the research, write the piece, and see it published in a relatively short time. So much we do as moms is repetitive and never-ending. So I would advise budding writers to take on some short projects first. Try your local newspaper or parenting magazine.

I’d also advise you to go easy on yourself and be happy if you write a little bit every day. Definitely always carry a notebook. Some of my best inspiration came on playgrounds!

This is very thoughtful advice, Amy! I’m sure many moms out there can relate to jotting down story ideas on the playground. How do you manage to spend time with your kids and still be a productive writer?

If I’m on a tough deadline, I wake up at 5 or 5:30 and write for a while before I have to get the kids out the door. Then the rest of the day seems to go more smoothly. If you want to do both, you can’t ever have writers’ block. No time!

So I’d always write notes to myself at the end of my writing time about where to start next. I’d give myself a concrete problem to solve or scene to write, so I could start immediately. I often wrote in snatches, meaning an hour here and there. Some writers think they need hours, but writing during nap time or quiet time works well, if you’ve given yourself a specific and doable task.

Also, you have to be able to walk by the pile of smelly laundry and crumby counter and focus on writing. I throw laundry in when I need a break, but try to do most of the housework after my working hours. Now my kids are in school all day, so that helps.

Wow. You make running a home seem compatible with carving out a writing life. These are such great ideas! Are you working on another book now?

Yes, it’s called String Theories. It’s about a 14-year-old girl who gets in over her head, the physics of relationships, a stream, and getting even. It’s a little edgier than the first one, so I’d recommend for ages 14 and up.

I’m sure it will be fantastic. Thanks so much for visiting us here at Mom 2 Mom Connection, Amy! We wish you the best with your writing endeavors and look forward to seeing your next book!

Thanks so much and thanks for hosting me!

You’re welcome!

Note: Special thanks to Susan Salzman Raab and the other fine folks at Raab Associates in NYC for introducing me and everybody here to Amy Brecount White and her books.

One of my favorite authors recently celebrated her 94th birthday. This is such happy news! I’ve loved Beverly Cleary’s Henry Huggins and Ramona series since I read them as a child, but even more so since I rediscovered them as a mom reading them to my own kids. They’re so pure, clean, and FUNNY.

School Library Journal posted a nice interview with Mrs. Cleary on her birthday,which was April 11. You can read the whole story here.

When asked, “What’s your legacy to children’s literature?”, Cleary answered:

I’ve done what I started to do—to write books that children would want to read, books that would let them enjoy reading. I want them to discover that reading is more than something they have to do in school. Ramona and the others are just the sort of kids who lived in my neighborhood in Portland, OR. Everything in the Ramona and Henry books could have happened in Portland and probably did.

She also talks a little about the new movie, “Ramona and Beezus,” that’s due out in July. We saw the previews for this movie when we went to see “Diary of a Wimpy Kid” (which is not nearly as funny as the books, by the way. Too much crude humor.) I think I might have squealed in the dark theater, “RAMONA’S GOING TO BE IN A MOVIE!!” I think I might have embarrassed my kids and spilled a little popcorn. But it was exciting.

The preview for Ramona was actually more exciting than the whole Wimpy Kid movie. It will star Selena Gomez as Beezus. I like Selena Gomez because I can finally tell her apart from Demi Lovato, and my daughters think I’m cool when I can roll their names off my tongue. Try saying Selena Gomez and Demi Lovato fast three times and you’ll see what it’s like to be the mother of tween girls today.

But back to Beverly!

I’m crazy about Beverly Cleary! Ask anyone! I have her beloved memoir, On My Own Two Feet, on my shelf of hallowed books, alongside my Grandfather’s 1956 edition of Kipling short stories, Alcott’s Little Women, The Bronte sisters’ Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre, and Allen Say’s The Ink-Keeper’s Apprentice. These are the books that give me courage to write.

If you have never read Cleary’s My Own Two Feet, you absolutely must, if you love children’s books. Along with that, you’ll have to get a copy of A Girl From Yamhill as well. Both chronicle her growing up years and how all of her personal life experiences fed into her becoming one of the world’s most beloved children’s writers, whose books are ALL still in print after 60 years. Yes, I love this woman’s work.

When we visited Portland last fall, I almost couldn’t wait a second before taking my kids to the Portland city library. There was a stop on the subway (the “MAX”) for Yamhill district. I remember holding my map with shaking hands, as we approached the streets where young Beverly might have walked to check out books from the library. “This is it!” I told them. “We’re getting closer to Beverly Cleary’s library! The place where she checked out books when she was your age!!”

My kids wanted to go shopping at the mall and buy plastic trinkets, and to the zoo to see monkeys, but I had to take them to see Beverly’s library, which is also Allen Say’s library to me, since he lives somewhere in Portland. When we got inside, we discovered an actual room with the words, “Beverly Cleary Children’s Library” posted over the door. It was a beauiful place, with a giant tree towering over stacks and stacks of glorious children’s books. I think I might have shed a tear or two.

In My Own Two Feet, Beverly describes the point in her life when she was finally ready to start writing children’s books. It was a dream she’d carried around inside for years, but she was too busy being a student, a librarian, and then a wife to that wonderful Clarence Cleary. Finally, it was time. They were settled in a cute little house in southern California. But she struggled with writer’s block. After visiting her parents in Portland, she shares:

I told myself that if I was ever going to write a children’s book, now was the time to do it. But when I sat down at my typewriter and stared at the paper I had rolled into it, the typewriter seemed hostile, and the paper remained blank. The longer I stared, the blanker it seemed. After years of aspiring, I found I had nothing to say. Maybe it had all been a foolish dream.

Her husband kept encouraging her. While he went to work, she stayed home to try and write. They went through a difficult miscarriage, and Beverly got depressed for a while. So they moved to a different house, and this time they discovered a ream of typing paper in the linen closet, left by the former owner.

Here’s how she describes what happened next:

I remarked to Clarence. “I guess I’ll have to write a book.” My ambition, refusing to die, was beginning to bloom again.
“Why don’t you?” asked Clarence.
“We never have any sharp pencils” was my flippant answer.
The next day he brought home a pencil sharpener.

Isn’t that cute? Oh, I just love Clarence Cleary for buying Beverly a pencil sharpener and for encouraging her to stick with her dreams. She wrote some stories about a boy named Henry Huggins and his dog, Ribsy (though she originally named him “Spareribs”). She gave him a friend named Beezus and, on a whim, decided to give Beezus a sister. She named her Ramona after hearing a neighbor call out to another whose name was Ramona.

Ramona Quimby.

Cleary sent her stories to New York, and Elisabeth Hamilton of Morrow helped her turn them into a novel. Sixty years later, we’re still reading it, as well as all the ones that came after.

I adore Beverly Cleary, and am thrilled God has given her such a long, happy life. I wish her many more happy years to come. She’s an inspiration to all of us who stare at the blank page and wonder if we have something worthwhile to say.

Our family spent spring break visiting Asheville, North Carolina, and it turned out to be somewhat of a literary tour for me. As always, I’m drawn to anything related to books, and so I wanted to share with you my fascination with George Washington Vanderbilt’s astonishing library in his former personal home, Biltmore Estates.

The library contains over 10,000 books, although we learned that Vanderbilt’s original collection contained over 23,000 volumes. He was an avid reader and book collector, and our tour guide said Vanderbilt was once known as “the best read man in America.” Wouldn’t you have loved being one of his guests? Biltmore is known as the largest home in America, with over 250 rooms, including 43 bathrooms. (My children were particularly interested in that detail because we all have to share in our house. No fair.)

I was completely in awe, and my oldest daughter and I had to tour the house two days in a row to make sure we didn’t miss anything. If you have a chance to visit, I highly recommend that you spend the extra $10 to listen to the audio tour. It’s worth every penny if you love stories, and Biltmore is a home full of stories! We especially loved hearing tales about the lavish banquets and house parties. The house originally opened in 1895 for a Christmas Eve party.

Behind the library’s chimney, on the second floor, is a secret door and passageway which Vanderbilt designed for the use of his guests. This allowed them to slip downstairs, perhaps in their nightcaps, and select a bedtime book to read without having to descend the grand spiral staircase in the center of the home. How thoughtful!

Many of Vanderbilt’s guests were writers, including Henry James and Edith Wharton. On the ceiling is a painting by Venetian artist Pellegrini, entitled, “The Chariot of Aurora.” I really could have spent a week in that one room alone, though of course visitors aren’t allowed to touch any of the books. Still, what a place to dream.

Our second literary stop came as a bit of a surprise because I got so caught up in the glory of Biltmore and the Blue Ridge mountains, I didn’t do enough research before the trip.

While there, we discovered that Asheville is the homeplace of author Thomas Wolfe, whose famous novels include Look Homeward Angel, Of Time and the River, The Web and the Rock, and You Can’t Go Home Again. I haven’t read any of these books, but I’ve now got Look Homeward Angel on reserve at the library because I’m so curious as to what caused such a stir in Asheville when it was first published in 1929. It was autobiographical, based on his life in a boarding house called “Old Kentucky Home,” where he lived with his mom and their boarders (pictured below).

We visited the Thomas Wolfe Memorial, which showed a wonderful short movie about his life, as well as exhibits that included Wolfe’s desk and typewriter from his apartment in New York. I was struck by how uncomfortable his chair looked, imagining him sitting there for hours a day, composing his novels and short stories. His editor, Max Perkins at Scribner, also worked with Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald.

We were sad to learn that Wolfe died 18 days short of his 38th birthday — so he got all his life’s work done by age 37. Amazing. I found it interesting to note that Thomas Wolfe was born in 1900, the same year Cornelia Vanderbilt was born at Biltmore, only daughter of George and Edith Vanderbilt. (She had quite a big house to ramble around in.)

Having fun yet? OK, our last stop on this brief literary tour of Asheville is only a temporary one. We visited the CLIFFORD THE BIG RED DOG exhibit at the Health Adventure Museum at Pack Place. If you have kids, you must visit this museum, especially on a rainy day (like we did). We spent about four hours in that place, all thoroughly entertained. My older kids and husband spent the entire time upstairs in the Mindbender Mansion doing all sorts of brainy exercises, while my 5-year-old daughter and I hung out with Clifford.

What fascinated me most about Clifford is that I never thought much about Clifford as a character in literature. Yet there was a small exhibit about the book’s author, Norman Bridwell, and I’ll never look at those books the same again. His first Clifford book was published in 1962, and there are now over 160 titles in the series, with over 100 million copies in print. I think I’d consider him a successful author!

My kids, at various times, have all loved the Clifford books, and his big red dogness has helped me many times keep my eyelids propped open during late night story reading. We enjoyed watching a little movie about Norman Bridwell, who is an older man now, talking about how his drawings came to life. The setting for the Clifford books is the island of Birdwell, based on the author’s home at Martha’s Vineyard. PBS created the television series based on the books in 2000. Any parent of a preschooler will be able to recognize the sound of Clifford’s theme song coming on TV. (That’s when we all jump in the shower, right?)

I entered the world of Clifford and spent a happy time playing with my daughter, who will one day tell me she’s too old for Clifford books. I know this because it’s already happened with my four older kids.

Traveling with five children is an experience itself. My husband and I like to use the term “educational field trip” because the vacation really begins once the trip is over. But it was worth it.

I hope you enjoyed my little tour. I think I’m out of breath now.

I find this hard to believe, but 2010 marks my fifth year as a contributor to the world of blogging. Although I’ve taken breaks now and then, I’ve kept this same site and design, and I like it, but …

I’ve been working hard behind the scenes on a few things, and I’d like to branch out a bit and have a site that can sort of grow with me. So if you’re one of those wonderful people who’ve stuck with me for years reading here or you have my blog linked in your sidebar, please update the link to:

www.heatherivester.com

For now, nothing will change except the address. It will still be a while before I figure out exactly what I want to do with my name as the site, but I do know I’d like young readers to feel comfortable reaching me … someday.

Although the novels I’m trying to write are still in bits and pieces, the characters are sitting on my desk looking annoyed with me when I ignore them. They want me to tell their stories, so I’m working on it. Along with everything else.

Here’s a quote I came across last week from the enigmatic Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird.:

It’s absolutely essential that a writer know himself, for until he knows his abilities and limitations, his talents and problems, he will be unable to produce anything of real value …The writer must know for whom he writes, why he writes, and if his writing means what he means for it to say.

Writing is, in a way, a contest of knowing, of seeing the dream, of getting there, and of achieving what you set out to do. The simplest way to reach this goal is to simply say what you mean as clearly and precisely as you know how.

(from Mockingbird: A Portrait of Harper Lee, by Charles J. Shields).

I woke up to an email this morning from my Japanese friend who lives near Tokyo. She and her family came to visit us last Christmas, and not a day goes by that I don’t think of her. She told me to be on the lookout for a box of “Japanese snacks” which she and her children picked out for us. How exciting!

It seems like only yesterday they were all camped out in our den, helping us sort the piles of rice cakes and Japanese candy they brought to share with us. As I’ve been doing some fall cleaning in the past month, I keep finding dozens of origami animals, flowers, and other shapes. They’re everywhere.

When I lived in Japan, “Ohisashi buri desu ne” was a greeting people would say to me if they hadn’t seen me in a while. I guess it’s similar to our English expression of “Long time, no see.” It pretty much sums up how I feel about Japan.

I read recently that author Kate DiCamillo wrote Because of Winn Dixie while she was living in Minnesota and longing for her native Florida. On her website, she says:

I wrote Because of Winn-Dixie during the worst winter on record in Minnesota. I was cold and lonely and homesick for Florida (where I grew up). I couldn’t afford to go home, but I could write a book that took me there.

I think that’s what I’ve been doing lately. I can’t afford to fly to Japan, but I can read about it and write about it. My desire to write fiction has become so strong lately, mostly due to this nagging sense of feeling “homesick” for Japan. I’m trying-trying-trying to carve out some space and time to write these stories that are on my heart. I just wonder if there is a child out there somewhere I’m supposed to reach. I guess I’ll never know unless I try.

It’s so much easier to write in my journal and tell myself I’m too busy to write fiction and send stuff out to agents and editors. That’s scary! And time-consuming! And how can I even know this is what God wants me to do with my time?

Then I read a quote like this, from author Jonathan Rogers, and I shuffle onward:

For me, that’s what writing is like. All these broken pieces of truth and beauty lying about: how do you begin to put them together into something that is a little truer, a little more beautiful than what we see every day? Stories, when they are told the right way, give us something that is TRUER than everyday life…

That’s why stories are so important in a child’s life, and in anyone else’s. Teaching a child what’s true and right requires the telling of stories—Bible stories, histories, family stories, fiction. It’s fine to tell our children that virtue is good. It’s better to tell them a story that shows them that virtue is beautiful and desirable. It’s better still to tell them a story that lets them enter into a life of virtue—that lets them try on virtue for size.

I hope you enjoy a refreshing month of October!

–Heather

If you’re as crazy about the Anne of Green Gables series as I am, here is a must-read article written by the granddaughter of Lucy Maud Montgomery.

This year marks the 100th anniversary of the publication of Anne of Green Gables.

I came across this bit of advice recently and felt like it needed to be passed along:

There’s certainly serendipity involved in getting published. But it’s the sort of serendipity you have a hand in making happen.

You write, you revise, you research, you attend critique meetings, you write and revise some more, you persistently submit your work to publishers.

And one day, a certain editor finds something on her desk she didn’t know she was looking for. And you sent it. And she loves it. And she publishes it.

— quote by Alice Pope,
from the 2005 introduction to the Children’s Writers & Illustrators Market

Thank you so much to Tina who commented in my Advent post that Arnold Ytreeide’s Advent books are coming back in print, thanks to the great folks at Kregel!

Tina gave me Arnold Ytreeide’s website, Jotham’s Journey, which I visited and read this wonderful news:

In October 2007, author Arnold Ytreeide signed a contract with Kregel Publications of Grand Rapids, Michigan, for the re-printing of Jotham’s Journey. It is Kregel’s intention to have the books available for the 2008 Christmas season.

Depending on sales of Jotham, the other books may also be re-printed in subsequent years. But if Kregel decides to end their involvement after Jotham, another publisher is already interested, so there’s still hope that Bartholomew, Tabitha and other books will follow.

In the meantime, watch for Jotham beginning in the summer of 2008 at major on-line booksellers as well as most Christian distributors. You can also watch for it on Kregel’s site.

We’d like to say a huge “Thanks!” to the thousands of people who have written, called, and even visited over the last several years as Jotham was looking for a new home. We appreciate so much the suggestions, praise, and encouragement. Finding a publisher for a book is not an easy task — every book is a huge risk for a publisher, so they’re very careful in selecting books for publication. Your letters and emails helped keep Jotham alive!

When these books are back in print, everybody go out and buy them so they’ll STAY in print! It is so awesome to have Advent stories like these that draw families together. As a mom with five children ranging in age from 2 to 11, we love having these books to help teach our kids about the true meaning of Christmas in new and interesting ways.

This year, we’re going to be reading Tabitha’s Travels, and I can’t WAIT to get started. I’m being honest here and telling you that we haven’t begun our 2007 Advent storytime yet. Our weeknights have been so busy and exhausting that we’re going to wait until this weekend.

But I DID go to Hobby Lobby a few days ago to pick up pink, purple, and white Advent candles, and I’ve got the Advent wreath set up. I’m looking forward to starting this new journey with Tabitha. I would love to hear what materials you’re using to help celebrate the joy of Christmas with your family this year.

I would never have heard of Jotham’s Journey if another mom in my hometown hadn’t shared it with me.

Have you seen Bridge to Terabithia yet? It really is a great family movie. We took our kids to see it a few weeks ago, and this was easily the best film we’ve seen since The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

And no wonder; it’s produced by Walden Media, the same company behind the Narnia movies, as well as Because of Winn Dixie, Charlotte’s Webb, Amazing Grace, and others. You can read a chapter excerpt of Bridge to Terabithia here.

In a recent speech, the president of Walden Media, Michael Flaherty, addressed an audience of college students and talked about the importance of reading good books. He said:

In launching Walden Media, our greatest challenge was in identifying the stories that we wanted to bring to the screen. We did not want to waste our time making films out of “the wrong books” that Eustace Scrubbs [The Voyage of the Dawn Treader] wasted his time reading.

So rather than turn to the usual parade of agents and Hollywood producers, we launched an unusual campaign that continues to this day. We enrolled in as many educational conferences as we could find. We spoke to tens of thousands of teachers and librarians and asked them what books they most enjoyed teaching and recommending.

After seven years, the only thing that seems odd about this strategy is the fact that our company is the only one doing it. After all, who knows stories better than teachers and librarians?

And I must add to this: parents. We know what we love to read to our kids! We know what our children respond to. We know what books bring joy to our family.

If you’ve read a good book lately, why not write Walden Media and request they consider it for a movie? Get your kids to write them a letter — not a bad composition assignment, huh?

Flaherty continues in his speech (which I hope you can read in its entirety) by explaining why they’ve chosen to tackle projects that contain some frightening content (such as Terabithia, which I won’t spoil for you, if you haven’t seen it yet. But bring the tissues!) He quotes this wonderful passage from C.S. Lewis. I don’t know where this came from originally — does anyone know?

Those who say that children must not be frightened may mean two things. They may mean (1) that we must not do anything likely to give the child those haunting, disabling, pathological fears against which ordinary courage is helpless: in fact, phobias. His mind must, if possible, be kept clear of things he can’t bear to think of. Or they may mean (2) that we must try to keep out of his mind the knowledge that he is born into a world of death, violence, wounds, adventure, heroism and cowardice, good and evil.

If they mean the first I agree with them: but not if they mean the second. The second would indeed be to give children a false impression and feed them on escapism in the bad sense. There is something ludicrous in the idea of so educating a generation which is born to the…atomic bomb.

Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage. Otherwise you are making their destiny not brighter but darker.

Oh, that last line: I love it!

Since it is so likely that they will meet cruel enemies, let them at least have heard of brave knights and heroic courage.

Are you reading books to your children that teach them about the courage needed to overcome evil? Whenever I get depressed about the state of the world, about the junk our kids must grow up with, I look to people like Michael Flaherty and Walden Media as my heroes.

One more quote from this great speech:

Today we desperately need more leaders like William Wilberforce and the Kings and Queens of Narnia who will fight to make good laws, keep the peace, save good trees from being cut down, and encourage ordinary people who want to live and let live.

I wish you a happy weekend, filled with brave knights and heroic courage!

A few months ago, I asked our local children’s librarian if she recommended any series for elementary-age girls. Our librarian is a true kindred spirit because she has two daughters and is also a Christian. She knows I’m always on the lookout for character-building fiction that is also FUN for kids to read.

She led me straight to Dandi Daley Mackall’s Winnie the Horse Gentler series (Tyndale House), which I reviewed here. I discovered Mrs. Mackall is the author of over 400 books! I also noticed some of her books are from Christian publishers — so I was curious to learn more about her writing and her faith.

Well, here she is! I think this interview is one of the most inspiring I’ve ever been a part of, one I will read again and again. I hope you enjoy getting to know her too!

Dandi, you’re absolutely prolific! In your writing career, you’ve published books in every genre, from picture book to adult. You must have an endless well of ideas! Where do you find your ideas for writing stories?

I think we all get an endless well of ideas, don’t you? We just need to recognize them, connect the dots, listen, and then work like crazy.

It’s funny, but I’m still insecure enough to have those writer-thoughts that each book is probably the last I’ll have, that I’ll never get another idea, that no publisher will buy anything ever again.

But ideas are everywhere. I love the ones that seem to come out of nowhere—like Larger-Than-Life Lara, a middle-grade novel that “came to me” at 3 am one night/morning, and then kept coming. More often, the thoughts have been simmering for years and then rise to the surface.

My kids supply me with many scenes, parts of characters, plenty of suspense and humor (my husband, too). And I’m still writing out my past—events that happened when I was in elementary school.

You have three children. Do you feel that being a mother has helped you in your writing career? In what ways?

Absolutely! When I started writing, I wrote long “inspirational nonfiction,” humor, and how-to books for grown-ups. Never dreamed I’d write children’s books. Then I had children, and I rediscovered kid books.

I love how compressed the language is, how important the sounds of words become. My writing career has paralleled my children’s lives. When they were little, I wrote board books and picture books. I knew first-hand the humor, problems, language, lives of my child readers.

My kids got older, and I wrote chapter books, then middle-grade fiction, then young adult books. I always knew the lingo, what was in, what was out, what was troubling. I kept writing the earlier genres, too, never giving that age up just because my kids moved past it.

Now I write for every age group. We are extra-blessed in the Mackall household. We have a special-needs daughter who’s turned 20, but lives the age of an 8-10 year-old. I will always have a child who colors me pictures for my refrigerator. We have a live-in child, who helps me stay a child myself and tune in to what children need.

Another way being a mother has helped me write is that I think it’s one of the tools God gives us to force us deeper. Being a mom pretty much guarantees we’ll pray!

What mother can go through the agonies and anxieties of motherhood without glimpsing how God cares for us? We begin to get an idea about sacrifice, about loving so much that we’d give our lives for our children. And that’s a piece of the puzzle of why Jesus would sacrifice for us.

Oh, that’s so very true. When your children were babies or toddlers, how did you carve out a time and place to write?

I was writing before I had children, so I had some good habits established. I was used to getting up really early and grabbing that time for personal devotion, and then writing.

But I had to learn to be flexible when the kids came along. What if they got up early, too? Wrecked my whole plan! When I had two kids under 3, my entire day revolved around pulling off the amazing feat of synchronized napping. My goal was to get them to sleep at the same time, so I could write! I’d have everything ready so I could jump into that book or article the second their eyes closed.

Daughter Katy was diagnosed with a life-threatening and chronic disease when she was 9 months and her sister was 3. A month later, my husband left all of us for another woman. Writing suddenly became much more than a hobby! I supported the kids by writing anything and everything—articles, hospital brochures, college handbooks, Scooby Doo books as work-for-hire. Anything!

Those desperate days made me work hard at writing and finding the time to write. I’d write while my kids colored and did sticker books, while they watched Sesame Street. When I could, I’d hire a high school girl for 2 hours and write every second of it. (BTW, five years later, God brought me my wonderful husband, Joe.)

Do you have any advice for today’s busy parents who dream of writing magazine articles or books?

Do it! John 3:17 loosely says, “You know this stuff. Now do it!”

Hate to tell you, but you’ll probably always be really busy. Writers are. I’m every bit as busy as I was when the kids were small. I still care for Katy all day. We’ve moved my mother in with us. I have writing deadlines and speaking engagements…and life. But that’s where we get our material, right?

You have an edge! Use it! You’re in the thick of parenthood. If I want to write about toddlers, or elementary school kids, I have to research now. You’ve already done your research. I’m jealous.

Enjoy the process of writing. That’s the real gift, a secret joy as you discover stories that I honestly believe started in heaven. We unravel them. We accept them. We write them.

Rewrite. Find at least one other writer who will exchange manuscripts, critique, encourage. Ask for criticism. Don’t reject it. Consider it. Your work isn’t your child.

Ask your family to give you the gift of a writer’s retreat. One weekend can change your life. When they ask what you want for Christmas, that’s it.

Do you recommend any home study programs for helping writers become better at the craft of writing?

Read what you want to write. Read a lot. I know it’s hard, but we must do it. My favorite how-to book is Wyndham’s Writing for Children and Teenagers. It’s a classic and gives a lot of information in a concise package that works for grown-up books, too.

If I could be so bold, I’d love for you to read a book I wrote for middle-grade readers/writers, a story about story, called Larger-than-life Lara, published by Dutton/Penguin. It’s my 400th book, the one God sent in the middle of the night. Each chapter deals with a part of story (character, rising action, climax, setting, etc.), while the action of the story keeps moving forward.

Your website says your book, Eva Underground, “parallels the author’s experiences before ‘The Wall’ came down.” Can you tell us a little about your teaching experiences in Poland and how that led to your writing this book?

Thanks for asking about this. This book only took me about 25 years to write! I lived behind the “Iron Curtain” and was a missionary from 1978-1979, during Soviet-controlled communism. I lived with 20 Poles (and no hot water) on the border of Poland and Czechoslovakia, teaching them to write and teaching the Bible.

It was an amazing time, involving an underground freedom movement, an illegal printing press, and many other experiences than sat in my head for years as I wrote other things. Finally, I wrote this historical novel (frightening to realize I’d aged so much that my life was historical!), fictionalizing the events that took place when I lived there.

EVA UNDERGROUND came out last year with Harcourt. Among other things, I used the countless journals I’d kept during those two years.

Since many of us reading here are bloggers, can you tell us a little bit about your Blog On! teen fiction series?

We all know how into blogging teens are! I wanted to write a series of fun, fast-paced, character-driven novels for teens, about teens who blog. In the books, I don’t rant against blogging. I just show how these four girls eventually form a positive blog.

They avoid the pitfalls of gossiping and bullying online. I wanted to show how these four, very different teens discover that their real-life relationships matter more to them than shallow cyber-relationships, and that their relationship with God is the most important one of all.

My publisher, Zondervan, has developed a great website loaded with safety tips and Q and A for teen bloggers. We printed safety tips in the backs of the books, too. Hopefully, the books can help teens as they navigate through cyberspace.

This sounds wonderful. Thank you so much for coming here and sharing with us!

You can learn more about Dandi Daley Mackall and her books for kids and adults at her website, Dandi Books.