Where do you find the inspiration for your books?
I’m someone who has LOTS of story ideas. Inspiration can come from anywhere. I find inspiration in the craziest places.
For Mortified, I was trying to help my son feel better about an embarrassing thing that happened to him at school. I told him one of my stories, which cheered him up a lot. My other son joined us and asked if I had any more stories. I did…and I kept telling more, and more and more. They were both laughing so hard, and told even more. It seemed I would never run out of embarrassing stories. Then one of them said, “it’s like you’re cursed or something!” And that was how Mortified began.
For Touching Grass, I was visiting a culture camp in northern Saskatchewan, and this was a brand new experience for me. I loved every minute of it. I thought, what if a kid who loves video games but hated it outside came up here? I’ll bet they’d grow to love it outside if they could learn about cool stuff like this. And boom! Book idea. That one’s coming out in September.
What were your favourite books when you were a kid? As a young reader, did you see yourself in the books you read?
I read so many books as a kid. You’ll hear this from a lot of people my age who grew up in small town Saskatchewan, but we didn’t have much for TV. Definitely didn’t have phones or tablets, so reading was how I entertained myself. I read everything I could get my hands on…graphic novels, comics, books for kids, books for grown-ups.
I loved lots of many different kinds of books. Funny stuff, scary stuff, dramatic stuff, fantasy. But my absolute favourite book as a kid was The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe by CS Lewis. I read that book so many times, it literally fell apart. Twice. I read it to my kids as an adult and I still love it.
What’s the most surprising thing you have learned when creating your books?
The most surprising thing for me was how important editing is. Writing the book is just step one. I spend a lot more time editing than I do writing. And I also found out how valuable it is to have others edit your book. You wouldn’t believe some of the embarrassing mistakes that, thankfully, other smart readers caught for me before the book went into print.
What is a challenge you have faced as a writer?
I’ve had a lot of challenges as a writer! I think most of us do. Here are two of my biggest ones.
For many years, I found it very hard to finish a story. I had tons of ideas, but I would start them and then I didn’t know how to finish it properly. I have so many of these unfinished books – like probably 150 of them. It took me years of learning and studying others and trying and failing to finally figure out how story structure works and how important it is for me to use an outline before I start writing. Outlining was such a game changer for me. I wish I wouldn’t have resisted it for so long!
Another challenge for me was (and is) confidence. Like Belinda in Mortified, I was so shy, and so convinced I was just a terrible writer and nobody would want to read what I wrote. I still sometimes think that. But I kept trying and pushing my comfort zone. It wasn’t easy, and many times, I wanted to chicken out, but I eventually got to where I could share my work with others and now I even give speeches about writing. I could not have imagined myself doing these things when I was a kid. It still terrifies me to share my work or do speeches or be on tv, but I’m able to do it anyway now, even if it scares me. So if you see me giving a speech and my face is red and my hands are shaking, you know why!
What advice do you have for kids who are interested in writing?
My advice to anyone is to try, try and try again. Find ways to read and write as much as you can – stories, journals, character sketches – whatever is fun for you. Trying and practicing: those are the biggest keys. To get a book published, you have to first learn how to finish a whole book (that’s hard) and then deal with rejection (that’s even harder). Many talented writers quit before they make it because it is so hard.
But no matter what happens, just keep writing and trying and always learn. I’m a published author and I still take writing classes and read about writing wherever I can. I still have people read my work and circle my mistakes and make suggestions. I will always be practicing and learning from my mistakes, even when I’ve published many books. I think it’s important to think about writing as something you’ll always be trying to get better at.