Howdy, Jennifer! The 24/7s are truly excited to finally have a chance to share a little but more about your kidlit journey with everyone! How did it begin?
I’d have to go way, way back for that one! Of course, like a lot of authors, I enjoyed writing as a child. Mainly poetry and the occasional short story attempt. But writing was just one of my gazillion interests, and one that I never thought I’d do as a profession. Then a little over twenty years ago, between unsatisfactory career choices, I found myself dabbling in writing again. Then I got to thinking maybe I could write for a living. So I started coming up with article ideas and fiction pieces and flooded the market with them. In 2004, I thought I’d gotten my big break when I published two stories—one suspense, one “literary.” But the streak ended quickly, and that made me stop and focus on what it was I really wanted to write.
I thought back to my most positive reading experiences and realized they were all books I read during my tween/teen years. Then I figured, if I enjoyed reading those books so much, maybe I would enjoy writing them. That was also a time when world events were such that I wanted to write novels that gave young people hope. (Little did I know that mission would be valid decades later.)
From that point on I took fiction courses and workshops, joined SCBWI, wrote a bad novel, then a better one. Then a third. And my fourth is what ultimately got picked up. I’ve also published children’s short fiction and poetry along the way.
Very interesting journey! So what inspired you to write your upcoming middle grade debut, BIRD NERD, that features a bird loving main character?
Surprisingly, birding was not one of my gazillion interests growing up. Once I discovered it as an adult, though, I became quite a serious birdwatcher. Birds then began to naturally show up in my writing. In fact, I think something bird-related has appeared in every one of my novel manuscripts and in quite a bit of my poetry.
A big reason birds were off my radar as a kid was because I grew up in Philadelphia and never knew anyone who was interested in birds (like, who bird-watches in the city?) This inspired me to write a novel about city kids discovering the world of birding. The novel took on many forms and initially was set in middle school and didn’t involve a competition. During my latest re-start, more than one writer friend brought up the idea of a competition. I decided to go with that and make it between city and suburban kids as a vehicle to demonstrate our commonality and to bridge differences in race, socio-economics, etc.
Sounds like a perfect combination to a winning book for middle-grade readers! So who acquired your book, and why are you glad it found a home at that house?
Della Farrell from Holiday House acquired BIRD NERD and I’m thrilled to have her as an editor. I had queried a different manuscript (number 3), and although it had many supporters, the offer ended up being for BIRD NERD along with a contract on a second yet-to-be-written novel.
A two-book deal! Very cool!
I am elated, to be sure! I hope this is inspiration for aspiring authors to keep on writing and to always have a back-up manuscript to sub!
Good advice, Jennifer. We can't wait to hear more about BIRD NERD and Book Two in the upcoming months!