Posts Tagged “writing for children”

Author Spotlight: Ciera Burch

By Melissa Roske on September 16, 2024 / Author Interviews

Today, we’re thrilled to welcome author Ciera Burch back for her second visit to the Mixed-Up Files! Her sophomore MG novel, Camp Twisted Pine, a paranormal fantasy that mixes thrills, chills, and local legend, is out tomorrow, September 17, from Margaret K. McElderry Books.

Melissa: Hi, Ciera! Welcome back to the Mixed-Up Files. It’s great to have you here again!

Ciera: Great to be back. Thanks so much for having me!

Melissa: The last time we chatted, your MG debut, Finch House, was about to be released. Now you have a second MG, Camp Twisted Pine, launching tomorrow. How have you prepared for the big day? Was the experience similar to—or vastly different from—your debut launch?

Ciera: Ha, yes, time really flies! It’s honestly been so much different this time around. With Finch House, I had a launch event at Politics and Prose {in Washington, D.C.} and so many friends and family members came out, with my friends even coming a few days before and staying over, making a whole event of the weekend up until launch day. This time, I’m doing pretty normal things like going to the dentist and grocery shopping. I’m very glad to have had both experiences, but as an anxious introvert, I’m loving a much more relaxed launch.

Camp Twisted Pine: A Summary

Melissa: Let’s turn our attention to Camp Twisted Pine. Can you give Mixed-Up Files readers your best elevator pitch?

Ciera: Of course! Camp Twisted Pine is about Naomi, a girl who loves nature in theory but isn’t super into experiencing it firsthand, who’s being sent, along with her younger twin brothers, to summer camp in the Pine Barrens, in New Jersey, for the first time as her parents deal with their impending divorce. While she’s there, she realizes that campers have been going missing and that it might be up to her to figure out what’s wrong and to help save them…especially when one of her brothers and her cabinmate (and crush), Jackie, go missing.

Melissa: As you’d mentioned, the novel takes place at a sleepaway camp in the New Jersey Pine Barrens. What made you choose this particular location? Does the area have a special significance for you?

Ciera: I’m from New Jersey, so Jersey has always had a special place in my heart. But the Pine Barrens especially do for being the site of my first and only taste of sleepaway camp, thanks to a field trip I went on in the sixth grade. It’s also a massive swath of protected land in New Jersey that’s super important to the ecosystem and landscape of our state, and I feel like it doesn’t get enough love, especially since it’s said to be home to a mysterious creature…

Back to Nature

Melissa: Along these lines, Camp Twisted Pine has been described as an “eco-fable,” with kudzu that comes alive and other nature-based anomalies. Can you speak more to this?

Ciera: I can! I think we all know at least a bit about climate change and its effects on the world, but we don’t often—myself included—think about other potential threats to nature, of which intrusive plants, like kudzu, are one. Nature provides us with so much and it’s so easy to overlook or not recognize changes in it, but even things that are natural themselves can cause harm to our favorite spaces if we’re not vigilant. There are different native plant species in all regions and to help protect them, we should all strive to learn more about the plants that inhabit the places we call home!

Melissa: As you mentioned, Naomi, the eleven-year-old protagonist of the novel, loves to study nature but isn’t wild about the great outdoors. Is this a trait you share with her?

Ciera: I think it can be! And absolutely was when I was younger. As someone who hates the heat and isn’t a fan of bugs or being itchy, nature and I never seemed to click, especially when my main experience of it, growing up in the suburbs, was going to parks or beaches. But as I got older and traveled more, and moved to D.C, which has a wonderful amount of green space and proximity to even more, I’ve discovered that I do really enjoy nature—the songs of birds and the babbling of creeks, and just the soft rustle of leaves on trees. It’s a nice refresh from the bustle of just living.

I still can’t say I’m a big bug fan, though. I’m a nature girl in the colder months much more than I am in the warmer ones.

Melissa: As a follow-up, Naomi is a logical person who appreciates things that are “real and true and provable.” How does she reconcile this when faced with the possibility of a child-stealing cryptid—aka the Jersey Devil—at camp?

Ciera: Oh, she has a tough time! Stories and facts are in two very different folders in her mind, so the idea that a chimera-like creature can move from the “story” folder to the “fact” folder is a little bit mind bending. It definitely makes her reevaluate her definitions of “real” and whether or not things that are real need proof, or at least tangible proof.

You Gotta Have Friends

Melissa: Friendship is an overarching theme in Camp Twisted Pine. By opening herself up to new friends—including Jackie, who wears a hearing aid and teaches Naomi ASL—Naomi learns more about herself and about her core beliefs. What else were you trying to say about friendship?

Ciera: It can be so hard to make friends, as kids and as adults, and I think it’s especially true when you’re so often in your head like Naomi is. It’s hard to put yourself out there and be vulnerable with people, but being vulnerable, at least a little bit, is a part of human connection, and opening yourself up to others can lead to some really fantastic relationships and experiences.

I also wanted to touch on the fact that people are different. Some people are braver or rasher than others, and some are quieter or take time to think things through. But our differences, while important, aren’t the whole of who we or other people are and shouldn’t be an immutable barrier to friendship or connection.

Melissa: Like your debut novel, Camp Twisted Pine includes spooky, supernatural elements. What draws you to this genre?

Ciera: I just love all things spooky, the things we imagine exist in the dark the second we turn the lights out! And I love thinking about how rich and complex and vast our world is, and the idea that there can be other creatures and worlds just as vast and complex hidden within ours, or in its very seams. There’s so much possibility and excitement in the unknown to me—in the supernatural.

A’ Camping We Will Go!

Melissa: And now for the question on everyone’s mind: Did you attend sleepaway camp as a child? If so, what was your biggest takeaway from the experience? Also, what were your favorite activities? Your least favorite?

Ciera: Yes, and no! As I’d mentioned, the trip I went on in the sixth grade to the Pine Barrens—funnily called Mount Misery—was a week long and we did sleep in cabins and do traditional camp-like things, but it was also still part of school. I did beg my mom (a lot!) to go to an actual sleepaway camp for the summer, especially because I was obsessed with Percy Jackson and Camp Half Blood, but she always refused.

My biggest takeaway from my sixth grade trip, however, was just being in the middle of so much nature. There were no cars around and I could see so many more stars and hear small animals skittering about it. It was a little scary, I’ll admit, but I also felt really, really human for, I think, the first time. Part of the earth and the universe, you know?

I really loved the bonfires and the stories about the Jersey Devil we told while eating s’mores, and taking pictures of everyone and everything, but my least favorite had to be the night hike, because it was long and exhausting and also pretty dark.

Up Next…

Melissa: What are you working on now, Ciera?

Ciera: I’m currently working on another middle grade! It’s about 13-year-old Olivia who realizes, after her brother comes out and her friends begin to gush about their recent crushes almost constantly, that she doesn’t feel quite the same way as most other people and starts to turn quite literally invisible when no one will listen to her.

Melissa: Before I let you go, I want to circle back to something you’d mentioned in your previous interview: your love of ice cream! Is mint chocolate chip still your favorite or have you added another flavor to the roster?

Ciera: I’ve definitely added another flavor recently and it’s Strawberry Cheesecake!

Lightning Round!

Melissa: Finally, no Mixed-Up Files interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? (besides ice cream) Seaweed!

Favorite camp prank? Turning out the lights on someone in the bathroom!

Best way to roast a marshmallow: Char it to a crisp or brown it slightly? Almost burnt, but not quite! Just brown enough!

Cryptids: Real or imaginary? Definitely real!

Superpower? Teleportation!

Favorite place on earth? My mom’s backyard! She lives right next to the woods and a river and deer hang out all the time.

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be? Notebook and pencils (totally counting them as one); a flare gun; a big, light blanket

Melissa: Thank you for chatting with us, Ciera. It a pleasure, and I’m sure MUF readers will agree!

Ciera: Thanks so much for having me again! Happy reading!

About Ciera Burch

Ciera Burch is a lifelong writer and ice cream aficionado. She has a BA from American University and an MFA from Emerson College. Her fiction has appeared in The American Literary Magazine, Underground, Five Points, Stork, and Blackbird. Her work was also chosen as the 2019 One City One Story read for the Boston Book Festival. While she is originally from New Jersey, she currently resides in Washington, DC, with her stuffed animals, plants, and far too many books. Learn more about Ciera on her website and follow her on Instagram.

Melissa Roske is a writer of middle-grade fiction. Before spending her days with imaginary people, she interviewed real ones as a journalist in Europe. In London she landed a job as an advice columnist for Just Seventeen magazine. Upon returning to her native New York, Melissa contributed to several books and magazines, selected jokes for Reader’s Digest (just the funny ones), and received certification as a life coach from NYU. In addition to her debut novel Kat Greene Comes Clean (Charlesbridge), Melissa’s short story “Grandma Merle’s Last Wish” appears in the Jewish middle-grade anthology, Coming of Age: 13 B’Nai Mitzvah Stories (Albert Whitman). Learn more about Melissa on her Website and follow her on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram.

Welcome Alexandra Alessandri!

By K.D. Garcia on September 11, 2024 / Author Interviews

It is my extreme pleasure to welcome Alexandra Alessandri to the Mixed Up Files today.

Alexandra Alessandri

Alexandra Alessandri is the award-winning author of several books for children, including Isabel and Her Colores go to School, The Enchanted Life of Valentina Mejía, and Lupita’s Hurricane Palomitas. The daughter of Colombian immigrants, she is also an educator and a poet. She lives in Florida with her husband and son and today, she’s here to tell us about her latest book GROW UP, LUCY ZAPATA.

About the Book and Characters:

Luchy and Cami’s friendship is central to the story. What inspired you to explore the ups and downs of a long-time friendship during such a pivotal time as middle school?

The inspiration for Luchy and Cami’s friendship began as my son finished fifth grade and embarked on his middle school journey. I was revising another project, but as I lived through those moments with him, navigating the messy feelings of excitement, fear, and anticipation, I couldn’t help but see the seeds of a story. Later, as he went through a friendship breakup, I remembered my own painful one, and the seeds were planted. Like Luchy and Cami, my friend and I had been BFFs since we were two, and like Luchy, I was ditched for the “cool” kids when she finally came to my school. As I thought about our middle school experiences three decades apart, I couldn’t help but reflect on the changes that come during this transition from elementary to middle school, especially when there’s a new school or when there’s a shift in personal circumstances. Slowly, as I wrote down what I was remembering and witnessing, from who-likes-whom and soccer tryouts to teachers and friendships, the ups and downs of Luchy and Cami’s relationship came into clear focus.

NOT COOL ENOUGH

Middle Schoolers Judge If Adults Are Cool - YouTube

The story touches on the idea of feeling “too immature” or “not cool enough.” How do you think this resonates with young readers, especially those navigating new social dynamics in middle school?

I think young readers are especially keen at feeling the push-pull that comes with growing up, and they’ll hopefully connect with Luchy, Cami, and Mateo’s journey because it’ll feel real to them. They, too, are juggling the desire to grow up with the fear of letting go of their childhood. As students move on to middle school and enter new social dynamics there, there’s a stronger urge to fit in. The fear of their peers perceiving them as “too immature” or “not cool enough” rises, in part because we have this innate desire to belong. And in showing three middle school characters who are “growing up” in different ways and at different rates, I’m hoping that young readers will recognize their own realities and know that it’s okay to grow up at your own pace.

On Diversity and Cultural Identity:

As a Colombian American author, how did your own experiences influence the way you portrayed

Luchy’s and Cami’s cultural backgrounds?

I knew early on that I wanted to explore the various ways we might connect to our culture, but specifically, the ways Colombian Americans might experience this part of their identity. Often, I write protagonists who share my cultural heritage, but as I dove into Luchy’s story, I decided both she and Cami would be Colombian American. It’s what would make their families connect, as often happens to those living in the diaspora. The city Luchy’s and Cami’s families come from is Manizales, my dad’s birthplace, and this part of the backstory was inspired by a real event, where I met someone as an adult who was from Manizales and who knew my uncle.

However, as I wrote, I discovered that despite their shared connection to the motherland, they experienced their identity quite differently, and this stemmed, in part, from comparing my own first-gen experience to my son’s second-gen one. In some ways, I’m most like Cami, having grown up speaking fluent Spanish and visiting Colombia often so there was never a question of whether I was truly Colombian—even if sometimes I didn’t feel enough of a Colombian because I wasn’t born there, a sentiment that Luchy feels keenly. My son, on the other hand, is more like Luchy; he doesn’t speak Spanish, but he still connects to this part of his culture in other ways, like through music, food, and soccer.

Incorporating Colmbian Culture into the Story

In what ways did you incorporate Colombian culture into the story, and how do you hope it will resonate with both Colombian American readers and those from different backgrounds?

Columbia University in the City of New York

I focused on including details that Luchy would’ve felt drawn to—like the food and fruit juices her abui makes, which are staples in many Colombian households, as well as the art and colors found in Colombia’s murals peppered throughout cities like Medellín and Cartagena. The murals described actually exist, and I was lucky to visit them during my last trip there. Luchy’s nickname for Mateo, Tigre, is also a nod toward Colombia’s Ramadel Falcao, a soccer star that she would’ve watched with her papi. In those moments, connected to those other elements of her identity as foodie, artist, and athlete, she would find that she’s not as far removed from her culture as she might think. Also, as a big fan of renowned Colombian author Gabriel García Márquez and magical realism, I left a few nuggets in Luchy’s art project, the one that ultimately leads to her epiphany about Colombia, and Mami’s scrapbooks and Luchy’s research take her to some beautiful and wonderous landscapes of Colombia. My hope is that those who are Colombian American might immediately recognize their own story in these pages while those from different backgrounds might discover a different story about Colombia and Colombian Americans.

Writing for Middle Graders:

The Importance of Middle School ...

Middle school can be such a transformative time. What drew you to write about this age group, and how do you hope your book will impact readers going through similar experiences?

One of the things I love about writing for this age group is just how much change happens in a few short years—physically, emotionally, socially, and intellectually. Young readers are expanding their circles, figuring out who they are in relation to their families, their peers, and their communities. They’re learning what they love, and don’t love, and what they feel passionate about. It’s a wonderful time of transformation—of metamórfosis like Abui says. One of the recurring feedback I’ve been receiving about Luchy’s story is how real it is—and I love it! In these pages, I hope Luchy, Cami, and Mateo will become my readers’ friends, that in following Luchy in her attempts at salvaging her friendship with Cami, they might find hope that even if things don’t work out the way we want, it’ll still be okay. And hope, in the end, is what keeps us going.

Friendship

Friendship is such a key theme in the book. How did you approach writing the evolving dynamics between Luchy, Cami, and Mateo?

6 ways to help your child thrive socially in middle school - Phyllis Fagell

To discover and understand the evolving dynamics between Luchy, Cami, and Mateo, I did a lot of freewriting and brainstorming exercises from each of their different perspectives. I wanted characters who leapt off the page, who felt real and familiar and who each had their own struggles and conflicts, and to do that, I had to spend time with each character individually, separate from Luchy. I sat with the characters and got to know them, their families, their fears, and desires. The more time I spent with each character, the more I discovered what made them tick, what their vulnerabilities and strengths were—and this helped create the evolving dynamics between the three.

Take Away Message

If there’s one message you hope readers take away from Luchy’s story, what would it be?

Key Takeaways Written By Man In The Note Stock Photo - Download Image Now - Key, Take Out Food, Sign - iStock

That they are enough just the way they are, and that the way they experience their identity is valid and real. Don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

What’s Next?

Can you share what’s next for you as an author? Are there any new projects on the horizon?

Colorful Kaleidoscope Seamless Pattern Decorative Hexagon Ornament Geometric Design Element Rainbow Wallpaper Fabric Paper Furniture Print Abstract Flower Or Star Psychedelic Style Stock Photo - Download Image Now - iStock

Up next, I have a short story titled “Kaleidscope,” about a girl who emerges from grief and battles with fibromyalgia to discover how to love herself again, in the anthology All the Love Under the Vast Sky, a collection of short stories in verse surrounding the theme of love—look for it on January 14, 2025! I also have picture book coming in 2026 about an anxious girl nicknamed “Pajarito” and the nightly walks with her mami, as Pajarito wonders if she’ll ever feel brave enough to fly out on her own. Like with my current books, these two are also deeply inspired by my lived experiences, including my own journey with fibromyalgia.

Connect with Alexandra

You can connect with Alexandra and learn more about all her wonderful books here.

Interview with New York Times Bestselling Author Gayle Forman

By Melissa Roske on August 22, 2024 / Author Interviews

Today, we’re thrilled to welcome New York Times bestselling author Gayle Forman to the Mixed-Up Files! Best known for her wildly popular YA novels, including the If I Stay series, Gayle is also the author of Frankie & Bug, which Kirkus lauded for its “superb” storytelling. Her latest MG, Not Nothing, described by Wonder author R.J. Palacio as “A life-affirming gem,” is out from Aladdin/Simon Kids on August 27.

Chatting with Gayle

MR: Welcome to the Mixed-Up Files, Gayle! It’s an absolute pleasure to have you here. Before we dive in, you should know that I finished Not Nothing in one sitting. And that’s not nothing. I’m a slow reader!

GF: Wow, that is high praise for an author. I love the experience of an immersive, addictive read so when I learn that I delivered that to someone else, I’m very happy.

Not Nothing

MR: Not Nothing is about a 12-year-old boy, Alex, who must endure court-mandated community service at a senior citizens’ home—but the story is so much deeper, and more nuanced, than that. Can you tell MUF readers more about the novel?

GF: At its core, Not Nothing is a book about what happens when you are not invited/encouraged to be your better self—or worse, when you are enticed to be your worst self—and the incredible things that happen when you are invited to rise to the occasion of your life, whatever that means to you. It is also a story about the power of intergenerational friendships, finding commonality with people who seem outwardly so unlike you, and about how stories can unlock so much within us.

Josey: A Bold Narrative Choice

MR: The story is told from the perspective of Josey Kravitz, a 107-year-old Holocaust survivor. For a middle-grade novel, having an elderly narrator is a bold choice. What prompted this authorial decision? (It’s a brilliant one.)

GF: I’m so glad you think so! Josey has always been the heart and soul of this book, and at first I didn’t see how I could do a children’s book with him as narrator. Maybe that’s why at first I tried it as an adult novel, which didn’t work because this book was clearly meant to be what it now is: a middle-grade novel for all ages. So why the old man narrator for a kids’ book? I wanted Alex, and by extension, readers, to benefit from Josey’s experience and perspective. It took some figuring out to have Josey be the narrator and have the voice sound like Alex’s, but once I got there, the unconventional choice of narrators made such sense.

The Power of Words

MR: When we first meet Josey, he hasn’t spoken for five years yet he opens up to Alex about his painful past as a young man in Nazi-occupied Poland. Alex, in turn, is able to address his own troubles, which he’s had to tamp down in order to survive. What is it about the power of words—and the exchange of stories—that’s so transformative, and so healing?

GF: Why do we read novels about total strangers who are made-up people? Because something about the transfer of story from storyteller to listener/reader creates connection. It is why storytelling is so essential in our evolution. Alex cannot begin to grapple with his own reality, and is trapped in a cycle of resentment and anger until he hears Josey’s story. Then he can see his story through another story and the parallels allow him to think about what he has done. And what he can do. When people say that stories change lives, I think this is what they mean.

The Central Story

MR: One of the most important stories Josey shares with Alex is about Olka, a seamstress-turned-resistance-fighter from his hometown in Poland, who saved his life—literally and figuratively—by teaching him to sew. Can you tell us more about Josey and Olka’s story?

GF: Among the many things of today’s world that saddens me is our propensity for sorting people into fixed binaries: good or evil, kind or mean. We are so much more complicated than that and we are often all of these things at different points in our lives and we can change. At the start of the book, Olka is angry and frustrated, shrinking rather than growing, because of what she (rightfully) perceives as the unfair circumstances of her life. She does something that could have sent her tumbling down a rabbit hole of resentment but because of an almost offhanded decision of Josey to ask her to teach him to sew, her life goes in the opposite direction and she winds up saving Josey—and so many other people’s—lives.

Real-Life Inspiration

MR: In the Author’s Note, you share that the novel is based in part on the true-life story of Jerzy Bielecki and Cyla Cybulska, an interfaith couple—he was Catholic and she was Jewish—who met as prisoners at the Auschwitz concentration camp. What was it about this story that inspired you to reimagine it as material for a middle-grade novel?

GF: That part of the story—aside from the star-crossed love story—was a classic heist adventure. It does not play out with Josey and Olka the way it did with the real-life couple, but I definitely incorporated some of the true story. If I say any more, there will be SPOILERS.

It’s All in the Research

MR: Since a good portion of the novel takes place during World War II, in Nazi-occupied Poland, what sort of research did you do to ensure authenticity?

GF: This is the second book I have written that takes place in that time frame (the other one is an audio-only book that draws on my family history), and both books rely heavily on the incredible resources of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, which has, among other things, thousands of survivor testimonies.

I also found a lot of the more granular small moments in memoirs written by both survivors from Krakow as well as allies, like the owner of the Eagle Pharmacy, a real-life pharmacy in the Krakow ghetto that features in the book. I also drew from my only family history—my grandparents fled Nazi Germany in 1938—and that of some of the elderly people I have become close with over the years at various assisted-living facilities. And finally, I was very lucky that the copy editor of the book was a daughter of a survivor and had incredible insights.

Presenting Difficult Topics for a Younger Audience

MR: An overarching theme in the novel is what prompts a “good person” to become “evil” and a not-so-good person to become good—or even heroic. You also explore the power of redemption. These are weighty topics for a middle-grade audience, yet you present them with a light, deft hand. What’s the secret to presenting difficult concepts for a younger audience without coming across as preachy or heavy-handed? It’s no mean feat.

GF: Thank you! I’m pretty allergic to anything preachy or performative so that helps me avoid it in my own writing. I would argue that teaching young people about morality and what it means to be aiming toward their better selves is not weighty. It’s exhilarating. To teach someone how to feel good while doing good to others is teaching them how to create, give and receive joy. I don’t think there’s a secret to it beyond trusting your readers, and having written for young people for my 25-plus year career, I know how much they are capable of. It is my job, through my books, to invite them to rise to the occasion of their lives.

Lucky 7

MR: Not Nothing took you seven years to write. What was the process like for you, from initial idea to finished novel?

GF: My new process seems to be to write a novel, think it’s terrible and irredeemable, leave it on my hard drive for a few years, come back to it, see how it’s meant to go. I initially conceived of this as an adult novel (the terrible version) and once I realized it was middle grade, I showed the terrible version to my editor, Kristin, along with an editorial letter of how I would fix it. Once I nailed how to have Josey tell Alex’s story, it clicked, and things moved relatively quickly from there.

Writing MG

MR: Not Nothing is not your first novel for middle-grade readers. Your debut MG, Frankie & Bug, was released in 2021. As a hugely successful YA author—including the If I Stay series, the Just One series, and several stand-alone novels—what prompted you to turn your writerly attention to MG?

GF: I know this sounds somewhat grandiose, but the stories demand it. With Frankie & Bug, the story I wanted to tell—about how it’s incumbent upon all of us to hurry toward justice—needed to be told in the near past and needed to be about younger people. With Not Nothing, I knew that Josey would be the narrator at the end of life (sorry, no spoiler, he’s 107!) and the grist of the story about his relationship with someone at the start of life.

Gayle’s Writing Routine

MR: What does your writing routine look like? Do you have a particular time of day when you prefer to write? Any habits or rituals?

GF: In my new version of slow novel writing, I actually spend much less time at the computer than I used to. (Would-be writers: this is not an excuse to slack; I think I had to spend all those hours to get to where I could spend less and create more, but it’s also an example of not pushing on a story when it’s not ready.) Maybe I write two or three hours a day when I’m drafting. After that, I run out of steam and the work suffers. When I’m revising, I can spend hours working and they fly by. This is when I get into the flow state. But other than coffee, I don’t really have rituals. I can work anywhere (I’m typing this from a hotel lobby between meetings), although I am probably a better writer in the morning.

MR: What are you working on now, Gayle?

GF: I have a young-adult novel called After Life coming out in January of 2025, so I’m putting the finishing touches on that while starting to think on my next MG and YA novels.

Lightning Round!

MR: And finally, no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Any leftovers that are in the fridge are like manna to me. No cooking, only re-heating!

Coffee or tea? Cappuccino. I make them myself. I’m a decent barista.

Plotter or Pantser? Cruiser

Superpower? Getting stuff done. I know that sounds boring for a super-power but it’s pretty awesome. You can be the best writer in the world but if you can’t finish a novel, it’s going to be a harder road if you want to do it professionally. And I get lots of stuff that isn’t writing done, too.

Best piece of writing advice? My old journalism professor had a sign on her door that reads: A real writer is one who writes. If you want to be a writer, write. And then revise.

Favorite place on earth? Brooklyn

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be?

My dog
A solar-powered e-reader with 1000 Libby library books on it that never expire. And enough blank pages to write.
I was going to say my family but having been through Covid lockdown, I know this would make them miserable and crazy so I’m just bringing the dog who would be so happy to spend all his days with me.

MR: Thank you for chatting with us, Gayle—and congratulations on the forthcoming publication of Not Nothing!

GF: Thank you!!!!

About Gayle Forman

Award-winning author and journalist Gayle Forman has written several bestselling novels, including those in the Just One Day series, Where She Went, and the #1 New York Times bestseller If I Stay, which has been translated into more than forty languages and was adapted into a major motion picture. Her first middle grade novel, Frankie & Bug, was a New York Times Best Children’s Book of 2021. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her family.

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