Today’s guest post: YA author Julie Berry

Do you have any writing rituals?
Not really. I’ll grab any snippet of writing time I can find, and any place that’s quiet and has an outlet for my laptop. Food and writing generally don’t mix for me — given the choice between snacking and writing, snacking’s bound to win. And I don’t play music while writing, though if I’m in a café and they play some nice instrumental music, that doesn’t bother me any. Given my present situation as mom to four young boys, I generally end up writing at night, and that means I write in my bed, curled up with my laptop and a portable lap desk. What’s awful about this is that I do have an office in my home. We refashioned a small bedroom with a lovely bay window into Julie’s Writing Space, but somehow it turned into The Place Where Julie Dumps Her Mail and Pays Her Bills, and Where Her Kids Dump All Their Junk. So there’s no room in the inn for me, and it’s all my fault. I write after the kids have gone to bed, because if they’re awake and popping into say hello, I can’t complete a thought. When I get the chance to write during the day, which isn’t often since I have a job, it feels luxurious. The brain fires on more cylinders in the morning.

What is one question you wish an interviewer would ask you?
I’m happy to answer any question I’m asked, but I’ve never wished someone would ask me something particular. I just hope the day never comes when someone asks me some basic question about a book I’ve written, and I can’t remember the answer, or remember the character’s name, or whatever. This is bound to happen. I can’t remember my children’s names most days. I can read the same murder mystery twice and forget whodunnit. I have a mind like a sieve, which is why I’m a writer and not a bard.

Name a book that inspired you to write.
This would probably be LITTLE WOMEN by Louisa May Alcott. I realize it’s a highly fictionalized account of her life, but still, I saw myself in the writer-as-heroine identity Alcott created for herself in Jo. I read LITTLE WOMEN dozens of times in elementary school and beyond, and that’s probably where the dream first began. I loved books so much that creating one seemed like the pinnacle of human existence. I had no idea whether or not I could. I don’t remember writing stories as a child, though I did write in a journal daily. Recently I read back through some of those early journal entries, and many times I’d written, “I worked on some stories today.” This astounds me. Apparently I’ve written a fiction in my mind about my own childhood, in which I wrote no fiction, when in fact, I did. I wish I could find those stories now.

Julie, thank you for your being a guest blogger! For more about Julie and her books, visit http://www.julieberrybooks.com/.

Guest author blogger: Jacqueline Kolosov

Welcome to today’s guest-blogger, young adult author Jacqueline Kolosov.

MY WRITING RITUALS:

Since my daughter was born in January 2007, I’ve learned to be incredibly flexible–or perhaps I should I say I’m just eager to snag the time I can get. Essentially, though, I generally drink a big mug of tea while I write.

Question an interviewer would ask me:

Well, that would have to be, how do you get it all done–teaching, writing, raising a child? If it’s legal to answer, I’d say, by being overly scheduled and used to running around looking like leftovers.
An author who inspired you to write:

Virginia Woolf all the way, and my favorite is To the Lighthouse!

For more information about Jacqueline’s books, visit http://www.jacquelinekolosov.com/

Thank you, Jacqueline, for participating!

Guest author blogger: JonArno Lawson

I am pleased to announce that I will be sharing brief posts by other children’s and young adult authors for the next month (or more, depending on how many obliging authors I can hunt down). I will launch this new segment today with children’s poet JonArno Lawson, who spoke at the Children’s Literature Symposium at Simmons this past summer. His most recent book is The Voweller’s Bestiary.

Do you have any writing rituals?

I usually write in a little notebook that I keep in my pocket at all times. Often I think best when I’m walking around. But later I sit down at my desk with my notebooks and try to sort out the good from the bad, and fill things out, or shorten them,, but it’s more of an editing process by then. . .

I prefer working in the early morning. I like a cup of tea, or coffee. I find music interferes if I’m really trying to work out an idea, but it helps if I’m just refining things a little. I like Chopin’s nocturnes, and Bach’s cello suites, and I rarely stray from these. They don’t vary much in mood – there’s nothing worse than short pop songs for desk work.

Name a book or author who inspired you to write.

Doris Lessing has influenced me more than any other writer. No one’s been as brave, or generous, or as wide-ranging in her ideas. bpNichol, the Canadian poet – also brave, generous, and curious.

Thank you, JonArno, for participating! For more information about JonArno’s books, please visit his website.