Frequently Asked Questions
 Thanks
again for hosting me in your schools.
Teachers often hand me questions from kids and ask if I could
answer them by e-mail. The groups of questions aren't marked
by school. I’ve grouped similar questions.
questions you may have that I've not already answered
on this page.
How long did
it take you to finish your first book?
17 years! [
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Do you have
trouble with your first draft?
Yes. I have trouble with EVERYTHING! But I also have lots of
fun, and the fun makes the trouble worthwhile. I don’t
think of the challenges as “trouble” as much as I
think of them as a part of the writing process. [
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Do
you like publishing?
I love being published. Even though I enjoy writing, the writing
process, and expressing my creativity, I would not write books
only for my own enjoyment. I wouldn’t write a book just
for me. I like to share my stories with others like you. [
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How
many days does it take to complete a book?
The fastest book I wrote took only about 60 days. The slowest
book took----what’s 17 x 365? (But of course, I wasn’t
working every day all that time.) Now I think I could have a
book ready in 2-3 years. [
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Do
you like writing books? What is your favorite part about being
an author?
The excitement of the first inspiration, the idea that starts
a new book. I also love it when I’m “in the flow,”
when I’m writing fast and everything is working, the characters
are alive and I’m not worried about anything or struggling
with anything…just going with the ideas. That’s lots
of fun. [
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What
encouraged you to be an author?
I was looking for a way to be creative, to encourage
my own growth, and do something that would make me feel good,
make me happy. I had always enjoyed writing letters, so I thought
maybe I could be a writer. So……I tried it. It took
a long time. I had lots of failures and rejections along the
way, but also received lots of encouragement from my wonderful
husband, writing friends, and later, from agents and editors.
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When
did you first start writing books?
When I was 33 years old. Before that I taught E.S.L. (and loved
that, too.) [
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How
many years have you been an author?
I’ve been writing books, stories, articles,
and television scripts for 30 years. [
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Do
you like being an author?
Yes. I like the work that leads to being an author. I enjoy
my associations and friendships with other authors, and love
my contacts with kids and educators that are possible because
I’ve written books for you to read. [
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How
many books have you published?
Nine of my books have been published. [
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How
many books have you written?
I don’t really know. I’ve written many more than the
nine that have been published. The first books I wrote weren’t
as good as the ones I write now. I was learning. The books weren’t
published because they weren’t good enough. I’m still
learning, but I’ve learned a lot, and my stories now are
better than they used to be. I think the novel I’m working
on right now will be published. I’m excited about it. It’s
called RIP. [
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Do
you like verbs?
No one has ever asked me that before! Finding the very best
most wonderful awesome verb to paint the picture I want my reader
to see is fun for me. How could I ever tell a story without
verbs? Yes, yes. I do like verbs. [
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How
much is the maximum verbs you have put in a paragraph?
Whoa! I have no idea. I put as few as possible and as few words
as possible for the paragraph to read well and say what it needs
to say. [
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When
you first start, how many verbs in a sentence?
Again, I don’t think about how many verbs I use because
the number isn’t as important as achieving the effect I
want. When I first start, I often write a whole string of words
(sometimes verbs, sometimes not) something like this: “Ramon
shuffled / crept / crawled / inched / scooted / slid / across
the soggy floor.” At that moment, I don’t know which
verb I like best, so I put down everything that comes to mind.
Later I go back and choose the best word, or sometimes add more,
then choose at an even later time. [
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You
paint a picture in my head with all those neat verb words.
Comment from Mary. That’s what’s important! Thanks!
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Is
it hard to think of ideas to write about?
No, not any more. When I was in school and had to write an assignment,
it was often hard for me to think of ideas to write about, or
what to say once I had an idea. Now it’s never a problem.
Ideas come to me now as fast as popcorn pops in a skillet. [
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How
do you get the idea for the book?
I’ll tell you about getting the idea for a book that I
haven’t written yet. I was reading a menu in a Mexican
restaurant. Besides food, the menu had a few interesting historical
facts about the area. One fact: under the main street of that
town there are 17 miles of old tunnels. BINGO! Just that fast,
I had an idea for a new novel. The main character is a girl
from Ireland who has come to this place in the 1800s with her
father, mother, and twin sister, but their brother didn’t
make it to the ship in time. They left, not knowing what happened
to Michael. All this…ideas for the whole story came to
me in an instant, but I’ve only written a few scenes. I
want to write that story when I finish the one I’m working
on now. It will be called THE TUNNEL. [
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What
is your favorite book that you wrote?
Soaring Eagle stretched into a longer story, so my favorite
is all three books in the Santa Fe Trail Trilogy: Soaring Eagle,
White Grizzly, and Meadow Lark. [
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Was
it hard for you to become an author?
Oh yes! I had so much to learn about plotting and characterization
and pacing and so many other things. The first thing I learned
was that I didn’t know much, so I took classes and learned.
Little by little, my writing became better and better. Even
so, it was ten years before anything I wrote was published.
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Have
you written any snake books?
There’s a snake---a rattler---in Soaring Eagle, but I haven’t
written an entire book about snakes. [
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How
did you write books?
First I get an idea that really really really really excites
me. Then with that inspiration, I think and scribble notes and
make webs of ideas and ask myself lots of questions like “What
if….?” Or “What’s this person like? What
does he want?” Sometimes I write about what I’m going
to write “for real” later on. Or I write out questions
for myself, like “What would happen if ……?’
All that is part of planning or plotting. After I have a pretty
good idea of my characters and story, after it is plotted, then
I let myself get into the “real writing”--writing
action and scenes and dialogue, and that’s really fun.
(By the way, that’s only how I do it. There are as many
different ways of writing a book as there are writers. Some
other authors start writing and find out what’s going to
happen as they write.) [
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Are
any of your books inspired by your friends of family?
No. [ Top
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Are
any of your friends or family in your books?
A few of my characters have traits that I’ve seen in a
few friends, but none of my characters are like any one person
in real life. My characters are mostly creations of my imagination.
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Where
do you get all of your props?
I found the rocks, took the photographs of petroglyphs and artifacts,
made some props like the bamboo flute and the leather flute
cases. Several artifacts came from the trade room at Bent’s
Old Fort. Some came from trading posts and book stores. Some
were gifts from friends. [
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What
do you do in your spare time?
Explore, hike, travel, snorkel in the ocean to explore an underwater
world I’d never seen as a kid. I go to movies, attend live
theater, read, get together with friends, discuss books and
plays, camp in my little RV, fish, swim, eat out, get together
with friends and family, go to concerts. I like to have fun!
In fact, if I didn’t have so much fun, my books might get
finished more quickly. Sometimes I play during “work time”
instead of spare time. You know, kind of like messing around
instead of doing your homework? [
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