How did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I started to write—poems at first—in junior high, 7th or 8th grade. I had a series of teachers who taught poetry and encouraged writing, and I found that writing things down, and turning my daily experience and my emotions into stories or poems, was enormously satisfying. E.M. Forster wrote, “How do I know what I think until I see what I say?” That rings true for me: writing—even when I’m inventing characters and events I’ve never experienced—is a way of sorting out and understanding my thoughts.

What do you like most about the work you do?

I love those moments when the writing is going well, and I feel entirely lost in a story; I’m talking to the characters, moving through the world with them, and thinking about what they’ll say and do next.

What do you like least?

Um: the other moments—and there are many of them—when the writing is *not* going well, and I’m crossing things out and thinking about what might be in the refrigerator.

You’ve written books for both adults and for teens. Do you feel there’s a big difference in how you approach the different audiences?

For me, there’s very little difference. I often write about teenage characters even when I’m writing for adults. The main distinction, I think:  adult readers don’t object when the writer goes off on a tangent and the narrative wanders; kid readers more often prefer books in which the plot ticks along at a smartish pace—with not as much wandering about.

In The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls, your characters are in a book club with their moms. Have you been in a mother-daughter book club or another type of book club before? If so, did that have an influence on the story you wanted to write?

I wish I had been! I don’t think my daughters ever invited me. There was probably a mother-daughter book club in the neighborhood they didn’t tell me about.  I *am* in a book club, though—we’ve been meeting once a month for 23 years.

Adrienne and the other girls in the group aren’t really friends, and they don’t want to be in a group with their moms. How did you decide to create a book club that starts with conflict?

One of the more interesting ways to define characters and plot, I think, is to put a group of people together who don’t particularly *want* to be together. Then you can figure out how they’ll react. To me it seemed natural to start a book about a book club by quickly establishing that the members of the group didn’t want to be members.

As the girls meet during the summer, they read five books that they will discuss later in their 11th grade AP English class. How did you choose the books the girls would read?

This was hard. There were so many choices. First I decided that they should read books written by female authors. Then I decided that, since the events in the book take place in summer, they should be choosing from a “recommended” list created by their 11th grade English teacher: books that would be interesting to discuss in an informal group and/or during a class.

Why do you think Adrienne is so willing to do the things CeeCee asks her to do even though she doesn’t think she should?

Oh, Adrienne. Sometimes I wanted to shake her. But I also identify with her feeling that she doesn’t know who she is—that while other people are striding confidently through the world, completely sure of themselves, she’s a shapeless blob, an amoeba. She’s attracted to CeeCee because CeeCee radiates confidence, and Adrienne wishes she could have some of that attitude and confidence for herself.

What main issues brought up in The Unbearable Book Club for Unsinkable Girls do you think would make for good discussion in a real-life mother-daughter book club?

Oooh, let’s see. How about:

—Can books change people’s lives or make them better human beings? Or are they designed for escapist fun?

—Can a book that you don’t enjoy still be a good book? An important book? How can you tell?

—Adrienne’s mother is “open to questions” on any topic, but Adrienne begins to feel they don’t know each other. How can mothers and daughters best talk to and relate to each other at different ages/stages?

—Do CeeCee and Jill and Wallis and Adrienne benefit by being members of a book club?  In what ways?

Is there anything else you’d like to say to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club.com?

Summer is almost here. Hit the library. Head to the bookstore. It’s time to open the covers of a good book and dive on in.

Yesterday I posted a review of Meredith Zeitlin’s new book, Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters. Today, she’s here to talk about the writing life and her spunky heroine, Kelsey Finkelstein.

How did you know you wanted to be a writer?

MZ: I’ve always just been one, really—since I was very little. I come from a family of writers and readers, and books were always everywhere. It sort of came naturally, I think. But my aunt Rhea (Kohan) is a novelist, and her books are hilarious. She definitely inspired me to try my hand at an actual book.

Why do you like to write fiction for young adults?

MZ: I guess I’m sort of a young adult myself, still; I’m a person who spends a great deal of time in PJ pants, watching cartoons and dyeing my hair crazy colors, after all. And I have never forgotten how it feels to be that age, and all the insecurities and excitements that go with it. I still feel them! I connect to tweens and teens really easily out in the real world—better than I do with a lot of “grown-ups,” if you want to know the truth. And while I love books in general, there’s something about literature that’s both nostalgic for adults and relatable for kids that’s really appealing to me.

What do you like best about being a writer?

MZ: Honestly, I just love putting words together. Making crisp or crunchy sentences that will maybe make someone else laugh, or think, or disagree… It’s so satisfying when you get it right.

What do you find most difficult?

MZ: Actually sitting down and doing it. I am the world’s worst procrastinator!

Tell us two interesting things that readers may not know about you.

MZ: Hmmm. Well, I’m a voiceover artist in my “real life,” so you might’ve heard me on commercials before you ever heard of my book—I’ve been doing that for almost a decade now. (You can check out www.mzspeaks.com if you’re interested in seeing my reels.) “The Music Man”—the original version, obv—is my very favorite movie musical. I love horseback riding. I can juggle. What else? I could easily live on ice cream. I’m learning to play guitar. (I’m not very good.) Oh—I have a pink flatscreen TV! It rules. Is that too many?

In Freshman Year and Other Unnatural Disasters, Kelsey is determined to change her image when she becomes a freshman. Do you think it’s hard for teens to change the way others perceive them?

MZ: I think it’s hard for anyone to change how he or she is perceived, really. What might make it even harder for teens, though, is that they’re still in the process of actually forming that first “not a kid anymore” version of themselves. How do they change something that is still so tenuous, especially when everyone around them is doing it, too? At the same time, it’s also a chance to try lots of different hats on—which can be exciting and confusing. I think the truth is, the only person who is REALLY noticing those big changes at that time in your life… is yourself. And you’re really the one you’re trying so hard to impress, even though it seems the other way around. You just don’t realize it til it’s all over, do you?

What do you think is particularly challenging for teens making the transition from middle school to high school?

MZ: I think the biggest change is going from being kings of middle school to getting stuck on the lowest rung on the high school totem pole. Kids who are used to being in charge simply by virtue of their age, no matter what their social standing, are suddenly the babies again, and that’s a scary position to be in. Feeling insecure can lead teens to make some choices in an attempt to solidify their position in a new place. Sometimes those are beneficial choices… but sometimes they aren’t.

Kelsey suffers quite a few embarrassing moments, yet she keeps her sense of humor through it all. Did you always imagine she would be so resilient?

MZ: Well, Kelsey is based on me and my experiences, so I guess the answer has to be yes, simply because that’s what I’m like. But a more complex answer is that I wanted her to be an example for young readers—to see that it’s okay to get knocked down, and that sometimes it can make you stronger.  It’s really important and so incredibly hard to achieve high self esteem at any age, but especially for tweens and teens. The pressure is enormous to fit in and succeed and look a certain way… I certainly struggled with it myself. Even Kelsey spends a lot of time with a million thoughts in her head, doubting her choices and (especially after the incident with Sam at the party) thinking bad things about herself. Kels is really lucky to have a supportive network of people in her life, which helps her keep her chin up and keep trying. I purposefully gave her a lot of obstacles so that readers could see her come out the other side, no matter how hard it was for her to do it. I think that any way I—or any writer—can get the message to teens that it’s okay to make mistakes, that NO ONE is perfect, that everything can be a learning experience… is worth exploring.

What do you think is an important issue brought up in the book that book club members may want to talk about?

MZ: Well, I hope there are a few!   I think the various character relationships are really important, especially how some of them change over the course of the book—particularly within Kelsey’s group of friends. Another issue that’s come up a lot is the amount of “bad stuff” in the book—drinking, sex, peer pressure, etc. These are all important things for moms and daughters to try to talk about, however uncomfortable it might be. Do the daughters think the portrayal of a typical high school was realistic? Are the moms surprised/relieved/horrified by their answers? What about the different ways those elements are responded to by Kelsey and her friends? Which girl has the “right” idea?

Do you have anything else to add for readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com?

MZ: Thank you so much for checking out this interview, and hopefully the book as well! The main reason I wrote this book, ultimately, was to put another character out in the world that would make some girl somewhere think: “Ok. I’m not the only one. I don’t have to be perfect, and I can still totally get through this high school craziness.” And I think that girl’s mom would want her to get that message, too.

www.kelseyfinkelstein.com

@zeitlingeist on Twitter

www.facebook.com/FRESHMANYEARBOOK

Michaela MacColl has written two novels for young readers that feature historical figures: Beryl Markham in Promise the Night and Queen Victoria in  Prisoners in the Palace: How Princess Victoria Became Queen with the Help of Her Maid, a Reporter, and a Scoundrel. Recently I had a chance to ask her a few questions about Promise the Night, and here she offers us insight on how she approaches research and builds characters for her novels. (Note: Read my review of Promise the Night and enter to win a copy of that book as well as Prisoners in the Palace.)

What did you know about Beryl Markham before you wrote Promise the Night?

MM: I knew nothing! My mother started taking flying lessons when I was in college. When she got her license, I bought her a copy of West with the Night, Markham’s wonderful memoir. It had just been reissued. 20 years later, I was looking for a new project. Mom suggested Beryl Markham. I read the memoir and was hooked within 10 pages.

What kind of research did you conduct before you started to write?

MM: All my books center on a famous person—so my process is the same at the start of each project. I find biographies, ideally more than one. Each biographer has to have a unique slant on his/her subject – so I like to note the variation. I read about the whole life. Then I concentrate on the childhood years. This is absolutely necessary when my subject is someone highly biographed, like Queen Victoria or Emily Dickinson. With Beryl – there are exactly two memoirs. The first makes her out to be a fascinating saint, the other concentrates on her flaws.

Of course, I relied on her memoir and the memoirs of other young women who grew up in the highlands above Nairobi. The best of these was Elspeth Huxley’s Flame Trees of Thika. My character Dos, is based loosely on Huxley.

Did you find it difficult to write about a real person in a fictional way?

MM: I probably should say yes, but the fact is, NO! After I’ve done my research, I find that I have a clear picture of my main character – what she cares about, what she might say and most importantly, how she will grow up. I find it much harder to flesh out the other characters.

In Promise the Night, you tell the story of Beryl’s childhood in Africa, but you insert notes about her later flight as the first person to fly solo from England to North America. Why did you decide to tell the story this way?

I wanted to write about Beryl when she was young (she’s ten when the story begins and thirteen at the end). In 1913 there weren’t any airplanes in Africa. She might have seen one during the war, but there’s no documentation for that. In her memoir, she mentions seeing a plane for the first time when she is in her 20’s.

However, kids are going to come to this book because she is a famous flyer! And her flight from the UK to North America is without doubt the most dramatic thing that she ever did. So I had to find a way to combine the two stories. I decided that her fascinating childhood was what made the flight possible. Each vignette as an adult, (deciding to fly, learning from her mistakes in the air, the preparation for her flight, etc.) relates to the chapter it precedes. For example, I paired the chapter where her father dares her to ride a wild horse with the story of how a Lord dares her to fly the Atlantic.

Beryl tells a lot of her own story in her memoir, West with the Night. How do you feel Promise the Night provides something different for readers?

MM: West With the Night offers a young reader the most tantalizing glimpses of her childhood. I took the hints and expanded them into a larger story. Hopefully it’s more satisfying. And I would be very pleased if a reader then turns to the librarian and asks for the memoir.

What fascinates you the most about Beryl?

MM: I adore her. She’s so matter-of-fact, even as she runs headlong into danger. She knows what she wants and sets out to earn it. She wasn’t afraid of hard work. And most of all, with the exception of the few people she admires, she does not care what people think of her. I’m sure she made enemies, but I think I would have been proud to be her friend.

Is there anything from the book you think makes a particularly good issue for book clubs to discuss?

MM: I think the issue of race permeates the novel. In Beryl’s mind, she is choosing between the Nandi tribe and the society of other British colonists. She is shocked when her father says the Nandi are “excellent specimens.” Another topic might be the issue of female friendships and why Beryl finds it so hard to form them.

There is a discussion guide on my website if you are interested: http://www.michaelamaccoll.com/librarians.php

Is there anything else you would like to say to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com?

MM: This novel was a risky one to write. Beryl Markham isn’t well-known to contemporary audiences which made it a hard sell. The shifting viewpoint between Beryl the child and Beryl the adult pilot also makes it hard to categorize the book. I’m so grateful that Chronicle Books embraced my vision. I hope you do too!

Sherry Shahan is the author of many works of both fiction and nonfiction, including Purple Daze, a young adult book that looks at the Vietnam War and other events of the ’60s through verse, letters, journal entries and news stories (see my review).

Recently, I was able to ask Shahan a few questions about her writing life and Purple Daze. Here’s what she had to say.

How did you get started as a writer?

SS: It began more as a hobby than anything. Something I could do at home with my two young daughters so my brain wouldn’t turn into strained carrots. My name first appeared on the “Letters to the Editor” page of the L.A. Times. I was hooked! From there I wrote short articles for local newspapers. I never thought I’d write a novel. Novels are long!

You’ve written both fiction and nonfiction, do you have a preference for writing one or the other?

SS: Fiction, nonfiction, picture book or novel—I approach each project on its own ground. My adventure novel Death Mountain was inspired by a personal experience. While attempting to hike up Mt. Whitney my backpacking party got caught in a deadly electrical storm. The pack mule and horse were struck by lightning and killed. When I decided to turn the experience into a novel, I studied the geological history of the area, plus the animal and plant life.

What matters most is that I have a passion for the topic, whether it’s fiction or nonfiction. Most books take years to write. You have to be totally in love with the topic to invest that kind of time.

What did you know about the war in Vietnam before you wrote Purple Daze?

SS: I’d read lots of books about the war before I thought about writing Purple Daze. The Things They Carried by Tim O’Brien stands out. Plus I had an ongoing correspondence with my friend Bill, who was in Vietnam during the sixties. He was brutally honest about what was happening there. That was quite an education.

Did you gain a new perspective on it after you researched it and talked to some vets?

SS: From the many vets I interviewed I gleaned intimate details not found in secondary sources. One guy told me he put a condom over the muzzle of his rifle to help keep out steel-rusting moisture. Yet he could shoot through it. Another guy told me it was common to remove tobacco from packs of cigarettes and replace it with marijuana. I knew those details would go in the book.

I’m still horrified at how our vets were treated when they came home. Too many mentioned being spit on and called ‘baby killer.’ One guy said it was 30 years before anyone thanked him for serving in Vietnam. That’s so sad.

The end of high school usually brings a change in life for most people. Do you think that change was intensified in the 1960s?

SS: Everything was intensified in the 1960s. Our cars were big and loud. Our transistor radios were loud. (No earbuds.) It was a time of great experimentation. People of all ages were investigating non-traditional lifestyles—living out of the back of a VW bus or sharing space in a commune.

Music was a powerful reflection of our shift in attitudes. The Times They Are-a Changing (Dylan, 1964) comes to mind, and People Got to be Free (Rascals, 1968).

Is there anything else you’d like to say to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com?

SS: People often ask me if the character Cheryl is really me in disguise. My parents still live in the same house I grew up in. There are small holes outside my bedroom door from a hook-and-eye. That was my mom’s attempt to keep me from sneaking out at night. Like the character Cheryl, I simply crawled out the window.

In one scene in the book, Cheryl and Ziggy are piercing each other’s ears. They’re using frozen potatoes to numb them, sort of like an earlobe sandwich. The Animals are wailing, “We Gotta Get Out of This Place.”

And just like Cheryl, I really did shave between my eyebrows. I wasn’t allowed to pluck!

I look forward to answering any questions your book club members may have. Email: kidbooks@thegrid.net

Here are a few photos Shahan has shared that are relevent to Purple Daze.

Sherry Shahan's yearbook photo

Letter from Sherry's friend in Vietnam to her

Sherry's friend Bill (on left) in Vietnam

Bianca Turetsky is the author of The Time-Traveling Fashionista (see my review), a book about a girl who tries on a vintage dress and ends up transported back to the time the original owner wore it. It’s the first in a new series, and here, Turetsky talks about how she became a writer, her interest in fashion and the stories that go with history, as well as what’s up next in her series.

How did you decide to become a writer?

BT: I’ve been writing stories since I was a little girl. My first published piece was a poem I wrote when I was seven years old and I was hooked from there! (Although I’ve since realized that poetry is definitely not my forte

What do you like about being a writer?

BT: So much! I love discovering the story. For my book The Time-Traveling Fashionista, I had an idea of how it would begin and how it would end, but the middle part was an adventure I got to go on as well. It was fun to surprise myself.

I also love the feeling of connectedness I’ve gotten from this book. Writing is such a solitary act but when the book goes out into the world and other people can relate to it and it starts a dialogue, that’s pretty awesome. There’s nothing better than hearing from my readers.

What do you find to be your biggest challenge in writing?

BT: My biggest challenge is finding the time to do it. I write every morning before I go to work, and often times I have to leave right when I get to the good part. It’s really frustrating, but then again I’m always excited to start again the next day so maybe it’s a good thing.

In The Time-Traveling Fashionista, Louise loves vintage clothing. Is that an interest you share with your character? Is so, what do you like about it?

BT: Yes! One of my favorite things is going to thrift stores and flea markets and hunting for the perfect vintage piece. Unlike going to the Gap, you never know what treasures you’re going to find!

Why did you decide to write about traveling to a different time?

BT: The idea came to me about 5 years ago after visiting this amazing vintage shop in New Haven, Connecticut, called Fashionista Vintage and Variety. It’s owned by these two fabulous women, Todd and Nancy, who know everything and anything about vintage clothing. I tried on this pink party dress that belonged to a Mrs. Baxter from Newport, Rhode Island, and I couldn’t help but wonder what her life was like, what the last gala or fancy event was that she wore this to. Was she in love? Was she happy? And how in a way, her memory was being preserved through this garment.

How did you research the fashions of the time Louise travels to?

BT: In an amazing coincidence one of the hottest fashion designers of the time, Lady Lucy Duff Gordon, happened to be on the Titanic as well. She made these dresses she called “emotional gowns” which she would personalize to the woman she designed them for. She thought she could capture the soul of the woman in them, which was one of the themes I was trying to get across. So I read a lot about her.

What kind of research did you conduct to find out about other historical details from the time period?

BT: I did a lot of research online (although of course you can’t trust those sources 100%) and at my local library. Also one of my friends was an assistant director on the Titanic movie, and ended up being a huge resource to me. He had this great illustrated book that James Cameron gave to the crew which really helped me get an idea of the layout of the ship, and what it would be like to actually have been a passenger on the boat. From what I would have eaten in the first class dining room, to how I would have spent my free time, to who I would be traveling with. Through these pages and drawings, I really felt like I was there.

Do you enjoy spending time on research?

BT: I was actually surprised by how much I loved the research side of the book. History was never my favorite subject in school, but approaching it from a different angle, in this case through the clothing and the personal stories, was fascinating to me. It made this event that happened almost 100 years ago seem so much more real and personal.

As this is a new series, is there a general message you like to have come across in each of the books?

BT: I think that each book has a slightly different message, but there is a little bit of a Wizard of Oz, “there’s no place like home” feeling to this one!

Can you tell us a little bit about Louise’s next adventure?

BT: I’ll give you a hint; I took an amazing research trip to Versailles and to Paris, the birthplace of haute couture. So Louise is going to have some sort of fabulous French adventure on the horizon! The Time-Traveling Fashionista and the Palace of Marie Antoinette will be out Sept 2012. Stay tuned!

Is there anything else you’d like to share with readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com?

BT: I just think it’s so great that you have a mother daughter book club. I am still sending my mom books that I think she’ll love after I finish them, but I wish that we had something like this when I was growing up. Books are such a great springboard for talking about all kind of subjects that you may not otherwise discuss.

And I’d love to share the The TimeTraveling Fashionista Reading Guide as well.

You can count me among the legion of Jane Austen fans. That’s why I was so intrigued to find out about a new book by Jennifer Ziegler called Sass & Serendipity, that’s somewhat based on Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. Tomorrow I’ll be posting my review of the book (hint: I like it!), and today I’m featuring an interview with Ziegler. Read on to find out about her writing life, books she liked to read when she was growing up, the challenges of re-imagining a classic, and more.

Also, you may want to check out a giveaway Ziegler is featuring on her website. Here are the details:

A Sassy Giveaway! Three lucky winners will each receive one copy of Jennifer Ziegler’s SASS & SERENDIPITY along with Jane Austen’s classic, SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. To enter, send an e-mail to SassandSerendipity@gmail.com. In the body of the e-mail, include your name, mailing address, and e-mail address (if you’re under 13, submit a parent’s name and e-mail address). One entry per person; prizes will only be shipped to US or Canadian addresses. Entries must be received by midnight (PDT) on 8/5/11. Winners will be selected in a random drawing on 8/6/11 and notified via email.

To learn more about Jennifer, visit her website: http://www.jenniferziegler.net/index.html or blog: http://www.jenniferziegler.net/blog/. Now on to the interview.

How did you decide to become a writer?

JZ: I grew up in a family of storytellers, so I learned narrative form even as I learned to talk. I shared a room with my younger sister and would make up stories at night, when we were supposed to be sleeping, to see if I could make her laugh. At some point I had an epiphany that there were people who did that sort of thing as a job. That blew my mind–the notion that making up silly stories could translate into a career! From then on it was my deepest desire.

What do you like best about being a writer?

JZ: Writing combines all of my skills and interests. It’s a job where daydreaming counts as research and pajamas can be work wear. Where being perpetually sixteen might be regarded as a preferred qualification. Where you seclude yourself for long stretches at a time, but it never feels lonely because you interact with made-up people.

However, the best part would be the connections I make. Meeting fellow book lovers and discussing stories that enrich our lives. And when someone lists one of my novels among them? Well, that’s just beyond amazing.

What is you least favorite part of writing?

JZ: Writing takes a lot out of you–especially that super-focused, nurturing type of energy that I use with my children. Thus, sometimes I’m tapped out after a day of writing, and feel that I’ve given my best self to fictional people instead of my real life loved ones. I can’t exactly say that I hate this part of writing, but it is the part I struggle with the most.

What were some of the favorite books you read when you were a teen?

JZ: I loved all kinds of books of all different genres, but my favorite authors were Judy Blume, Paula Danziger, Paul Zindel, S.E. Hinton, Richard Peck, Norma Fox Mazer and Harry Mazer. Young adult fiction didn’t have as many offerings back then, so I also read a lot of books by Kurt Vonnegut, Douglas Adams, Erma Bombeck, Steven King, Philip Roth, and John Updike.

Sass and Serendipity is loosely based on Jane Austin’s Sense and Sensibility. Were you an Austen fan when you were growing up?

JZ: I discovered Jane Austen as a teen. In fact, Sense and Sensibility was the first book of hers that I read and I absolutely adored it. I’m ashamed to say that teenage Jennifer stayed away from the classics, assuming (erroneously) that they were dense, boring, and only beloved by English teachers. Jane Austen changed all that. I found her writing to be lively and funny, her characters to be real and relatable, and her depiction of sisterhood to be very much like my own.

How difficult was it for you to re-imagine the story for modern times?

JZ: It had its challenges. I knew it wouldn’t be as simple as just updating the setting. The scope of the novel would have to be streamlined and some plotlines and characters would have to go. Most of all, I knew I shouldn’t even try to imitate Austen’s writing style–not only because it would appear forced and unnatural, but because it had to have me in it. If I didn’t feel ownership, the story would suffer. Thus, the hardest part was figuring out my approach. Once I decided to stay away from the original material and simply work from the themes and plots that had been burned into my memory, I was freed up to both imagine and re-imagine.

Daphne and Gabby couldn’t be more different than each other. Do you believe that a special bond exists between sisters even when they have dramatically different personalities?

JZ: I do believe it’s possible, yes. My sister and I appear to be very different. However, most of that disparity is topical or was played up when we were teens in order to appear distinct from each other. Deep down, we are very much alike. And beyond all the similarities and differences, we can’t help but understand each other so thoroughly simply because we grew up together. There’s a certain security in that.

All the characters in Sass and Serendipity seem to be stuck in the way they perceive the people and circumstances around them. Do you believe that it’s difficult for people in general to change how they perceive their world?

JZ: It just might be the most difficult thing ever. It’s as if we’re all riding on a vast ship, and each of us are peering out from our tiny portholes and assuming that the scene in front of us is the same for everyone else. I don’t think it’s possible to truly see what someone else sees, but we can remind ourselves over and over that no one has the same line of sight–that the assumptions we make about others are based on our limited perspective and could be wrong. Everyone has an incomplete picture, so the best thing we can do is listen and empathize. I also think that reading books, both fiction and non-fiction, opens up the world and presents different viewpoints, thereby widening our own view.

What are some of the key issues you see book clubs being able to address when they discuss your book?

JZ: I think the issue of point of view, as mentioned above, is a big one. Readers are in the heads of both protagonists, so they have the big picture. Meanwhile the characters are making guesses about each other that are often wrong and unfair.

Other discussion points can be the themes of love and friendship, the way the story compares and contrasts with Austen’s book, and the characters of the two sisters. One girl is so reserved it prevents her from truly connecting with others. The other is so open she risks extreme hurt. Which is better? Which approach can they better relate to?

Is there anything you would like to add for readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com?

JZ: I would just like to thank you for featuring me and to commend you on having such a wonderful site. Book clubs are a fantastic way to exchange ideas on books and, therefore, the world. When mothers and daughters analyze the same book, it can’t help but lead to a greater understanding of each other, too. What a perfect way to bond and grow together.

Yesterday I featured a review of The Grand Plan to Fix Everything by Uma Krishnaswami. This book about a girl who moves to India with her family is a great mother-daughter book club read for groups with girls aged 9 to 12. Today, I’m excited to offer an interview with the author, who offers insight into what it’s like to be part of two cultures.

How did you decide you wanted to become a writer?

UK: I was a writer long before I knew it. As a child, I wrote for fun, made up stories and scribbled them down. Sometimes I’d try to gather the neighbor’s kids (and dog) to act out my stories for an audience. They were an unwilling cast and I soon gave up on that. Later I wrote poems and short stories and mailed them off to magazines–and it still never occurred to me to think of myself as a writer! Not even publication in a children’s magazine did that. I think in part that was because all the books I read were by English writers, and you know, many of them were dead. So it never occurred to me that I could be one, or actually was one already. I’m pretty sure I believed that people like me could not be writers. When I grew up I tried out other careers, and nothing ever seemed to fit. I was a social worker, then a rehabilitation counselor, then I managed a university grant in a teacher training program. It all felt like play-acting to me, as if I were auditioning for careers and trying to find out what I really needed to do with my life. By that time I was married, and living in Maryland with my husband. When our son was born, I began to want to write again. That’s when I came home to children’s books.

You’ve written several books for young readers. What do you like about writing for children?

UK: Children are an amazing audience. To start with, they come fresh to the whole thing. It’s all new to them, this reading business–sometimes challenging, sometimes a discovery. Life is that way too when you’re young. I do believe that children have instincts about story that are hard-wired–think about the first time a toddler gets a joke, for instance. That’s an understanding of story kicking in. It’s why I love writing for children, because it pushes me to reach for those first places of awakening and transition in myself.

I know you were born in India. Do you bring some of your own childhood experiences into the narrative when you write about that country?

UK: Definitely. The house that Dini and her family rent in India, in The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, is a real house named Sunny Villa that I once lived in. What else? When I was out walking once, I had a monkey snatch a snack from my hand. That was in a hill town in a different part of India from Swapnagiri, the town in the book, but the close-up look at unruly monkeys came right out of that experience. In a way Dini’s passion for Bollywood movies parallels my passion for books. I used to write fan letters–to authors. I heard back from P.G. Wodehouse, whose books I discovered as a teenager and loved. I still have that letter.

I remember reading about a study once where they looked at memories of childhood. It turns out that artists and writers remember their own childhoods more clearly than people in other occupations. And they remember them with less sentimentality than most people, which is interesting. Children are us, after all, and we grownups still carry those young selves within us, sort of like backup copies of ourselves at various ages. In a way, writing for young readers connects me with all those versions of my own younger self.

Do you find it difficult to live so far away from the place you were born?

UK: Yes, but it also makes it possible for me to live simultaneously in two worlds, which is an incredible experience. I have learned so much from both the places I get to call home. I wrote a poem about that once titled “Lifeline” that Cicada magazine published. Funny aside: They got an artist who has the same name as me, Uma Krishnaswamy (only notice she spells Krishnaswami with a y at the end?) to illustrate it. We’ve since done a book together as well. Life is so strange. You can’t make up stuff like that.

Are their particular things you do to help keep your cultural roots alive?

UK: I travel to India quite regularly, and with the Internet and Skype I can connect with family and friends there almost on a daily basis. So I can truly call two places home, much as Dini in the book learns to do. I cook Indian food at home. I listen to a wide range of music from India. I’m surrounded by objects and art from India in my home. I don’t think I need to make a special effort. It’s just who I am.

What are some of the biggest misperceptions you see Americans have about India?

UK: I think it’s natural for all human beings to try to think of places and people in ways that we can understand, so we tend to use a kind of mental shorthand of whatever knowledge we already have. So if you’ve heard of Gandhi, and that’s all you know about India, then that image is going to be India for you. Or elephants, or poor people, or big temples, or spicy food, or whatever. But India is a huge country and it’s all those things and much, much more. The bigger problem I have is when people think of India and other developing countries as being frozen in time, so that everything written about them has a long ago and faraway feel.

Do you think your writing helps to change those misperceptions?

UK: I think that’s one of the things that led me to write The Grand Plan and my picture book, Monsoon. I wanted to show India in the here and now. Of course I think maybe outsourcing is now replacing tigers and maharajahs as a stereotype. That has its own issues because it’s still only one snapshot of a very complicated place. I have a whole page on this subject on my web site, with reference to common errors I find in books about India: http://www.umakrishnaswami.com/common-errors. I once had a reviewer complain about the setting in my novel, Naming Maya. That was puzzling, until it occurred to me that maybe she was expecting something more along the lines of, well, Jungle Book.

In The Grand Plan to Fix Everything, Dini and her friend Maddie love to watch Bollywood movies. Is that something you enjoy doing too?

UK: I didn’t watch too many of them growing up, but the music was everywhere, so I knew all the songs. I didn’t have to try, they were just there, blaring out from tea-shops and  street corners. I did watch several Bollywood movies while I was writing the book, just to get the mood.

Do you know anyone like Priya, who can make all kinds of imitating noises?

UK: No. I made that part up completely. I was trying to make Priya come to life–she was grumpy, and that can be unappealing, so I was looking for some trait that she might have that could be developed. I began to think of how unlike myself I could make her, of things I could and couldn’t do. I can sing, but I can’t whistle to save my life. So I made her whistle. That turned into bird calls, and then it grew into all kinds of sounds so now she’s a one-girl audio department. Wish I could do all that!

Is there anything else you’d like to say to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com?

UK: Thank you for your interest in The Grand Plan to Fix Everything. I love the idea of mothers and daughters talking about books; it seems so natural, somehow. I can see Dini and her mom in one. Thanks again!

How did you decide to become a writer?

SOC: I had always wanted to be a writer, even before I could write, but it didn’t seem possible to me. I didn’t know any writers; I didn’t know how someone became such a thing. It wasn’t until I took a writing class in college and my professor, the novelist Alan Burns, encouraged me to write, that I finally believed that I could become a writer. Alan Burns told me that I could; he actually told me that I should, and he wouldn’t accept excuses.

Sparrow Road sounds like such an interesting place. Is it modeled from a real home that you know or is it all fictional?

SOC: Sparrow Road is entirely fictional. I have spent time at several artists colonies, as well as a working retreat farm run by some wonderful nuns, and each one of these places is dear to my heart. In a way, they’re all part of Sparrow Road-but as a place-Sparrow Road is its own enchanted world.

Sparrow Road seems to be an anomaly these days when so many of us are connected 24/7. What do you think is the value of spending time away from technology and in quiet reflection?

SOC: Each of the places I mentioned allowed plenty of time for quiet. I remember a kind of fear at the start of each residency: What will I do alone, with no phone or friends or family? But the answer really was just dream. Dream my way into a story.  And that’s exactly what I did. The silence allowed me time to day dream, to imagine a story into life, to work the long uninterrupted hours I need to write a book.

Do you see the pursuit of all types of art as being related in some way? If so, how?

SOC: Oh yes, I do. Of course every art form is distinct, as every artist is distinct, but I believe we are all engaged in the power of creation -the desire to make something new-to say something important to the world whether it’s through dance or theatre or film or music or fiction. I keep a Faulkner quote at my desk that says it better than I do: “The aim of every artist is to arrest motion, which is life, by artificial means and hold it fixed so that a hundred years later, when a stranger looks at it, it moves again since it is life.” William Faulkner. For myself, I want the work to move again like life.

Other than writing, are there other types of art you like to create?

SOC: As a creator, I am primarily a writer. As an art lover I take in a lot of theatre, visual art-I’m a great fan of collage, fabric art, cinema and of course music. Other artists inspire me.

What role do you see art having in helping people get through emotionally hard times?

SOC: The act of creating is an act of affirmation; I believe in possibility-and that kind of hope serves us all well in hard times.In the end, art-making can’t happen without faith, and faith is a tremendous gift to any spirit.I have no doubt art can help us heal-can help us work toward resolution, there is something deeply restorative about the act of naming, of identifying or making public, our stories and our losses. I have seen it in my own life and the lives of many others.

There’s a bit of mystery in Sparrow Road too, a bit of it having to do with the home’s former role as an orphanage. How did that layer affect the story you were writing about Raine?

SOC: Well I like a layered story-I want any story to be about three of four important things-maybe more, and the orphanage history inadvertently helps Raine make sense of her own story. We are always borrowing from others to make sense of our own world, and Raine is just like us in that regard. Her empathy for the orphans, her growing understanding of their plight, shine light on her own losses.

How do you think Raine’s imagining of the orphan Lyman helps her deal with the issues in her own life?

SOC: What a wonderful question. These are all wonderful questions. And yes, I do. Lyman is Raine’s own creation, and what we all create-intentional or not-is part of our own psyche. Through Lyman she’s able to consider what it means to be an orphan-and to realize the ways in which she’s not so far from that herself.

Raine learns that people aren’t always the way they seem on the surface. I think it’s difficult in real life for most of us to look beyond our first impressions of people. Do you have any advice about how to resist making snap judgments?

SOC: Strange as this sound, I think reading fiction trains us in that very practice. Fiction requires empathy-and empathy works against judgment. A good book allows us to inhabit the private lives of characters, people often quite unlike ourselves. We learn their hopes and disappointments through their stories, their failures and frustrations, how they love and how they lose the things they love-and often we discover their hearts are not so far from ours.

Do you have anything else to add for readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com?

SOC: Cross-generational reading is such an incredibly important experience and I applaud everyone who makes the time for it. The kids have sports and music and lessons and homework and video games and computers-but they still need time for stories. Stories are essential to how we learn to live. I cherish the years I spent in my own mother-daughter book club, all the books Mikaela and I read together, tales and characters we still reference. The ritual of the book club made reading seem important-and I remember how closely I listened to Mikaela-how eager I was to hear her thoughts about the book. She’s grown now, but she’s still my first choice as a fellow reader-and one of the best critics of my work.

Enjoy your mother-daughter book club time. It passes all too soon.

Yesterday I reviewed Instructions for a Broken Heart, a young adult novel by Kim Culbertson. Today, Kim answers a few questions for readers at Mother Daughter Book Club. com.

How did you decide to become a writer?

KC: I feel like writing is something that chose me.  I have always felt like it was as much a part of me as being a reader or an athlete—it’s just something that makes up the fabric of me.  Being a writer is a mindset—it’s a point of view.  I talk about Point of View in my monthly newsletter a lot.  It’s the way we see the world and it’s wholly unique to each person.  I tell my students all the time—you’re a writer if you feel that you’re a writer.  Being published doesn’t make you a writer.  But, of course, becoming a writer who gets paid for writing is a whole other thing.  I decided to head down that path about ten years ago when Cicada published my first short story.  I remember getting a check for that story and thinking, “Hmmmm, that’s really cool.”

In both of your books, Songs for a Teenage Nomad and Instructions for a Broken Heart, you write about teens who are dealing with difficult issues. Do you think the teenage years in general are a challenging time of life? If yes, how so?

KC: Oh, for sure they are. They are this amazing, huge time—a time where they are climbing out of that childhood nest and peeking out onto the adult landscape. I’ve taught high school for 14 years and I think teenagers are the most remarkable of creatures. They are so passionate and idealistic and have dreams but they also still love the warm, small space of being a child. I think it’s the bumping together of those two worlds that creates all the tension.

Songs are also woven throughout your writing. Do you think music has a role in helping people cope or figure things out?

KC: I think songwriters are our culture’s high profile poets (especially good songwriters). I think teens especially really cling to their music because it provides some analysis and insight into that adult landscape I was discussing before. They can listen to a song and say, “oh, other people feel broken-hearted or afraid or angry or happy—me too” and it gives them a connection to a more universal experience. I think reading does this too but it’s not quite as immediate as a song.

I understand you teach high school. What do you like about teaching teens?

KC: As I mentioned, I find teenagers just a wonderful source of energy and light. I love my students—they can passionately discuss a novel in class and then get really worked up that someone sat in their seat. They’re on this cusp and I love getting to hang out on that cusp with them.

What are the challenges?

KC: I want so much for them to love literature and see all the things in it that I see which is totally unfair because I’m 36 years old—I’ve already gone through so many things that help me navigate a novel in a different way than they do. I have to always remind myself to hold back and let them experience it in the way that makes sense at 17, and it reminds me of that profound feeling of understanding something for the first time in a really individual way. I prefer to be the kind of teacher who acts as a “guide on the side” not a “sage on the stage” but it’s hard not to jump in and “tell” them everything I want them to know. I find, though, that this is the most amazing thing because when they have the space to tell me what they’re seeing in a book—I get to learn that book in this whole new, interesting way.

Have you ever led a group of students on a major trip like the one in Instructions for a Broken Heart?

KC: Another teacher and I took 16 students to Italy when I was a second year high school teacher. It was a thoroughly incredible trip. I watched so much eye-opening going on during that trip (including my own) about what it meant to be a traveler in this world, what it meant to see and smell a place for the first time.  It was an amazing trip.

Instructions is part travelogue as well, with Italy starring in a supporting role. Have you been to the places you described in your book?

KC: I pretty much used the exact footprint from the trip I took with my students. I changed pretty much everything else, but the footprint stayed the same.

What do you think people can learn when they travel to places outside the norm for them?

KC: I think traveling to a new place takes a person outside of her comfort zone and this just creates more space for self-reflection. For me. That’s just the way I’ve experienced it. That might not be true for other people  I find if I am really chewing on a huge decision I need to go somewhere a bit out of my normal loop and somehow that new geography lets me rethink things.

Jessa and all the kids from her school on the trip are in the drama club. Do you think actors are more likely to be more emotional?

KC: I don’t think they’re more emotional, per se—I think they might tend to be a little more willing to lay it all out there for people  In my high school teaching experience, I’ve found that all kids have that emotional piece—some just don’t like showing it off. Many of my high school actors have been more comfortable putting it out there for people to see. However, it’s not across the board. I’ve had plenty of student actors who save their drama for their characters and really don’t put their personal life on display. I think it’s really about personality.

Is there anything else you’d like to say to readers at Mother Daughter Book Club . com?

KC: I want to just thank you, Cindy, for all you do for readers and authors—you’re the best!!

A couple of weeks ago I reviewed Mothers and Daughters by Rae Meadows, a book about the complex relationship between three generations of women and their daughters. Today, I’m excited to feature a Q and A with Meadows and her mother, who talk about the mother-daughter relationship as well as the book.

Rae Meadows and her mom, Jane.

Jane, after reading Rae’s novel, do you feel like you have a different sense of the complexity of the relationship between the two of you? Rae, did you think differently of your relationship with your mother after you had spent so much time with Iris, Sam, and Violet?

Jane: I have always thought my relationship with Rae was pretty straightforward. However, it occurred to me at one point while reading Mothers and Daughters that since Rae’s characters had complicated relationships with their mothers, that perhaps complexity had been part of our relationship, at least for her, and that I had been unaware of its presence. The self-reprimand soon followed that if indeed this was a factor, then I should have caught it and tapped into it.

Rae: My mom and I have had a remarkably un-fraught relationship, but I did think about her often while I was writing this book. She has lived so much life—she’s a beautiful and amazing eighty-one—and I think in pondering questions for the characters, it made me wonder what it would be like to see my mom as a young single woman or newly married or a first-time mother. This past Christmas she mentioned that she once had dated a professional hockey player named Moose, and I was reminded of how even though I have heard a lot of stories about her life, there is an endless supply of things I don’t know.

Do you think (as Iris mentions) that having children is a way to try and understand one’s own mother? Jane, did you learn a lot about your mother when you had children? Rae, did you?

Jane: Perhaps many might find this to be helpful, but personally I never sought to better understand my mother. I didn’t need to. She was an honest, loving, demonstrative being whom I loved and trusted.

Rae: Although for me it wasn’t a conscious thing, I feel like I have learned so much about my mom since becoming a mother. That intense, unfailing love mixed with worry that she exuded is something I know now on a gut level. My mom had breast cancer when her daughters were eight, five, and three, and I don’t think I fully understood what strength and courage this required until I became a mother and tried to imagine myself in the same position.

The existence of the orphan trains is such a fascinating, yet seemingly forgotten part of American history. Rae has said that you introduced her to the subject, Jane, which sparked her to write Mothers and Daughters. How did you hear about the orphan trains? What was your initial reaction to this piece of history?

Jane: I was waiting for Rae to arrive at the airport in Cleveland, and I struck up a conversation with the woman sitting next to me who was also waiting for her daughter. She mentioned that her daughter had done some research on the Orphan Train Movement of the early part of the twentieth century. I had never heard of the orphan trains and was fascinated and full of questions. I, of course, relayed all this to Rae in baggage claim.

Rae: And good thing she did! I didn’t know at the time that the orphan trains would be the basis for my next novel, but I knew instantly they had rich narrative possibilities and I needed to find out more.

As Rae was writing Mothers and Daughters, did she come to you for advice? If not, what kind of advice would you have given her in writing about a mother-daughter relationship? Rae, what advice was the most helpful to you in developing these complex characters?

Jane: Rae is an inspired, gifted writer who needed no advice about writing Mothers and Daughters. The only advice I’d have given her, had she asked, is the same advice I would have given her had she been writing about balloons: make the characters interesting and make it a good story. She seems to have done exactly this without anyone’s help.

Rae: Although I didn’t seek advice exactly, I did use details from my mom’s life in developing these characters. For instance, I remember my mom telling me how when she first got married, she would get all done up and have a cocktail ready for my dad when he came home from work. Iris is from the same generation as my mom, and she enacts a similar scene. And then in a larger sense, my mom has told me about the great agony she felt when her mother was dying in regards to intervention and resuscitation, and this was on my mind in the flashbacks of Iris and Sam.

Which character—Sam, Violet, or Iris—did each of you connect with the most? Why?

Jane: My younger self of fifty years ago strongly identifies with Sam in her relationship to her baby, in her procrastination and lack of focus in returning to her creative work, and in her guilt and subsequent self-chastisement over the aborted Down syndrome fetus. But it’s Iris who is closest to my own age and who has faced some of life’s tougher moments. She’s accepting and talks to herself in a down-to-earth way, without self-pity. Her self-admonishment to “buck up” is one I plan to adopt. It very much suits those of us who are facing our eighties.

Rae: Violet is very unlike I was as a child and, in that sense, she is the most fictional of the three characters. Iris definitely has some of me in her, though she is in such a different stage of life. So I have to say I connected most with Sam, since her character sprang from some of my experiences as a new mother, particularly the anxiety about where creative pursuits fit in after motherhood. From the outside, her life is similar to mine.

Iris mentions that the relationship between her and her daughter has grown closer now that Sam is an adult. Jane and Rae, how has your relationship changed from when Rae was younger versus now?

Jane: When a child has become a responsible adult, there is little responsibility for the mother to guide or instruct. Rae and I are friends and, as such, tolerant of each other’s differences and all the best that friendship infers. We are each committed to a helpful, thoughtful, appreciative, and always loving relationship toward each other. Rae was an appealing, charming, loving child. She remains so to this day, only the package is taller.

Rae: Thanks, Mom. I think our relationship has grown into an adult friendship, which I have come to cherish and depend on. My mom is such a neat woman: an accomplished painter, a writer of lovely old-fashioned letters, a believer in alternative medicine and health long before it was fashionable, a person of great faith, a true original.

As I get older, I have really come to appreciate that she finds joy in the everyday—she’s happy puttering around her house and garden. I also love that my mom had a renaissance later in life when she came into her voice, and she is unapologetic about speaking what she believes in, which makes her a great person to talk to.

Rae, how difficult was it to write about the struggles of being a daughter—and a mother—knowing that your mom would eventually read it? Did you find that the writing process became harder with this in mind?

Rae: My mom has always been my most ardent supporter, so I didn’t hesitate in exploring the mother-daughter dynamic between these characters. Luckily my mom is not like Iris or Violet as a mother, so I wasn’t too worried that she would see herself and possibly be hurt by the book. Besides, she survived me writing about an escort service in my first novel, so I figured she would be okay with this one!

Rae has mentioned in interviews that she tested the incredible pound cake recipe that Sam discovers in her mother’s things. Would you each mind sharing some of the traditions or secrets that have been passed down in your family?

Jane: We celebrate Christmas, Thanksgiving, and the Fourth of July with family (grandchildren, parents, grandparents) accompanied by the usual homemade, open-faced apple pie. We also make caramel apples in the fall using twigs from the garden for sticks.

Rae: Food traditions come to mind for me, too. One of my favorites is eating pie for breakfast. My mom makes incredible pies—apple and cherry are my two favorites—and there is nothing better than coming into the kitchen the next morning and seeing leftover pie (and beating my sisters to it). And my mom used to make rice pudding, the same that her mother made. Unfortunately my daughter is allergic to dairy and eggs so I’ll have to work on a revised recipe.

Each generation of women in Mothers and Daughters struggles with the burdens and joys of being both a mother and a daughter. What do each of you think is the most rewarding part of being a mother? A daughter? The most difficult?

Jane: The most rewarding part of being a mother for me is the unending joy of loving unconditionally and nurturing an offspring, and the most rewarding part of being a daughter is to be the recipient of unending unconditional love and nurturing. I suppose I’d have to say the most difficult part is when complete independence arrives and children leave home. It’s gratifying to watch children grow into healthy, productive adults, but at the same time, acceptance of their independence, along with the realization that you are no longer the center of their world, carries with it a wistful sadness for what used to be and will never quite be again.

Rae: I would agree with my mom about the rewards of being a mother and a daughter. The most difficult thing for me, because of the depth of love I feel for my mom and my daughters, is the fear of possible loss. Also to see struggle in your mother or your daughter is very hard when you are powerless to do anything about it. I explored this some in the relationship between Sam and Iris.

As a mother, there is always that fear of having your children repeat your mistakes. What things did you try to avoid passing on to your children? What advice or wisdom have you tried to instill? ?

Jane: I don’t remember imparting any earthshaking advice. I suppose I thought to teach by example, as my own mother had. It was, of course, a given that there would be no drinking, smoking, or drugs.

Rae: Can I just say when my mom first read this question she said, “But I didn’t make any mistakes.” She was joking of course, but in a way, she’s right. I had the luxury of having a stay-at-home mom who loved being a mom and exuded contentment, and was unendingly supportive. My sisters and I were incredibly lucky. Though her advice on clean living I’m afraid I didn’t quite follow in my younger years. (Sorry, Mom!)