Earlier this year, my friend Caroline Starr Rose (who is the fantastic author of May B, Blue Birds, Jasper and the Riddle of Riley’s Mine, and several fascinating picture books) was kind enough to invite me onto her blog for an interview:
Alone in the Woods: An Interview with Author Rebecca Behrens
Check it out to hear about how being the world’s oldest living tween has helped me write authentic MG fiction, as well as my research and inspiration for the book!
The earliest drafts of Summer of Lost and Found had the book start with Nell anticipating summer fun on a New York barrier island–but those Fire Island sections were cut because “killing your darlings” is a task us authors really have to do. Can you blame me for wanting to sneak a few darlings about my favorite summer place into the book, though? Fire Island is just an hour and change from Manhattan, but a world away. No cars, no chain stores, no tall buildings: just a necklace of friendly communities strung along miles of white sand. I was lucky enough to spend some time on the island earlier this month.
Fire Island architecture
Welcome to the Atlantic
The iconic lighthouse
Stunning sunset
All winter I dream about being back on the beach, where I can dig my toes in the sand while digging into a good book.
What’s your favorite place to read when the days are long and hot?
It’s the last Wednesday of March, so it’s time for one more Women’s History post!
[One of my favorite things about writing historical fiction is getting to explore the lives of real, and sometimes famous, women—like Alice Roosevelt. When Audrey Met Alice allowed me to spend a lot of time researching the women who have made 1600 Pennsylvania a home in addition to a historic site. (Check out the Resources page of my website for more information on my research, along with a Women’s History Month lesson plan!) But this month, I wanted to devote some words to other female historical figures I find inspiring. Each Wednesday this March, I’m sharing a short post about a fascinating woman in honor of Women’s History Month. I’d love to hear which women interest and inspire you–please tell me in the comments! I’ll (randomly) choose one commenter on each post to win a preorder of the new When Audrey Met Alice paperback. Tweet about the women who inspire you with the hashtag #WomensHistWednesday for an extra entry.]
Last week, I wrote about Nellie Bly. Giora won a WAMA preorder with a comment about Eleanore Marx.
Inspiring me today is: Jackie Mitchell
Jackie with Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (Source: LOC)
Do you know who struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during one exhibition game in 1931? A seventeen-year-old girl named Jackie Mitchell. She was playing for the Chattanooga Lookouts, a minor-league team that offered her a contract after seeing her pitch for a local women’s team. There is plenty of controversy about her striking out two of the greatest players in history—some think it may have been a publicity stunt. Regardless, it’s amazing to think of a teen girl pitcher leading to Babe Ruth being pulled off the field in a hissy fit. The baseball commissioner canceled her contract shortly after, saying that the sport was “too strenuous” for women, but Jackie continued playing ball until 1937. Women were officially banned from signing baseball contracts in 1952.
I loved Jackie’s story so much that I wrote about it for two Scholastic classroom magazines: “Thatagirl!” in the November 2014 issue of Storyworks and “Girls Can’t Play” in the January 2015 issue of Scope.
Learn more about Jackie:
The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck Out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig: a Smithsonian video
Exploratorium’s Science of Baseball: Jackie Mitchell
Historical Women Who Rocked: Jackie Mitchell
The Jackie Mitchell Story: a documentary video
Which women inspire you?
And thanks for helping me celebrate women making history!
It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for more Women’s History!
[One of my favorite things about writing historical fiction is getting to explore the lives of real, and sometimes famous, women—like Alice Roosevelt. When Audrey Met Alice allowed me to spend a lot of time researching the women who have made 1600 Pennsylvania a home in addition to a historic site. (Check out the Resources page of my website for more information on my research, along with a Women’s History Month lesson plan!) But this month, I wanted to devote some words to other female historical figures I find inspiring. Each Wednesday this March, I’m sharing a short post about a fascinating woman in honor of Women’s History Month. I’d love to hear which women interest and inspire you–please tell me in the comments! I’ll (randomly) choose one commenter on each post to win a preorder of the new When Audrey Met Alice paperback. Tweet about the women who inspire you with the hashtag #WomensHistWednesday for an extra entry.]
Last week, I wrote about Bessie Coleman. Rachel Sullivan won a WAMA preorder with her comment about nurses like Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale, and strong single working mothers everywhere. Thanks to everyone who shared about the women who inspire them!
Inspiring me today is: Jane Goodall
Jane and Jubilee (Source: Jane Goodall Institute)
As a child, Jane’s father gave her a toy chimpanzee, Jubilee. It sparked her interest in and love of animals. Jane went on to become an expert primatologist, and now knows more than probably anyone else on earth about chimpanzees. She completed a famous 45-year study on chimpanzee social and family life at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, sharing with the world that other primates can show the personality, emotions, and rational thought that humans do. Today she advocates for animal rights and the environment through the Jane Gooddall Institute. And she still keeps her toy chimpanzee, Jubilee, on her dresser.
Learn more about Jane:
Jane Goodall: A Retrospective (a short National Geographic video)
Jane Goodall’s Journey (an interview with a Scholastic News kid reporter)
Which women inspire you?
I love March for a few reasons: daylight savings time begins, theoretically it stops being so cold, the Chicago River gets dyed green, and the official start of SPRING! But I especially love that March is Women’s History Month and we get to spend 31 days celebrating daring, genius, funny, complicated, important, strong, wise ladies. One of my favorite things about writing historical fiction is getting to explore the lives of real, and sometimes famous, women—like Alice Roosevelt. When Audrey Met Alice allowed me to spend a lot of time researching the women who have made 1600 Pennsylvania a home in addition to a historic site. (Check out the Resources page of my website for more information on my research, along with a Women’s History Month lesson plan.) But this month, I wanted to devote some words to other female historical figures I find inspiring.
Each Wednesday this March, I’ll share a short post about a fascinating woman in honor of Women’s History Month. I’d love to hear which women interest and inspire you–please tell me in the comments! I’ll (randomly) choose one commenter on each post to win a preorder of the new When Audrey Met Alice paperback. Tweet about the women who inspire you with the hashtag #WomensHistWednesday for an extra entry.
Inspiring me today is: Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman and her plane in 1922 (Source)
Maybe you’ve noticed, while heading in or out of O’Hare airport, that you get to the terminals via Bessie Coleman Drive? It’s a fitting tribute to the former Chicagoan, who was the first African American woman to get a pilot’s license. While Bessie worked as a manicurist in Chicago during World War I, she listened to airmen tell stories about their flights, and it piqued her interest so much that she began to study aviation. At the time, no flying schools in the United States would admit an African American woman—so Bessie first attended the Berlitz school in the Loop to learn French, then moved to France. There she learned to fly in just seven months and earned an international pilot’s license in 1921. Upon returning to the United States, Bessie earned a living doing aerial tricks and stunts across the country. She hoped to make enough money to start a school for African American pilots. Tragically, she died at age thirty-four in an airplane accident–but her legacy lives on.
Learn more about Bessie:
PBS: American Experience: Fly Girls | Bessie Coleman
The Ninety-Nines, Inc.: Women in Aviation History | Bessie Coleman
Smithsonian video: Bessie Coleman
Fly High!: The Story of Bessie Coleman by Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger
Which women inspire you?
What I’m Reading
I just finished up Louise Galveston’s By the Grace of Todd, a hilariously gross and inventive MG. Thanks to it, I will be deep-cleaning my apartment this weekend. Now I’m reading Jennifer Mathieu’s The Truth About Alice, which is an amazing contemporary YA told from four perspectives. All of the characters feel so very real–the voices in this book are so, so good. I’m having a hard time putting it down.
What I’m Writing
I am finally done (for now) revising that old manuscript. YES! So I’m back to researching/outlining, and I’m having lots of fun with that, asking myself lots of “what if?” questions and imagining what this story could be.
What Inspires Me Right Now
It’s tulip time again!
What Else I’ve Been Up To
I’m busy getting ready for a see-your-setting-in-person research trip next week. More on that–with pictures–when I’m back.
I also did an interview with Keith Muchowski, who volunteers at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site. (If you’re ever in NYC, you must stop by the site for his tour!) The first part of my interview is here.
So what have you been up to lately?
What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme that helps readers and writers touch base with blog friends. You can find the link widget (and cute buttons!) on Jaime’s and Erin’s blog posts.
What’s Up Wednesday is a weekly meme that helps readers and writers touch base with blog friends. If you’d like to join in, you can find the link widget on Jaime’s and Erin’s blog posts. I love this idea because it gives a structured, easy way for me to keep up with blogging. Also, the buttons are cute. Thanks for the idea, Jaime and Erin!
What I’m Reading
Last week I read Steve Martin’s An Object of Beauty, which was a story of high art, love, money, and ambition–told in a very readable Steve Martin-y voice. Now I’m finally reading Alison Cherry’s Red! Truth: It’s making me want to dye my hair.
A photo from Alison’s Red launch party, taken by Ghenet! (l to r, Michelle Schusterman, Lauren Magaziner, Emery Lord, me, and Kim Liggett)
What I’m Writing
I’ve decided to work on a “palate cleanser” project–something just for fun, and for me–and I think I might try to NaNo to finish it. Which definitely makes me an unofficial NaNoer. But I’m excited to try to push myself to write as close to 50K words as I can next month!
What Inspires Me Right Now
Still loving the Halloween time of year. Last weekend I went on a Ghost Tour of Greenwich Village, and it was super fun. (Super touristy, yes, but I strongly believe that sometimes tourists know how to have a really good time, and there is no shame in joining them.) The stories the guide told as we scuffed through leaves on the quiet, dark Village streets were fascinating–and inspiring. Not only did I have a total “I heart NY” night, but it gave me lots of ideas. (Okay, some of those ideas might have made me afraid of my basement. And convinced that the sound of a trailing vine scritch-scratching the window at night is actually a skeleton’s hand. I love ghost stories, but I also scare ridiculously easily.)
What Else I’ve Been Up To
Becoming an aunt! My nephew was born in the wee hours on Monday morning. He’s adorable, and I am counting the days until I hop a plane to meet him.
So what have you been up to lately?
I have many writing spots, in my apartment, from the desk to the couch to the kitchen table, and writing spots in other places scattered around the city and back in America’s Dairyland, too. But I also have an inspiration spot, one for daydreaming and brainstorming and problem-solving, both for writing problems and sometimes IRL problems.
I wasn’t until I started cultivating my inspiration spot that I realized how important a place–or mental space–that is for writers, too. As important as an ergonomic desk chair.
Anyway, my inspiration spot in a makeshift windowseat. From it I get a nice, sunny view of the sidewalk below my apartment. It makes for good people-watching, as they walk to and from the park or in and out of the candy-and-lotto bodega.
In one of the little walkup buildings on my street lives a nice young family. Their daughter looks like she’s about ten or eleven. Her mom or dad sits on the stoop as she and her puppy play on the sidewalk out front. A lot of times she plays with a simple bubble wand. She twirls around the sidewalk, spinning and marveling at the bubbles floating up into the trees. Her parents join in. It’s really charming. I kind of adore Bubble Girl. (Hopefully it doesn’t sound creepy that I watch her play.)
I write books for young readers, but I don’t have kids. Which is fine, because as that quote from legendary children’s book editor Ursula Nordstrom goes,”I am a former child, and I haven’t forgotten a thing.” But sometimes it’s good to let kids remind me, a little more immediately, of being at the age at which bubbles were all I needed to have a happy afternoon. I smile and watch Bubble Girl play, and I wonder what she’d want to read about. I remind myself that it’s actually her I’m writing for. I’d like to write a book that will make her smile or think or laugh.
Generally, I don’t like to give directives, because really how do I know what anyone else needs to get his or her writing groove on. But I do think it’s helpful for most writers to have a reminder of your ideal reader. Bubble Girl is mine.
And I hope I do right by her.
My own apartment is pathetically decorated, so I am living vicariously through the White House’s decorations this year. It’s the People’s House, after all!
At Holidays 2012 | The White House you can get all of the following:
You can also look at pictures of the holiday decorations through the years (I love that the Kennedy family took a sleigh ride on the South Lawn), and watch a video of the First Family turning on the Christmas lights.
And, finally, there’s this video with BO! (Thanks to Sarah for first sharing it)
(Thanks to Sarah for o
The White House Social Fall Garden Tour was an incredible experience for a lot of reasons: meeting the very cool and accomplished other attendees; hearing White House administration staff and officials speak on a variety of topics; viewing the beautiful gardens; and, you know, getting to explore the White House, or at least its grounds! But it was also a very special day for me because I got to visit one of my settings in person (and it was a setting I thought it would be unlikely for me to ever experience firsthand).
Writing When Audrey Met Alice and revising it (many times), I spent hours researching the White House: poring over every photo I could find; reading books and websites and blogs; watching films and TV shows set and filmed there; studying maps and floor plans. Although I hope the WH I created in my story is authentic, it’s definitely a fictional place. Despite all that research, I still had to make tons of stuff up. Sometimes that was because I just didn’t have access to information and other times it was in the interest of good storytelling.
My brief visit to the White House grounds gave me some of the firsthand knowledge I couldn’t get from my research: How the area smells; what the ambient sounds are like; how open or closed the outdoor spaces feel when you’re in them. I got a taste of the oxymoronic atmosphere: the White House is serene at the same time it’s bustling. There are people everywhere working (administration officials, secret service agents, landscapers and groundskeepers, etc.), but it feels very calm and controlled (at least to a visitor). I witnessed the security procedures for guests, from the info you disclose prior to your visit to the metal detectors to scanning a badge to let you leave.
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| One of my characters has a joyride in a golf cart at the WH. I saw the vehicle in this photo and pictured her on it. Awesome! |
I also uncovered some details more directly related to my writing about a fictional and a historical first girl. When asked a (pretty benign) question about the habits of Sasha and Malia, the administration staff politely declined to answer–they maintain the privacy of the girls, even when it comes to matters like “do they like eating their vegetables from the garden.” I have to admit that I was really pleased at that response–it’s great that the WH staff are so protective of the rightful privacy of first kids! (I know my characters would have appreciated that.)
Some settings are easier to visit than others and some downright impossible–a fictional planet, the 16th century, the inside of a volcano. But whenever possible, it’s important to visit the places that inspire our stories. Not only for the authenticity it can give one’s writing, but for the way it can energize and reinvigorate. Looking ahead to edits on my book, I can’t wait to incorporate some of what I experienced last Friday into the book. I’ve totally reconnected with my setting, and that’s a wonderful thing.
Last Friday I attended the White House Fall Social Garden Tour. In short, it was awesome. You can read more about how I lucked into the Social here, and you can see a wrap-up from the White House here: A Fall Social in the #WHGarden. (Excuse me while I freak out that my name/tweets/photos are on the White House’s web site.) My twitter feed from Friday is also chock full of observations and photos.
I’ll be posting some of my thoughts about visiting the setting of my book later in the week. But first, here are some of my favorite photos from the day:
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| The quiet before the public tour starts |
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| The view from the South Lawn |
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| The White House Beehive. Best quote of the day, from Executive Pastry Chef Bill Yosses: They didn’t add a second hive because then the bees might fight each other for territory and, “we didn’t want any more conflict in Washington.” |
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| Veggies growing in the Kitchen Garden |
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| The swing set. How badly did I want to go for a swing? (Badly!) See the Oval Office behind it. |
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| The Oval Office. Guess who was inside working? |
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| Me, thrilled to be in the Rose Garden and standing in front of the West Wing (Eisenhower Executive Office Building in the background, too) |
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| Crowds of people outside |
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| Who knew there were so many grills at the White House? |
ETA: Thanks for all of the compliments on my dress! It was nice to fold up my writerly pajama pants for a day. 🙂 That dress was a gift from my mother in law, and she made it!
Tonight I’m heading down to D.C. so I can attend the White House Social Fall Garden Tour tomorrow!
(Which is a special Tweetup tour of the Jacqueline Kennedy Garden, Rose Garden, and the South Lawn, including the White House Kitchen Garden and beehive.)
How did I get to do this? I follow White House social media accounts on Twitter, and I applied through the White House Social website.
Needless to say, I’m really excited about seeing the grounds and being in a place that I have spent so much time imagining (particularly for fiction purposes).
I’ll be tweeting throughout the tour tomorrow, so if you’d like to follow along find me on Twitter (or check out the hashtag #WHGarden). The events start at 7:30 am EST, so look for WH tweets from me starting around that time. We are having a question and answer session with Administration officials around 10:00 am EST, so tweet me any questions you’d like to ask! Or leave them in the comments below.