Learn more about April Halprin Wayland and check out her team blog, Teaching Authors.
Peek: “We are six children’s book authors with a wide range (and many years) of experience teaching writing to children, teens, and adults.
“Here, we share our unique perspective as writing teachers who are also working writers.
Continue Reading Craft, Career & Cheer: April Halprin Wayland »
Learn more about Jo Knowles, and visit her LJ.
What do you love most about your creative life? Why?
Growing up as a very quiet, shy kid I felt overlooked an awful lot. I never really felt like I had much of a voice. Of course, I wouldn’t have worded it that way,
Learn about Brian Yansky. Read Brian’s Blog: Writer Talk: Random thoughts on the art and craft of fiction writing.
How do you psyche yourself up to keep writing?
I think one way I psyche myself up is by making writing a habit. Like most habits, it’s helpful if you do it at about the same time and place every day.
Learn about Jane Yolen. Note: see more information about Take Joy: A Writer’s Guide to Loving the Craft (Writer’s Digest, 2006).
What do you love most about your creative life? Why?
My short answer is that I get to work in my jammies. But that’s a devious and charming lie.
Learn more about author Arthur Slade.
When and where do you write? Why does that time and space work for you?
I write in my office, which is in the basement of my home in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada (It’s near Moose Jaw, in case anyone wonders).
Through the window I can see the sun shine or the snow pile up,
Learn about Keith Graves.
What do you love most about your creative life? Why?
I love the freedom to dig into my creative sub-conscious every day and pull out the interesting things I find in there.
Then it’s like a science project where I build this cool thing that I can kind of see,
Learn about Paula Chase-Hyman. You can also find her at The Brown Bookshelf: United in Story, which is “designed to push awareness of the myriad of African American voices writing for young readers.”
How do you define artistic success?
Before my book sold to Kensington, the answer to this question would have been very different.
Learn more about Zetta Elliott, and visit her blog. Her books include Bird (Lee & Low, 2008) and A Wish After Midnight (CreateSpace, 2008).
Could you tell us about your writing community—your critique group or critique partner or other sources of creative support?
I don’t belong to a critique group,
How do you define artistic success?
In the past, artistic success for me has been work that I am proud of and know that I have done my absolute best with.
But that has been an attitude fraught with dissatisfaction and frustration. There are more times than I like to admit that I look at my past work with twinges of regret.
Learn more about Phyllis Root. Watch for the upcoming launch of Phyllisroot.com. Read a previous Cynsations interview with Phyllis.
What do you love most about your creative life?
What I love most about my writing life is also what I struggle with most: the combination of freedom and discipline.
