Simple Saturday

The VCFA good times just keep rolling on. I want you to meet a dear friend of mine, Shawn Stout. Not only has she written an adorable book, Shawn is one of the most thoughtful, kind, sincere, and charming people that I know, not to mention that she is as beautiful as a butterfly.

You might find it interesting to note that one very important aspect of the VCFA residency is Workshop during which groups of twelve or so writers huddle together, along with illustrious faculty members, to critique each other's work. (Thin skinned? Too bad.) I had the honor of having Shawn in one of my workshops and we worked on Fiona! I love Fiona! I feel like I'm part of the her family. I was present during her infancy  and now am watching her bloom into a full-fledged series!!!! Just call me Auntie Deb Finkelstein!

Because I want you to get to know my sweet friend, I asked her a few questions. Read about her. Don't forget to check out her website either. It is almost as adorable as Shawn Stout herself.

It feels a little weird. A little surreal. A little exciting. A little terrifying. Actually, more than a little terrifying.
 
Were you a big reader as a kid? If so, what books did you like to read?

I read constantly as a kid. I loved the feeling of diving into a book and getting lost there, and never wanting the story to end. I still feel that way. I read everything from Beverly Cleary (RAMONA THE PEST was my favorite, because I was an enormous pest to my older sister, and I appreciated the comraderie), Judy Blume (I must have read BLUBBER at least a hundred times), and Roald Dahl (WITCHES still frightens me). Although the book jackets have been ripped and stained, I still have my original copies of CHARLOTTE'S WEB and THE SECRET GARDEN. I've bought new copies since, with clean, crisp covers, but the pages of my old books are imprinted with different aspects of my childhood, and I suspect I'll never part with them.

I've always been pretty good at making things up, embellishing true stories to get a laugh or to make my mundane experiences seem exciting. Some might call this lying, but I prefer to think of it as building a necessary foundation for writing fiction. As a teenager, I used writing to get out my angst and to try to figure out why the world was so messed up. (I still do that sometimes, but I've stopped writing poems about dead flowers...which everyone can be thankful for.) So yes, I guess I've always enjoyed writing. Now, I appreciate writing more than I ever did, I respect it and am constantly humbled by my attempts at it.

 
Tell me about the inspiration for your novel. Is the protagonist alot like you?

During my first semester at Vermont College, my advisor, Kathy Appelt, told me that I had to write an autobiography for my packet. So, part of what I wrote included my 10 years of taking ballet lessons and the nerves I felt backstage before all recitals, but in particular, before going on stage to dance in The Nutcracker. Anyway, Kathy said that a ballerina with stage fright would make a cute middle grade novel. And so, Fiona Finkelstein was born. 

 

Aside from the nervous stomach and dancing in The Nutcracker, Fiona and I aren't very much alike. She's got a lot more gumption than I ever had.
  
Was it hard to write this book? 

Yes. Because it was the first book I ever finished writing and I had no clue how to write a book (hello, plot? what's that?), and in many ways, I still don't.
  
Are you planning on writing another?

More than planning, I'm actually working on the second installment in the Fiona Finkelstein series now. I can't tell you what it's about yet, but it will come out in the fall of 2010. Also, in my spare time I'm working on a historical fiction piece, also middle grade, about anti-German sentiment in the U.S. just before WWII breaks out.