I’m Not Eavesdropping; I’m plotting!
My teenage daughter was less than thrilled when I told her that I was thinking about chaperoning an overnight school trip so I could listen to the kids talk. It would help with the y/a novel I’m writing, I explained. I would never get their inside jokes she countered (and what fun is it to have your mom come along anyway?) When I thought about it, I realized the inside jokes didn’t matter. Well, it didn’t matter if I got them or not. What mattered is that they have them, just like my friends and I did when we were teenagers. The heart of a story comes, for me, from my own childhood and adolescence. The rest is window-dressing. When I visit schools, kid ask where I got the idea for my “Winky Blue” books published by Mondo (grades 2-4). The truth is, I always wanted a baby brother or sister. In my mind, a baby would add a … Read on