Interview with Bonni Goldberg

      An inspiring mentor and writing teacher, and author of a range of books, including those that support writers in their journey of self-discovery and craft development, Bonni very generously spent time answering my questions within days of the release of this invaluable book. Please take the time to read this rather long interview, not a word of which I wanted to leave out. 

Who was your earliest writing supporter or mentor? How did you ‘get started and keep going’?
I started writing in fifth grade. Our teacher, Mrs. Margaret Thaine told our class about a poetry contest for children. It hadn’t occurred to me that I was capable or even allowed to write poems. I wrote three rhyming poems. I was instantly hooked– delighted by the process and the result. Looking back, I think I was taken by the ability to express my deep emotions and ideas with a few words. Plus, those words stayed put on the paper, and I could share them and go back to them. In high school, I took my first creative writing class. I entered a city-wide high school poetry contest and received an honorable mention. My high school teacher praised my poetry, but when it came time to award my own school’s creative writing prize, he gave it to another student. I was devastated.
        The reason I’m telling you this is because it’s a fair microcosm of my entire writing life. I went on to major in creative writing in college and graduate school. Some students and teachers appreciated my work and others were indifferent or deeply disliked it. The same has been true of editors, agents, publishers, reviewers and readers.
      I was, and am now, most consistently supported as a writer by my love of doing it. And yes, there were many essential early mentors. Most of them were the poets I read: June Jordan, Nikki Giovanni, Nzosake Shange, Sylvia Plath and Anne Sexton. I also loved Whitman, Dante, and Emily Dickinson. Grace Paley’s short stories at once blew me away and sustained me. Over the years, there were times when I was fortunate enough to spend time with Grace in person. Those were sublime times. But to this day, they weren’t as inspiring to me as her stories, essays and poems were and continue to be. 
      These days, I’m nourished  the most by the critique groups I’m part of (three of them at the moment), an online international writing community The Creative Academy for Writers, and the Facebook group, Jewish Kidlit Mavens. 

What what obstacles do you still encounter as you develop new ideas and projects?
When I first started writing, I struggled with revising what I wrote and insecurity about my ability as a writer, due to all the rejection letters I received from the literary magazines I submitted poems to. 
        All these years later, I struggle with, and dislike, writing the first draft. I much prefer revising. I get frustrated and weary from submitting my projects, but I no longer feel insecure about my ability to write. I know I have ability. It is less than some and more than others – like every other writer. 
     So given the above, I suppose it’s fair to say that what hasn’t changed is my struggle with impatience. I still worry I might not be up to the task of certain ideas that come to me. I’m also capable of being lazy as a writer. I always have to check myself in that area

You also write picture books. What is it that appeals to you about them and what is the biggest challenge in writing and/or finding a home for them?
I love writing picture books for two main reasons. Craftwise, they’re similar to writing poems and poem making is how I fell in love with writing. Message and audience-wise, picture books speak to a multi-generational audience. The message(s) in the books plant seeds of perspective early in the minds of future generations as well as the adults that read the books to children, often more than once. How many authors of adult books have readers read their book multiple times over? So my reach and influence is greater.
     One challenge of writing picture books for me is to limit the number of layers and themes in one book. As for finding a home for them, there are many challenges. I’m still learning how to master picture book forms (I suspect this will be a lifelong education). There are also major hooks that I lack talent with. Humor is an example. I would love to be able to write funny, but I can’t.

Is there one piece of advice to other writers that you’d like to end with?
Writing is an ever-evolving creative practice. To be fulfilled by it, embrace and respect this truth and appreciate all it has to teach you. As the poet Marge Piercy writes in her poem to writers, To the young who want to: “You have to like it better than being loved.”

Thanks, Bonni.


Author Q&A : Who will be first? Oh look! It’s me.


I am running some brief  author interviews here –
how often and how many will depend on how many authors
respond to my request.

If you would like to be included, contact me for a list of questions.

I am going to answer them myself first, to give you an idea of what we’ll be talking about.


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What is the book you most clearly remember from when you were a child?
The Silver Sword by Ian Serrallier and Laughing Time by William Jay Smith

Did you ever write a fan letter to an author? If so, who to? And did they write back?
I wrote to the British author Malcom Saville when I was about nine. He wrote back. I know it was him because I checked the signature with a wet finger… these were the days when people wrote with pen and ink.

How did you learn to write? What is one writing book or website you’d recommend to anyone else wanting to learn?
I learned most by reading. But the three how-to writing books I would rescue from a fire first are How Fiction Works by James Wood, Writing Personal Poetry by Sheila Bender and Imaginative Fiction by Janet Burroway

What is your favourite hobby or activity that has nothing to do with writing or reading?
I sketch and do photography. (Who knows. One day I might even be able to use my sketches and photos in my work.)

Who is your favourite kids’ author now?
That’s not a fair question. What if I forget some? Okay, Just for now. Frank Cottrell Boyce. Polly Horvath. Linda Bailey. Tim Wynne-Jones…

Do you have a new book coming out soon?
My kids nonfiction book about homelessness should be out in the next year or two. But nothing is certain right now as so much is changing in publishing and everywhere else.

What are you writing these days?
A picture book set in India called The Cranes and the Motorcycle,  a midgrade novel The Midnight Carousel and a UK historical novel about the Children’s Strikes of 1911 called Spare the Rod.

Do you write regularly, or just when you feel like it?
I write when I feel like it, which is pretty regularly. Probably on six out of seven days a week I put in four to five hours writing, now that I am ‘properly’ retired.

How do you like editing and revising?
Love it. But it can be as scary and exciting as a roller-coaster ride. (Actually, it’s better than that – I’ve only been on one once and plan never to do it again.) Editing and revising work can be just as creative as writing the first draft. You never know what might show up.

Can you share one strange, weird or wonderful thing about you?
I’m going to be lazy, and send you here to find out.

 

What’s the answer to the one questions we have not asked.
What’s the favourite book that you have written?
That’s like asking someone who is their favourite child… (Probably The Paper House. Or maybe The Ballad of Knuckles McGraw. Or Silver Rain…) Actually, it might be A Star in the Water. That’s the sequel to my first book Meeting Miss 405. It did not get published, but I made a few limited edition copies that I give away at schools and libraries as prizes. I think I have three copies left.

Star

Cheers for now.

Where to learn more about me and my books:
Right here on my website.
At my publisher’s website
On my Facebook page.


I happily include links to author websites, publisher pages, etc. But I do not include links to Amazon. If you choose to sell through or buy books from them that is your choice, of course. But because of the company’s appalling working conditions and  the way they undermine local independent bookstores, I don’t support them in any way. However, I do understand that for some self-published authors, AZ offers a platform for selling their work.