5,4,3,2,1 Interview: Kathi Appelt

I am super excited to have NEWBERY HONOR WINNING AUTHOR Kathi Appelt on sharpread today for an interview.

How did I get so lucky?

Today’s interview is of the  5,4,3,2,1 variety.

Here are the rules:

1. I give the interviewee 5 questions

2. They have to answer

• 1 question with 5 sentences

• 1 question with 4 sentences

• 1 question with 3 sentences

• 1 question with 2 sentences

• 1 question with 1 sentence

3.  They get to pick which question which question to answer with each number of sentences

4. Have fun!

1. Can you tell me a little bit about The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp?

The Swamp is under attack from two directions—a wild gang of feral hogs from one end, and a greedy developer and alligator wrestler from another. Only a pair of raccoons and a young boy can stop them. If they don’t, the swamp will be turned into one big parking lot and the home of the mythic Sugar Man, cousin to Big Foot, will be lost forever.

2. What is your favorite thing about being a writer?

Hands down, the best thing about being a writer is getting to spend all day in my pajamas.

3. What’s the hardest thing about being a writer?

I would say that it’s figuring out who my characters really are and what they’re supposed to be doing. I often don’t fully know my characters from the inside out until well into the third or fourth or even tenth draft.

4. If you could spend one day inside the world of any book which book would you pick?

Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry. I’ve always wanted to see the wild pony round up that they have every year on Chincoteague Island. I’ve always loved horses, and that book has always just made me happy.

5. What advice do you have for the young writers in our classrooms?

My motto is write like your fingers are on fire. I’ve discovered that if I write a whole lot and write quickly, then I’m more likely to get out of my own way. There’s something very exhilarating about speed-writing. So, write so much and so fast that your fingers get red hot and you have to blow on them to cool them down.

Photo credit: Ken Appelt

Kathi Appelt is the author of the Newbery Honor-winning, National Book Award finalist, PEN USA Literary Award-winning, and bestselling The Underneath as well as the highly acclaimed novel Keeper, The True Blue Scouts of Sugar Man Swamp, and many picture books. She is a member of the faculty at Vermont College’s Master of Fine Arts program. She has two grown children and lives in Texas with her husband. For more information, visit her website at http://www.kathiappelt.com/.

Be sure to visit Kathi’s other stops on her blog tour!

 

Mon, Aug 12	GreenBeanTeenQueen	http://www.greenbeanteenqueen.com/
Tues, Aug 13	There’s a Book	http://www.theresabook.com/
Wed, Aug 14	Bigfoot Reads	http://www.bigfoot-reads.blogspot.com/
Thurs, Aug 15	Read Now, Sleep Later	http://www.readnowsleeplater.com/
Fri, Aug 16	I Read Banned Books	http://www.jenbigheart.com/
Sat, Aug 17	Booking Mama	http://www.bookingmama.net/
Mon, Aug 19	The Compulsive Reader	http://www.thecompulsivereader.com/
Tues, Aug 20	Mother Daughter Book Club	http://motherdaughterbookclub.com/
Wed, Aug 21	The Book Monsters	http://www.thebookmonsters.com/
Thurs, Aug 22	Sharpread	https://sharpread.wordpress.com/
Fri, Aug 23	The Brain Lair	http://www.thebrainlair.com/