Interview with Author Sands Hetherington
Q: Sands, thank you for taking the time to answer some questions today for our readers. Can you share some writing
experiences with us?
A: Gosh, I wish I could, but do you really want to hear about
the old chaise and the green clipboard I use?
And the Cross ballpoint pens?
Q: Like all
authors, you have had your fair share of rejection letters. You obviously did
not let the letters deter you. How did you keep your determination without
getting discouraged?
A: I did
get discouraged, but I guess I always thought I was good enough, and when the
John-and-Crosley idea presented itself to me, I couldn't resist.
Q: Do you consider
yourself a born writer?
A: No. I was put
together step by step from spare parts.
Q: Have you had any training to become a writer?
A: I have an M.A. in
English and an M.F.A. in creative writing. That, and I've been around for a lot of years.
Q: What
inspired you to write?
A: It was in tenth
grade. I handed in a sappy poetical
piece in English class and this very cute student teacher gushed over it. Her name was Ellen and she was spoken for,
but that did it for me right there.
Q: Who is your favorite author and what is your favorite genre to read?
A: That's like asking me my favorite
movie. There must be thirty-five movies
in my top ten. My list of favorite writers
is eclectic and includes a lot of the usual suspects, starting with Homer,
skipping two millennia to Shakespeare, then Fielding, and then a whole bunch of
19th and 20th Century Brits and Americans.
But I'm old now and rarely even read
fiction. I like ancient history these
days, and the American Civil War.
Q: Have you ever
suffered from writer’s block? If yes, how did you ‘cure’ it?
A: Not full-blown "writer's block" where you sit
there and stare at the paper and nothing comes for days. But I've gotten into plenty of plot
situations that I didn't know how to squirm out of, and I've come to places and
just not known what to say next. When
this happened to Dickens, he took late night walks around London. I do think walking helps.
Q: Does your family and friends inspire any of your books,
characters, or plots?
A: Actually my
six-year-old son came up with the whole idea. We always did bedtime stories, and one night John presented me with
Crosley, a red crocodile he had cooked up for an after-lights-out
companion. All I needed to do was figure
out why Crosley was red, and then sneak the two of them out of the house on an
adventure.
Q: Can you share with us a little about your current book?
A: It's called
Night Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare. Young John Degraffenreidt isn't ready to go
to sleep yet, and Crosley, a zany red crocodile, crawls out from under the bed
to take him on an adventure. Crosley is
a complete fanatic for pineapple cheesecakes, and it seems the world's supply
of this item is vanishing. Something
definitely needs to be done, so the two Night Buddies sneak out of the house
and take the subway to the great (and only) pineapple cheesecake factory. Crosley discovers who's behind the business,
and that's when the scare and the excitement start.
Q: What do you like most about writing?
A: Mark Twain said it: "I hate writing. I love
having written."
Q: Please describe to us your
relationship between you and your editor. What makes an author/editor
relationship a success?
A: My editor is very competent and usually correct. (She isn't correct when we squabble over my
freewheeling punctuation.) She keeps a
lid on my flights of dialect and has made any number of detail textual
improvements.
Q: Tell us about your writing space?
A: It's an old chaise in
my living room with a little table on one side.
I prop my knees up and use an old green clipboard that I found thrown
out on the ground when I was at college.
Q: Is there anything you'd go back
and do differently now that you have been published, in regards to your writing
career?
A: Get
there sooner.
Q: Is there any particular book that, when you read it, you thought, "I
wish I had written that!"?
A: Oh my, there must be hundreds. Any of them that I thought were very
good. What admirer wouldn't wish
that? My most vivid recollection in this
regard is running into Holden Caulfield when I was sixteen.
Q: What is your
creative process like? What happens before sitting down to write?
A: I try to do what Hemingway suggested. He said stop for the day at a place it will
be easy to start from the next day. Then
the next day read over what's already there so everything will be of a piece.
Q: When they write
your obituary, what do you hope they will say about your books and writing?
What do you hope they will say about you?
A: That he made little folks merry.
Q: What advice
would you give to a new writer?
A: Set up a schedule and stick to it
religiously. Don't try to write all day
or you probably won't last. Two or three
hours may be plenty. (Have something
else to do.) Also: READ.
Q: Do you have
any book signings, tours or special events planned to promote your book that
readers might be interested in attending? If so, when and where?
A: The World of Ink Network is currently
touring my nighttime adventure book for kids, Night
Buddies and the Pineapple Cheesecake Scare published by Dune Buggy Press
all through July and August 2012. You can find out more about my World of
Ink Author/Book Tour at http://tinyurl.com/6vgevbh
About the Book:
Night Buddies and the
Pineapple Cheesecake Scare is the first in a series featuring John, a young
city kid who isn't ready for bed yet, and Crosley, a bright-red crocodile who
shows up in his room to rescue him and take him on an adventure.
Night Buddies is
an astonishing and inventive adventure with unforgettable cast of characters that
will make you laugh and win over your heart. The book has lots of thoughtful,
multi-layered twists, giggles, and perils -- things kids can relate to and
enjoy.
Publisher: Dune
Buggy Press; One edition (June 1, 2012)
ISBN-10:
0984741712
ISBN-13:
978-0984741717
Get a sneak peek of the book at http://tinyurl.com/7xxl8qw
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