From Avi: As I did last summer, I’ve invited 13 admired middle grade authors to write for my blog for the next three months. I hope you’ll tune in each Tuesday to see who has answered these three questions. You should have a list of terrific books to read and share and read aloud by the end of the summer … along with new authors to follow!
Your favorite book on writing:
My favorite book on writing is E. M. Forster’s Aspects of the Novel. It’s old—1927—and it’s not a how-to book at all. (For the craft-style book, I like Ben Yagoda’s The Sound on the Page.) But Forster is smart about the role of the writer, the point of view, the notion that the writer’s first task is to get the reader to want to turn the page. The examples are incredibly dated, obviously, but the ideas are fantastic.
Reading aloud from my books:
I believe you and your listeners will enjoy So Tall Within: Sojourner Truth Long Walk Toward Freedom, illustrated by Daniel Minter.
Where do you write most often?
The top photo is where I write in the wintertime; it’s inside the house. The bottom photo—where I did clean up the desk more than a bit—is the outside study, where I write in the summertime. You can tell which one the dog prefers.
Gary D. Schmidt
Gary’s most recent book, published in May 2023