Originally posted on Wednesday, July 6, 2011
Wonderful Wednesday
Today I am going talk about Lisa Wingate again!
YA HOOO!!
This is the first half of my interview with her. And as I am about to finish Word Gets Around and start with Never Say Never,
I am still amazed as some of the similarities in our lives. Reading
this interview you will really get to know Ms. Lisa better and get some
in site into what makes her such a GREAT writter!
~ Do you mom or dad write professionally?
I don't come from a long line
of writers. My mother was an educator and did some professional
writing. My father was a computer programmer. My grandmother was a
wonderful writer, but even she only wrote stories for practical
purposes, usually to convey a lesson. People in my family tended to
have more traditional jobs, and no one thought that writing was
something you would do for a living. Since my parents insisted that I
prepare to actually earn a paycheck and support myself (how heartless of
them, right?) I studied Technical Writing at Oklahoma State University
and went to work for a software company, writing manuals and training
users.
Some
years later, after my first son was born, my grandmother came to stay
with me. During that visit, she shared some stories from her life,
which became the inspiration for Tending Roses. Tending Roses has its
10th year in publication anniversary this summer. It is my sentimental
favorite among the books because, even though it is fiction, so much of
my grandmother and I are in that book.
~ Were you published in grade/middle school?
I did sell a couple horse
stories (my most passionate interest at the time) to small horse
magazines when I was younger, but mostly I just wrote because I loved
it. Writing was a natural extension of the way we kids played back
then. Before Nintendo and video games, we wandered the creek beds and
fields around our neighborhood and created fanciful worlds and lives of
our own. Writing is still that way for me. Basically, I’m a kid who
never grew up.
~ Did you keep notebooks/diaries when you were young?
I always wrote. My closet had
stacks of spiral notebooks with books I had started. Earlier on, they
were usually stories of girls devoted to their horses and horses devoted
to their girls. For years, a friend and I wrote stories together. She
would take the "book" and write for a few days and then I'd take a turn
writing. We had fun inventing new lives and new settings, and (after
horse fantasies were whisked away by teenage crushes on Luke Skywalker)
creating our own version of Star Wars. Sometime during that period, I’m
sure we earned our nerd cards, but we had great fun and learned to keep
a story going.
~ Do your characters come from people you know?
Life is filled with
characters. Some characters, like Grandma Rose in Tending Roses, and
J. Norman Alvord in my upcoming book, Dandelion Summer, come from people
I know and love. Some characters may be inspired by someone I’ve only
heard about on the news or brushed by in a store somewhere. The more
paths you walk in life, the more you realize that everyone has a story.
Part of writing is looking at the people around you and guessing at
what that story may be.
~ How do you come up with their names?
Some characters come into my
mind fully formed, with names, physical characteristics, histories, and
personality quirks. Some require a little more plotting and thinking.
Generally, I meet the characters as you would meet any person in life—I
get to know them from the outside, in. Sometimes I shop through books of
baby names or phone books, looking for names that fit. Sometimes, I
borrow names from people I know. J. Norman in this July’s book,
Dandelion Summer shares my grandfather’s name, Norman. He is a lot like
my grandfather—feisty, intelligent, something of a corker.
*** And please do not forget to
come back next week and read the other half of this interview. If you
haven't started reading her books yet, you may want to!! They are such
an easy read and so INSPIRATIONAL. I feel very lucky to have been able
to find her books and also to find out a little bit more about her.
Here is a great way to learn more too - Southern BelleView Blog.
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I thought I would share this great - simple headline from on of my favorite bloggers - frugaltractormom. You really should follow this great blogger - if you don't already - and either way, go check out today's post -
Wordless Wednesday...Frozen Boy
It will make you smile!!
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I promised a listing a day, and here is today's. What do you think?
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Since I haven't done my numbers
lately I thought today would be a great day to do that. Remember that
MOST of my growth is due to utilizing Hops. I don't just 'post them' on
my blog. I actually work them. I go through the list of other
hop'pers and I actually fan/follow them. If I don't have time, I don't
do them that day.
Blog
6/14/11 - 1,036 followers
7/6/11 - 1,072 followers
Twitter
6/14/11 - 2,101 followers
7/6/11 - 2,185 followers
Fan Page
6/14/11 - 3,653 Fans
7/6/11 - 3,752 Fans
Totals
6/14/11 - 6,790
7/6/11 - 7,009
Growth - 219 (18 days time)
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Today's hop
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And as I close on this WONDERFUL
WEDNESDAY I would like to remind everyone that everyday is special - try
to take some time for yourself today and think of all the wonderful
things in your life. ~KM
