I’ve Caught Up to Alice

Question:

thanks for the advice that you gave me a while back about writing. I’ve been writing more and more lately, and it’s really helping me get my confidence back. Unfortunately, my mind picked a rather bad time to get inspiration for a new story – I start midterm exams tomorrow.

Also, I just wanted to say that I can’t wait until Alice in Charge comes out. Like many others, I can’t believe that Alice is already seventeen. What I find even stranger is that I got into the books when I was eleven, and now I’ve finally caught up to her in age. When she starts Grade Twelve, I’ll be graduating from high school. It’s weird to think that I’ll get to experience going to university before she does. Of course, she’ll be much older in the last book, but at this moment in time I’m still older than her character.

Phyllis replied:

It really must be weird, having a character you love age only a third as fast as you do.  I think it was with the book “Alice in Rapture, Sort Of” that I began stretching Alice’s life into three books for each year she lived.  It will be hard for me to give her up in 2013 when she jumps from 18 to 60 in one book, but a good parent has to learn to let go, right?