Your Questions Answered

Do break ups get easier?

Do Break ups get easier to deal and cope with as you get older?

I wouldn’t think so.   The older you are, probably the more serious you were about each other–the more you have invested emotionally in the relationship.  But when a couple is just not right for each other, it’s better to break up than continuing a relationship that just isn’t working for you.

 

 

Favorite Character in the Boys vs. Girls Series?

Who is your favorite Character in the Boys vs. Girls series?

Wally

Is it ever too late to become an author?

I’m from Maine. I wanted to ask you is it ever too late to become an author? I’m 18 and I’ve been writing since I was 8 years old and I’ve always wanted to be a famous young author but I haven’t published my books yet.

Is it ever too late?  Good heavens no!  Some people don’t get published until they are in their sixties and seventies.  The encouraging part of your email to me is that you’ve been writing since you were 8 years old, which must mean you truly enjoy it.  The part of your letter that bothers me is your reference to wanting fame.  It’s not wrong to want that…who doesn’t?…but a real writer writes because he or she likes/loves the process, even though it can drive you nuts.  You just can’t wait to make that character come alive on paper, and when  you succeed–by the description, the voice–it’s just so satisfying.  I find myself reading their lines aloud and laughing sometimes to myself.  Write all you can, and enter every contest that comes along.  Write for the school paper.  Form a writer’s club.  Take a writing course from a visiting author at a college summer program and get hints on how to get an agent who could help you get a book published.  I hope you succeed!

 

MY QUESTION TO ALL OF YOU….

Dear Alice Fans:

For many, many years I have been reading your letters and emails  telling me that my books have helped you feel better about yourselves, your bodies, answered embarrassing questions you could ask no one else, helped you grow up…  of all 28 books, can you name a few titles of the ones that helped you most personally?  And of course I don’t publish names……   Phyllis

Characters

Hello! I’m from Minneapolis, Minnesota! I’m 14 and want to be a writer and my friends and families always make fun of me because I get really attached or connected with my characters and often act as if they’re real people, but not in the creepy crazy way, I know the difference between reality and fantasy. I just can’t help it. Do you ever get attached to your characters or sometimes feel or act as if they’re real? Have you ever cried over a character?

AB-SO-LUTE-LY!  There are passages in my books that I don’t dare read aloud when speaking in public because my voice quavers every time.  Just reading a section aloud in my authors’ critique group can make me cry.   I identify strongly with each character, and usually murmur his or her lines aloud as I type.  Of course I  know they aren’t really there, but it seems that I carry around a group of noisy chattering characters in my head all  the time, demanding a place in a book. And that’s good news for a writer!

Favorite things to do when you were a kid?

Hello there!  I’m from San Francisco, California. I have a few questions for you that I’m not sure have been asked before. My first one is Did you like school? If you did, What did you like about it? Also, Growing up, what was your favorite thing to do with your friends?

I did like school, but not all of it.  I liked reading and art and music most of all, but I was terrible in math, especially in middle and high school.  As a much younger child, however, growing up in the Depression, most kids had to entertain themselves as parents were all worried about their jobs and how to pay for groceries.  We all loved to  roller skate–the kind of skates you fastened onto the soles of your shoes.  We waited for the ice cream wagon and were allowed to buy one Coca Cola a week.  I remember our parents buying hot dogs and buns for us, and six or seven of us hiked off to a woods and lit a little bonfire and roasted our hot dogs on sticks.  Nobody worried about burning ourselves or setting the woods on fire because the oldest boy among us promised to take charge.  The summer I liked best, we decided  make a “carnival.”  I forget all the different exhibits we had, but we actually made a “ride” by  tying a rope to the high window of somebody’s two-story barn/garage and stretching it out at an angle all the way to the ground below.  Then the older boys attached a seat to it, and we charged three cents or something for a kid to get in t he seat and slide all the way to the ground.  On the third ride, the rope broke high up and we were so scared that Sammy got killed.  But he stood up laughing, and we kept the secret to ourselves as we dismantled the ride.

 

 

 

Being a Mom and a Writer

Dear Mrs. Naylor,
I grew up reading your books and absolutely loved them! The Alice Series and Shiloh were my absolute favorite and always will be! I’m 25 and a writer myself, I’m also married and my husband and I have been talking about having children. I’ve always wanted to be a mother but it was also my dream to become a famous writer and I’m scared that if I have a child that I won’t be able to do both. Is it hard being a full time mother and writer? How do you handle it? How do you make time for children, your marriage, and writing and still have family time?

i simply “made” time.  The minute a child was down for a nap, I wrote.  If I got up early in the morning and found I had an extra half hour, I wrote.  Once both boys were in school, I wrote the minute they were out the door, and put the manuscript away when they came home, so I could devote the time to them.  My husband’s favorite hobby was chess, and he loved to go over games alone that he had played in chess club or tournaments, so I was lucky there.  He could entertain himself while I wrote.  But we traveled together and went to movies and had friends, so it was just a matter of paying close attention and preparing for the times of day or evening when I could write undisturbed.  Good luck!

Why are teens so embarrassed?

Hello, I love your books! There very realistic and it’s almost like you read every teenager’s mind, even boys. I remember being a teenager and reading The Alice Series and agreeing that almost everything that happened to her was embarrassing and some of those things happened to me. I wanted to ask you, why do you think teens are so awkward and embarrassed all the time while adults are more calm about certain things and don’t often get embarrassed?

I still remember awkward and embarrassing things that happened to me, and I always think that whoever saw it happen is right now, this very minute, remembering it too, even though it happened 50 years or so ago!  I especially remember the first time I realized my eyes were very sensitive to the sun, and I had no sun glasses.  I was 16, and ready to cross a busy street, and my eyes  began to water.  I had the feeling that every driver who passed me saw the tears on my cheeks and thought I was crying, and I was so humiliated.  The older we grow, the more we laugh at things like this.  Gives us something to talk about at the dinner table!

Sang Spell

Hello! I wasn’t sure if this would be the best means to reach out, or whether it’s something that you would consider, but I was wondering if it would be possible to get a signature on my copy of Sang Spell through some means. It happens to be my partner’s favorite book and means a lot to her, and seeing as our anniversary is coming up I thought this might be something that would really knock her socks off. If not, that’s understandable! I figured I lose nothing by asking though. Thank you very much for your time, and have a great day!

It can be difficult sending a book to me because you can’t mail any package over 10 oz unless you  take it to the P.O. or have the official postage markings on it–not a postage stamp.  You’d also have to enclosed a mailing envelope addressed to you with the proper postage on it (or  stamp equaling that amount) so I could send the book back.  A better solution is to send me a decorative label–plain label, homemade label, something you’d buy in a bookstore–and have me write the proper greeting on it, using your partner’s name.  Then you only need to send it in a regular envelope with your return address and a forever stamp, and once you get it back, you can paste it however you like in the book.  My address is 401 Russell Ave., Apt 713, Gaithersburg MD  20877.

Surprised

I am a 65 yr old female who spent 28 yrs as a long haul truck driver (my father had 52 yrs before retiring in 97) I just started reading GOING WHERE IT’S DARK and the way you describe Mel (I’m as far as beginning chapter 9) and his experiences amazes me. I’m so used to author’s and Hollywood and shyster lawyer’s depicting our only purpose as being “RAPE, ROB, PILLAGE,MURDER” and it is EXTREMELY refreshing to have someone depict the truth “DO THE WORK WE LOVE AND OUR COUNTRY NEEDS TO SUPPORT OUR FAMILY”. For your kindness and truth about us I say THANK YOU and GOD BLESS

I’m so glad you’re liking the novel.   I’ve always been interested in different occupations–what they involve–the dangers and all the rest.  Mel is one of my favorite characters in the book.  Enjoy!