The Longstockings are eight children's and young adult writers. We all came out of the New School MFA program, and we meet regularly to critique each other's work.
Sentiment: POSITIVE
My first five novels were written longhand. So were hosts of short stories.
I'm looking forward to writing more novels for young adults.
I started writing short fiction very briefly, as I imagine is the case for some novelists.
In the early '70s - a very good time for children's books and their authors - editors and publishers were willing to take a chance on a new writer. They were willing and able to invest their time in nurturing writers with promise, encouraging them.
I was incredibly determined - I wrote short stories, I wrote the beginnings of novels. I wrote a little children's book and sent it to the editor-in-chief of the children's division of Simon and Schuster and she asked me to write a little children's book for a series she was doing.
At this stage I am not involved with young adults as closely as many other writers. My children are grown up and my grandchildren are still quite young.
I've learned to accept that I'm a children's writer, even if it's not what I set out to become. It's what I should have been all along, and I'll stay in this role as long as I'm a writer.
I'm the only person you've ever met who has read Longfellow.
I've written 16 children's books and five unpublished novels. Some of the latter were breathtakingly bad.
Novelists are stamina merchants, grinders, nine-to-fivers, and their career curves follow the usual arc of human endeavour.