Welcome to day three of the Back to School Blog Tour. I’m proud to have our next author with us. Janet Hurst-Nicholson lives in South Africa and has been writing for 35 years. Her articles and stories have appeared in South African and other foreign magazines. Her Leon Chameleon PI children mystery series has won awards including the 2013 Kart Kids Book Award. I’ve had the chance to talk with Janet about her childhood memories, writing process, and her future projects.
- Who was your favorite children’s author and how did they influence you?
Janet Hurst-Nicholson is the author of the Leon Chameleon PI series.
Janet Hurst-Nicholson: My first recollection of reading a book was a Christmas gift of The Tale of Mrs Tiggy-Winkle by Beatrix Potter given to me by a neighbour (a teacher). The hardcover book with its dust jacket was especially treasured as we had a visiting hedgehog in our garden. Having read about Mrs Tiggy-Winkle I wanted more of the same and my collection of Beatrix Potter books slowly grew. I expect that these anthropomorphised animals were an unconscious inspiration for my Leon Chameleon PI books.
- What is your most memorable school moment?
Janet Hurst-Nicholson: Although I have some lovely memories of school the overriding ones are of primary school (5-7 yrs) and my dread of school dinners and being forced to drink luke-warm milk, which made me nauseous. These horrors only came to an end when my mother wrote a note excusing me from both. But I do remember getting a gold star for being the only one in class who knew that the word for animals that come out at night is nocturnal (I had just been on a visit to the zoo lol). I incorporated this bit of info into my Leon Chameleon stories when Leon discusses the animals that work night shift.
- Was there anything in school that was difficult for you?
Janet Hurst-Nicholson: Mental arithmetic tests spring to mind! I guess I’m numerically challenged as I much prefer words to numbers. My struggles with left-handedness – tying shoelaces, threading a belt, knitting, sewing, using scissors, pencil sharpeners, can openers, certain sports (but oddly, never writing) – followed me throughout my school life. When I discovered that even today parents and teachers don’t have a full understanding of the problems experienced by left-handers I wrote The Race (an inspiring story for left-handers) especially for left-handed children and to help parents and teachers appreciate the difficulties faced by left-handers.
4) What advice would you give young writers?
Janet Hurst-Nicholson: Get into the habit of reading a variety of stories/genres. Keep a diary or notebook to jot down your experiences and feelings. These will be useful references for your future writing. Don’t be over-eager to share your writing until you feel confident that you won’t be discouraged by criticism, which can be devastating for a new writer. For new writers of any age I would advise:
- learn your craft (if you can master ‘show’ don’t ‘tell’ then you’ve made a good start)
- be prepared to take advice
- edit and re-edit, and be ready to ‘murder your darlings
- don’t publish until you are quite sure the book is the best you can make it
- persevere
- develop a thick skin in preparation for rejections and poor reviews.
5) What was your favorite book growing up and why?
Janet Hurst-Nicholson: I couldn’t get enough of the Enid Blyton Famous Five and Secret Seven series. I identified with Georgina (George) the tomboy. In the 1950s girls were expected to wear pretty dresses and play with dolls – and that wasn’t me. My friends and I had our own ‘gang’ and enjoyed playing in the woods and stream at the bottom of our lane and looking for ‘crimes’ and adventures to emulate our heroes in the books.
6) What is your typical day as a writer?
Janet Hurst-Nicholson: I wrote about this on my website in ‘diary of a writer’. https://just4kix.jimdo.com/diary-a-writer-s-day/
7) What projects are you working on right now?
Janet Hurst-Nicholson: Trying to figure out ways of getting funding to illustrate the rest of my Leon Chameleon PI stories lol.
The first book, Leon Chameleon PI and the Case of the Missing Canary Eggs, is free for a limited time during this blog tour. Winner of 1993 Bookchat’s Magazine’s South African Books of the Year.
“When Mrs Canary’s eggs mysteriously disappear, a frantic Mr Canary dashes straight off to the Pigeon Valley Police for help. Unfortunately, Sergeant Loerie and Constable Mole’s hasty attempts to make an arrest lead them to the wrong suspects. Leon Chameleon PI, who has quietly kept an eye on developments, decides it is time to step in and offer his services – after all, isn’t he the best Private Eye in Pigeon Valley? He puts all his skills to work and finds vital clues which Loerie had overlooked. Now a daring plan is needed to trap the suspects and bring them before Spotted Eagle Owl’s Court, where Leon springs his final surprise…”
Link here for study questions to go along with the book, Leon Chameleon P.I. and the Case of the Missing Canary Eggs.
For more information on Janet Hurst-Nicholson and her books, please visit her website at: https://just4kix.jimdo.com/.
Our second author for today is Laramie Sasseville. Laramie is a multiple-media artist and writer residing in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota. I had a chance to talk to Laramie about writing for children, some of her childhood school memories, and what she has in the works next.
1) Was there anything in school that was difficult for you?
Laramie Sasseville: Nope, I was perfect at everything. Ha ha ha ha ha: cue hysterical laughter. Seriously, there were a few areas that caused problems – mostly because I just wasn’t interested in trying. In third grade, they introduced us to flutophones. I didn’t want to bother. I folded up a wad of paper and stuck it in the mouthpiece of the instrument and just pretended to play along with the rest of the class.
In ninth grade I had no interest in math – until an exceptional teacher, Miss Martin, sat down with me and got me to see how interesting it could be to play with the relationships between numbers. I went from nearly failing to getting As and Bs in the class. A great teacher makes all the difference – and engaging my interest is the main ingredient if I’m going to learn anything.
2) What is writing to you in one sentence?
Laramie Sasseville: Writing is the magic that turns insubstantial thoughts, feelings and daydreams into something I can share with others.
3) What projects are you working on right now?
Laramie Sasseville: I’ve got several projects in the work – including another in the Minnesota Strange series. Haley’s little sister, Tammy gets hold of the magic sigil that Sally created and winds up with the ability to speak and understand the language of birds!
I’m also working on drawings of flowers for a coloring book that combines realistic flowers with fanciful doodles.
4) What advice would you give young writers?
Laramie Sasseville: Read. Notice what the writer is doing. Especially what you like. Does the world of the story feel real to you? What is the writer telling you about what how it looks? Sounds? Feels? Smells? Do you like the characters? What do you like about them? Are you dying to know what happens next? What does the writer tell you about events that piques your interest and curiosity?
Next: Write. Every day if possible, no matter how little.
5) What was your favorite book growing up and why?
Laramie Sasseville: It seemed like every book was my favorite while I was reading. If I loved one book by a writer, I’d try to read them all. I relied on my school library and couldn’t always find what I wanted, but I read many by Edward Eager, E. Nesbitt, CS Lewis – all the books of magic I could find, including folk lore and fairy tales. I read ‘the Blue Fairy Book’ and ‘the Red Fairy Book’ by Andrew Lang. (It wasn’t until I was grown up that I discovered there were ten more colors!) I also loved books about animals and read everything I could find by Jack Kjelgard and Walter Farley’s books about horses – starting with ‘The Black Stallion.’
Laramie Sasseville‘s featured book, One of Me is Missing, is the story of a girl getting her wish. To fourteen-year-old Sally Knox, the world is a buffet of fascinating things to do and learn. She wants it all: martial arts, theater, sculpture, cooking, robotics, music, computer science – you name it!
So, what happens when she gets her wish to be in enough places at once to take all the summer school classes she wants? Complications are just the beginning – before the end, one of her goes missing and the rest must come to the rescue or be trapped forever in their multitudinous state.
One of Me is Missing is available on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.
**For more information on Laramie Sasseville, please visit her website: http://www.dreamspell.net.
Just two more days to go in the blog tour. Remember to check out the GIVEAWAYS and Freebies available until the end of the week.
***Please be sure to continue your tour by visiting the author’s websites and checking out their fabulous books!
Check back for more author interviews and their featured books tomorrow. And for more information about my new release, The Lost Secret of Time: Bk 4 in the Crystal Keeper Chronicles, please check out its listing on Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, and Kobo.
-Tiffany Turner
The Back to School Blog Tour 2020 will be happening soon. I’m planning and figuring out ways to support distance learning, teachers and students during this crazy and scary pandemic. Authors are encouraged to sign up and have available extra support items like lesson plans for their books, study guides, and anything else you can think of to help support students and teachers during these unusual educational times.
The Indie Children's Authors Connection 