5. SR: What is the hardest part of writing for you?
WO: Butt in chair. Sitting down and doing it. Getting started with the actual writing. I'd rather be out on location doing research. (love those road trips!) Or reading and taking notes. Once I've committed myself and have begun the writing, I don't want to stop. This is why I take a whole week off perodically, just to write. The first day or two, I piddle around. I clean house. I set up things. I line up my research. I 'get ready.' It's not until the third day that I can actually sit down and write for 8 hours, or more. I have to force myself to take breaks. I put my water some distance from the computer so that I Have To get up to get a drink. This forces me to get a physical break.
6. SR: How did you combine your librarian career with writing? Wasn't it hard to manage time to write?
WO: yes. However, working for a public library means that I have four weeks of vacation plus a week of personal days. Also, since the library is open nights and I work two nights a week, I can take one afternoon a week off, if I need to. When I was doing research in WAshington, DC., I would drive down there in the morning. Work there all day. Make sure I was headed to my car by 2:30 and headed out of town by 3:00 because it took me 2 hours of steady driving to reach my library job by 5:00 -- so that I could be in the desk from 5:00 to 8:00pm.
I also work every other Saturday and some Sundays. But when I work a Saturday, I have Friday off, and this can also be a day of writing or research. (I know, housework has to be squeezed in here, too.)
7.SR: What is your favorite part of writing?
WO: No one favorite part. I like doing research. (ergo, that's why I'm a librarian.) I like the writing part. I like having done the writing. (not too fond of revisions, but I do the best I can.) I love the smell of new books. I love talking to people (children/ adults) about writing and about my book subjects.
7.SR: Why did you choose to write your picture [books] under a pen name?
