SR: 8. Are you currently reading anything? What are some really good adult books that you like?
AM: I mostly read non-fiction nowadays. I try to read fiction, but writing has changed my brain so that it's hard for me to get swept away by a story. I just finished rereading THE JOHNSTOWN FLOOD by David McCullough--not a new book, but it's everything non-fiction should be, compelling and thorough. I'm about to finish DAILY LIFE IN COLONIAL NEW ENGLAND by Claudia Durst Johnson. Some great books I'd recommend are INTO THIN AIR, by Jon Krakauer (puts you right there on Everest with him), THE BOUNTY by Caroline Alexander (turns out that history was hijacked by the Fletcher Christian faction, to Captain Bligh's detriment), THE CASES THAT HAUNT US by John Douglas (want to see Lizzie Borden through the eyes of an FBI profiler?), and OUTRAGE by Vincent Bugliosi (intelligent, no-holds-barred rant about the O.J. Simpson trial--I kept thinking, "I can't believe he's saying this!").
In the interest of full disclosure, I have to say that I also regularly read People, Us, and Entertainment Weekly magazines.
SR: 9. Has you educational background helped you as a writer? Have you taken any "special" writing courses for children or young adults? Do you have a psychology background?
As far as writing courses, I only took a few continuing education courses after college (not children's writing, just regular writing), and what those mostly did was help me to actually sit down and write. It's easy to fall into the trap of thinking "I could be a writer someday when I have the time." Yeah, that and four dollars will buy you a latte at Starbucks.
If my educational background has helped my writing, it's because I puttered around in college taking whatever courses caught my eye, and that opened me up to new experiences and ways of thinking. I don't have an English background beyond core courses and one or two electives. One class that had a great effect on me was a French class where we had to translate 19th-century poetry into English. I had never liked poetry much until then, but when I had to sit down and translate word by word, it made me aware of the power of word choice. I'd look at a word and realize that it could translate in two different ways, and that each
