5.SR: What was your journey to writing for children and young adults and why do you enjoy writing for this particular audience?
SHO: I began as an adult writer, had a few publications, then hit a severe writer's block. I saw a notice for an adult ed course taught by the late Newbery winner Maia Wojciechowska (Shadow of a Bull) and thought something totally different might loosen me up. I took the course in all innocence, thinking it was a course about children's books. I was very distressed to find out we were actually expected to write one-we had homework and all. My first book, One Hungry Monster, began as a homework assignment. Obviously I had incredible beginner's luck in having it accepted.
Along the way I discovered that I liked writing for children, but because I discovered that I liked writing for all audiences. The story comes first. Some stories are for toddlers, some for teens, and some of them are for adults.
6.SR: What was your inspiration for your novel The Life and Death of Alexandra Canarsie? (Peachtree Publishers)
SHO: I was driving along a main road and passed a cemetery, and there was a funeral going on close to the road, in plain view. And I had an overwhelming urge to pull over and attend this stranger's funeral. I didn't, but it led to all sorts of "What if" thoughts, and what kind of person would do that. Originally I thought it was going to be an adult piece, but early attempts didn't get beyond a short story, which I'm not very good at. But then Allie's voice started to talk to me and it all came together. That's always a signal for me that things are moving in the right direction-when the character starts to talk inside my head.
7.SR: What do you enjoy the most about writing novels?
SHO: I love the very thing I hate about them-they take so long! It's a real lived experience, like having a relative move in for a year or two or three, as opposed to a quick visit. It's a wonderful, transforming event, simply because so much of your life gets invested in it, and there's so much self-discovery and world-discovery in the process. But it's also draining. I'm a very slow writer for the first draft, and I always face low points of not being able to face another blank page. But then when a novel is done-wow!
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