8.. What is your draw to nonfiction?
When my son was two, he told me he didn't want to read "baby" books anymore; he wanted to read "real" books. So we did! That's part of why I write nonfiction.
I also write nonfiction because I find the real world so interesting. It has been pointed out to me that I write books about transportation. I have published books about cars, trucks, trains, planes and flying into outer space. I just find all of that activity fascinating.
9.. Many writers are anxiously awaiting the publication of your new book, "Picture Writing" can you discuss some of the process and experience you had with this book?
Picture Writing is a class in a book. Actually, it's three classes in a book: a fiction class, a nonfiction class and a poetry class. I write in all three genres, so I knew that one size fits all wasn't going to work. Each genre has four chapters, so if you'd like, you can read the book one genre at a time. Or, you can read the book one element at a time, by reading the three plot chapters, followed by the three character chapters, the three setting chapters and the three manuscript chapters, where you edit your own manuscript.
Picture Writing opens with a chapter on the creative process, because that is where everything begins. The book closes with a long chapter on "Other Viewpoints." Once you send your work out into the world, other people see it and they each see it from a different perspective. The more you know about these other viewpoints, the better prepared you are to face the realities of publishing today. It is a business after all.
Although the original topic was visual writing, I also wanted to explain how all of the different types of books were written, from board book to YA. This is what people ask me: how do you write this kind of book, or that? I was curious, too, so I studied each level in depth. Picture Writing is filled with exercises, so if you complete one a day Monday though Friday, you have a semester's worth of reading, writing and discovery!
It's important to me that each writer discovers her own voice. I think you do that by reading and writing.
10.. What is the best advice Verburge ever received as a writer?
"Read every book in the library," was the best advice I have ever received. Bonnie Verburg, now the editor at Blue Sky Press (Scholastic), said it at the first SCBWI conference I ever attended. If you're not reading, you can't write. The two go hand in hand.
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