What were you like as a kid? Yikes! I was the kind of kid you never wanted to make a casual statement around because I would hold you to it. My parents tried never to say things like, "We might go skiing later"--I would bring it up for the next three months.It was a combination of an overdeveloped sense of justice and plain old pain-in-the-neck. And I spent a lot time wishing that my curly hair were straight. Now I'm thankful for the curls.
Did you always want to write? I always did enjoy writing although I don't think I ever thought of myself as an author. I only halfway do now. To me, authors are such important people, and I don't feel important.
What is your favorite school subject? Grammar! I find the intricacies of language fascinating.
Have you ever been to Kenya? No, but I would love to go some time. Perhaps when Sawaya (the one who told me the Mumsi story) returns, I'll visit him and his wife there.
Do you ever go to schools and read from your work or talk about writing? Yes, I enjoy interacting with students about the writing process, publishing, and my books in particular. You can find information about this on the Author Visits page.
What's your favorite children's book? Wow. That's a tough question. I really like Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathbun--and I'm amazed that she both authored and illustrated it. I also like Ira Sleeps Over by Bernard Waber and the Frances books by Russell Hoban. And my mother just found a book from my childhood in her attic. It's called I Help Too by Alma May Scarborough. The parents and daughter do all kinds of things together: raking, baking, picking tomatoes and so on. I remember being was fascinated by those comforting illustrations (by Dorothy Teichman) and that soothing text. I still am in a nostalgic kind of way. It's probably out of print now.
About Books
Where do you get the ideas for your stories? Most of my ideas come from things that happen to my friends and family. I'll hear a story--maybe one that I've heard told many times--and think, Hey, with a little creative license, that would make a great children's book. I always keep a journal with me in which I jot down ideas wherever and whenever they come to me. Every so often I leaf through the journal to look for a dormant idea that I might be able to awaken.
Which story is your favorite? Well, I'll probably always have a soft spot for Mumsi since it was the first idea that turned into a real book. But there's another story about two little boys who are adopted that was the beginning of my wanting to write for children. That book is still looking for a home. Hey, wait a minute, there's a parallel there somewhere. . . .
What are you working on now? I'm working on a collection of poetry, a couple of picture books, and placing other stories with publishers. Some day I'd like to write longer works, but I'm not sure that I have the attention span for that right now.
Where do you write? I used to write at my kitchen table but lately I've been heading to a local coffee shop. I like having people around but not having to talk with them. I also like being away from the laundry, the dishes, the dusting, etc., that seem to demand my attention.
Do you enjoy rewriting/revising? That's actually my favorite part! Once the story is out on the page I could tweak and tweak forever. It's very difficult for me to let a story go because it always seems that I could find a better word or craft a more winsome sentence.
Is there anything anyone did for you early on that helped you with your writing? My parents were both English teachers, so there was a big emphasis on words and reading in my house. We read aloud to each other as a family. It was a gift at holiday time--everyone selected a story to read to everyone else. I'll never forget the Christmas that my dad read Truman Capote's "A Christmas Memory" to us--the language was so rich and personal: calling the cracking of walnuts "scraps of miniature thunder"--have you ever heard anything so gorgeous? I've never gotten over it. That same Christmas my mom read Dylan Thomas's "A Child's Christmas in Wales," another exquisite piece. "Snow . . . shaken from whitewash buckets, . . . shawling out of the ground . . . like a dumb, numb thunderstorm of white, torn Christmas cards." That love of language was a gift. My fifth-grade teacher--who was future Christy award winner Jamie Turner--also fostered in me a love of vocabulary. She must have known I was enamored of big words because she would write notes to me on my report cards with words like loquacious and umbrage in them. She would write that she expected me to know what those words meant by the next class period. And I did. I learned a lot of words that way, but more than that, she made me delight in the power of words.
You say that your stories are usually based in fact. What's fact about Mumsi Meets a Lion and what's fiction? The core story is fact. My friend Sawaya's biological father met a lion face-to-face in the forest of northern Kenya. He held only a flashlight and spear, and he waited all night long for the lion to walk away. That really is what the Samburu teach their children to do. When the sun came up, the lion stalked away. That's all true. The additional animals, the errand for chai, the falling asleep on the path, that's all fiction. However, each of the animals I chose for the story is an animal that would really live in that part of Kenya. For example, when I added a snake to the story, I researched a snake that would be found in that part of the country, would be deadly, had a loud hiss, was nocturnal, and was a ground-dweller instead of a tree-dweller. The snake in my book is a puff adder--even though I never use that term. The bird is an eastern yellow-billed hornbill. Oh, and Mumsi is the name of Sawaya's brother, only he spells it "Momsi." I figured that might seem strange to American readers, so I changed the spelling.
Could I get a signed copy of your books? Absolutely. You can even let me know how you'd like your book signed (for example, to a particular person). Email me at kim@thestegalls.com.