RitaL:I thought Christopher did a wonderful job illustrating your book, Looking Like Me. What do you love most about Christopher’s illustrations?

WDM: I love seeing his growth, his responses to the challenges presented by the
text, and the idea that he always seeks to add a new dimension to any text he engages.

RitaL: And what do you wish, professionally, for your son?

WDM: I have spent so much time in prisons and juvenile facilities seeing young men Christopher’s age who have lost their freedom I’m just glad that he’s well and free. Living a creative life is wonderful and I just hope that he can sustain his creative living.

WRITING DAY

RitaL: Okay, Mr. Myers, let’s switch gears. There are writers out there who are dying to know what your writing day is like. Tell us about your writing area, and what you need to write well (i.e., a good, hot cup of coffee; absolute quiet…)

WDM: I’m up at five and feeding my cat by five thirty. Then there is the coffee and perhaps a glance at the news. I work in a tiny room and I have the ability to shut everything out. My desk holds the several manuscripts I work on (always more than one at a time) and photographs and illustrations from the manuscript are always on a mural on the wall in
front of me. My wife makes the murals. She’s also an artist. I never
have any sounds in the room although I often have junk food around. The harder the book the more junk food (nuts, jelly beans, candy). I write five pages a day, usually finishing by ten or so, sometimes a lot earlier. In the afternoons I might look at another manuscript, work on an outline, or even rewrite something.

RitaL: Thanks for sharing that with us! Have you ever had writer’s block, and if so, how did you combat it?

WDM: I work from outlines and never have writer’s block.

RitaL: How about periods when you weren’t writing or submitting?

WDM: I don’t have periods when I’m not writing.

RitaL: Wow. Wish I could say the same.

WHAT YOU WISH YOU HAD KNOWN

RitaL: You know aspiring writers are always hungry for advice, Mr. Myers. Can you share with us at least three things you wish someone had told you about the publishing business when you first started out?

WDM: Three things I wish I had known when I first started out are:

1. That publishers need writers as much as writers need publishers

2. That it was okay for me to ‘work’ at writing, I didn’t need to be a genius.

3. That my writing was an asset that I could manage.

ADVICE TO ASPIRING WRITERS

RitaL: Well, we’re just about to wrap this up. We thank you for taking time out of your busy schedule to chat with us. Before we leave, do you have any writing tips or advice you’d like to share with unpublished writers?

WDM: Advice to unpublished writers: Most writers fail because they don’t produce anything. Teach yourself to produce on a regular basis.

RitaL: That’s great advice. How about advice for newly published writers?

WDM: Writing that isn’t your best is usually not worth publishing. Books, stories, poems, etc. do well when they’re really good.

RitaL: And in the spirit of Black History Month, do you have any special advice for writers of color?

WDM: I would like to see writers of color free themselves from the political boxes they often find themselves in. If your writing is political - fine, but don’t force it.

RitaL: Most aspiring writers are in a quandary about whether to get an agent before or after they’ve written their first book. What do you advise?

WDM: I think writers shouldn’t get an agent until they’ve sold their first book. Go through the process (without listening to your friends) and see what it’s like. John O. Killens, the novelist, once told me that every writer should plan to be a long distance runner. Plan to have a career in writing, not just a book.

RitaL: One last question: Have ever received bad reviews? If so, what book garnered the bad review, and how did you handle it?

WDM: I sometimes get bad reviews, most often because the reviewer doesn’t like the subject matter or doesn’t understand the subject matter. I wrote the book, Now Is Your Time, which is about African American history, and a reviewer said that I had chosen the wrong people to write about. The reviewer had no idea why I had chosen the people I had and probably still doesn’t!

Well folks, that wraps up my interview with the great and generous Walter Dean Myers. Be sure to check out my review of his book, Lockdown, at YA BOOKS CENTRAL (www.yabookscentral.com).

Best wishes and happy writing!

Rita Lorraine

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