Born: Peoria, Illinois
Lives: Jamestown, ND
Job: Development Director, James River Valley
Library
Hobbies: Reading, Walking
What does a typical writing day look for you?
I write in the evenings and on weekends. I
write long hand using a fast pencil and pad of paper. Revisions are done on a
Dell Laptop with Windows 8.
What is the most challenging part of writing for you?
Sitting down and starting.
In your book there are a lot of really great animal characters. Are
any of them fashioned after animals you own or have owned in the past?
Tramp is inspired by a real dog. We loved him
and he loved us. He controlled his own destiny and sometimes ours. Buster is
inspired by a real parakeet who lived a few blocks away. Calico, Pauly and
Suzette are blends of other neighborhood pets. The Angel-Mouse Chorus? no idea
where they came from.
What drove you to write this story?
I wanted to pay tribute to Tramp and our
neighborhood. It was a magical place to raise a family with open doors, and
backyards full of kids and animals. Close enough to downtown to take the bus to
work in downtown Minneapolis and two blocks from a beautiful lake. The humans
are based on our family and our neighbors who are as real as Tramp. You are planning on writing more books about Tramp. How do you go about planning a series? Do you have a story arc planned or is it more episodic in nature? Tramp gave us more than enough adventures to keep T.K. & Associates busy. Future books will stay in the Twin Cities and introduce new animals and humans.
Can you share a little bit about your newest project with us?
Tramp’s next caper is in the same Minneapolis
setting where his skills as a detective are developed with the help of old and
new characters, both animal and human. Perhaps a stranger that walks by Tramps
house every day talking out loud to no one in particular as the result of, well
we will see.
How can readers discover more about you and your work?
If you could be any character in fiction, who would you be?
Adult Novel
Atticus Finch, To Kill A Mockingbird , Harper Lee
Atticus cares deeply about his children, Scout
and Jem, and his deceased wife. He never lets the kids lose sight of her
importance to the family. As a lawyer in a small southern town, he shows
courage, respect and love to all To Kill
A Mockingbird’s characters.
Children’s Picture Book
Bonaparte, Bonaparte,
Marsha Wilson Chall
Bonaparte, a dog, loves his boy, Jean Claude,
and will not allow him to be taken away to La School d’Excellence without his
company. “NO DOGS ALLOWED” does not stop him. He outwits the boarding school
administrators by saving their reputation and opening the school to all dogs.
1 comments:
I read the story Tramp and enjoyed the development of the situations Tramp finds himself getting into. It is helpful to have the dog's perspective. As an educator of children's literature it offers friendly characters that a child can relate to and the chapters are very short which would be beneficial for a struggling reader to be able to complete in a successful time period.
Reading teachers can use this for a reading circle with common characters that are weaved throughout the story and yet have one chapter that can also stand alone as a short story. It has many useful teaching tools and delightful to read. Enjoyable for grade levels.
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