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Ask the Author: Erin Moore
Answered Questions (6)
Erin Moore
My daughter has three names for me. When she is home, I'm "Mama" or "Mommy." At school, or if she is talking about me to someone else, it's "Mummy"--which calls to mind the Egyptian Wing at the Met to me, and still sounds strange every time she says it! "Mama" is my favorite because it is closest to my own southern American childhood and what I call my own mother.
Erin Moore
Thanks so much, Dr. Denise! I am so glad you enjoyed the book.
My writing schedule changes a lot depending on what I'm working on. While I was writing That's Not English, I wrote a few days a week while my daughter (who was three at the time) was at nursery school. I needed to complete one chapter each week. Sometimes that happened and sometimes it didn't! It's hard to say what my favorite part of writing is, but one of the things that I appreciate is that no two work days are ever alike. The challenge is making sure that I work enough, since there is always something that needs doing at home.
My writing schedule changes a lot depending on what I'm working on. While I was writing That's Not English, I wrote a few days a week while my daughter (who was three at the time) was at nursery school. I needed to complete one chapter each week. Sometimes that happened and sometimes it didn't! It's hard to say what my favorite part of writing is, but one of the things that I appreciate is that no two work days are ever alike. The challenge is making sure that I work enough, since there is always something that needs doing at home.
Erin Moore
I don't believe in writer's block. Maybe because I started writing books as a writer-for-hire, at a time when I already had a young child at home (now I have two), I believe in getting down to work absolutely whenever and wherever you have the time. Conditions will almost never be perfect. It is always scary to confront an empty screen, but I try to remind myself that a first draft is low-stakes. I'm likely the only one who will read it and I'm my own harshest critic. Once the first draft is written, it's all editing and that, to me, is the fun part.
Erin Moore
I love the flexibility and time alone. When I got into editing right out of college, I was imagining spending a lot of quiet time alone with stacks of books and papers. But an editor has to be very social--she's one of the public faces of the company she works for. I learned to love the many meetings with agents and colleagues who were fun, smart and like-minded. I do miss them. But to be alone and reading is still my favorite thing, and writers get to do that more than editors do.
Erin Moore
Right now I'm working on minor revisions and updates to THAT'S NOT ENGLISH for the UK edition, which Square Peg/Random House will publish on November 5th. Because this edition will be aimed at a British audience, I've had to add a few definitions of American words and that sort of thing. The book will also have all of its spellings and punctuation changed to the British standards, though not by me!
Erin Moore
When I was working at Gotham Books, I had the great fortune to become Lynne Truss's US editor. Her book, Eats, Shoots & Leaves was a phenomenon and sold millions of copies around the world. (It couldn't really have happened to a better person than Lynne.) To make a long story short, years later I moved to London, and had been there long enough to realise that the differences between British and American English aren't just superficial; they're emblematic of deep cultural differences. Lynne and her U.S. agent, George Lucas, knew I had written a couple of books as a ghost writer and they really encouraged me to try writing my own book. They even gave me the subject. My big challenge then was figuring out how to structure the book and finding my own voice after getting used to channelling others'.
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