Ask the Author: Tricia Brown
Answered Questions (6)
Tricia Brown
My most recent book "Bobbie the Wonder Dog." It's the true story of an amazing collie that lived in the mid-1920s in rural Oregon. In 1923, Bobbie and his family took a cross-country driving trip from Oregon to Indiana for a vacation, and there he was chased off by a pack of dogs. His owners were heartbroken, but had to drive back home at the end of their trip...without their beloved pet. As for Bobbie, he decided to WALK back home to Oregon, covering nearly 3,000 miles in six months. The feat landed him in newspapers, books, and magazines across the country, and even "Ripley's Believe It or Not!" The seed of a book idea was planted during my annual drives through Bobbie's hometown of Silverton, where a 70-foot outdoor mural retells the saga of Bobbie's homeward-bound walk. I was always in a hurry driving through that little town, and I never took the time to stop and read the signs and look at the art until one year. I was bowled over learning about this once-famous dog. A few years later, I got a call from the publisher, asking me to write a children's book about Bobbie. They had seen an article in Portland's "Oregonian" newspaper, reporting about a small group from Bobbie's hometown who wanted to move Bobbie's grave from a pet cemetery in Portland, Oregon, back to Silverton, his hometown. The article stirred the attention of Graphic Arts Books and they reached out to me. I have *loved* getting to know Bobbie while researching stories in print and by connecting with the descendants of the couple who owned him. And I've found that young readers really appreciate hearing TRUE stories.
Tricia Brown
A mystery...more like an oddity. I moved frequently from childhood up to mid-life. I once counted the actual address changes, and there were forty-three moves by the time I was forty. It would be hard to structure a book around such a fluid life, but it might make a good coming-of-age story, as a teenager trying to understand changes in herself against such a backdrop.
Tricia Brown
I am excited about the upcoming Book Expo in Chicago. I'm set to meet twenty bookbuyers in a Children's Book Council event that's similar to speed dating, so I'll be talking about my new release, Bobbie the Wonder Dog, in a four-minute pitch repeated twenty times. Yeah, talk about fun! Meanwhile, I just finished another true story of a dog named Zig, a sled dog leader in the team of Jeff King, four-time Iditarod champion. Beyond this summer's new-book events, I'm developing a couple more new ideas.
Tricia Brown
Most often, I'm giving advice to children's book writers, and my best advice is twofold, what to do and what NOT to do. First, join the Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators. Every state has a chapter, and you'll meet like-minded people who actually help each other along their careers. Involve yourself in conferences, listen to the experts, hone your writing, and, when given the opportunity, meet with an editor or agent in a face-to-face. What NOT to do? Don't ask your relatives or friends to read your manuscript and given their "honest opinion." They love you too much.
Tricia Brown
For me, it's the freedom of discovery. I can ask people questions that wouldn't normally come up in day-to-day conversations. I can allow myself to dig in and research a subject until I know it well. And because there's no time clock, I've loved having the flexibility to spend quality time with the children in my life.
Tricia Brown
My training as a newspaper journalist didn't allow me to even recognize writer's block. Deadlines demand it. But in other writing, it can rear up. I always feel that writing itself oils the gears--so free-writing, journal writing, even writing an email that requires more than a few sentences--that helps. The other extreme option is to just step away. Sometimes cleaning house is the best way for me to work out a problem in a story.
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