Each month I'll inverview a children's writer who is breaking new ground in her career and who is willing to share her secrets with the rest of us.

APRIL, 2005

This month SECRETS OF SUCCESS features debut author Mary Hershey.  Mary's middle grade novel MY BIG SISTER IS SO BOSSY SHE SAYS YOU CAN'T READ THIS BOOK will be published in May 2005 by Wendy Lamb Books/Random House.  Mary works full-time for the Department of Veteran Affairs as the Lead Administrator for several outpatient medical clinics. But, before you fall sound asleep on that, Mary would like you to know that she also has worked as a teen model and a giant cartoon rat.  And she considers chocolate chip cookie baking a serious spiritual practice.

How long have you been writing and submitting to children's publishers?

I began writing in earnest back in 1994, and submitted some seriously scary stuff shortly after that. My deepest apologies to those editors.  You know, I remember hearing Lee Wardlaw say in a writing class many years ago that it takes an average of seven years for a talented, committed writer to break into the field.  I wanted to tear my clothing and weep when I heard that.  Instead, I decided they couldn't possibly be talking about me.  I was convinced I could do it in three years.  I was offered my first contract ten years after I began. 

The title of your new book in intriguing. Is it based on your life?  Did you have a bossy big sister?

The title came to me like a gift one day when I was sitting at my computer cleaning the keys.  I like to keep busy during my fallow periods.  When the title came, the hairs on the back of my neck snapped to attention.  I recognized the title immediately in a weird, preternatural way.   I knew with an absolute certainty that I would one day be signing that book for kids.   It was that otherworldly knowledge that kept me going through the many rejections, the disappointments, and more revisions than I imagined possible.

I come from a very colorful Irish Catholic family (read neurotic), and I had a big sister with a very strong personality.  As an existentialist, I will say that I often chose to follow her lead than try to resist her.  So, I won't call her bossy, but strong and compelling.  And, boy, was she ever full of the blarney.  She frequently reinvented the worldÑhistory, geography, religion and government, and spoon-fed it to me.  For a period of time in kindergarten, she had me convinced that I was actually the boy next door, and he was her true little sister, but our mothers had traded us.  Took some work to untangle that one.

How does your sister feel about this book?

I'm not really sure how she feels about it.  She knew I was writing a story about a big and a little sister, but I never let her read it until after it was sold.  She sent me a nice card congratulating me on my writing, but didn't comment on the content at all.  While it isn't a true story or a memoir, I have drawn from my childhood emotional well and my experiences being a little sister.  My family of origin had a huge impact on me.  All of my family will show up in my fiction, in piece and part.  That is what writers do.  We are recyclers of life.

What have you learned about the writing process that helped you craft this novel?

What I learned about writing process came from what I learned from marathon running.  The tough question to ask yourself about writing for publication or running a marathon is not--Can I do it?  The question to ask yourself isÑWill you do it?  Will you intentionally and conscientiously do whatever is necessary to complete the training and the work?  If your honest answer is yes, then I believe you will do it.

Before I ran a marathon and learned how to have a success at something very difficult, I thought getting published was like winning the lottery.  As if it was all luck.   Now I know it is intention, goal, and work.  And a wee bit of luck.

Here's what helped me complete seven marathons and sell a book to Wendy Lamb, whose name I still can hardly utter without genuflecting. 

1.      Go to bed early. (That is the real secret to tip #2 which can be the hardest part.)

2.      Get up early. Get set. Lace up.  Get out there no matter how you feel, or what the weather looks like.

3.      Study the masters.  Watch them.  See how they do it.  Don't be afraid to copy them until you hit your own stride.

4.      Study those who don't do it well.  Learn from their mistakes.

5.      Visualize your success.  Don't just think about it or talk about.  Really see it.  Play it like a movie in your head over and over.

6.      Find a buddy to share shin splints, your chap stick, and the incremental victories.

7.      Hydrate.  Fill your well until it is brimming over and running down both legs.

8.      Live in gratitude that you can get up and work out at this thing that you love.

9.      Find ways to give back to others that are on the same path.  Become the most generous person you know.

10.  Eat plenty of snacks that taste really good.  It is just as important to feed your emotions as your body.

Any advice for writers who want to write humor?

I struggle at times with going over the top and clubbing people to death with a joke.  Something will crack me up and I just won't let it go.  It often feels like trying to wrestle a big fire hose.  I have to learn some small motor control skills.  My mother used to threaten to send me to the nuthouse when I was little.  Now and then I have to replay the threat. 

In your February column, Debra Garfinkle gave some great advice about not stepping on your punchlines " and no matter how funny your jokes are, you have to cut them if they don't fit in the overall story or your character's voice."  As painful as her last comment is, I couldn't agree more.

I also think it helps to be a bit angry in some deep place.  Hold some of that stuff back from your therapist.  You'll be able to use it.

It's quite impressive that you were able to sell your book at a time when most publishers seem to be cutting back.  Do you have any tips about how to get published that you'd like to share with the other writers?

I'm going to refer back to Writing Process Tips.  #3 Study the Masters.  I first heard Wendy Lamb speak at a National SCBWI Conference where I went to learn more about my craft.  #6 My writing buddy, Robin La Fevers, turned to me after her talk and said, "I bet she'd love MY BIG SISTER.  Why don't you send it to her?"  I did.  But, Wendy sat on it for like eighteen years.  Which leads me to tip #9. I was volunteering at a regional SCBWI Conference.  It was the end of a long day, and I was beat, but staying late for clean up.  Our Regional Adviser asked me if I could do "just one more favor."  Of course, all the smart volunteers had already hightailed out of there.  I gave her an imitation of a smile and said of course.  Turns out the favor was driving our guest faculty, Wendy Lamb and Cecile Gyore, back to their hotel. 

Now, I already had a strong manuscript in place with her at the time, so it wasn't just my impressive driving skill or tidy car interior that won her over.  But, I am certain, that this moment of serendipity played into her decision to go ahead and finally buy my novel.  She could put a face on me.

Have you published in any other genre?  Are there any other genres you'd like to try?

This is my first publication.  I am open to other genres in the future, but I'd like to get way, way better at this genre first.

Are you working on another project?  If so, can you tell us about it?

I have a picture book manuscript out traveling at present.  I am lighting candles and saying novenas over it.  It's called I FOUND GOD AND YOUR'E NEVER GONNA BELIEVE WHERE.  If any of you reading this know the Hail Mary, I'd be grateful if you'd say one for me.

I'm also rewriting a middle grade novel that Random House has only yawned at to date.  This is my current marathon, and I've got the blisters and sweaty armpits to prove it.  Right now, I am revisiting the basics, filling  my well and studying the craft. And, eating the good snacks, too.

Visit Mary Hershey's website at: www.maryhershey.com