5 questions with Erin Entrada Kelly

Erin Entrada Kelly, in addition to just winning her second Newbery medal, is the inspiration for this blog. She told me she used to have a “Five Questions” blog when she was learning to write and suggested I might do the same.

1. What do you know now that you wish you’d known when you were starting out as a writer? Getting published isn't an end goal. It's the beginning of a whole new set of goals.

2. What’s the best question about writing you’ve ever been asked? What was your answer?

At an event for Those Kids From Fawn Creek, I was asked who the book was dedicated to and why. It's the only time I've ever been asked that question, and I thought it was very clever, especially since every book's dedication has a story behind it. Fawn Creek's dedication: To anyone whose dreams are bigger than their hometowns.

3. What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve ever heard, besides the usual “read a lot of books”? Ideally, I’m looking for some advice that’s unique and off the beaten track—something many of us might have not heard before.

If you're bored writing a scene, your reader will be bored reading it.

4. What do you dislike most about your writing and what do you do to address it?

I've always wished I was a more lyrical writer -- someone who wrote truly lush prose. Instead, I'm a concise and economical writer. I've learned to accept it. That being said, I'm always learning. I've been taking lots of poetry workshops to elevate my relationship with language.

5. What has been a tough part of being a writer and what did you do to get through it?

The tough part is never knowing if your books will resonate with readers in the way you hope. The only way out is through.

Bonus: The overuse of I

In addition to being a fabulous writer, Erin is a talented teacher and educator. She teaches in the Master’s Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at Hamline University.

During a workshop that she with Coe Booth, Erin pointed to a writing resource you might find illuminating: Overuse of I in first person. This post by Louise Harnby, a crime fiction and thriller editor explores why this can be a problem and what to do about it. .  I’d never seen this point made anywhere else.

Photo credit: Matt Godfrey