Episode #143: Do you enjoy your life as an author? Why or why not? with Dayna Lorentz
Welcome back! On Kids Ask Authors this week, we welcome author Dayna Lorentz! Dayna and Grace answer the kid question, “Do you enjoy your life as an author? Why or why not?”
TRANSCRIPT:
Grace Lin: Hello, I'm Grace Lin, children's book author and illustrator of many books including the middle grade novel Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, and the picture book, A Big Moon Cake for Little Star. Today I am here with Dayna Lorentz, the author of middle grade novels like Of A Feather and Wayward Creatures. Welcome, Dana.
Dayna Lorentz: Hello. Thank you so much, Grace, for having me.
Grace Lin: Oh, thank you for coming on. Are you ready for today's kid question?
Dayna Lorentz: I am so ready.
Grace Lin: Okay. Today's question is from a kid named Anderson. And Anderson ...
Dayna Lorentz: Hello, Anderson.
Grace Lin: I know, they've got really great questions. They have actually not just one question, but two questions, so actually maybe ... Technically three because they ask ...
Anderson: Do you enjoy your life as an author? Why or why not?
Grace Lin: Do you enjoy your life as an author? Why or why not?
Dayna Lorentz: Wonderful. Well, thank you, Anderson, for your question. And I want to say that I definitely yes, enjoy my life as an author, though there are some parts I enjoy more than others. So I think the best parts about being an author are, first of all, the writing. I love following the different ideas that come to me, researching all these cool things, especially since I write from animals' points of view. I love researching about animals and how they see or smell or experience their worlds. I love meeting new characters and learning from them about what their experiences are and exploring with them what their situation in life is.
And I love revising. Yes, I even love revising my writing because that's where you get to turn all these cool ideas and characters into a really great story and craft it and sculpt everything together into a really cool whole book. I think my other favorite part of being a writer is getting to meet readers like you. I love talking to kids about reading, both my books and others, and I love sharing my research with students and readers, especially my research about animals, which is always so much fun to talk about.
And I think the third best part about being an author is the other authors, like Grace, who are just always so kind and generous and really are supportive and it's really a wonderful community to be in as a professional. And I think some of the worst parts though of being an author are, first of all, the waiting.
Grace Lin: Oh, yeah.
Dayna Lorentz: Being an author involves so much waiting. You wait for edits to come back from critique partners, from your editors, from your agent. My agent is involved in editing, so I have lots of different stages waiting for reviews of your book to come back to know how other people think about it outside of your little bubble. And there's also waiting in publication. My books are traditionally published and you can get a contract for a book that you wrote and the book won't come out for years and years and years later, and you're sort of waiting and hoping to share this story that you wrote. And finally, the time comes around that you share it and you're like, "Oh my gosh, I wrote this so long ago. That's what it was about."
Grace Lin: And I think that part about the waiting is the worry too, right?
Dayna Lorentz: Oh, yeah.
Grace Lin: Me. It's like because you wait and then you're also worried, you're waiting and waiting for the book to come out and for people to read it, and then you're also worried if they like it or not.
Dayna Lorentz: Yeah, it's kind of like press. You're giving someone a present. It's the most meaningful present because it's your little creative work and creation that you put so much time and effort in and you hope that when they open it they're going to love it as much as you do.
Grace Lin: Yes.
Dayna Lorentz: And so yeah, I think connected with that is that there's so much of publishing traditionally that is out of my control, and that's kind of the other worst part is that a lot of this process is totally not something I can control from something like the cover art on my book. And I actually feel really lucky, I love my cover art, but that's something that is not really something the author usually gets to pick, that comes from the publisher. But a lot of other things, like even whether or not the book gets published or how it gets published.
Grace Lin: Yeah, it's hard because there's so many things that are out of your control and that's a hard way to enjoy your life when there's things that are out of your control, but the story was in your control and so that's a good way to enjoy your life. So of your novels, Of A Feather and Wayward Creatures, which one did you enjoy your life at more?
Dayna Lorentz: Well, they were written at very different times. It took me a long time to get the story for Of A Feather right. I felt like it took me a while to get the character and get her to talk to me. In the book she kind of is really closed off and she doesn't really share a lot of herself with people and that's part of what's sort of going on for her in the beginning of the book, and that was actually my experience writing her was that I knew what she would do in certain situations, but getting her to talk a little bit with me or to get on the page exactly why she was doing things or what was really behind her thinking took me a while to get it right. And then with Wayward Creatures, I wrote that, I pitched that idea, and my editor really liked it and my agent really liked it and we sold that book and I had to start writing it just as the pandemic started.
Grace Lin: Oh.
Dayna Lorentz: So it was a very tight ... It was a much tighter timeframe, but luckily that story I kind of came at and I knew exactly who this character was, I knew why he was so angry, and sort of had a lot of issues with the world. I knew why my coyote was kind of frustrated and angry with her life and how that trajectory would sort of go, so the writing was a little bit smoother on that book luckily given that I didn't have really as much time to write it. But I enjoyed my life during both periods.
Grace Lin: I also enjoy my life as a writer, I have to say, as an author. But I agree with you, there are a lot of ups as well as downs. I think that the things I really enjoy are very similar to what you were saying. For example, I also really enjoy the revision process because it's really fun to have already this kind of big lump of clay that you get to mold, right?
Dayna Lorentz: Right.
Grace Lin: The hard part is the first draft, is digging up that big lump of clay. So that;s always really hard for me. Though I have to admit, I love that very, very first part where you get the idea, the inspiration, it's like, "Hey look, there's going to be clay here." When you know that [inaudible 00:06:52] clay, so I love that part. Digging up the clay is not my favorite part, but then after you get the clay and you mold it, which is what I consider the revision, I do enjoy that.
Dayna Lorentz: Yeah.
Grace Lin: So first drafts I just don't enjoy, but the other part I don't enjoy, which has less to do with the writing is how much time you just have to spend alone. I mean, it's just so much time, at least for me, I need so much time alone and so much time concentrating, and I know that my family actually does not really enjoy me as an author because I'm not really as available as I could be. And a lot of times when I'm talking to them, they're like, "You're thinking about your book, aren't you?" So even though I enjoy it, sometimes I can tell they don't enjoy it.
Dayna Lorentz: No, I definitely get that as well with my kids sort of being like, "Mommy's thinking about something right now. I cannot get breakfast." I do a lot of my writing. So the other thing is I have a day job that I also work. I'm a staff attorney with the Vermont Judiciary in their trial courts, and so I try to get all of my writing done sort of before my workday starts, and that sort of usually runs up to when everybody is trying to get going to go to school. And so there are many times where I'm like, "No, I cannot cut up that melon. The melon will wait."
Grace Lin: Oh, boy.
Dayna Lorentz: Yeah.
Grace Lin: But I think we both agree, even with the pitfalls, we both very much enjoy our lives as authors, correct?
Dayna Lorentz: Definitely. Definitely.
Grace Lin: Definitely. So Anderson, we definitely enjoy our lives as authors, so thank you very much, Anderson, for this lovely question.
Dayna Lorentz: Yes, thank you.
Grace Lin: And thank you, Dana, for answering it.
Dayna Lorentz: Thank you so much, Grace, for having me on the podcast.
Grace Lin: Bye.
Today’s KID BOOK REVIEW comes from Annalise! Annalise is reviewing, Of a Feather by Dayna Lorentz.
The book I would like to talk about is Of A Feather by Dayna Lorentz. Of A Feather is about a 12 year old girl who has no dad and a mother who suffers from small mental problems so she has to move in with her aunt. Her aunt is a falconer who is currently in possession of a falcon red. She then meets a wounded young great horned owl and falls in love, but eventually she has to let the owl go. I love this book because it's a marvelous tale of falconry, friendship and finding a light in her life.
More about today’s authors:
Dayna Lorentz is the author of the Dogs of the Drowned City trilogy, the No Safety in Numbers trilogy, and Of a Feather. She has worked in and around the foster-care system, most recently as a law clerk in the Vermont family courts, but she only just started exploring the sport of falconry. She lives with her husband and two children in Vermont.
Grace Lin, a NY Times bestselling author/ illustrator, won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon and her picture book, A Big Mooncake for Little Star, was awarded the Caldecott Honor. Grace is an occasional commentator for New England Public Radio , a video essayist for PBS NewsHour (here & here), and the speaker of the popular TEDx talk, The Windows and Mirrors of Your Child’s Bookshelf. She is the co-host of the podcast Book Friends Forever, a kidlit podcast about friendship and publishing (geared for adults). Find her facebook, instagram , twitter ( @pacylin) or sign up for her author newsletter HERE.
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