Back to Featured Interviews >>

MEET CONNIE GOLDSMITH
by Bonnie O'Brian

Did you write stories when you were growing up? at school? Or at home as a hobby? As a young child, or as a teenager, or both?

Connie Goldsmith

Like many writers, I was an avid reader, but never thought about writing as a career. I was a good student, especially in the sciences. I caught frogs, toads, and lizards to keep as pets and then had to ensure they had a steady supply of food. My freezer at home was stocked with a big bag of frozen flies and lady bugs.

What books influenced you most when you were growing up?

While I can’t say which books influenced me the most, I still have my childhood copies of HEIDI, ARABIAN KNIGHTS, THE JUNGLE BOOKS, and WATER BABIES; by now they are 50 years old!

Did you write stories when you were growing up? at school? Or at home as a hobby? As a young child, or as a teenager, or both?

No, no, no, no.

 When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career? (or a career in illustrating? or just art in general?

Science and nursing, business management later (MPA in health care administration)

What was your first job when you graduated from college?

Registered Nurse working in a cardiac intensive care unit in Miami.

 How soon after that was your first book published?

I started writing at midlife, so it was over 30 years before my first book was published.

 When was it published?

LOST IN DEATH VALLEY: the true story of four families in California’s Gold Rush” was published by the former Millbrook Press – now part of Lerner Books – in 2001.

 Was your first book accepted immediately? or did you experience a number of rejections?

I wasn’t very knowledgeable about the business of writing with my first book. I didn’t know how to target it to the right house, so my manuscript was rejected by 15 publishing houses before being accepted within 48 hours by a school and library publisher.

What are the topics are some of your books?

My first book, LOST IN DEATH VALLEY: the true story of four families in California’s Gold Rush” is about four families who took a wrong turn on their journey from Salt Lake City to Sacramento in 1849. They became the first non-native people to see Death Valley. My other three published books, and four more due out over the next 18 months, are all on health related topics which is a natural fit for my experience as an RN.

Do you focus on fiction or nonfiction? Which do you prefer? Do you find one easier than the other?

 While I’ve tried fiction, I’ve not managed to sell any of it. Nonfiction comes more naturally to me as I have a fairly scientific mind and enjoy making complex topics easier for readers to understand.

Do you do other types of writing - for example, educational, nonfiction, magazine work?

 I write a great deal. At least half of my writing is for adult health care professionals such as nurses and dental hygienists. For the past nine years I’ve written a monthly children’s book review column for “California Kids,” a Sacramento regional parenting magazine. I’ve had a number of “how-to” articles published in books and magazines for adult writers. I’ve had articles in children’s magazines, for example, Cricket, Highlights, and BoysLife. Lastly, the eight nonfiction juvenile books (four out now, four written & scheduled for publication).

 What gave you the idea for INVISIBLE INVADERS?

INVISIBLE INVADERS: DANGEROUS INFECTIONS DISEASES. An article in the Sacramento Bee about the global impact of emerging (i.e., SARS) and re-emerging infectious (i.e., drug resistant TB and malaria) diseases captured my interest. Both this book and my next one about the growth of antibiotic-resistant infections flowed from the Bee article. The threat of avian flu and the danger of another flu pandemic triggered my book titled, INFLUENZA: THE NEXT PANDEMIC?

 Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Yes, I’m usually working on a book and at least one to two articles at a time.

 What are you working on now? When do you expect to start submitting it to publishers?

Most of my books are contracted before I start on them; I’ve just finished one on meningitis and have another few weeks to go on a hepatitis book for the Lerner S&L series titled, THE MEDICAL LIBRARY for high school readers. I'm currently working on a book about malaria. While malaria is one of the top three infectious diseases responsible for death world-wide (HIV and TB are the other two ), Americans are not very familiar with it. Malaria is interesting to me because it is caused by a microscopic parasite rather than a bacteria or virus.

What other jobs you had before you became a writer/illustrator?

In high school and college, a waitress. Later, a legal secretary. I didn’t go to college until I was an adult, and then became an RN (which I still am), then started writing about eight or nine years ago.