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MEET DANETTE HAWORTH
by Ann Stalcup

What did you most like to do when you were a child?

Danette Haworth

My best friend, Suzanne, and I used to climb this big pine tree. Suzanne could climb higher than I could; I still say this was because she was smaller, not because she was a better climber (which she never said, but I bet that’s what she thought). When we reached our favorite spot high in the branches, we’d sit and belt out Top 40 tunes.

In addition to serenading the neighborhood, I explored the woods, with friends or alone. As an Air Force kid, we moved around a lot, but we lived in regular towns and attended regular schools because my dad was a recruiter. I always had somewhere new to explore. My mom and I rode our bikes all over the place; she liked discovering abandoned houses and their wild, overgrown yards. My sister and I built forts.

When winter came, we hit the skating rink, and I’m not bragging when I tell you I was a very fast skater.

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?

I read books at four-years-old and attended my first year of school in England. When we came back to the states, my teacher proclaimed me a reading prodigy and put me in my own reading group. I loved reading out loud, and I think she liked my English accent (which I wish I still had!).

Writing came naturally to me—a spillover from reading. My sister and I spent countless hours on the floor of my grandma’s basement creating volumes of comic books and poetry. We usually visited my grandma in the summer, so most of my poems rhymed with June: soon, tune, prune. Still, all my aunts and uncles (my grandma had ten brothers and sisters) made such a big deal of our writing that it inspired and encouraged me.

I enjoyed writing for school, and I also wrote stories for my own enjoyment. In seventh grade, I completed a novel that filled three composition notebooks, back and front! Then we moved again; when we unpacked, I couldn’t find it! Oh, the woes of a young writer!

When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career?

I was always writing, but it wasn’t until one of my professors suggested I submit to a magazine an assignment I’d done for his class. He even told me where to send it! The editors called me a few weeks later, sent me a contract, then killed the article. It was my first roller coaster ride in the publishing world and it ended on a sour note, but from that point on, I no longer kept my writing in a drawer—I marketed it. Most of what I sent made return trips back to me, but every now and then I’d get a hit, local or online publications—not enough to pay bills (that’s what my technical writing job was for), but enough to encourage me to keep submitting.

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

ME AND JACK, my first manuscript (Walker 2011), was making the rounds when I finished the draft for VIOLET RAINES ALMOST GOT STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. Constantly on the Internet looking for opportunities, I discovered the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators was holding a workshop in Orlando. For a small fee, you could receive a critique on the first ten pages of your manuscript. I polished the first ten pages of VIOLET RAINES and submitted them for critique. Stacy Cantor, an editor with Walker Books, picked up Violet Raines and loved it. When I sat down with her to receive her comments, I saw that she really got Violet; she really connected with the story. Stacy asked me to submit the manuscript to her, and a few months later, Walker acquired the book.

Do you enjoy researching or do you prefer working totally from your imagination?

I love working from my imagination, but I find that research goes a long way in supporting fiction. For Violet Raines, I researched lightning and learned lots of interesting things: The swath from Tampa to Cocoa is known as lightning alley; lightning is only an inch wide; lightning packs the punch of a one kiloton bomb. Men are six times more likely to be struck than women. (I didn’t use this fact but thought it said something interesting about men!)

I also researched lovebugs: When do they swarm? Alligators: How many teeth? Nesting habits? How fast can they run?

Even if the information never appears in the book, it becomes part of the background information from which I work.

Do you write every day and do you have set hours that you work?

I am a disciplined writer. After morning duties (breakfast, lunchboxes, school drop-offs), I fuel up on cappuccino and sit down at my keyboard. I check email and my favorite sites, then I start writing. I start at ten. Once I start, I do not answer the phone, surf the web, or chat by email. I write. I write in bursts, then slouch back in my chair and think, really think, about what happens next. Would he really say this or that? Is this the character’s reaction or mine? What event would happen naturally after what has just occurred?

When is your next book going to be in book stores?

I’m excited to tell you that my next book, THE HOTEL OF BLUEBERRY GOODNESS, will be in bookstores Spring 2010. HOTEL features an eleven-year-old girl who lives in a dilapidating, Southern hotel and meets an eclectic group of friends, including a teenage runaway. My third book, ME AND JACK, is due in 2011.

When you do school visits, what question do children ask you most?

Students ask me if I am Violet and who Eddie is based on. (For the record, Violet is far braver and spunkier than I am, and Eddie is based on a boy I knew from fourth through sixth grade. He was the fastest runner in school and everyone liked him.)

Students also ask how long it took to write VIOLET RAINES (first draft, almost four months), if I took the photo for the cover (no, the publisher took care of that), and if VIOLET RAINES has a sequel (not yet!).

What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?

I hope they will feel inspired to pursue whatever gift they’ve been given, whether it be writing, art, athletics, math, etc. We don’t all have the same gift, but each of us has something that is outstanding in us. Pursue that gift! It will fulfill you and benefit others at the same time. For instance, I love music, but even the church choir wouldn’t put me on one of their risers! But other people have the gift of beautiful voice, and I have the pleasure of listening to them.

I want students to realize their gift, chase it hard, and share it.

Has anyone ever written you a fan letter that you’d like to share?

I love the letters I receive. There are several common themes, but the one that makes me feel good as a writer is this statement:

I am just like Violet.