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MEET ROBIN MERLINO
by Bonnie O'Brian

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

When I was a child, I liked to draw. Actually I enjoyed anything that was creative and considered art. I was 8 years old when my dad bought me my first oil paint set. I would set up a still-life in my bedroom or in the kitchen with trinkets I collected or bowls of fruit and pumpkins and then I would paint it. At the same time I began piano lessons. I loved playing the piano as long as I thought I was alone. I never enjoyed performing in front of an audience of any kind, even my own family. Later in my childhood, around 11 years old, I discovered reading.

Robin Merlino

What books influenced you most when you were growing up?

The first time I remember not being able to put a book down was when I discovered PIPPI LONGSTOCKING. Pippi quickly became my hero. I wanted to be just like her, but instead I was a very shy and quiet child. I knew that I could never do half the things that Pippi did, but I enjoyed pretending and becoming part of her world while I was reading. I read the whole series which ended far too quickly for me. Pippi unleashed my love of reading and from then on, books became a part of my life, especially during the summer months when I would read at the beach, backyard or just lock myself in my bedroom and read for hours.

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 didn’t really enjoy writing when I was a young child. However, my older sister and I would act out stories or TV shows in short plays or dramas that we would perform for family and neighbors. She always did the writing and I took direction. When I got into middle school and high school, I discovered that I had a flare for writing, but not necessarily creative writing. I was good at expository writing. Researching information and structuring it into a well organized paper, summary or speech was my strength. Highlighters were my best friends. I’ve always had the ability to edit information, extrapolate the important stuff and reword things in my own style. Maybe I should have been an editor. Creative writing doesn’t come easy or naturally to me. I have to work at it and yet I enjoy it. I think I get caught up on having to be too real and so it’s a process of opening up my mind and letting go a little bit. For this reason, I don’t think I’d ever write fantasy or science fiction or anything really “out there.” My stories will always have some part of real life in them.

If writing was not your chosen career, what was?

Art was always my first love. I was drawn (no pun intended) to it my whole life, so it was logical for me to study art in college. I graduated from Syracuse University with a BFA in fine art and commercial illustration. After that I became a graphic designer. I mostly worked in the corporate world for 25 years, designing brochures, logos, promotional print material including print advertising. It was a very good fit for my creative sense and my ability to structure information. Graphic designers are essentially visual communicators but we don’t only work with visuals. Copy is a very important component in any graphic design and collaborating with copy writers is essential in achieving quality work. I always enjoyed a “play on words” such as a double entendre in advertising headlines and concepts. Looking back at my career as a graphic designer and trying to see what brought me to where I am now, I think that is when my love of words took a different direction. I discovered how words could be creative, but in a commercial or advertising sense, not yet in storytelling. It was all a progression for me from expository writing to creative writing.

What made you decide to become a writer and how did you get started writing children’s books?

I always loved books, not just to read but from a creative and artistic stand point. I just love printed words and art on paper; the feel of a book in my hands, the textures and shapes and the vibrant colors. Each book is a piece of art in itself. I had my only child late in life. I had already had a relatively fulfilling career in graphic art and then I became a mother. I was ready to be a full-time mother and perhaps eventually work part-time. I started reading to my daughter from the time she was an infant until the present time (she is 10 years old). I am a big fan of Jim Trelease and the “Read-Aloud Handbook.” Our home library of children’s’ books grew and grew. The more I read, the more inspired I became, sometimes because the books were so clever, creative and well done and other times because they were not very good. I knew I could do it as well.

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

I do not write every day. I write in spurts of free time that I have. In fact, I still stumble over calling myself “an author.” I think that is in part because I do not support myself solely as an author. While I still dabble in graphic design, (a free-lance project here and there), my career has taken yet another path. I am currently a children’s librarian at an LAUSD elementary school. I am surrounded by children and children’s literature so needless to say, I love my job. I now read even more children’s books than I did to my own daughter. I read picture books to small children and chapter books to the older children. It’s hard for me to keep up with all the books I want and need to read in order to be on top of things, but I enjoy the challenge. Sometimes I check out books on tape from the public library and I listen to them while I shelf books and do other clerical parts of my job. I try to write more during the summer months and school breaks when I have more free time.

What gave you the idea for THE ROLY-POLY HUNTERS IN KINDERGARTEN?

The idea came from my daughter. In pre-school, she and the other children started collecting roly-polies. I didn’t even know what they were. Eventually, we started going on “roly-poly hunts,” at home hence “The Roly-Poly Hunters in Kindergarten.” I used many of her real-life friends in the story and some of my own real-life experiences. I did the research to find out more about roly-polies and how to care for them so I incorporated facts with a fictional story.

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

It was always my intention to make the “Roly-Poly Hunters” a kind of series.
I still plan to continue with it eventually. I did get side-tracked though by another book that I started writing and illustrating around the same time I started writing “Roly-Poly Hunters.” It has been in the works on and off over the last 5 years. I’ve taken long breaks from working on it and lately I’ve gotten back into it. I am essentially done with writing the book but the illustrations are still incomplete. Taking a break from a project often gives new perspective and so now I find myself editing and editing text that I once thought was just what I wanted to say. At some point I have to say “enough” and start sending it out. I believe that time has come.Without giving too much away, I’ll say that it’s a story about a 5-year old girl trying to understand her feelings about her parent’s divorce and how that affects her perception of what a family is. Being a divorced mom myself, this book is very near and dear to my heart. Once again, my own daughter was my inspiration. Her very own words became the title of the book. While the book is dealing with a “heavy” subject, I made a very conscious effort NOT to make it depressing or sad. It’s written in the first person so the perspective is very child-like. It’s real but upbeat.