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MEET LORI MORTENSEN (10/2010)
by Bonnie O'Brian

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

Lori Mortensen

When I think about doing things as a child, I always think of my sister, Jan. That’s because most of the time, we did things together. We modeled people out of clay, played with our farm sets on rainy days, and drew pictures of our favorite comic book character, Millie the Model. We loved to read too. Reading was an exciting way of exploring a world of people and places far away from my home in Pleasant Hill, California.

What were your favorite books growing up?

I had a lot of favorite books and authors. One of my favorites was ELLEN TEBBITS by Beverly Cleary. Ellen seemed so real. I loved reading about all of her adventures--wearing long, scratchy underwear in ballet class (heavens!), getting lost on stage while she was wearing a stuffy rat costume, and getting slapped by her best friend, Austine—oh, no! I also read every book by Willard Price (AMAZON ADVENTURE, UNDERWATER ADVENTURES, SAFARI ADVENTURES, etc.), Madeleine L'Engle (A WRINKLE IN TIME, A WIND IN THE DOOR, etc.), and mysteries by Phyllis A. Whitney.

When did you begin writing?

Although I loved reading, I didn’t begin writing until I was a stay-at-home mother of three. As I read to my children, I wondered if I could write too. After completing a course with the Institute of Children’s Literature (ICL) I caught the writing bug and I knew writing for children was something I wanted to do more than any thing else I’d ever tried.

When did you sell your first manuscript?

Selling my first manuscript was a direct result of taking the magazine writing course with ICL. With my instructor’s guidance and a lot of hard work, I sold my last assignment to The Friend magazine, a story about Valentine’s Day. I couldn’t believe it when I saw my SASE come back in the mail with the words, “CONTRACT” stamped on the outside in red. I was walking on clouds for a week. Once I sold my first story, I knew I wanted to write and sell more.

Where do you get your ideas?

Finding and developing ideas was challenging at first. However, once I began reconnecting with the child I used to be and following what sparked my interests, deciding what to write became much easier. When I discover subjects that stir my imagination, it is exciting to sit down and write about them. For example, I wrote IN THE TREES, HONEY BEES! because of my father-in-law who was a beekeeper. (At one point, he had over 300 hives!) When I visited him, I became curious about bees and discovered bees were much more fascinating than I ever imagined. I decided to write it as rhyming nonfiction because I hadn’t seen a rhyming nonfiction book about honey bees before. The rhyming format and the subject matter were a hit. One reviewer wrote, “Children may never view honey bees in the same way again.”

What type of things do you write?

One of the pleasures of writing is being able to write about so many subjects in so many ways. I’ve sold over 100 stories, articles, poems, and puzzles to magazines such as Highlights, Ladybug, The Friend, Wild Outdoor World, Hopscotch for Girls, and others. I’ve also published more than two dozen books with publishers such as KidHaven Press, Picture Window Books, Capstone Press, Stone Arch books, and others.

My two latest releases are a rhyming nonfiction book, IN THE TREES, HONEY BEES! with Dawn Publications and a picture book biography about a French scientist, COME SEE THE EARTH TURN: The Story of Léon Foucault with Random House. I’m also looking forward to the release of two rhyming picture books with Clarion and HarperCollins. I’ve also written midgrade nonfiction, early readers, Read-It Readers, first graphic novels, and picture books about American history. For a complete list of titles and updates on new releases, visit my website at www.lorimortensen.com.

Have any of your books received special recognition?

Yes! My picture book biography HARRIET TUBMAN: HERO OF THE UNDERGROUND RAILROAD was named as one of Bank Street College of Education’s Best Children’s Book of the Year, 2008.

IN THE TREES, HONEY BEES! has earned multiple awards, including winner of 2010 Skipping Stones Honor Award in Nature and Ecology Books; one of eight nominees for Florida Reading Association’s 2010-2011 Children Book Awards, Pre-K to 2nd grade; Gold winner of Mom’s Choice Award Children's Picture Book - Animal Kingdom; Winner of 2010 NSTA/CBC Outstanding Science Book for Students K to 12; Silver Moonbeam Children's Book Awards 2009; Recipient of Disney's Internet Group Parenting Media Awards for Outstanding Product, August, 2009; and recipient of the National IWLA Book of the Year Awards, 2009. (A complete list of awards and reviews is available at my website, www.lorimortensen.com.)

What is your best writing tip?

A well-written book makes it seem as if the author simply sat down one day and knocked the book out in a single sitting. However, that is far from the truth. The perfection on the page is the result of consistently showing up at the keyboard and caring enough about what you want to say, so you’ll willingly put in the hours, weeks, and months it takes to say it. Read the genre you want to write. Absorb the language. Analyze what works and what doesn’t work. Then write, write, write. President Calvin Coolidge once said, “Nothing in the world can take the place of Persistence. Talent will not; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius will not; unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not; the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.”