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MEET ANDRA SIMMONS
by Bonnie O'Brian

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

Andra Simmons

I loved to run barefoot through freshly plowed fields, ride in the old, red truck with my dad and dog, and, of course, I absolutely loved to read Nancy Drew Mysteries.

Summer Sundays were always special. The entire family would gather under the walnut trees for a barbeque supper and a freezer of my dad’s homemade ice cream. I will taste Summer Sundays forever.

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 have always had a vivid imagination. Rumor has it that at age two, long before I could write, I captivated thirty Thanksgiving guests by reciting my own version of a well-loved Halloween story. When I was eight, I began to write short poems about ranch life. One of my first poems was called Ode to Big Orange Cat on His 16 th Birthday. I even planned a party for him in Grandma’s Hollyhock Garden. Unfortunately, Big Orange was a country cat. He did not enjoy the finer things in life ─ listening to poetry dressed up in doll clothes.

What audience did you have in mind for your career as a writer – adult or children?

 My audience has always been young children. I write picture books in rhyme for the little kid who still dances in my heart.

What was your first job when you graduated from college?

 After I graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara, my first job was teaching second grade in my hometown of West Covina, California. I taught next door to my former Kindergarten teacher. She was a great mentor with a sense of humor to match. She loved to tease me about that long ago school pageant when I had begged her to let me wear cowboy boots with my fairy costume. It was during this first year of teaching that I began to write again. After school, I often composed a little poem related to a holiday or topic we were studying. Then I copied it in the top corner of the blackboard for the kids to read the next day. My class loved the idea. Soon they were writing their own poetry. By the end of the school year, a book of their animal poems called, A Walk in the Jungle, was featured on a local educational television program.

Where do you get your ideas?

 My ideas come from many places. Everything I see, hear, touch, taste, or smell has the potential of one day becoming a picture book. Sometimes out of nowhere, an idea will pop into my head and plant the seed of a story. I may carry this seed around in my head for days until it finally takes root and grows. Then, I simply must write it all down on paper. Big Confession! I don’t use a computer. That blank screen staring back at me is like a giant writer’s block. I can almost hear the computer monster whispering to me: Ha, ha, I don’t like your ideas and, besides, you can’t type worth beans. So, I create on paper with my magical black Sharpie pen. I play around with all the ideas that have been dancing in my mind. I don’t have to get it right the first time, the tenth time, or ever. I can chop the story all up, toss things out, and cut and paste it together. Anything is okay. Sometimes, even great.

Which of your books did you most enjoy writing?

What Anna Loves . As a California country kid, this is my story. It comes from deep within ─ my roots, all of my childhood memories, a tribute to the family and way of life I so dearly loved.

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

 No, I never set hours or make myself a schedule. That whole idea is just too confining ─ too much like a job where you must show up or else. I do not rely on writing for a living. If I did, self-discipline and a daily schedule would be extremely important. How lucky am I to have the freedom of writing just for fun of it ─ a play date with words anytime I want. Every now and then, my creative brain nudges me and says, Hey you, listen up. Here is an idea worth writing down. Only if you want to, of course, because this is not a job. If I am really on a creative roll, time seems to stand still, hours become minutes. For me, as a writer, it just doesn’t get any better than this.

 Is there anything about yourself that you’d like to share - hobbies, where you were born, special talents other than writing/illustrating?

 Acting is a great source of creative fun. Growing up, I always had parts in school plays. As an adult, I love to write and perform monologues. Over the years, I have dressed up as Emily Dickinson and incorporated her life and children’s poetry into a program for various civic groups. At the present time, I am working on a living history monologue based on California ranch life in the 1940’s and 1950’s. This will be the best of all worlds, like coming home to everything I love.