Read Jessica Goldstein’s engaging interview with Judith Viorst in the Sept 1 issue of The Washington Post. Here are my favorite excerpts:
“‘I am obnoxiously disciplined,’ said Viorst… Viorst gives herself quotas. She polishes the pages. She tells the children whose classrooms she visits that ‘I’m not a writer. I’m a rewriter. I go over and over and over. A million times.'”
and
“Writing, she said, hasn’t gotten easier with time, and one of the biggest misconceptions about children’s books is that they take little effort or brainpower to produce. … ‘I don’t count on inspiration,’ she said. ‘Inspiration follows pushing yourself, pushing yourself, pushing yourself.’
At the 2013 Golden Globes, Quentin Tarantino (Django Unchained) thanked a group of friends to whom he reads his scenes aloud. “You don’t tell me what I’m doing wrong…” he said. “Reading it to you helps me to hear it through your ears.” So important! But kind of hard to find friends who have the time to sit and listen to you read an entire novel aloud, eh? Well, whenever I teach a writing class, I always encourage students to read their own work aloud and imagine that the room is filled with an audience. If you are able to put yourself into the mindset of your audience while you’re reading, you will be hearing your work as if for the first time and you’ll discover lots of mistakes–and insights– for revision. 
After giving my SCBWI talk, which included a personal story about how I had wished my mother had written me a letter before she died, I came home and took a walk with my husband along the canal. I spotted this piece of graffiti. I have already written my letters. If you’ve been thinking about it, take a moment and write yours. They can be very short. “I love you” goes a long way.
