1. Please tell us about Starfish and the message you'd like to share through your work.
Starfish is about realizing your intrinsic self-worth, that you are deserving of love just as you are - without changing. It's about being exactly who you are. It's about knowing you have the right to be seen, to be heard, to be noticed, and to take up space in the world. It's about the ah-ha moment of what bullying is about: It's about the bully. Here's the thing. There are billions of people on this planet. Wherever you are, look around you. Do you see anyone who looks exactly like you or exactly like anyone else? Nope. And yet and yet and yet, so many people make others feel bad about themselves for being different. It's bananas!!! Happy, healthy people do NOT go around making others feel bad about themselves. They just don't. Period. Full stop. So if you're being bullied - kids, teens, and adults can be bullies and be bullied - it's all about the bully. Something's going on inside the bully. Maybe that person is being bullied and is grasping at straws to regain some power and control in their life, so they get that by turning around and bullying someone else. Maybe they aren't happy with who they are, so they turn around and make someone not happy with who they are. There are a million reasons why bullies bully, and none of them are valid. But it's all about them. It sure feels like it's all about you. And their words and actions hurt. Really hurt. But once you can wrap your head around the fact - and it is fact because study after study proves it - that it's all about something being wrong with the bully and nothing being wrong with you, then you regain your power and take away the bully's power over you. That's when you can heal.
2. What draws you to the verse novel?
The characters of a book dictate whether a novel will be in prose or verse. They don't give me a choice. LOL. It's just how their voice comes through.
3. What do you see as the place for verse novels for young readers in their reading lives?
I think verse is great for so many reasons. It's great for struggling and reluctant readers. It's great for young readers who are so used to the world being pre-digested into blurbs. And, most of all, it really helps an author address a tough topic. Because poetry is all about emotion. Tough topics are all about emotions. And the white space on the page gives your brain some emotionally breathing room to process it all.
4. Any advice for young authors/poets?
To be a writer, you have to write. Duh, right? But so many talk about writing but never sit down and write. Writing is an art form, but it's also a discipline. I have a large, wooden button about the size of a dinner plate on my wall beside my desk. It reminds me to keep my "butt on" the chair and write.
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