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I'm a writer living in Northern California with my husband and two sons. I grew up with the serviceable last name of Jaynes, but then married a handsome Nigerian man, which is why my other last name has so many vowels.
I was born in New Jersey, but grew up in San Diego. Being almost 6 feet tall by the time I was twelve makes it painfully easy to remember my teen years. Even though I was really tall, I didn't like sports—but I did read a lot (and I mean a lot!) of books. Still, I never thought I'd be a writer. Except for a book called How the Rabbit Got His Hop that I wrote in third grade, I didn't write anything unless I had to. Every diary I've ever had stops on or about January 21st because I get bored writing about my own life. I've found that I do, however, enjoy writing about the lives of pretend people.
I didn't do the cheerleader thing in high school I did the... other thing. After high school I went to college at UC Santa Barbara. I majored in English but that was only because they made me decide when I was a junior and I'd taken more English classes than anything else. 
The best part of college was living in Scotland for a year. I was terrible at Spanish and never took French, which really narrowed down the year-abroad choices. I met some amazing people there who I still consider some of my best friends all these years later. I also learned how to travel by myself and that when you are on a crowded bus in Rome, don't wear a short skirt.
When I graduated, I kept going up the West Coast until I came to San Francisco where I lived in Haight/Ashbury for many years. Living in a big city after college gives you a lot of inspiration for stories later. I highly recommend it. I met my husband when I was working for a San Francisco weekly newspaper (in advertising, not writing). 
After my kids were born, I stopped working and got to stay at home with them for a few years. One day, I was reading to my kids and I started thinking that there weren't enough books about biracial kids and maybe I should write one. How hard could it be? Turns out, it's plenty hard.
Several years and one giant learning curve later, I got an email from an editor who said she would like to buy my story When it's Six O'clock in San Francisco and it came out in July of 2009. Although I didn't have anything to do with the illustrations, I think they look great and I'm glad that my publisher chose Randy to do them. After I'd been writing for a little while, one of my writing partners started writing novels and although it looked really hard, I thought maybe I should try it. Turns out, there are a lot of voices in my head and sometimes they have interesting things to say. I met my agent, Erin Murphy, in an elevator (really) at a writer's conference and when I finished my first novel, we signed together. We sold my young adult novel Dirty Little Secrets to Walker Books in September of 2008 and it should be published in February of 2010. 
FAQ
A: Different ideas call for different kinds of books. Most of the time, the age of the main character will help decide if it is a picture book, middle grade or a young adult novel. Usually, kids want to read books about kids their own age, so if a story has a 16 year old main character, chances are it needs to be written as a young adult novel because a room full of kindergarteners probably won't get it.
A: No, and that's a good thing because I don't know anything about illustrating children's books. Unless you are what they call an author/illustrator who is a professional artist and a great writer (there are a few of these multi-talented people out there—unfair!), you will sell the words and the publisher will hire the illustrator. You don't even see the pictures until after the book is finished. Authors also usually don't get to see the cover of a novel until it is already done. Hopefully, you will like it (luckily I do).
A: It depends—picture books usually take longer than novels, even though they have fewer words. The illustrator has to draw or paint pictures for each page of the book which can take a long time. If they are busy, it can take years. It took about three and a half years from the time I sold When it's Six O'clock in San Francisco for the book to come out, but only about a year and a half for Dirty Little Secrets.
A: Honestly, it didn't even occur to me until I was in my late 30s, but I love to read and I think that helps. I hadn't written anything longer than a grocery list for years when I decided to give it a try. Just goes to show that it's never too late to start something new.
A: Good question. It's a lot like asking how an airplane flies or a picture appears on a box we call a TV—a little bit of know-how and a little bit of magic. Most of the time I get an idea from somewhere and then spend time thinking about it. I got the idea for When it's Six O'clock in San Francisco when my kids would ask me what time it was at their cousins' house in Nigeria or London. We would count the hours and then imagine what they were doing. Dirty Little Secrets was inspired by a magazine article I read about growing up in a hoarder's home. Once I get the idea, I usually start to see a movie in my head where the characters begin to speak and I write down what they say. Somewhere between 1,000 and 60,000 words later, it's a book!
A: That's like asking about my favorite chocolate chip cookie—usually the one I'm eating at the moment. As a kid, I'd have to say it was From the Mixed up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L.Konigsburg (I wanted to be Claudia). I also read every book in the All-of-a-Kind series by Syndey Taylor many times over.
A: Three actually: Four Weddings and a Funeral, This is Spinal Tap and Harold and Maude. I hate scary movies. Hate them.
A: I think you have to be really familiar with a place in order to write about it convincingly, so yes, I write about places I've either lived or spent a lot of time in. Recently I tried to set a story in a place where it snowed, but since I've never lived where it snowed, I just couldn't do it.
A: No, I didn't. I actually come from a long line of OCDers, although I have known several people who were/are hoarders, so I have an understanding of the psychology behind it. I had a lot of help getting the setting right for Dirty Little Secrets from people who let me borrow their experiences and I couldn't have done it without them.
A: Both—can I say that? And leopard geckos, definitely leopard geckos.  |
