Have you ever wanted to be a writer? Did you know that one woman wrote the majority of all those American Girl books (like over 50 of them!)? Her name is Valerie Tripp and a newspaper recently did an interview with her. I think this is interesting whether you're a fan of the books or just a fan of writing and maybe even with a dream of writing... so check out what she said:
Kit Kittredge lives through the Great Depression. What lessons can kids today -- given the uncertain economic times -- learn from her?
"Kit's story is very much my mother's story. . . . Usually I just invent the characters, and their stories are shaped by the main problem of the time. In the case of Kit, I had been listening to my mother's stories for my whole childhood. Her father lost his job. To keep their house, my mother and her mother became cooks and maids and took in boarders. My mother had to move out of her room into the attic, which Kit did. But my mother found that the people who moved into her house . . . changed and enriched her life in ways she had not foreseen. Sometimes something that appears to be a loss actually leads to a gain that you never would have had.
"The absolutely crucial message of the Kit books is that . . . the most important thing that you have . . . is your family. Though the circumstances of your life may change, that most important thing -- the love of your family and friends -- won't change. It may strengthen."
You write about girls who live during World War II (Molly), the American Revolution (Felicity), New Mexico during the 1800s (Josefina), who is your favorite -- or at least what's your favorite time in history?
"Whoever I'm writing about at the time! I get to live in that time and soak up the music, the fabric, the fashion of that time. Since I just finished a book about Ruthie, I'm very much into the period of the 1930s now. When you write, it allows you to have a personality that you wouldn't have. For example, Felicity is much braver than I would be. You can create your best self and send that self out into adventures."
What's the hardest part of writing?
"When I go to schools to talk to kids I bring a manuscript that I have that is filled with big Xs through whole pages, things circled in red, Post-it notes sticking out. It's hard when you've worked on something that hard and you hear that [the publisher] isn't going to use it . . . but writing requires a lot of patience. You wouldn't stop playing soccer because you get tired or thirsty. Sometimes the things that are hard for us give the most back to us. But that moment is still very hard."
The Kit movie came out this week on DVD!
Reprinted from the Washington Post, interview by Tracy Grant.
