Ask the Author: Cornelia Maude Spelman
Answered Questions (9)
Cornelia Maude Spelman
Gosh so sorry this was asked two years ago —my summer reading list is not different from other seasons. I like books that have deep feelings and rich human relationships. Am currently re-reading A Scot’s Quair by Lewis Grassic Gibbon. You have to be willing to look up peculiar (but interesting!) Scots words online to understand some sentences. But the story is so rich; the humor and emotion so rich.
Cornelia Maude Spelman
Sorry! I just saw this question! In anyone’s life I think the untold stories in your family might be a plot for a book. You might like reading my memoir MISSING which is newly available in paperback to see what some of my family’s mysteries have been.
Cornelia Maude Spelman
I have a new children's book, "Everybody's Somewhere" coming out in October 2017. Years ago as I was riding a bus along Lake Shore Drive in Chicago and saw a seagull flying above the water, I thought about what that seagull's perspective was, compared to mine, riding the bus, and thought about how everyone saw things differently according to where they are (even a bird) and about how interesting it was to think about where everybody was rather than just where I was. Also, I knew that young children need help understanding this concept.
Cornelia Maude Spelman
I don't wait for inspiration. I write every day, in order to process my life's experiences, and when I know there is something more I want to say about a subject, I get a feeling of excitement, like being offered a chocolate.
Cornelia Maude Spelman
Make time every day to write. Write and don't think about what you are writing, just pour it out, put it away, and look at it after a month or more. You will be surprised to see certain themes. Don't edit yourself at all at this stage.
Cornelia Maude Spelman
Oh, I would like to visit so many! But let me start with Anthony Trollope's world. Though he reflects the era's attitudes toward women (and others) he is able to write so affectionately about people and their foibles. I would talk with his women characters about their lives, from the future looking back.
Cornelia Maude Spelman
Diary #202 and my podcast episodes.
Cornelia Maude Spelman
I write with a fountain pen every morning in my diary. I am on volume #202! Writing a diary is the most helpful thing to do, for me, for my spirit and for my growth as a person. It is also helpful as a writer but it is important to write it just for yourself.
Cornelia Maude Spelman
Just sit down for a fixed period of time and be ready. Dedicate time to writing, don't wait for "inspiration."
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