Ask the Author: John Irby
Answered Questions (8)
John Irby
good morning, Gigi. sorry to take so long to respond to your question. i seldom visit goodreads anymore and had not noticed that you'd asked it. i was driving early one morning from Illinois to Washington State where i live. my wife and grand daughter were asleep in the back seat. we were on a lonely stretch of road in South Dakota when i noticed a hawk circling high overhead. the thought popped into my head that i wonder what happens to hawks who are born with poor vision, a silly thought because we all know hawks have superb eyesight. when we stopped for breakfast at a roadside cafe i asked my wife for a pen and wrote my question on a napkin and stuck it in my pocket. two days later when we got home to Seattle i found the napkin and began writing the story the next morning. it was great fun and the book has been enjoyed by a lot of people since then. thanks for asking. good luck in alll of your own writing. stay safe. our world needs much more of you. John
John Irby
morning, Nanci. i've only written two haiku in my life so i'm probably not a very good source of information about them. to me haiku seem somewhat esoteric and require a thoughtful mind to fill in the gaps or make a leap to full understanding, which could be an issue for young minds. but, anything that inspires children to read and write is a positive and your ideas could be valuable toward that goal. i hope it works out for you. . . j
John Irby
so far i've never had it. knock, knock. i just sit down, start with a word that becomes a sentence, that becomes a paragraph, that becomes a page, that becomes a chapter, that becomes a novel. writing each day makes me strong against the block.
John Irby
when someone says "i love your book" and means it. it makes me very happy to know that i have created something others admire and enjoy.
John Irby
write often, each day if possible, even if it's just short stuff on Twitter or Facebook or wherever you can find people who'll read your stuff. every time you shoot a basketball and it goes through the hoop the net rewards you with a sweet swooshing sound. every time someone hits like or comments on something you've written that's a sign you've written something worth the reading.
John Irby
my third novel has nothing whatsoever to do with hawks. it's a love story between a high school boy and a high school girl. i can't tell you more or i'll have to go jump off a curb somewhere. j
John Irby
in an attempt to inspire imaginative writing while working as a junior high English teacher i began writing notes in the margins of my students' work. the better and more clever l wrote, the more they enjoyed it. after i retired i missed that and began writing each and every day.
John Irby
it came from an incident that occurred in the first story, "Red-tailed Rescue" where i describe two hawks that were lost in a blizzard.
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