Meet Sarah Miller…

Sarah Miller’s novel Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller has been showing up on some early mock Newberry lists,
and for good reason.  If you read my review of this book last week, you know how much I loved it (I would have loved it even if its title wasn’t similar to mine!).   I was thrilled when Sarah agreed to stop by my blog for an  interview.

So often, a work of historical fiction starts with that spark of interest in a particular topic. Anyone who has read your book or visited your website or blog knows about your fascination with Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller. What sparked that interest, and when did you decide to take the leap and write a book about Annie?


Miss Spitfire got started when I saw The Miracle Worker on stage at MeadowBrook Theatre in October of 1998. We came to that famous scene at the water pump and when the audience stood up to applaud, I realized I was crying. I don’t do that. And it’s not like the climax of the play was a surprise – I’d seen the movie, and I knew the story – but bam! there it was, and I got it. When I saw Helen’s mind fill with words, I understood for the first time what it was like to be empty of language, and the notion fascinated me. It still does, in fact – nine years later, I still have the ticket stub, and the movie still makes me cry.

It’s probably hard to believe, but I really don’t remember when I figured out I could write a book about Annie. I certainly didn’t leave the theater with that thought in my head. I just knew that I wanted to know more about Annie and Helen. At some point in the next few years, my not-so-casual interest turned into truly focused research with a purpose.

What’s your favorite thing about writing historical fiction?

So far, I’ve spent my time writing about real people – people I’m fascinated with and become quite fond of by the time I’m done. I love the idea of spreading that fascination, and of maybe even forming a sort of vicarious friendship between my characters and my readers.

As a writer and a middle school English teacher, I’m a bit of a revision nut.  What are some of your favorite strategies for revising a manuscript?

I don’t think I have any solid strategies. I just love to tinker – I can fool endlessly with everything right down to commas and semicolons. Mostly, I like to revise as I write. I take a step forward and lay down some new territory, then take a couple steps back and smooth out what’s already there. Revision is way more fun for me than drafting, so I like to spread it out over the whole process. It’s important for me to see improvement as I go.


What did the first draft of Miss Spitfire look like?

It was actually fairly similar to the finished product, mostly because I do that simultaneous write/revise thing, and also because I do almost all of my writing on the computer. There were changes, of course: Donna Jo Napoli read my second draft and took me to task on a couple important linguistic issues in the climax. When my editor got his hands on the manuscript, he pointed out a number of places I needed to bulk up and expand on Annie’s emotions – I have a strange ability to make even a first-person narrator sound like a third-person observer in my initial drafts. He also helped me smooth out Annie’s emotions somewhat. She was very volatile in real life, but a novel requires a more gradual, even development of the characters’ feelings to engage and satisfy the reader.

What do you think Annie Sullivan would say if she could read the words you wrote for her?

Holy Ned, what a question! I know what I’d like her to say, but the strange truth of it is this: after all my years of reading and research I feel like I know Annie, but I can’t – not really. It’s impossible to know someone completely in a vicarious sense, so I’m reluctant to predict her reaction.

My best guess is that she’d feel rather exposed by some of my words – she was very proud, and very private –  but I think she’d understand and accept what I’ve written. As Annie herself said, “The truth of a matter is not what I tell you about it, but what you divine in regard to it.” That’s exactly how I approached Miss Spitfire – it’s my reflection and interpretation of the information Annie left behind.

You’ve posted some hints about your next project on your website – another work of historical fiction, set this time in the last years of Russia’s last imperial family. How’s that project coming along?

Heh. Today I hate it. 😉 I like the beginning very much though, so there’s hope. I think….

Name a few books — for kids or adults — that you’ve read recently and loved.

Easy one!

My hands-down new favorite for adults:
Lottery, by Patricia Wood.

The kids’ and YA books I love/wish I’d written this year:
Aurora County All-Stars, by Deborah Wiles
Book of a Thousand Days, by Shannon Hale
Evolution, Me, and Other Freaks of Nature, by Robin Brande
Invention of Hugo Cabret, by Brian Selznick
Wednesday Wars, by Gary D. Schmidt


In addition to your writing life, you also blog often about your work in an independent bookstore.  What’s the funniest thing that’s ever happened to you there?

That honor goes to the lady who came in and asked for an abridged copy of To Kill a Mockingbird for her three-year-old. Apparently the toddler was “really enjoying” Moby Dick.

What’s one question that I didn’t ask that you’d like to answer here?

Here’s one I don’t seem to get tired of answering: What do you hope people will learn from Miss Spitfire that they might not from another Helen Keller book?

There are a lot of fine things to take from the story of Annie Sullivan and Helen Keller: determination, courage, loyalty, and so on. So these two things I’m about to say may seem trivial in comparison, but I think they’re essential to understanding Annie:

1. Annie did not travel to Alabama on some lofty mission to free the mind of a child from its dark and silent prison. She needed a job and a place to live, and she took quite a risk when she accepted the Kellers’ proposal. Annie had no training as a teacher, and nobody knew if she could do it.

2. Annie didn’t sacrifice her life for Helen – she needed Helen every bit as much as Helen needed her. Helen’s friendship was probably as life-changing for Annie as the “miracle” at the pump was for Helen. In a sense each saved the other from her own form of darkness. Even so, just as Annie couldn’t cure Helen’s blindness, Helen couldn’t completely erase the scars on Annie’s heart. But in the end, I think their bond to each other brought them father than they could have dared hope for in the beginning.

Sarah, thanks so much for joining us, and best wishes with your new project (even if today wasn’t the greatest writing day!).  I know I’m not the only one looking forward to your next book.

I can’t wait for SNOW!

No- wait…not that kind of snow (even though I am a skier and start to get excited when the temperature drops below 50). 

I’m excited about ROBERT’S SNOW: FOR CANCER’S CURE — a huge, bright, and beautiful fund raiser for the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.  You’re probably familiar with children’s book author-illustrator Grace Lin, who began this incredible campaign with her husband Robert Mercer after he was diagnosed with cancer several years ago.  Robert died at the end of August, so this year’s fund raiser is a bittersweet tribute to his life and his work.  Children’s book illustrators — more than 160 so far this year —  have created breath-taking, original snowflake ornaments to be auctioned off to raise money for cancer research.  This year, kid-lit bloggers are helping to spread the word about the auction by featuring interviews and profiles of these illustrators on their blogs, as well as their snowflakes and a link to the auction.  I’ll be featuring Judy Schachner, Amy Young, Sara Kahn, Cecily Lang, and Shawna Tenney on Kate’s Book Blog some time in October or November. I hope you’ll stop by to meet these generous artists, enjoy their creations, and bid if you can.

I love projects that bring people together like this.  I love it when kindness counteracts all the cynicism out there in the world.  And I love it when kids have a chance to be a part of it.  My 7th grade students are going to be exploring the work of my five illustrators, helping out with the interviews and profiles, and creating their own snowflake ornaments to sell in our community so that we can make an extra donation to the Dana-Farber Institute.  I cannot WAIT to tell them about this project. 

I know there are others on my LJ friends list —  like

[info]kellyrfineman

,

[info]jo_no_anne

,

[info]lizjonesbooks

,

[info]jamarattigan

,

[info]lisa_schroeder

,

[info]lgburns

, and

[info]cynthialord

 — who will be featuring illustrators, too, so be sure to visit them over the next few months to meet some incredible artists.  If you want to learn more about Robert’s Snow, you can drop in on Jules at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast, whose organization on this project amazes me, and whose belief that written words can help change the world is an inspiration.

And a photo just for friends…

One more thing from the Burlington Book Festival….  I don’t post pictures of my kids to my public blog, but I loved this picture and wanted to share it.  My E is reading A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT right now, so she was so excited to meet Linda Urban and have  her sign her book. Doesn’t this photo just sum it up?

Burlington Book Festival

The sky was sunny, and the air was crisp and Septembery yesterday, and so I was already in a happy mood when we got to the Burlington Book Festival.  This was my first real presentation for SPITFIRE, so I was just a little nervous (okay…scared, for those of you keeping score), but as I was setting up,

[info]cfaughnan

and

[info]lurban

and my old neighbor Kim walked in with smiles and hugs and “You go, girl!” kinds of sentiments, and all was well.

The nice woman who read my introduction (I’m not sure who wrote it)  told the audience that my presentation would be interesting, but gross.  (I’m thinking she must have found out about the part where I talk about the flesh-eating bugs on my roof that helped me clean my cow horns for powder horns.)  

The kids, teachers, writers, and parents in the audience were enthusiastic and were game to dress up in 18th century garb and taste hardtack and everything.  It was so much fun to share the story of SPITFIRE with them, especially some of the kids in the audience who are writers, too.

Then I got to be in the audience for Linda Urban’s presentation on A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT, which was just fantastic.  If you’ve ever met Linda, you know how smart and warm and genuine she is, and that all came through in her presentation.  My family and I loved listening to Linda read from her book. When Linda read a part where Zoe’s dad strikes up a marching band in the living room, marching around with the lids of pots and pans, E stopped laughing long enough to lean over and whisper, “He’s even crazier than  Daddy!”

One more bit of good news… Essex, VT is getting a new independent bookstore!  I had a chance to chat with the folks at Phoenix Books, which is opening next month at the Essex Shoppes & Cinema, and they’re promising lots of great events for children.  Yay!!

As for the Burlington Book Festival… Congratulations to Rick Kisonak and Elaine Sopchak and everyone else who put this event together.  It was a fantastic, fun, inspirational celebration of reading and writing.

Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller

“My heart is singing for joy this morning.”
-Anne Sullivan to Sophia Hopkins, March 1887

So begins one of the chapters in Sarah Miller‘s debut novel Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller, and her quote from Annie Sullivan describes just how I felt when I finished this magical book.

Last spring, I issued an invitation to authors of historical fiction, to send me information about their books for a presentation I’m doing this fall at the New York State Reading Association Conference.  I heard from wonderful writers — some whose works I knew and some who were new to me.  But one title REALLY caught my eye:  Miss Spitfire by Sarah Miller.  First, it got my attention because the titles of our books are so similar.  When I opened it up to start reading, it got my attention in another way — a sweep-you-away-in-the-story kind of way.

Miss Spitfire: Reaching Helen Keller tells the story of Annie Sullivan, the young woman who battled beliefs of the time and fought with every ounce of energy she had to give Helen Keller the gift of language.  Sarah Miller tells the story in Annie’s voice — and tells it with a passion that speaks to the depth of her research and her pure love for this historical figure.  Miss Spitfire not only tells the story we see in The Miracle Worker — the story of Annie’s time with Helen — but also plunges into Annie Sullivan’s past, and in doing so, provides a deeper understanding of the commitment and determination that led to her success.

The portrayals of Annie’s emotional, psychological, and physical struggles with Helen were so vivid that I found myself reading with my brow furrowed in determined solidarity with Annie as she plunked Helen back into her seat at the dining room table for the tenth time.  Truly, Annie had to be a spitfire to survive this monumental challenge when she was little more than a girl herself.

The minor characters in this novel sparkle, too.  One of my favorite scenes brought Helen together for a lesson with the Kellers’ servant boy Percy.  I felt like I was about to burst with pride right along with Annie when Helen began to turn from a student into a teacher, helping Percy with some of the letters.  Mr. & Mrs. Keller, too, are painted with a tremendous depth of understanding.  It would have been easy to portray Helen’s parents as one-dimensional characters who got in the way of Annie’s work, but instead, Sarah Miller helps us to see their complexity and feel some of their anguish at having a beautiful, broken child. 

Early in the book, Annie tells Helen’s mother why her lessons are so vital to Helen. 

“Words, Mrs. Keller, words bridge the gap between two minds.  Words are a miracle.”

Indeed, they are.  And Miss Spitfire will have you believing in that miracle all over again.

Coming soon on my LJ…an interview with the author of Miss Spitfire, Sarah Miller!

More with Linda Urban…


Some of you have already had the pleasure of meeting the author of A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT on

[info]kellyrfineman

‘s blog this week.  If you haven’t seen her interview, it’s terrific.  If you did see Kelly’s post, you can consider this your second date with Linda!   I’m doing a presentation on my upcoming historical novel SPITFIRE at this weekend’s Burlington Book Festival, and Linda’s talk on CROOKED is right afterwards in the same room, so I wanted to invite her here for a visit first.

Whether they’re adults or kids, people who love reading and writing always want to hear the story of how their favorite books came to be.  What was the inspiration for A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT and how did it grow into the middle grade novel it is today?

It started as a picture book.  I was telling author/illustrator David Small about my childhood fantasy of playing classical music on a grand piano and how my dad got seduced by the rhythm switches of a mall organ.  David said, “I can just see the illustrations for that!”  A few weeks later I wrote a picture book, but the voice and pacing were all wrong for a picture book. It wasn’t until two years later that I gave it a try as a novel.  That’s when the story took off.

Many of my blog readers are teachers of writing, and they’re always looking for ways to help kids with revision.  Would you share with us a few of your favorite revision strategies?

Nothing beats reading your work aloud.  That’s when you hear all the word repetition and discover the rhythm of the piece.  For me, writing is about capturing a sound, a voice, a mood.  I can’t be sure I’ve done that until I actually hear the work.

On to the fun stuff now….

Why Neil Diamond?

Many people think I picked “Forever in Blue Jeans” for some sort of cheese factor, but really it is a very sweet, very earnest song that fit Zoe’s story perfectly.  She has to see past the cheese of it, past the disappointment that her competition piece is not the perfect classical composition she had imagined herself playing, and come to love this simple, honest melody.  The lyrics underscore that. 

We live in such an ironic age, enamored of kitsch and edge.  People are made to feel foolish for feeling things with their whole hearts.  If there is anything that I can do to let kids know that it is okay to express what honestly matters to them, I’m all for it.  Hence, a little Neil Diamond.  

The desserts described in A CROOKED KIND OF PERFECT sound perfectly delicious.  Are you a great dessert chef, a great dessert eater, neither, or both?

I bake some.  Cookies and breads mostly.  I have a lot of admiration for people who make beautiful desserts.  When you and I spend hours on our writing, part of us is thinking that maybe we’ll find a few words that will live on beyond us, bound in a book, available forever and ever and ever.  A pastry chef can put her heart into a cake – hours of work – and then the whole thing gets swallowed up and that is that.  You really have to care a great deal about making art when you know it is only going to last thirty minutes.

And your favorite dessert is…?

Apple pie.  Yum.

What books — for kids or adults — have you read and loved lately?


I just finished Elijah of Buxton, the latest historical by Christopher Paul Curtis.  What a genius that man is.  He starts by letting us meet Elijah at his most silly and, as his Mama would say “fra-gile”, falling for an elaborate story about “hoop snakes”, playing a practical joke, and getting one played on him in return.  It is hysterically funny and perfect for grabbing the attention of young readers.  In a few short pages you can’t help but know and love Elijah.  And then, slowly, and without losing humor or character, we are introduced into the deep and lasting horrors of slavery that have shaped the lives of the townspeople of Buxton.  The effect is devastating. You’ve got to read this book.

What can folks expect if they come to see you at the Burlington Book Festival this weekend?

I plan to read a little from A Crooked Kind of Perfect and talk with kids and grown-ups about writing, perfection, and getting over the fears that stop us from doing those things that really matter to us. 

If anyone LJ friends are in the area (or up for a road trip!), I know that Linda and I would both love to meet you.  Here’s the scoop on our presentations:

Burlington Book Festival
Waterfront Theatre, Burlington, VT

11:00 AM-12:00 PM

KATE MESSNER

Join Kate Messner for a trip back in time to the American Revolution on Lake Champlain. Kate will read from her middle grade historical novel Spitfire, set during the Battle of Valcour Island in 1776, sign books and present an interactive multimedia slide show about the real 12-year-old who fought in the battle. Kids will be invited to taste the food and try on the clothes of an 18th century sailor, handle artifact replicas and design their own powder horns to take home.

Waterfront Theatre Black Box, 3rd Floor

12:30-1:30 PM

LINDA URBAN

Linda will debut her new book for young readers (ages 8-12), A Crooked Kind of Perfect. Listen to excerpts and find out what it’s like to write and publish a novel for kids.

Waterfront Theatre Black Box, 3rd Floor

Letter Game…

List ten things you like/love/are interested in that start with a certain letter…. 

I commented on

[info]lizzy_lyn

‘s blog and was cheerfully tagged with letter O.  (Vowels are tough, but at least it wasn’t X or Q.)  Here’s my list:

1. optimism
2. orchids
3. olive oil (a special kind from a little store in Montreal’s Atwater Market.  It’s owned by a man named Renee who uses the word “fabulous” every time I go to visit him.)
4. October
5. oceans
6. Orion Nebula (No, really…. I’m not just choosing it because of the O thing.  I saw Orion through a big telescope a few weeks ago and fell in love with the idea of actually seeing a place where stars are born.)
7. organic gardening
8. ornithology
9. oysters
10.oatmeal cookies (with chocolate chips!)

If  you want to play, leave me a comment, and I’ll assign you a letter. (Not Q or X unless you make a special request for the challenge!)

SPITFIRE on Amazon.com

Guess what?  My book is on Amazon! 

I’ve been visiting it online at least every few hours, but it probably gets lonely when I’m not there, so you can click on the image below if you’d like to visit it, too.

Fabulous Zach at North Country books emailed on Friday to let me know that SPITFIRE would be available for pre-order on Amazon within a few days.  Sure enough, when I checked yesterday morning, there it was.  My mom was visiting, so I got to show off like a kid who just finished a new craft project.  I haven’t seen her so proud since I made that clay pot in second grade.

SPITFIRE is available for pre-order and will be in stores on September 25th. 

Note to friends who don’t live near me…

North Country Books is a regional publisher, so you should find SPITFIRE in your local bookstore if you live in New York or Vermont.  Otherwise, you can find it online or ask your local bookseller to order it through North Country Books.

And one more thing….  Don’t forget to send your entry for the SPITFIRE writers & characters contest!   If you’ve ever tried Lake Champlain chocolate, you know that it’s well worth 300 words.  Thanks for the entries so far — I’ll start featuring some of them later this week!

September is SPITFIRE Month!

I just got the final word from my editor that SPITFIRE will be available by the end of September!  To celebrate the release and the work of all of us who write for young people, I’m hosting a contest and spitfire-of-the-day feature on my blog…

spitfire: (n)  A fiery-tempered, passionate person

My middle grade historical novel is called SPITFIRE for two reasons.

1) On the bottom of Lake Champlain today rests the last remaining gunboat of Benedict Arnold’s Revolutionary War fleet.  It sank while American vessels were fleeing from the British during the Battle of Valcour Island in October of 1776.  Spitfire is the name of that boat and the setting for much of my novel.

2) My main character, Abigail Smith, is a 12-year-old girl who steals a leaky rowboat and runs away to join the American fleet on Lake Champlain.  She is brave, passionate, and more than a little impulsive – a spitfire if ever there was one.

On to the contest…

Are you a SPITFIRE?

The more writers I meet, the more convinced I am that you have to be a real spitfire to survive this career choice.  With that in mind, write a very short  (300 words or less) essay on what makes you a spitfire in your writing life or in some other way that’s entertaining to read about.  

OR… (I’m adding this at the request of modest writers who can’t possibly write about themselves that way)  write about your favorite spitfire character in a book — yours or someone else’s. 

 I’ll feature some of the essays on my blog in the days leading up to SPITFIRE’s release, along with an author photo and/or a picture of your latest book if you’re published.

Send entries with the subject line “SPITFIRE CONTEST” to kmessner at katemessner dot com (no spaces).  Please include:

-Your name
-A link to your website or blog if you have one
-Your essay pasted into the email, with permission to post on my blog
-A jpeg photo of you and/or your latest book attached if you’d like me to post it on my blog with your Spitfire Writer essay to promote your book

The deadline is September 25. Everyone who sends an essay will be entered in a drawing…and if you let people know about the contest on your website or blog and post a link to this page, I’ll enter you in the drawing twice.  Just drop me a comment letting me know you’ve done so.
 
A winner will be drawn at random from all entries, and that person will receive a signed copy of SPITFIRE, along with a box of Lake Champlain Chocolates.  Because everyone needs chocolate.  Being a spitfire is hard work.

Night in the Desert

My blog’s been quiet for the past week because I was in San Diego on a family vacation.  It was an incredible week in so many ways, but this was the highlight…


I was lucky enough to spend last Monday, the night of the total lunar eclipse, camping in the middle of Anzo-Borrego Desert State Park.  Before we left, we found California Overland online and learned that they were offering an overnight desert trip with astronomer Dennis Mammana on the night of the eclipse.   I took this picture just as the moon was rising over the mountains on our way to the campsite.

This is Joe from California Overland.

Joe is every bit as cool as he looks and is one of my family’s new favorite people.  He organized our trip, cooked our meals, set up our tents, and was an amazing tour guide for the stunning alien landscape he calls home.  Our tour started with a drive in a refurbished military vehicle to a spectacular spot called Font’s Point, overlooking the Anzo Borrego Badlands.  Joe walked us partway up a hill, then said, “Look down at your feet now, and keep walking toward my voice.  Don’t look up until I tell you to.”  We trusted Joe by then, so we did this.   When he told us to look up, we were at the edge of a cliff looking out at this view.

As the sun went down and the moon came up, we headed to our campsite, near an old homestead that’s been swallowed up by sand dunes and tamarack trees.  The tents were already set up, and Joe started cooking dinner.  Joe, it turns out, is a better cook in the middle of the desert than I am in my own fully-equipped kitchen.  Without running water or electricity or anything but an open fire, he whipped up grilled steak, herb-rubbed salmon, roasted corn on the cob, and a beautiful salad with greens and goat cheese.  I like food a lot, so Joe was especially my hero then.

Astronomer Dennis Mammana joined us for dinner and then went off to set up his telescope away from the light of the fire.  When the lunar eclipse started in the early hours of the morning, we dozed in a circle of camp chairs around the telescope and took turns snapping pictures through its lens.

The full moon lit the desert so completely that we didn’t need flashlights when it first came up, but as the eclipse began, that light faded into a darkness blacker than any sky I’ve ever seen. 

And then there were stars.  Stars like I’ve never even imagined.  Anzo Borrego has been named one of the best star-watching spots in the country, and now I know why.  Dennis turned his telescope every few minutes to point out something new.  Jupiter with four moons clearly visible.  The Andromeda Galaxy.  And my favorite… The Orion Nebula, where new stars are born.  And of course, all the while, there was the moon…

This was my last eclipse photo…taken after a 4am hike through the sand with Joe and my son, looking for scorpions and sidewinders.  We didn’t find any but enjoyed the quiet  and the stars all the same.  At about 5:30 the need for a little sleep won out over my desire to see the rest of the moon appear. 

When the sun came up, I took a walk away from the campsite a bit to check out the desert plants and see if I could find that elusive scorpion.  Here’s a shot looking back at our tents. 

After a breakfast of toast, turkey bacon, and omelets with fresh vegetables, it was time to take down the tents.   And guess who scuttled out from underneath our tent when we started folding it up…

My 11-year-old has wanted to see a scorpion ever since he read about desert animals when he was four or five, so this guy’s appearance made his trip complete.

The kids were still itching to do some hiking, so the amazing Joe was kind enough to take us on a bonus trip to one of Anzo Borrego’s incredible slot canyons. 

The sandstone walls were just a couple feet apart in places, so this was like no other trail I’ve ever hiked.  The temperature had crept up to 113 by the time we made it into the canyon, so we stopped often to find shade and drink water.  It gave me a dramatic appreciation for how extreme the desert can be and a true respect for the wildlife and plants that survive in this climate.

As I type this, I’m back home at my desk, getting ready for the start of school in a couple days. 

Fall comes early to the Champlain Valley.  We woke up to a crisp 42-degrees today, so the desert dust and heat are miles and memories away. 

But last night, when I realized I’d forgotten to get the mail, I stepped out into the dark.  I looked up at the stars, fighting with our streetlights, and a part of me slipped away, back to my camp chair in Anzo-Borrego, home of the sky and the scorpions, and the stars.