Lori Mortensen answers just three questions…
Q. When did you start writing?
A. Although it seems like many successful writers begin writing early on, I didn’t start writing until I was a stay-at-home mother of three. I’d taken many types of courses at my local community college, but when I took my first writing course, it was like a lightbulb flashed on. I could do this and I wanted to do this. Even though my writing wasn’t very good at first, my desire to do it compelled me to keep trying.
Q. Describe your writing process.
A. My writing process involves two things–showing up at the computer regularly and digging into subjects that create an internal spark in me. Many times, I may not know a lot about a subject that an editor may ask me to write about, but the more I learn, the more excited I become as I sort through the information and shape it into something appealing and meaningful to young readers. This is how I start personal projects as well. Sometimes I’ll be reading something just for fun and I’ll come to an idea or fact that creates that spark of interest in me. After more research I’m off and running on a new project.
Q. Tell us about your latest book.
A. My latest book is entitled, “In the Trees, Honeybees!” scheduled to be published by Dawn Publications in 2008. Interestingly, certain elements of it were a direct result of taking your picture book course several years ago. In that course I learned how books were categorized by the Library of Congress under many different subject headings. The more subjects headings I could appeal to as a writer–the better.
Since my father-in-law was a beekeeper, I chose to write about honeybees which always fascinated me. However, instead of writing the standard book about honeybees, how they pollinated flowers and performed their waggle dance which I felt had been covered before, I chose to write a rhyming, nonfiction book about honeybees based on a one-day cycle, from sunrise to sunrise. What did a day look like from a honeybee’s perspective? The more research I did, the more excited I became about its potential.
I sent the finished manuscript to several publishers, which ultimately turned them down. However, each time it came back, I looked at it again and saw how it could be better. The last time out, it sold.
Congratulations on your new book, Lori!
