Talking With Children's Writer Tom Birdseye
How a Reluctant Writer Became an Award-Winning Author
For years, Tom Birdseye, author of children’s books I’m Going to be Famous and Just Call Me Stupid, has been traveling to schools and demystifying the writing process. Many reluctant writers find Birdseye’s author visits inspirational – especially when they learn he also had difficulties with writing until teachers helped him discover his storytelling talents.
Suite 101 interviewed Tom Birdseye over the phone on January 27, 2009 and discovered how this transformation took place.
On Becoming a Writer
Suite 101: You mentioned you were uninterested in writing as a kid. What made you want to become a writer?
Birdseye: Well I went all through elementary school wanting to play pro basketball for the Boston Celtics. I was not a good speller. I had problems learning how to read. And when I handed in my papers, they came back looking like they’d been in a car wreck with red marks all over them.
But when my wife and I graduated from college and moved to Lincoln City, Oregon, I met a neighbor who was a nonfiction writer and got involved in a writing class that she was teaching. She guaranteed me there would be no red ink. And she was great.
She handed me off to another teacher who was a mystery and science fiction writer for adults when it became clear I was more of a fiction than a nonfiction writer. And she really mentored me and helped me with my writing.
So I didn’t really get interested in writing until I was thirty-one. It was a real late start.
Birdseye's Writing Process
Suite 101: What advice do you give to kids who aren’t great at spelling or punctuation?
Birdseye: I used to equate good writing with good mechanics. And what my teachers helped me learn was the story comes first. And then I found, “Oh, I have some strength in that!”
So I try to write and not edit – I think a lot of people try to do those two things at the same time. You start a sentence and then begin to think, “Oh, does the ‘i’ come before the ‘e’ ? Should I put a comma there? Should I use a semicolon?”
And that just brings me to a dead halt. So I allow myself to write poorly. Just get it down. And then I go back and work content a lot. And then I try to fix punctuation and grammar. The very last thing I do is run a spellchecker.
My rough drafts are really rough – they’re bad. So I rely on rewriting to get to where I want to be. I publish books not because I’m a great writer but because I’m a persistent writer.
Suite 101: How many drafts can your books go though before becoming published?
Birdseye: It varies. I’d say on average in the low twenties.
An Active Lifestyle
Suite 101: Your website says you enjoy skiing, rock climbing, and backpacking. Does your active lifestyle feed your writing?
Birdseye: Well, I was an outdoors kid – home from school, throw my books on the kitchen counter and right back out the door. And writing is a very indoor activity, so when I get done for the day or get a chance, I naturally gravitate to outdoor activities. It renews me, so that’s an indirect way it feeds my writing.
Also, in my upcoming novel Storm Mountain, the plot revolves around mountaineering and I do a lot of that. I was on a backpacking trip with some friends around Mount Hood which is the highest peak in Oregon. And I was saying, “I love being out here!” And then I thought, “Why haven’t I ever written a story in the mountains?” So that kind of triggered that.
So yeah – what I do outside my writing time feeds my writing. It’s part of who I am and that becomes part of what I write.
Read more writing tips from Tom Birdseye by visiting the Official Website of Tom Birdseye!
Learn why Tom became drawn to writing children's books at Storyteller Shares Thoughts on Children's Books and read more interviews with children's authors at Interview with YA Author Kimberly K. Jones.
Tom Birdseye -- hard at work!
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Tom visiting his young fans.
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