Q: Today’s Question comes from a reader/writer: I’ve been thinking a lot about the difference between editing poems and editing stories recently: How do you know when a poem is done? Do you run it past a group of peers for feedback first, or is it just something you feel in your heart? When are you satisfied?   J: If possible, …

Q: Last Q & J of the year. What is your New Year’s writing resolution?   J: New Years Resolutions Resolution 1: Keep writing, stop complaining. Resolution 2: Write more short stories. Resolution 3. Help kill off AI (go lookup that battle yourself). Resolution 4: Do more teaching of writing. Resolution 5: Finish (or at least get …

Q: Your first picture book published was SEE THIS LITTLE LINE. You have a book called SEE THIS LITTLE DOT coming out in 2024. Are they related? Tell us about the connection. J: Absolutely related. But the many years between means the illustrations are not by the same person (I do not even know if that …

Q:  People talk about work/life balance a lot these days. You don’t really do that. You work when you want… What do you consider your work/life balance? J: First I am lucky because I LOVE my work. I rarely call it “work.”  It’s storytelling, or writing a poem or poems. But of course it is work.  I …

Q: What are some books you are reading right now? What is in your TBR list that you are looking forward to reading?   J: I am reading  a Ruth Rendell mystery for fun. I am reading  the biography of children’s book author Arthur Ransome both because I love his books as a child and …

Q: You were the second person to join SCBWI. You are still involved (even though you retired from the board). Why is this organization so important and why do you think it’s important for new writers to join? Q: It is not enough to just write a book, you need to understand how professional writers write, …

Q: To rhyme or not to rhyme? That is the question. How do you know if your book should rhyme? What advice do you give to writers who show you their rhymed manuscript? J: That is both an easy and difficult answer. The easy answer is “You know it in your bones.” The hard answer is: …

Q: Last week you mentioned WMIG, a group for illustrators in the Western Massachusetts area (Western Mass Illustrator’s Guild). But, you aren’t an illustrator. Tell us about it and why you are still so involved. J:  OK, so there are some selfish reasons– I get to see new children’s book art before the editor’s do. …

Q: You cannot stop raving about how beautiful the art by Paolo Domeniconi for your new book TEA WITH AN OLD GIANT is. What’s it like when you first see art for a picture book? This one, but also, just in general? J: I am a great lover of art and artists. I began the Western …

Q: What is your favorite thing to write? J:  Poetry and picture books are definitely my favorites. Not because they are short, (I have written long poems/linked poems and novels in verse) but because I have been a poet from childhood. I sometimes talk to my husband in rhyme, send things to school children that are …