I had the best chat with Maxine Rose Schur for this Author Spotlight! She’s written dozens of titles and taught for decades. I tried to squeeze in as much of our talk as I could here, so please enjoy!
You write travel writing and children’s writing, what type of writing came first for you?
Well, it’s kind of funny. It was almost simultaneously. I was living in New Zealand for five years and I started to write about my memories of living in a Turkish village and I wrote them for children. So, even though they were children’s stories that were published by the New Zealand Department of Education, they were actually my first attempt at trying to document my travels.
Then later in the 1980s when Afghanistan was invaded by the Russians, I wrote an article about my memories of Afghanistan, traveling in Afghanistan.
That really launched me as a travel writer. A few years later, I won a Lowell Thomas Award given by the Society of American Travel Writers for an article I did on what it was like to hitchhike around the Caribbean and I think, for me, that validated that I really was a writer.
Congratulations on that! When balancing the type of writing that you do, what does that look like for you? Do you switch back and forth between different projects?
I do, actually. For example, now I’m working on my second book of travel essays and I’m also finishing up a young adult novel. So, yeah. I wear two hats and I just alternate them.
When did you first get involved in the writing community and what has that been like for you over the years?
It’s kind of a funny story because I’ve been a member for decades in the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators in the San Francisco Bay Area region. Historically there wasn’t a lot going on. More recently there are more events where you can meet other people and network and commiserate.
In terms of the writing community online, actually that came about in a funny way for me. I was teaching children’s book writing in San Francisco a couple of years ago and one of my students took my lessons to heart and began publishing her first children’s books.
What astonished me about her was not how dedicated she was to really learning the craft but how savvy she became in getting the word out about her books. So, she ended up teaching me how to do that.
Her name is Stephanie Wildman and she’s now on her third book and she’s just been a wonderful marketing mentor to me. I’ve been reaching out to other children’s writing groups, to other writers, to bloggers, librarians, teachers and that’s been a very gratifying experience–to feel that you’re not so alone because writing is a pretty solitary profession.
I had her on the blog a couple weeks back talking about her first two books. I feel like we all have something we can give each other even if we’re at the different stages of the writing process or our career. The kidlit people are so generous with their knowledge. Are you working on any other projects, you mentioned a YA novel and travel essays?
I have a few irons in the fire. I wrote a picture book which I have sent out to agents so I don’t know where that’s going. That’s kind of a fun one for me because it’s about how small children observe very small things.
I remember taking my son when he was about two to a friend’s house and the only thing he remembered about that was the butterfly magnet on my friend’s refrigerator. So, I wrote a picture book called I Always See The Little Things and it’s about observing the small things in nature as you’re going about.
My latest book is a middle grade and it’s got a really interesting story. I’ve sent it out to Lord knows how many publishers and it did not get accepted so I ended up publishing it through the Society of Children’s Book Writers. They have a program–a publishing arm–called Snowy Wings. Surprisingly and wonderfully it has gotten terrific reviews on Kirkus and Publishers Weekly and I’ve been thinking, ‘Well, that’s really strange, isn’t it?’
I’ve been having a lot of fun right now promoting this book. Also, what I do for each of my books and I would recommend this to all children’s book authors nowadays, is create an educational resource that teachers and parents can use to expand the learning of the book.
You mentioned you don’t write all day long. You’ll take a break to go for a walk or something. What are the ways that you refill your creative well?
There’s several ways. One is I do a lot of reading. Tons of reading! Often in my reading I’ll find something and it’ll just be some little dinky fact. And I’ll say, “Well, now. That’s really interesting. Maybe that could be expanded into a story.”
So, reading, being open to the world, to new ideas, to what’s going on out in the world.
Travel has often inspired me with my children’s books. For example, this book, which was named the best picture book from the Northern California Book Reviews Association, Brave with Beauty illustrated by Patricia Grush, Robin Dewitt, and Golsa Yaghoobi, is about a little-known Queen who lived in the 14th century Afghanistan. Many historians believe she was one of the most powerful women who ever lived but very few people know about her.
When I visited Afghanistan many years ago and saw her tomb, I thought, ‘Well, who is she?’ Then I started doing research and years later, I wrote this book.
Even dreams–I did a book a few years ago. It’s a picture alphabet book that’s gorgeously illustrated by Patricia Grush-Dewitt and Robin Dewitt called Pigs Dancing Jigs.
It’s about all these animals that do wacky things. For the letter H, it shows these hares–rabbits–that are sort of elongated wearing tuxedos and top hats like Fred Astaire and they’re going up this staircase. I had this bizarre vision of these rabbits climbing up these stairs with these top hats and tails and I thought, ‘Huh, hares climbing stairs.’ That prompted me to think about other animals and what they might be doing.
Oh, that’s the best! Why do you write?
When I was a young girl I wanted to be an actress and I wanted to create characters. I learned a lot–I majored in drama and I actually did become a professional actress when I lived in New Zealand.
So, I was always interested in story. I was always interested in character. But then over the years I’ve switched to writing which is really the same thing. It’s story and character that I’ve always been in love with because I’ve also always been a great reader.
But when I think of why I’m writing, I honestly think that it goes back to what the French philosopher Montaigne said, “We write to figure out what we’re thinking.” That often happens where I start writing and think, ‘Yeah, that’s what I’m interested in. Yeah, that’s what I believe.’ It’s when I get it down on paper that I start to realize what I’m really focused on.
If you could go back in time and give one piece of advice to yourself before you begin your writing journey what would it be?
I would probably tell myself to chill out.
I remember the times when I was just so keen on being a children’s book writer. I hadn’t had anything published yet; I was in great admiration of writers who had been published. And I just had this great yearning and I would write and write and often get a load of rejections, and get very discouraged. Then I realized that eventually they did get published and won awards
I had a book that went out to 60 publishers over five years. I know it was 60 because it was before the internet and that’s when I would send out things in snail mail. Then one day I came home and three of the top New York publishers wanted it on the same day. So, go figure.
I didn’t understand how that happened. The book won awards. So, even though I’m older now I actually have more patience.
When I teach and students say, “I don’t know about my book. I sent it out to five publishers and I got rejected.” And I’m like, “Five publishers? That’s nothing! You have got to keep going! It’s a numbers game. All you need is one editor to love it and because I’ve had so many experiences like that, gosh, I just have this faith in myself at this point.
That’s what I would do. I would just tell people to be persistent and keep going. It’s going to happen for you if you really work on your craft and believe in yourself.
Tell us about your latest book, where it’s available and the best way for readers to connect with you?
My latest book is this one that I mentioned, The Word Dancer and it is a fantasy adventure novel with a female protagonist. It was a lot of fun to write. It celebrates the beauty and power of words in the English language and it encourages children, I hope, to have fun with words. To play with the English language because it’s so playful. We know that Shakespeare did loads of playing with the language. So, even though it is a fast-paced suspenseful adventure story, it does bring in the topic of what you can do with words and how important and powerful even a single word can be.
The book is sold on Amazon and Barnes & Nobles and you can order it from any bookstore. You go on my website and read a little bit more about the book and some of the reviews.
Perfect! If someone wants to follow you, are you on any social media or is your website the best place to connect with you?
I think my website is probably the best place although I’m also on Facebook.
Thank you! It’s been a pleasure talking with you. Is there anything else you wanted to mention that we didn’t talk about today?
I just wanted to mention one thing. I have a new book coming out in September and this just goes back to what I said about getting a lot of rejections or having a book in your drawer for decades.
I wrote this book probably 40 years ago and I didn’t do anything much with it at all. And then I kind of revised it and lo and behold it is going to be coming out as a picture book. It’s called A Tale of Bread and Thread and it’s a funny um story which is beautifully illustrated by an Italian illustrator. It’s not quite available for pre-order yet, but will be on the Lawley Publishing website.
If you want more, check out last week’s Author Spotlight with Leslie Barnard Booth. And stay tuned for next week!
