Heather Vogel Frederick is a real gem of a person and a blast to read no matter what your age. My family is working our way through her Mother-Daughter Book Club series and enjoying every minute. Please help me welcome Heather!
Introducing Heather Vogel Frederick
After a 20-year career as a journalist, Heather Vogel Frederick decided it was high time to fulfill her lifelong dream of writing fiction for young readers. Today, she’s the author of over a dozen books, including Once Upon a Toad and the popular Mother-Daughter Book Club and Spy Mice series. Heather’s work spans many genres, from picture books to fantasy, historical fiction, fractured fairy tales, and contemporary realism and has been honored both nationally and internationally and translated into a number of languages. A former staff reporter and children’s book review editor for The Christian Science Monitor, Heather has also written for the New York Times, Child, Family Life, and Publishers Weekly, where she was a contributing editor for many years. Learn more at http://www.heathervogelfrederick.com/.
Learn about Spy Mice: The Black Paw
In Book 1 of the newly repackaged Spy Mice series, a savvy secret agent mouse teams up with a kid who has superspy aspirations.
Fifth-grader Oz Levinson has always dreamed of being a spy, just like his hero James Bond. In real life though, Oz’s 007 moves are seriously lacking, and he’s a target for bullies. Then he stumbles upon Glory Goldenleaf, a secret agent mouse based in Washington D.C.’s International Spy Museum.
Glory is a tiny spy with a huge problem: The evil rat Roquefort Dupont has kidnapped her father, and she needs to launch a rodent rescue! Recruited to lend a helping hand, Oz and his new friend D.B. are swept into an exciting world of small-scale espionage. Armed with high-tech gadgets, pigeon power, and a whole lot of cheese, Glory and her team won’t rest until her father is rescued and justice is done.
Learn about For Your Paws Only
In Book 2 of the Spy Mice series, adventure is in store when a secret agent mouse and her fifth-grade friends travel to New York City.Glory Goldenleaf, spy mouse extraordinaire, is assigned her first solo Silver Skateboard mission—to tail the evil rat Roquefort Dupont all the way to the Big Apple. He’s paws-deep in a diabolical plot that could affect the international rodent community, and Glory’s determined to find out what it is.
Joining Glory in the big city is fifth-grader Oz Levinson, who’s a finalist in a junior bake-off contest. He and his friend D.B. will be competing against the best bakers in the country on live TV! But when Glory gets mouse-napped in Manhattan, Oz and D.B. need to stage a rescue mission. It will take all of their spy skills to save their favorite mouse, stop the rats’ dastardly scheme—and pull off the perfect dessert.
Learn about Goldwhiskers
In Book 3 of the newly repackaged Spy Mice series, the secret agents head to London—and uncover an international mystery.Oz Levinson is beyond excited when his family decides to spend winter vacation in England. The chance to tour London (a.k.a. James Bond’s home base) and get a break from the school bullies will make this a very jolly holiday indeed. Even better, his friend Glory Goldenleaf—world-renowned spy mouse—is along for the ride.
Soon though, their vacation turns into a business trip. A series of jewel thefts have left the police baffled, and Glory has her eye on some pocket-size suspects. It looks like Goldwhiskers—the richest rat in the world—and some familiar rodent villains have their paw-prints all over this. Then the rat thieves go after the big cheese: the Crown Jewels. In a race to return England’s national treasures to safety, Glory Goldenleaf, international mouse of mystery, and her friend Oz are on the case!
I asked Heather three questions about our giveaway’s theme topic, self-expression:
1. Is self-expression an important part of your life today, why or why not?
Self-expression is as natural to each of us as breathing. In fact, it’s basically the first thing we do when we enter this world. What is an infant’s cry, if not self-expression? We are literally born primed to create. Each one of us has unique gifts, unique talents we’re meant to share, and mine happens to be writing. Is it an important part of my life today? Absolutely. I get restless when I’m not writing. If I’m between stories, even if I have no clear end in mind I’m still scribbling things that come to me—lines of dialogue, character’s names, snippets of description—into notebooks and onto napkins at restaurants or stray pieces of paper fished from my purse. Writing is simply what I do; it’s how I make sense of the world.
2. What does self-expression mean to you and how do you do it in the world?
After every book I finish, I nearly always think, “That’s it; I’m done. I’m out of ideas for good.” I’m sincerely convinced of it. And then, after a while, the restlessness sets in and a story begins to nibble at the edge of consciousness. It starts as a drop or two, grows to a trickle, and soon it’s a deluge that can’t be ignored and I’m off and running again.
I can tell you a funny story about how one of my books came into being. We have fabulous berries here in Oregon, and I was at my favorite farm one beautiful summer day picking boysenberries for a pie. Like most writers I know, I’m constantly noodling around with words no matter where I am or what else I’m doing, and all of a sudden it struck me what an odd word “boysenberry” was. “There really should be a girlsenberry, too,” I thought. From there my mind leaped directly to “babyberry,” and since I was planning to go home and make a pie, naturally that expanded into Babyberry Pie, which ended up being my first picture book.
3. How does your self-expression impact the world—your family, your friends, your readers, and everyone else?
As a writer, you obviously hope that what comes from your heart will touch other hearts. There’s no greater joy than hearing from a reader, and I’ve been tremendously fortunate in this regard. As for family and friends, their support for what is often an odd lifestyle—we literary types can be distracted, even peevish creatures, and my family has endured a great deal of pizza over the years when I’m on deadline—means the world. So does their encouragement and praise. The very best compliment I’ve ever received was from my son Ian, who was in middle school at the time. After he finished reading my book The Voyage of Patience Godspeed, he came to me and said, “Mom, that last part was so exciting I forgot you wrote it!” It doesn’t get much better than that.
And Now, Your Turn…
You remember how this works right?
Please read the complete rules at least once!
I ask you a question.
You answer in the comments for your chance to win a book each day.
Please just respond once, even if you make a typo. 
Answer in the comments in 50-200 words (no less and no more to qualify to win one of today’s books).
Where do your best ideas come from? How do you track your ideas? Do you think you could ever run out of ideas?
Ready, set, comment! I will hold the drawing tomorrow and post the results here in my blog.
Thanks for participating in the Writer Mama Every-Day-In-May Book Giveaway!
And thanks for spreading the word. We will be giving away great books by wonderful women authors all month.
View the complete list of authors and books.
View the giveaway Pinterest board
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My best ideas come from watching my world around me or by
listening to music, reading a good book or most often, by writing. Just putting
pen to paper opens up a door to ideas. It seems like ideas just pop into my
head through a magical connection from my pen and paper to my brain.
Many of my best ideas come to me when I’m lying awake at night, anxious about a big decision I need to make or an unfolding scenario which could move forward in any number of directions. Sometimes in my head I’ll sketch out a storyline for each possible outcome. It helps me remember that while we can hope for what we want to happen, the unexpected is often the most interesting.
I keep my phone by my bed (rather than trying to find a notebook and a pen in the dark) so I can just press a button and speak my idea in stream of consciousness as it comes to me. The way my mind stresses and obsesses, I doubt I’ll ever run out of story fodder.
My best ideas come from day to day events in the
news or newspaper, incidents that happen to me or others around me. I’m drawn
to the horrible injustices’ we hear about every day and they make me angry, which then makes me want to write what I feel.
I make notes on post its, the back
of receipts, scraps of paper anything I can put my hands on because some of
those ideas are fleeting and will escape if I don’t capture them. I love the phone idea for notes below. (pennykarma)
The world we
live in is amazing-the technology, the medical advances, and the fact
that we seem to be continuously at war, to name a few. I don’t think I could
live long enough to cover all the things that catch my interest. No I’ll never
run out of ideas.
I never have trouble coming up with ideas…I have trouble finding time to write them all! I jot ideas in margins, on paper scraps and sticky notes. And I (eventually) transfer them into spiral notebooks organized by area (for instance I have a notebook for business related topics, one for parenting topics, one for military topics, etc). That way when I am looking for an idea to pitch to one of my markets I can glean something from my notebook or use the ideas I find there to inspire some other idea that feels timely and exciting.
Other than life experiences, I’m not sure where my best ideas come from. We are all on this unique journey, but inevitably we see the same sights and share similar experiences along the way; if my perspective, or capturing someone else’s perspective — with permission, of course — can help enlighten others along their own path, then as a writer, I’m doing my job. My best ideas come when I can quiet my mind; generally in the shower (though I’m pressed to remember those ideas — I need to hang a dry erase board or something in my bathroom!) or when I’m laying down on my way to sleep. Often when I run or do yoga I can work through a nagging semblance of an idea into an actual complete thought. I keep a notebook/pen by my bed and in my Mom-bag, but I’ll also use the “Notes” section of my phone when it’s most handy.
As long as I’m living and reaching out to others, I don’t think I’ll ever run out of ideas. So many ideas emanate from actual experiences or conversations with other Mamas or friends — those are great starters for pitches for parenting articles! Oh, and reading. I think I over-research articles until there’s no more to learn. But I always learn more, and write more. That’s how this goes, right?
My best ideas often come when I least expect them–but often when I have found a rare moment to clear my head of the jumbled to-do list that constantly jangles about in my mind and I stop to pause–be it in the car, the shower, falling asleep or waking up. The challenge is in finding time to have that uncluttered mental time! I don’t track them in an formal way but that’s a really good idea! I think I tend to just “go and do” whenever the idea pops into my head. I never worry about running out of ideas as life is full of too many twists and turns that inspire action or response.
As an aside, I just wanted to note that for a long time I encouraged my daughter to pick up the “Mother Daughter Book Club” because I thought it looked good when I picked it up at the bookstore. She would end up choosing other books so eventually I just bought it for her. She LOVED it and it and it the rest of the series are now her (and her sister’s) most thumbworn, re-read, favorite books–they were both quite devastated for the series to end, but we look forward to new works from Heather!
My ideas come from every day life, from the stories that play themselves out among the people in my life. Sometimes my mind is closed to seeing them that way and other times I see everything as a potential story idea! When that happens the ideas swirl in my head and I have to write them down on notebooks, scraps of paper I can find, toilet paper, napkins… I also send myself emails with random thoughts I want to use in my writing. I am sure my husband is often puzzled by the emails with incomprehensible phrases and scraps of paper all over the house. When I feel like my ideas have dried up I try to be patient and remember it is an ebb and flow and soon I will start seeing the ideas around me again.
My best ideas come from real life, but not necessarily my own. I spend a lot of time waiting places and I see a lot of interesting people come and go. There are also things that happen that appear in the news but there’s never any follow up on those stories. One I have lived with for a long time trying to get into the skin of the focus character. I might yet get there in my life time.
Anytime I have an idea I might want to write about I make a quick note about it in Evernote. Can’t lose them there and hopefully I will never run out that way.
I’m a very visual person so my best ideas typically come from an image – either a photo or something that i see as i’m going about my daily life. I also often get ideas from reading the news. I imagine what is happening “behind the scenes” of the news story and that provides great fodder for ideas.
I do a terrible job of keeping track of my ideas. If i’m not able to begin writing right away, I try to jot down a few notes on my idea in a scrivener document, but they are often lost. I’ll be interested in reading how everybody else keeps track of their ideas – maybe I’ll get some ideas!
I am afraid that the ideas will stop, but since i began writing the ideas just keep coming. 🙂
My best ideas don’t necessarily come from one place. I often imagine a story scene while listening to music or looking at a photograph. One of my best ideas – the foundation for a trilogy – came after looking through some junk mail and reading about the plight of people on the other side of the world. I organize my ideas on my computer into files pertaining to essays, short stories, and novels. I go to these files when I need a break from my current project or when I’m ready to start something new. I sometimes wonder if my creativity will dry out, but I think as long as I keep reading and watching and asking the “what if” questions, I’ll always have the seeds of ideas to work with.
My best ideas come when I turn my brain off – so in dreams and during (gasp) exercise. Yes, that means I should exercise more often, which is the troublesome part. But, even a walk is enough to turn the brain off from it’s rat-on-the-wheel thoughts and get into the quiet space where ideas can come in. I go in fits and spurts with tracking my ideas. Ironically, when I start tracking I get so overwhelmed with ideas that I then stop. I want to keep up the momentum instead of getting intimidated by it. I think there are lulls in ideas when you just need input for awhile without output, but the ideas don’t completely stop or run out. Ideas breed more ideas.
A lot of my best ideas come from my real life, like when I am struggling to solve a problem and I can’t quite figure out how to do it – then I will either begin to do research on it to see what I need to do and then the idea keeps growing from there. The more I write the more ideas that I have. I have lists and lists of ideas – in notebooks; on my computer; they aren’t exactly organized, but sometimes the fun part is just going to a random list and choosing an idea. My worry is not running out of ideas, instead I wonder if I will ever catch up to them all!
My best ideas come from real life experiences, music, and photography. Even just putting my pen on paper will let the ideas flow. I my phone is always next to my bed so that if I have any late-night ideas, I don’t forget them. I always keep a small notebook with me, and have my large notebook at home. I don’t think I could ever run out of ideas, I’ll always find something to inspire me.
I think my best ideas come from my experiences and passion to help others. I once worked in an office doing research something I love to do, but I felt flat. I came to realize it was because I did not interact with people, and that is what motivates me. Dealing with data- wasn’t inspiring! Do I ever think I will run out of ideas? Lately yes– because I am on the mend from a car accident. I’m hoping as I improve I will have more ideas– it is starting somewhat–YEAH!!
Do I track my ideas? Yes and no. It’s not a long rigid system but often I will write things down to help me remember. It’s like on scraps of paper not a journal or notebook.Though lately I think that a journal might be a good idea.
I have been amazed at the effects of creativity on me. Once working with staff on an art therapy project- the conversations that started were amazing. The conversations led to understanding each other better- a great thing. Another time I was completely stressed out– COMPLETELY!!! I had paid for a paint your own pottery activity with friends and felt compelled to attend- even though I did not want to. Painting really helped me to release my stress and relax. Later that night I was much better able to look for solutions to my stress, which was very positive.
My best ideas come when I am sitting alone in a quiet house or at the beach with a journal and as much time to myself as possible. These ideas are tucked into the draft folders in my Gmail, on Evernote, in my blog, or written in journal. Usually when I get a great idea I cannot rest until I’ve worked it out as best as I can on paper or the computer. I don’t have a great idea organization system. I keep them in my memory banks or find them when I reopen a journal or file. Will I ever run out of ideas? Hmm…often I do feel out of ideas, but the ones worth writing about keep reappearing and then I have to work on them or suffer the loss of sleep over the idea simmering away in my brain.
Lately it doesn’t seem that any “best” ideas have been coming to me. I’m sure they are, but sometimes the grind of life drowns them out or makes me miss them – or simply dismiss them. The other night, however, I was talking to my sister about how we should start a design/craft business because of all the cruddy designs I was seeing for sale. We laughed, because neither of us have the time or inclination at the moment to do that right now. Plus, unique ideas weren’t forthcoming. But when I went to bed, ideas flooded my head. I was glad that back when I was feeling creative I put a pen and
notepad on my bedside table. They may not come often, but those late night ideas are always the most forceful, forcing me awake and not letting me go back to sleep until I write them down. And sometimes they’re not bad.
My best ideas come from my everyday life as a mom of three boys and leader of a moms’ group. Whether it’s reflecting on the latest creature one of my son’s has brought to me in his cupped hands or researching messy activities that I normally wouldn’t do, my ideas seem to never end. I keep Word documents with my ideas as well as notebooks.
My best ideas come when I’m not trying to come up with good ideas. Like when I’m in the shower, or on the treadmill, or gardening or walking the dog. Usually these ideas are related to
a creative campaign I’m working on, so as soon as I’m back at my computer, I type them in.
Sometimes I’ll come up with a good idea in the middle of the night, but I rarely wake up enough to write it down. In the morning all I remember is that I had a good idea I can’t remember. If I leave a notepad on my nightstand I stop waking up with good ideas.
Years ago I belonged to a Mastermind Group of business owners from a variety of industries. We met once a month to discuss each owner’s specific challenge and brainstorm solutions. It was a fantastic idea mill. I’ve been looking for a comparable group for years and haven’t found one yet. So my own ideas will have to do.
I think I’d have to be brain dead to stop coming up with ideas. There isn’t anything on earth that a good idea can’t improve.
I get my ideas when I’m not really trying. They come at the oddest times and under the strangest circumstances. For instance, I had an idea for an article that came to me as I was outside my child’s school waiting or her to leave at the end of the day. I would take a handicraft like crochet or knitting and sit in the car. The time spent was good for clearing my mind from my busy morning. My daughter was usually the last one out of the building and she would plod along reading a book. The caretaker was ready to lock up by the time she came drifting out. This was the time when ideas popped into my head about things I was not thinking of, but thoughts that could finally be heard, as my mind strayed, waiting…
My best ideas come from just ordinary life. Even from high school I would write down my ideas for future books or inventions that I had just thought of from conversations with friends, watching TV and now days ideas come from all my time spent with my little girl. I keep track of all my ideas including inventions, apparel, books, short stories and TV movies in a little notebook. Actually there are several little idea notebook around my house because I always put them in a safe place after I finish writing my notes but tend to forget where that safe place was.
My best ideas come from beyond me, from the part of me that is the divine I guess, which is infinite in its very nature so there could never be a ‘running out’ of ideas. When I am inspired, it is so simple and so beautiful, songs pour forth from me in their entirety. But alas, when they aren’t pouring forth I struggle to maintain some sort of discipline to encourage more creativity. I always always track my ideas on paper, any paper, my journal, napkins, scraps of paper, I LOVE pen and paper for exploration!
My family and I live in the country. Our house has a wrap around porch with rockers, that overlooks a huge field of horses. It’s one of the prettiest sight in my opinion. In the spring there are yellow clover that engulf the field. I watch the horses interact with one another. I love to sit outside on one of the rockers and just think. I come up with the best ideas and stories. I’m not a very creative person, and coming up with a plot and story for me is the hardest part. But sitting outside, watching the sun go down in the evening, watching the horses play with each other, watching the nature around me, gives me the best inspiration.
My best ideas come from random things in every day life. I’ll see something in the streets or at home, and make up a whole scenario in my mind of what would happen if…. I write down all my ideas in a notebook or email them to myself if I’m next to a computer. It’s impossible to run out of ideas because the inspiration is endless. It’s everywhere you go.