Interview with Marci!

Yay, I've managed to snag another great author who's daring enough to venture by Kidbits and answer a few questions. Marci Matthews is an author and illustrator, who's not afraid to get out there and help others whenever she notices that help is necessary. Don't believe me? Then just read about her yourself!

MARCI MATTHEWS!!!

Marci Matthews is a philanthropist, advocate, author and illustrator. Over the years, Matthews has worked with fraternities and sororities to support various charity events. She feels called to help survivors of sexual violence and is a trained and certified advocate with the Rape Crisis Center of Medina in Ohio.  She is also very active with the Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN.org), working for the online hotline, becoming a member of RAINN's National Leadership Council and a member of their Speakers Bureau. In 2013, she received the organization’s Hope Award for her deep involvement. That same year, Matthews founded the not-for-profit Grace Initiative Foundation Tree to support her philanthropic initiatives.

http://www.marcimmatthews.com/books.html





Hello, Marci! And welcome to Kidbits. I'm so excited that you could stop by. You just brought out a wonderful new book. . .actually, it's more of a journal, Every Day a Hope. What can you tell us about it?

I see Every Day a Hope as an empowerment tool and a source of reflection for readers. When I created the journal’s tiny stories and illustrations, I intentionally layered as many possibilities into each page. I wanted the book to look simple, but be meaningful on several levels. I want each reader to ruminate on a particular moment in a way that evokes personal reflection – a sort of mini epiphany from the reader’s own spirit, thoughts, history, mood and more. I want the reader to feel inspired, empowered, and expanded with a sense of her own thoughts and feelings. I want Every Day a Hope to be a safe place for people who need to heal and find hope. For me, Every Day a Hope started a conversation with myself. I hope this journal allows readers to better communicate and understand themselves as well.

Healing isn’t linear.  And life, love, and our spirit-growth don’t follow linear paths, either. I want the pages of Every Day a Hope to suggest possibilities, and I hope each reader will make the journal her own in whatever way that means. Draw. Make lists. Think great thoughts. Take the pages of Every Day a Hope and color them, share feelings, make lists and draw out your dreams. You’ll notice, too, that I often switch up the pronouns I use in the journal. I do this to be inclusive, but I also switch pronoun usage if I feel society needs to think about a concept differently. My only wish is that this book brings something more to the reader: hope, healing, reflection, a lost memory, or just a new possibility created from a moment.

Some people like to keep their books as perfect as possible, not creasing the spine or bending a page. I must admit, I am the complete opposite. I devour, digest, display, and dismember books from enjoying them so much. I turn down corners, write in them, eat around them and make them part of my moment.

Not only are the words inspiring, but the pictures are simply amazing! Do you do your own artwork? Why is there an angel on every page?

I do create all of the art. Some pages literally started out as sketches on napkins or on the backs of bills I paid. I also have a tablet I can draw on directly, which I love. I chose to work only with black and white illustrations for Every Day a Hope because I want the reader to discover for herself the many shades of color available to her own path of healing.

 The angel is representative of the spirit, and it is meant to be inclusive since I don’t want this book limited by one viewpoint. Sometimes the angel is a symbol of the reader, sometimes it is meant as an active character on the page - often both. The angel is an “everyman” symbol meant to enhance and and reflect the reader’s own spirit.

You’ve worked as an award-winning crisis counselor for years. What place do you think journaling holds in the healing process?

Funny you should ask, because the conversations I’ve had regarding journaling led me with great purpose to make this book a reality. In my earlier books, I’ve presented stories because I believed they had significance and positivity, but with Every Day a Hope, I wanted to focus on healing, hope, and surviving specifically because of my hotline work.

One way to heal is to write everything down but keep only the positive. For instance, if you are using scraps of paper, throw the good things you’ve written in a box or a drawer, but get rid of all the negative notes. Say you are so angry right now or sad, write down anything at all that comes to mind. Write the way you feel, even hold the pen or crayon angrily or sadly if you want, but when you are done, rip it up and get rid of it. If what you wrote is in a notebook, tear out the page. Weeks or months later, if you look in the box or the drawer, especially on a bad day, you will find only positive reinforcement. This exercise can be very rewarding and empowering.

I believe the idea of a journal can be extremely beneficial for anyone, especially someone who has experienced trauma. The act of keeping lists or things one might put in a photo album or scrapbook all in one place can truly help the speed and quality of healing. “Journaling” can sound cool, but it can also sound intimidating, expensive, and like a lot of work to some people, including me. No one has to have an expensive journal or even a notebook, scraps of paper can serve a positive function. The important thing is to keep it positive and eliminate the negative.

Here are some things you could keep in a notebook: safety notes, safety planning, support contacts, resources, things you did on a good day, things that you like or used to like, songs or movies that make you happy, places you’d like to visit, photos of anything or anyone you like, random positive thoughts or quotes, observations. Don’t pressure yourself  and don’t feel you must start on page one. Start anywhere you please. Write sideways or upside down. I used to experiment a lot with texture, size, and color. It can be really exhilarating to use a roll of paper and paintbrush or sidewalk chalk.

What’s next for you? Is there another book in the works?

There is another book! It is titled Every Cloud a Dream, and it will explore themes of diversity and acceptance. Because of the book’s focus on dreaming, I will include more abstract and imaginary art. Attainable or not, we should have crazy, beautiful, and awesome dreams in our hearts and our heads: We should be dreamers!  I think it is going to be a delightful challenge.

You obviously love to write. What is your favorite part about the process? 

I think my favorite part about writing, as well as reading, is feeling like I am in a different world - whether it's a few minutes or many hours - it feels just like one giant moment of wholeness, enthusiasm, and focus. The feeling I get from writing is similar to that feeling when you wake up from the greatest dream and it lingers in your spirit for a while and you wish you could go back to sleep, only you're awake.

Is there any part of writing which you would rather eat worms than do?

To be honest, when I was little, I read the book called How to Eat Fried Worms by Thomas Rockwell, so I know it can't be that bad.  Plus, I ate cricket tacos in Washington DC last year. However, in the spirit of the question I’ll say, at the moment, it is cleaning my chicken coop. My three hens (Henrietta, Gertrude and Esther) lay green eggs (totally true) and are total slobs. Worms sound really, really good right now. 

Green eggs? I'll have to have a talk with my own chickens and see if I can't get them to lay some of those.

But if you read Thomas Rockwell as a child, I'm betting you loved for books to transport you to different worlds. What was your biggest wish as a child?

Wow! This is a great question. I grew up a little differently than most people, so I always wished to be allowed just to read. Books were and still are the most important thing in my life in many ways. As a child I wanted to create and have people feel good about what I created. I spent many summers painting rocks, using colored markers (still love them) and trying to make sagebrush and wildflower perfumes in paper cups by the side of a river. I really wish the perfumes had caught on: If you've not grown up near sagebrush, you just don't know what you're missing.

Thanks again, Marci!

Before I go out and lecture my chickens about those eggs, here's a quick glimpse at her new book. If you want to take a peek at my review, feel free to head over to Bookworm for Kids!

Through tiny stories and illustrations, Every Day a Hope encourages and empowers readers to examine emotionally difficult issues, while instilling confidence, introspection, and creativity. In each page, Marci M. Matthews addresses familiar concepts in a unique manner, designed to evoke thoughts, feelings, changes in perspective, and the ability to embrace the positive. The concepts in Every Day a Hope are taken from Matthews' work with survivors, but the book is accessible to anyone who wants to find new ways to approach life with a positive outlook. Accompanying pages encourage readers to embark on their own explorations by asking questions and providing space to draw, write, keep lists, and create in whatever ways inspire them the most. Marci M. Matthews is an author, artist, philanthropist, and Certified Advocate. A survivor herself, she is the founder of the Grace Initiative Foundation Tree, a charitable organization dedicated to the healing and prevention of sexual violence. In 2013, Marci received the RAINN (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network) HOPE Award for Fighting Sexual Violence and Helping Survivors. She volunteers as an online and phone hotline staffer, a hospital advocate and more.

The Secret Adventures of Author Courtney King Walker

I'm thrilled to have a super author on Kidbits today, who writes adventures not only for YA but also for MG. She's agreed not only to answer my questions (which already gets her bonus points in my book) but reveals some secrets from her own childhood.

And here she is. . .

COURTNEY KING WALKER!!!

For those of you who don't know who this amazing person is (and you should because she just released a fun MG adventure, MOLLY PEPPER AND THE NIGHT TRAIN), here's a quick summary:

Courtney King Walker grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area building rocket ships and rafts out of cardboard, hoping to make it the moon or at least Niagara Falls. But a trip across the border to Tijuana was as exciting as it ever got, so she decided writing about adventure was the next best thing. She now lives in the Rocky Mountains with her husband and four children, and still dreams of flying to the moon. Her YA debut, ON THE FRINGE, was published in 2011 by Lands Atlantic Publishing.

Thanks so much for agreeing to stop by today! And since I'm sure you have some exciting escapade waiting right around the corner, let's just dive right in!

I just finished you newest book, Molly Pepper and the Night Train, and loved Molly and Noah. You take them to the most amazing places, spots most kids would love to go themselves--the abandoned prison and a magical night train. Were you a small adventurer yourself as a child or dream of similar adventures?

I was a dreamer, that’s for sure. In real life I’ve always been overly cautious and afraid to take risks, especially if danger was involved. That didn’t mean I was afraid of my own neighborhood, however; my siblings and I still explored the creeks and hills behind our house together, certain to discover something mysterious. We just made sure we didn’t talk to strangers, and we definitely locked our windows every night (a big imagination can paralyze you, you know).

An adventure I remember very well to this day happened when I was about ten or so. It was a hot summer day, so my older sister and I rode our bikes up to the store to get ice cream cones. While there, we noticed a nervous-looking man getting out of his car and start to pace around the front entrance of the store for a minute, checking over his shoulder with a nervous look on his face. He then dropped something like a package into a garbage can before driving away. We thought that seemed a little odd, but were really convinced something was up when another man arrived five minutes later to retrieve the same package out of the garbage can! It most definitely was Russian correspondence or a drug deal—something very dangerous, at least. The cops, of course disagreed; they thought we made the whole thing up!

How frustrating! And I'm sure you and your sister were right...probably would have thwarted some secret plot. If only the cops had listened. I'm guessing from this, you had a nose for mystery from beginning on. When you sit down to write, do you already know what and how the clues will be hidden or do the ideas fall into place as you write? (I guess this is almost one of those panster or ploster questions, isn't it?)

All the right clues in the right place come after the first draft, otherwise my brain couldn’t handle it! I just get the story down after a very loose outline, and then when I revise, that’s when all the fun ideas and clues start popping up and I put them where they are supposed to go! I guess you could say I’m a little of both. I need some structure, but too much makes me feel like writing is the worst chore in the world.

If only writing were always easy. What is your favorite part about creating a story? And what would you rather eat worms than do?

Coming up with the initial idea and then connecting myself to the setting and characters is the most fun. I learned the hard way that I can’t write something that sounds good on paper but has no connection to me, whatsoever. I need to visualize and feel and experience the setting and characters like they were pulled out of my own life, otherwise it’s like I’m writing a product description for a catalogue. So, the research (meaning going home to visit my favorite places) is a huge deal and the most fun. For instance, eating my favorite doughnuts to understand Molly’s passion wasn’t all that bad!

As far as the second question, I hate hate hate bridging the big gaps of time in between the last section I wrote and what I want to write next. I’ve learned that in order not to neglect my family life I have to put writing second and my family first. That means stepping away from my story, even when I really have a great groove going, and then coming back to it days or weeks later, trying to find my enthusiasm and rhythm again.

Now, I'm going to ask some fun, quick questions. What were you favorite books while growing up?

I have so many. I loved Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, even Agatha Christie’s books. I guess I’ve always loved mysteries. I also loved Watership Down, The Westing Game, The Hobbit, and Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing.

What book are you reading right now?

I just finished an amazing YA sci-fi/romance called A Thousand Pieces of You, by Claudia Gray. It’s so good! You must read it.

When you aren’t writing, what do you like to do?

I love reading and learning about new things by researching new ideas or techniques. I love baking but also eating what I bake, so I try to keep the baking to a minimum; however I have a weak spot for homemade pies and delicious doughnuts (not the cheap supermarket kind). I also love organizing, listening to music, and watching movies.

Mmmm donuts, pies and movies...sounds wonderful to me! Well, I don't want to keep you from any of that (especially the donut researching). Thanks for stopping by!


You can find more about Courtney at:

 Website | Twitter | Goodreads

And of course, we can't leave without giving a short peek at her latest book! Head on over to Bookworm for Kids for my thoughts on it AND there's a fun giveaway running, which you might just want to enter as well!

Hidden somewhere in the fog of the San Francisco bay lies Blue Rock Island, home to the bay area’s two best-kept secrets: Bell’s Bluff, the old, abandoned prison on one side of the island, and the Night Train, a mysterious train ride on the other. When twelve-year-old Molly Pepper receives a secret invitation promising a night of magic and adventure aboard the Night Train, she is skeptical. In her experience, most promises prove too good to be true. The fact that she lost her mom is proof enough.

Still, Molly gives hope another chance. Together with her loyal friend, Noah Wonderly, they sneak out of the house and follow a string of clues leading to the Night Train. But when the train stops at Bell's Bluff, Molly discovers the real reason she was invited. There, she starts to wonder if hope and magic not only fix broken promises; but make you believe in them again.

You can find this at. . .

 Goodreads | Amazon

And don't forget the Giveaway!

a Rafflecopter giveaway