Toad Hill Reviews: Lollipops or gum?

Katie: Well, it depends on what day you ask me. Since you asked me today, however, I'd have to say lollipops. Because I'm a candy freak. But if you posed this question, say, last Thursday, a day upon which I was trying to quit candy and was therefore chomping on piece after piece of sugarless gum, I would've said…gum.

Toad Hill Reviews: There was a lot of talk about fairies in your book, and coincidentally, Toad Hill is thick with them. Have you ever seen fairies in real life, or anything that might be magic?

Katie: I know someone who saw the tooth fairy's blue sparkles as she left the room. I find that hard to believe though, because everyone knows the tooth fairy's boyfriend is the sandman, and he wouldn't let anyone stay awake if they're due for a tooth fairy visit.

Toad Hill Reviews: And as far as magic?

Katie: I think extreme acts of kindness are magical, as hokey as that sounds.

Toad Hill Reviews: Did you always want to be a writer? If not, what inspired you to become one?

Katie: I always loved to write. I kept journals and diaries (what is the difference, anyway?) from the age of 11 or so until I was in my twenties. Growing up there wasn't access to writers like there is now, thanks to the internet. I never knew writing for a living was even a job possibility. I knew I wanted to write for my work, and thought I'd be a journalist, or in advertising (both of which I tried, wasn't too good at and didn't like too much). It never occurred to me that I'd wind up writing books, even though I was writing and illustrating little book gifts for friends and families for years (some of them are on my website *– and they're really bad!)

Toad Hill Reviews: If a two foot, pink trouser clad elf hopped up to you a told you he could grant you the blessing of choosing one day in your life to relive, what would it be and why?

Katie: Actually, I'd rather experience every new day, and not go back. But If I could go back it'd be the day in fourth grade, when Harvey Neubart* started teasing me on a school trip to the local forest. I cried, and my reaction opened the door on a year of teasing that was brutal. If I could relive that day, I would stand up to Harvey, and that would change the course of the year.

On the other hand, being teased my entire fourth grade year made me a reader, and made me feel deeply for the characters I read about. If I'd been popular and happy, maybe I wouldn't have ended up being a writer.

Toad Hill Reviews: When you write, do you find yourself following the character's instinct instead of your own?

Katie: When I'm really deep into writing, I don't even have to try to follow the character's instinct. But upon re-reading my work, I'll usually find a word or phrase here and there that is not true to the character – that is why revision is so valuable!

Toad Hill Reviews: What do you think it would be like to be a character in a book?

Katie: Very flat.

Toad Hill Reviews: Aha! Now we come to the oh-so-popular, skillful hijacking of a 3 Evil Cousins question: the create-your-own–question question!

Katie: Can I give you $42,673,858,787?

Toad Hill Reviews: Frogs or toads?

Katie: No offense, but they both freak me out. However, I do have a picture book manuscript that begins:

If I were a bullfrog and you were a toad,
We could ribbit all day in amphibian code,
We could hop till we drop and hang out by the swamp
And stay on the lookout for insects to chomp.

Toad Hill Reviews: Here is a lovely writing prompt! Just continue the story if you wish! … A soothing feeling comes over you and you find yourself nodding. Yet, comfortable as you are, you start to regret asking the little red fairy with horns to sing to you. As you began to drift into a painless sleep, you wonder if you'll ever wake up again. A wave of panic washes over you until, suddenly…

Katie: …I remember that I made up the little red fairy with horns! So I make her disappear in a shower of candy, but not before I have her sing me to sleep with the voice of Aretha Franklin. But she's so good that I open my eyes, and there is Aretha, standing in my room! She says nothing, just keeps singing. And I am happy.

The End.

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