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Constance McGeorge
What is your connection to Ohio?
I was born in Akron, Ohio, and have lived in this state nearly all of my life. I came to Columbus to attend The Ohio State University and have lived here ever since.
What inspired you to become an author or illustrator?
Many authors say that they al ways wanted to be an author. I can't say that. When I was a kid, I didn't know what I wanted to be when I grew up. I taught school after college and for many years I worked in the business world. It wasn't until I spent a vacation with a dog name "Boomer" that I decided to write children's books.During a vacation visit at my friend Mary Whyte's new home in South Carolina, Mary and I were inspired to create a picture book and put her dog "Boomer" in it. And since Mary had just moved, we decided that our picture book would be about moving from Boomer's point of view. That story was published as Boomer's Big Day (Chronicle Books, 1994) and I've been writing children's books ever since.
What advice do you have for a young author or illustrator?
Writing stories takes time--at all stages of the writing process. It takes time to think of an idea for a story. Then, it takes time to create an outline for a story or to write a first draft. Then there are the rewrites to be done and the proofreading. So I guess my advice is remind yourself that writing does take time, and to prepare for spending that time to achieve the results that you want. I like to put time into my stories, because I have learned that the more time I spend with a story, the better that story is going to be.
What do you like to do for fun?
I like to do lots of things for fun, but my favorite thing to do is riding horses! I've ridden horses since I was a little girl and have been lucky enough to own horses and take them to horse shows. I don't own a horse right now, but I have many friends who own horses so I still get to ride a lot. I also like to spend time with my dogs--they seem to know just that time of day I stop writing and go for a walk! I also like to work in my garden when the weather is nice. And after spending time outdoors, I love to curl up and read a book or a magazine!
Some of your most popular books are:
- Boomer's big surprise (1999)
- Waltz of the scarecrows (1998)
- Boomer goes to school (1996)
- The snow riders (1995)
- Boomer's big day (1994)
