In our last post, we mentioned how special it is that Sunpenny has such an international group of authors. As promised, in our forthcoming posts we will be publishing the interviews we've held with them to find out something about where they live and how their environs inspire them. First up is Sonja Anderson, the author or our gorgeous children's books, Sophie's Quest and Sophie Topfeather, superstar.
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| Sonja Anderson with her lovely daughters |
SP: Sonja, could
you tell us something of your background and how you came to be living in Seattle,
Washington, USA?
SA:
A good friend from college invited me to come stay with her in Seattle for a
few months before I went to work at an international school in Tokyo. During
those five months, I fell in love with the mountains and water and people and
moved back there when it was time to leave Japan.
SP:
I've often heard about how beautiful it is there. What do you find most
inspiring as a writer about living in Seattle?
SA:
I live near Puget Sound and watch boats, large and small, going by every day.
It makes me wonder where they are going and why. I used some of that wondering
in my children’s novel, Sophie’s Quest!
Probably more significant, however, is that Seattle is a place where many
people have come from all over the world to live, and I’m inspired to use my
writing to help people understand one another a little better.
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| Sonja with Puget Sound in the background |
SP:
That's a lovely idea to pursue. What prompted you to start writing in the first
place, and how long have you been writing?
SA:
I’ve been writing most of my life in one way or another—I kept a lot of diaries
as a kid, and even entered two stories into a Christmas writing contest at
school. When one of my stories was selected to be read in front of the whole school,
I was hooked!
I
began writing fiction in earnest when my oldest daughter was in kindergarten.
She had a “discussion” on the playground with kids of different religious
backgrounds over “whose God is biggest.” I wanted to write a story that would
help kids respect each other despite their differences, and also to introduce
them to Jesus as Emmanuel, God with us.
SP:
Again, a wonderful motivation to write. What do you prefer writing? Fiction or
fact and why?
SA: I
recently finished a non-fiction project with my husband about the history of
Mount Rainier National Park and the historic inns and lodges there. It was
really fun to learn lots of new things! I have to say, though, that writing
fiction that seems to touch children’s hearts is one of the most satisfying
things I have ever done in my life. I know what fictional characters meant to
me growing up, and it brings me so much joy to hear kids tell me how much they
love Sophie Topfeather and her friends!
SP:
That is no surprise at all! We love Sophie too! Do you write anything other
than fiction/fact?
SA:
When I have time, I enjoy writing personal experience blog posts on my website,
www.sonjaandersonbooks.com.
It’s one way that I’ve found to share encouragement for other school employees,
and to tell some of the really interesting stories that kids tell me about
their various cultures, like White Sunday (Samoan) and Ethiopian Christmas and
Easter celebrations.
SP:
That's terrific! Okay, then, if you had to give the readers here a tip about
how to get started on a book, what would it be?
SA:
Just start writing, and don’t worry about whether or not each sentence is very
good. Don’t worry about whether or not you’re starting the story in the right
place. Just go, and keep going! When you finally have a draft, think of it as a
nice, big, pile of raw material to play in until you can get it right. I spent
a year on the first chapter of Sophie’s
Quest, trying to get everything right, only to realize much, much later,
that it was completely the wrong beginning. I pitched the whole chapter and
wished I had that year back!
SP:
What a great lesson to learn. What would you say is your greatest strength in
life? And then (of course) what do you see as your weakest point?
SA:
It’s hard to see your own strengths and weaknesses, isn’t it? I guess what I
try to do is to encourage everyone around me and to live my life in a way that
is consistent with what I believe to be true. My weakest point is that I concentrate
so hard on some things that I completely forget other things that are also
important, like being thoughtful for birthdays and other special events, in a
timely manner.
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| Sonja is one of twins: this is her with her sister Suzanne Cordatos, also a Sunpenny author |
SP:
Ah, those special days are always difficult to remember, aren't they? Sonja, if
you had to live for a year with only one book, what would it be?
SA:
That’s an easy one! I’d bring my study Bible, because this one book contains
enough to keep someone interested and curious for a lifetime, let alone a year,
especially with all the notes and commentary.
SP:
And do you have any favourite authors? If so, why do you admire their work?
SA: I admire many children’s book authors, but I really love Steve Sheinkin’s
narrative non-fiction (especially Bomb),
and Kirby Larson’s work (Her book, The Friendship
Doll, made me sob out loud!)
SP: Are you writing anything at the moment? Can you tell us what it is?
SA: I’m very excited to be finishing Mount
Rainier’s Historic Inns and Lodges, a project I’ve been doing with my husband
for Arcadia Publishing. It’s due to be released May 22, 2017. I’m also about
fifty pages in to the third Sophie Topfeather book! It’s called, Sophie’s Gold Rush, and I hope to have a
good rough draft done by the end of the summer.
SP: That's wonderful! Okay, now, the final question. If you had a bucket list, what
would be in the top three positions?
1.
Visit Beatrix Potter’s home in the Lake District
2.
Follow the footsteps in England of Katherine from the historical novel, Katherine, by Anya Seton (with my twin
sister, who also wants to do this!).
3.
Go back as a guest author to the international school in Tokyo where I taught 2nd
grade. That’s where I first had a vision of my owl main character, Sophie!
Sonja, this has been
absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing your inspiring home and
thoughts with us. We know Sophie Topfeather is a very popular character with
young readers, and hope more of them will discover her soon. Thanks for joining
us!
Sonja's delightful books
Sophie's Quest and Sophie Topfeather, Superstar are both published by Sunberry
Books, an imprint of Sunpenny Publishing. Links to the Amazon.com site where readers can by them
are below. Both books are available on all Amazon sites, however, and also as paperbacks through the Book Depository:
Sophie's Quest
Sophie Topfeather, Superstar
Sophie's Quest
Sophie Topfeather, Superstar
3 comments:
What a lovely interview. I met Sonja last year and her wonderful personality comes across in this interview.
Lovely to read more about you, Sonja! Sophie's Quest was a lovely, inspiring book and I love that your international environment and the beautiful Puget Sound have added so much to your writing!
Thank you, Julie, and Val! Meeting you both last year (and the rest of the Sunpenny gang) was one of the highlights of the year for me!
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