Good morning readers,
It is my pleasure to introduce to you this morning the very talented Helen Ross. Helen not only writes children’s stories but she is also a children’s poet.
Thank you for joining us today Helen, we are delighted to have you visit Jelli-Beanz Publishing.
JB: What inspired your Hopscotch Poems?
HR: The poem, ‘Sorry I don’t have my homework’ was inspired by a little boy I used to tutor many, many years ago. At the end of every session, I would give him homework to do by the following session. At the beginning of one session, I asked if he had his homework. He answered ‘No, my cockatoo ate it.’
From the way he spoke, I actually believed him, as he always tended to do his homework. When I began to write the poem I used this incident as a basis of thinking up other funny, and some, albeit, farfetched ways that finished homework could disappear.
My poem, ‘Bedlam in the Schoolyard’ was inspired by my wanting to create a poem for Hopscotch based on iconic Australian animals going to school and playing in the schoolyard. I just let my imagination go to town.
JB:Thank you, it is so interesting to hear the background / history of how a poem has evolved.
Do you have a favorite character from the poems?
HR: I love the sleeping wombats in ‘Bedlam in the schoolyard’. I think they would be so cute when annoyed from their sleep.
JB: I too, love the wombats in your poem. We have an elderly wombat who lives under the porch of our beach house and when woken he too, becomes a tad grumpy!
What books did you love to read as a child?
HR: I loved A.A. Milne, Dr Suess and Agatha Christie. Also loved The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, and Charlotte’s Web. Loved stories (and still do) that whisked me away to far off places, where I became entranced in another world.
JB: Such wonderful authors. Helen can you please tell us a bit about your poetry writing process.
HR:I have pens and papers everywhere. So when an idea springs into my head I will jot it down before it disappears. If I can work on it, I love to write verses or paragraphs in my notebooks. Once they start to formulate, I may type them on the computer. But I really prefer writing them down, and reworking them first in paper. I can get ideas from anywhere – a snippet of a conversation, watching a movie, reading the paper, reading a novel, etc.
If a verse is giving me trouble, I will take a break but will continue to work through it in my head. Of course, I will have that pen and book handy incase I have a light bulb moment.
JB: Thankyou for sharing that with us Helen. It is so interesting to hear the different methods writers use in their process of writing. Do you have a site that readers can visit?
HR: My website is: http://www.misshelenbooks.com This showcases my children’s books published by Little Steps publishing, Division of New Frontier
My blog is http://misshelenwrites.wordpress.com
Am also on Twitter (@HelenRossAuthor) Also on LinkedIn.
JB: Thankyou Helen. It has been a pleasure chatting with you this morning. We wish you all the best with your future endeavours.
Helen Ross fans can also look forward to Helen’s latest book, co-authored with Donna Smith and beautifully illustrated by Aaron Pocock ‘A Christmas Tail’ due out in September 2012.
Hopscotch 