 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||
|
 |
Back to Featured Interviews >> MEET CHERYL RENEE HERBSMAN
|
|||||||||||||||||||||
 |
| Cheryl Renee Herbsman |
When I was growing up, I loved to read. It was such a great escape. I think I was most influenced by Judy Blume’s books. They were so different than everything else that was out there. They were honest and open, real and true. As a teen, I enjoyed novels with a psychological edge like I NEVER PROMISED YOU A ROSE GARDEN and FLOWERS FOR ALGERNON. I also went through a phase where I enjoyed romance novels and sagas that took place across generations.
When you went to college, were you already pursuing a writing career?
(or a career in illustrating? or just art in general?)
No. When I went to college I was certain I wanted to be a child psychologist. I got my undergraduate degree in psychology from Duke and a master’s in clinical psychology from the University of California, Berkeley. It wasn’t until after my daughter was born (when I was in my late 20’s) that I rediscovered my creativity and started writing regularly. It was a few more years after that before I began to think of writing as a possible career.
Was your first book accepted immediately? or did you experience a
number of rejections?
Before I wrote BREATHING, I tried to publish a young adult fantasy. On that book I experienced a lot of rejection, probably 40 or 50 letters. Many agents and editors showed interest, but ultimately all of them declined. It was discouraging and there were times when I really wanted to give up. But, fortunately, I have supportive people in my life who encouraged me to keep going and to start working on something new while trying to sell the fantasy. So I did. And the something new I started was BREATHING. I only received two rejections on BREATHING before finding an agent and two weeks later I had two offers from publishing houses.
What gave you the idea for BREATHING?
I like to say that the idea for BREATHING came from Savannah (the main character.) She spoke very clearly in my head and loved to tell her story. That said, there were some inspirations from my own life. I fell in love with an older guy when I was a young teen and we carried on a long-distance relationship for many years. We just celebrated our 20th wedding anniversary. So you can see where Savannah gets her “hopeful” romantic nature. I grew up in North Carolina and loved all the different dialects and Southern charm. So this was an opportunity for me to highlight those.
How did your life change when you got married? and had children? Did it
make it easier or harder to find time to write?
As I mentioned above, I had been on an academic path prior to having kids. There really hadn’t been room in my life for creativity. But shortly after my daughter was born, I found that creativity resurfacing. In the beginning, I only had time to write now and then for an hour or two. But when my youngest started preschool, everything changed. He was in school nine hours a week and I spent every minute of it writing. It was a thrill to rush home and dive into a story. And the hours would fly by. Now that my kids are older, I have more time to write while they’re in school.
What are you working on now? When do you expect to start submitting it
to publishers?
Right now I’m working on a story that takes place at summer camp. The setting is similar to the camp where I met my husband. The main character is a teen who is struggling to find self-acceptance. It’s about friendship and romance and finding one’s way to self. I hope to submit it to my agent and editor in the fall.
Do you write every day and do you have set hours that you work?
I try to set aside the time when my kids are in school for writing. I usually volunteer at the elementary school one morning a week, though. And when you add in a little time for exercise and errands, it usually ends up being three days a week that I set aside for writing. I’d like to be able to write every day, but I think sometimes missing it makes me hungrier to get right to it when I do have the time. So then I use my time more wisely.
What do you most want the students to get out of your school visits?
I hope to instill a taste of a love for writing. Some students struggle with school-style writing. So my goal is to show them the ways in which writing a novel or a poem or a short story are different from writing for school. I try to make the workshop a freeing experience so that students might find a new passion for trying something that maybe they hadn’t thought about trying before.