A WRITER AT HOME: SHARON CREECH

Where do you work best at home?

In our recently renovated home, I have an office which faces a lake, and it is here that I work best. Some writers can work in airports and hotel rooms or curled in bed with a laptop, but I am not one of them. I work best with a view of trees (the lake is a bonus) and with my ‘stuff’ around me: favorite pens, pencils, paper, reference books, family photos, filing cabinets, computer (iMac), printer, and doo-dads (a few small shells, several miniature wood and stone turtles, a George Washington bust, a donkey, stone paperweights, etc.)



What time of day would we find you there?

You would nearly always find me there in the mornings, from about eight o’clock until noon. Many days I am based there until nine in the evening, with frequent breaks (outside to the dock or kayak for an hour or two; to the laundry room; to the kitchen; to the bedroom for a nap.)

What’s your favorite comfort food while you work?

I love wickedly delicious chocolate-covered ginger cookies from Marks & Spencer in England, or Dannon’s vanilla yogurt with almonds tossed in.

What is on your nightstand?

On the top of nightstand: pad of paper, black Japanese pen/pencil holder, alarm clock, reading glasses, four back issues of The New Yorker, latest issue of Publishers’ Weekly and The Horn Book Magazine. On the shelf below: Peace, Locomotion (Woodson), Coming of Age (Terkel), Minders of Make Believe (Marcus), Long Life (Oliver), Show and Tell: Exploring the Fine Art of Children’s Book Illustration (Evans).



How does home feed into your writing?

On a very basic level, I work best when I’m comfortable in my home (the plumbing and heating fixed, the roof repaired, food in the refrigerator, bat out of the bedroom.) The views from my windows (trees, flowers, lake, sky, squirrels, birds, chipmunks) make me constantly aware of the presence of nature and often feed into the sensory level of a story. On a more abstract level, Home is essential to who I am and what I write: in most of my stories, I explore some aspect of home and family and how those shape a person.


Sharon Creech is the author of three picture books and thirteen novels, including the Newbery winning Walk Two Moons, the Newbery Honor book, The Wanderer, and the United Kingdom’s Carnegie Medal book, Ruby Holler. Sharon lived and taught in England and Switzerland for nineteen years. Now she is based in western New York, although she and her husband recently spent a year back in Switzerland and will be returning to England for most of the coming (09-10) school year. Sharon has two grown children and two grandchildren.


Visit Sharon's Website.



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