Who are you?
My name is Jeanne Walker Harvey and I have the dream job – writing books for children! Except for a brief childhood stint in Illinois, I’ve always lived in California, beginning with Southern California and now Northern California in Sonoma.
What do you write?
My focus is picture book biographies of creative people, particularly artists and architects who may not be as well-known as some of the bigger names. I absolutely love what I’m doing. I’ve had a variety of jobs – an amusement park roller coaster operator, a software licensing attorney a long-time school group docent at the San Franciso Museum of Modern Art, and a credentialed middle school Language Arts teacher. But I always tell children that no matter what job I had, in my own time I was writing stories. It just took a really long time to get published. So I feel like I’ve won the literary lottery with nine published children’s books.
Where do you write?
I have a delightful quiet writing loft filled with children’s books and my children’s artwork. I had carpal tunnel surgery a few years back, so I’ve learned that I need to protect my wrists and hands. I now work with a flat keyboard, an adjustable desk and a desktop computer. I try to stay off my laptop which I once took to coffee houses and libraries. I always write and take notes with Word, and my chief “helper” is my cat who has a propensity to sit on my keyboard. I have many photos of my cat “helping” me, and she’s quite the star of school presentations.
When do you write?
I try to sit down to work after I have coffee and do a morning online Zumba or other dance class. But I’ve learned that the classes need to be live scheduled ones so I can’t procrastinate. I try to put in a good couple of hours researching or writing before lunch. Sometimes I do more work in the afternoon, but I often instead review other writers’ books or read novels for my own pleasure.
Why do you write?
I tell children at school visits that my story began at the library where I checked out a big pile of books every week. I desperately wanted my name on the cover of a children’s book. And now the audience for my books, children, is what motivates me. I’m always asking myself how I can tell a story about a person whom I find captivating in a way that will hopefully engage a child. I hope to empower children with inspiring stories of people, such as I.M Pei who overcame prejudice and challenges leading up to the completion of his now iconic design of the pyramid at the Louvre.
How do you overcome writer's block?
I don’t have traditional writer’s block because I always have something I can put down on paper. As a nonfiction writer, I count “writing” as the in-depth research and note-taking I do for each book. Of course, note-taking is easier than composing, so sometimes I need to tell myself to stop researching. I need to set aside the facts and just see where I connect to the emotion of the person’s story. But I do agonize about how to tell the story, hopefully in an engaging narrative way. That’s when I take lots of long walks and see if anything pops up. I was excited when I hit upon the beginning of The Glass Pyramid: “I.M. Pei is on a secret mission…I.M. worries that if word gets out that he, a foreigner, is working on a plan to change the beloved Louvre, the project will be blocked. So he tells no one.” I was then able to follow that throughline through the story to the last page when he’s applauded by a crowd outside the completed Louvre pyramid.
Bonus: What do you enjoy doing when not writing?
Spending time with my partner, family and friends. We often wander the beautiful local countryside. I’m always up for a visit to San Francisco museums and dance productions. And I find gardening a terrific break from writing as it’s so tangible – a pile of trimmed branches or weeds or a freshly picked bouquet always feels satisfying.
My thanks to Jeanne Walker Harvey for today's interview.
Thanks for reading! If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a one-time tip to support my writing. Please feel free to contact me with your thoughts (or reply to the newsletter).