What's Your Life as a Writer Like?
Today I'm delighted to welcome Charles Salter back to my blog. His Secret of Bald Rock Island has already been followed by Charlotte and the Mysterious Vanishing Place, and I'm still wondering about vanishing time as I realize I've not yet read either book, despite having interviewed Charles on my blog back in June (http://sheiladeeth.blogspot.com/2016/06/do-kids-know-how-to-kare.html) But I will read them, and I'm looking forward to them. I love middle grade fiction, and I love fiction that allows itself to have meaning, not just excitement. Soon I'll read How Three Brothers Saved the Navy (coming soon) as well! Meanwhile, welcome, Charles, to my blog, and please accept my sincere apologies for being so slow to read and review. My life as a writer (blogger, editor, reader, and book reviewer) is ever more frantic and frayed, but what about yours?
In
this environment I wrote my own first illustrated children’s book at the age of
8, a family newspaper by the age of 9, several short stories and mini-plays
(which I, along with a younger brother and sister) produced for our parents’
enjoyment between age 10 and 15. That
summer of my 15th year my brother and I started writing film scripts
and produced a number of these with family, friends, and neighbors serving as
cast members. By age 16, I had finished
my first novel, though it is important to realize none of the above were
formally published or reached more than a local audience.
Not
long after college, however, I began to write professionally and for regular
publication. I first achieved success in
nonfiction, publishing hundreds of articles in journals, magazines, and
syndicated newspapers. I also published
some textbooks, reference books, and general nonfiction books, including a
series of teen nutrition books which became very popular in school libraries
and won awards.
My Life as a Writer
ByCharles A. Salter
Growing
up as I did in a writing family, I suppose it was inevitable that I would want
to become a writer myself. My earliest
memories include Dad pounding away at his Olivetti portable typewriter for
hours at a time, producing copious numbers of poems, short stories, novels,
nonfiction articles, stage plays, and various autobiographical journals over
his entire life.
When
we moved to Covington, Louisiana, my father joined the local writers’ group and
closely befriended its most illustrious member—Walker Percy, who not long after
that won the National Book Award in 1962 for THE MOVIEGOER. Even after achieving
his own fame, Percy still tried to help my dad and others with their writing.
In
this environment I wrote my own first illustrated children’s book at the age of
8, a family newspaper by the age of 9, several short stories and mini-plays
(which I, along with a younger brother and sister) produced for our parents’
enjoyment between age 10 and 15. That
summer of my 15th year my brother and I started writing film scripts
and produced a number of these with family, friends, and neighbors serving as
cast members. By age 16, I had finished
my first novel, though it is important to realize none of the above were
formally published or reached more than a local audience. Not
long after college, however, I began to write professionally and for regular
publication. I first achieved success in
nonfiction, publishing hundreds of articles in journals, magazines, and
syndicated newspapers. I also published
some textbooks, reference books, and general nonfiction books, including a
series of teen nutrition books which became very popular in school libraries
and won awards.
In
more recent years, my attention has turned to fiction, first in a series of
adult novels which won several awards, and currently in a series of middle
grade novels called THE KARE KIDS ADVENTURES.
There are four books in this new series so far, two in print as I write
this and two more scheduled to be published by the end of summer, 2016.
I am
writing this new series in reaction to what I see as unhealthy trends in
society that inhibit kids from growing independent and responsible. The 9 to 12-year-old characters in my books
can’t rely on magic or super-powers to solve their problems. And these kids really care, not just as an attitude only, but one they translate into
real action to help family, friends, animals, and the environment. I want readers to glimpse how they can find
the hero inside each of them, too, using their independence and sense of
responsibility to make the world a better place.
Book #1 of THE KARE
KIDS ADVENTURES is “The Secret of Bald Rock Island.” In it, 10-year-old Kelcie
decides to solve the mystery of what happened to her missing fisherman father
years ago AND what the mysterious creature on her island might be. It has gotten several excellent reviews:
Book #2 is “Charlotte and the Mysterious Vanishing
Place.” In it, 9-year-old Charlotte
seeks to rescue puppies trapped in a sinkhole rapidly forming in the woods
behind her home.
Please be looking for #3 in August (“How Three
Brothers Saved the Navy”) and #4 in September (“The Travel Twins and the Lost
Secret of the Vikings”)!
Comments
The fact that the author is my brother is not the factor here, because I selected books in that grade level for a few years and I know what I'm talking about.
As far as growing up where we did, and in the cultural / literary atmosphere in which we did --- we were fortunate beyond belief. We were raised on fine art, classical music, and excellent literature. Yet we also embraced Mad Magazine, comic books, rock 'n roll, and the Hardy Boys. The best of everything.