Tell us a bit about yourself.
Hi! I’m fourteen years old and I live in California with my parents and four brothers. I love laughing, remembering, eating good food, and, of course, writing! I’m horrible at drawing, sustaining laughter, waiting for things, and sports involving balls. I like to people-watch and think of stories that explain what people do—it’s always interesting to me.
Tell us 3 interesting/crazy things about you?
· Little things that aren’t perfect bother me.
· I love Disney Pixar movies!
· I go from shy and quiet to crazy and loud in an instant.
What inspired you to write "
It Wasn’t Me!"
?
My children’s book actually started out as a school assignment—something I never thought would be published. The assignment was to create a children’s book, so I went all out (although my artistic skills didn’t show through, which is why I had a friend of mine do the illustrations when the book was published). With some encouragement from teachers and parents, I decided to go through with the project and actually publish "It Wasn’t Me!" the year after I had written it. The actual story came from an idea I knew all kids could relate to—not telling the truth after they’d done something wrong. I cannot stress enough how much encouragement I’ve received from teachers and parents, not just when it came to the book, but in everything. My second grade teacher made me promise to her that when I published a book someday, I would dedicate it to her. I never forgot how confident she was that I would, so today It Wasn’t Me! is dedicated to her.
What are your favorite children's authors/books?
I’ve been told my favorite book as a child was Jane Cowen-Fletcher’s Baby Angels, and my mom created a photo book based on the book with pictures of me to go along with the words. It was so cute that she sent it to the author, who was flattered. Another children’s author I love is Roald Dahl (I think I read The BFG 3 times in elementary school)!
What advice would you give other young aspiring writers?
Use your age to your advantage. Most people are interested to hear about young authors, so don’t think you can’t do the same things others can. If you like to write, keep writing. It’s said that young people are the leaders of tomorrow, but I like to think we’re the leaders of today. No matter what you write, you can always inspire other people, young and old, to pursue their dreams. There are lots of publishers who value young writers’ work, so if you really want to write, look for those.
What question have you always wanted to be asked in an interview? How would you answer that question?
I like this question! I’d have to say, I’ve always wanted to be asked what super power I would want. I think about it all the time and I can never decide between teleportation and control of time. People always say they’d want to fly, but why fly somewhere when you could snap and be there in an instant? And control of time… who wouldn’t want to freeze-frame in the middle of class, move people around for kicks, go home, take a nap, then come back and start up again like nothing happened? I think it’d be pretty cool. Especially if I could take friends with me while everyone else was frozen. If I had to choose between teleporting and time-freezing, I think I’d probably pick teleporting, since I can apparently somehow move from one place to another without my friends noticing—it must be my destiny.
How old were you when you began to write stories?
I’m pretty sure I started writing as soon as I knew how. I remember being four or five and asking my mom to type up a poem I had written about a frog. We still have most of the short stories I wrote on random sheets of paper, and it’s fun to look back at them and wonder where I got all my ideas.
What do you do in your spare time when you’re not writing?
I hate to say it, but I don’t do much. I’ve started cheerleading, which I’m really excited about, but other than that, I don’t do much other than spend time with friends and family.
Do you have any other books you are working on? If so give us a sneak peek.
Right now, I’m not actually working on anything new, but I definitely hope to write more in the future. I’ve been thinking about writing for a more mature audience, so we’ll see what happens!
What do you hope children learn from your book?
In my book, the main character has a habit of lying and blaming others. Since I didn’t have to go far to reach my inner child, I knew this was a theme everyone would be able to relate to—everyone has said “It wasn’t me!” before, and I hope Scotty the Mouse teaches children that lying isn’t always the best way to go… When you tell the truth, what’s the worst that could happen?
Has being a teen author helped you or been an obstacle in your writing career?
In some ways, it has been helpful. I’ve received endless support from teachers and classmates, writers and parents, for which I am extremely grateful. However, it was hard at times to keep up with publishing and promoting my book while being a student as well. In the end, though, it really didn’t matter how much time I spent writing instead of doing math homework, because who needs math anyway??
Anything else you would like to share?
Can’t think of anything! Keep reading and writing!
Where can we buy your books? Do you have a web page or fan page?
It Wasn’t Me! is available on Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, and through my publisher’s (Outskirts Press) bookstore, as well as some other online book retailers. My author website is outskirtspress.com/analissereyes and more information is available there. I also have a Facebook Fan Page
where you can show your support!
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