Rose: What has been the most memorable experience in your writing career?
Robert: When my first book, Mud Puddle, came out.
Rose: I read that my all-time favorite book of yours, Love You Forever, started out as a song before it came out in 1986 as a book. Would you like to tell us a little more about that? I read that you said you didn't know how that story would affect anyone else. I want you to know it affected me as I lost my daughter in 1992.
Robert: I wrote Love You Forever after we had two stillborn babies. For me, it was a fantasy about the life my kids would never have. I wrote it just for myself and didn't think of it as a book. Much later I started using it at storytellings and I was surprised at the response. I decided to try to publish it. My usual publisher didn't want to do it [It's not a kids book"]. I finally went with another publisher. Love You got terrible reviews. It didn't get one good review in Canada. Still it sold 30,000 in 1986, which made it the bestselling Canadian kid's book that Christmas. Then it 1987 it sold 70,000. "Wow!" said the publisher, "Don't expect this to last". It didn't. In 1988 it sold 1,000,000 and has been selling about 1,000,000 a year ever since. I think the book works because it lets people think about what life is all about. I never meant this story to be for other people, but I get great satisfaction from thinking that it may have as good an effect on other people's lives as it has had on my own.
Rose: Do you think it is important to choose a good title for your books?
Robert: Yes - the title is one of the most important things. It is the first thing that people read. The title is the last thing I figure out for a story. Often the book is all written and the pictures are being made and we still don't have a title. The publisher and I argue a lot about what would be a right title. The publisher wants a title that they are sure will sell the book and I want the title that I like. Sometimes they're not the same. Sometimes the publisher wins and sometimes I win.
Rose: I read that you love to drop in at schools unannounced. Why is that?
Robert: It is just too hard to formally book school visits. I had a waiting list of over 3,000 schools. Now I keep a data list of all the schools that write and when I am in an area I try to visit.
Article comments
1 - Natalie Bennett
This article has been selected for syndication to Advance.net, which is affiliated with newspapers around the United States. Nice work!