An Interview with Kathy McCullough

I'm beginning this week of inspirational interviews with debut author Kathy McCullough. Her young adult novel, Delaney Collins, F.G., will be available in 2011.


Tell us about your book.
The book is called “Delaney Collins, F.G.” and it’s being published in November of 2011 by Random House/Delacorte. It’s the story of a teenage girl who discovers that her estranged father is a fairy godmother – and that she’s destined to become one as well.


Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publication?
I began as a screenwriter and went to film school at Columbia University in New York City. After many years in Hollywood, working a little as a screenwriter (mostly in TV) and a lot reading other people’s scripts and books for different film production companies, I decided to try writing a novel. I’ve always loved young adult and middle-grade fiction, and I was reading a lot of popular kids books for companies like Walden Media, which spurred me on further. I signed up for a children’s writing class with author Karen D’Arc, and the first thing she told us to do was to join the SCBWI, which I did. I attended their conferences, which were always inspiring, and after a lot of stops and starts on various stories, I finally forced myself to finish something – and then I rewrote it about 8,347 times. But, as they say, the 8,347th time is the charm, and I landed agents and they sent it out – and it sold!


Was there ever a time you felt like giving up? Why didn't you?
I constantly despair while I’m working on something new that I’ve lost any talent I ever had, and that what I’m writing is a stupid idea, badly written. But I’ve never really seriously considered doing anything else, because I don’t want to. I’ve learned to live on very little money for the long stretches of time that “starving artists” often experience, because it’s more important to me to have time to write than to buy a new car, for example. (Proof: I drive a used 1990 Honda Civic – but mostly I take the bus...in Los Angeles!) As many writers have said before me: no one who does this is sane. You write because you have to. If you could possibly do anything else, you would. So that’s the short answer: I’m insane.


Thanks so much for stopping by my blog and telling us about Delaney Collins, F.G. and your publication journey, Kathy!

For more information about Kathy and her book, check out the links below:
Kathy McCullough's website
Kathy McCullough's blog
The website of Delaney Collins, F.G.

Also, don't forget to read the other inspirational author interviews going on this week at the blog links located here.