Interview with Cyndy Henzel

Cyndy, (who writes historical young adult and middle grade fiction as well as magical reality) and I have been members of our online critique-group the Cudas since its inception in August 2006. I have come to depend on Cyndy's unfailingly sharp eye (and teeth) to kick, pummel and slash my manuscripts into shape. I've been inspired and delighted by her masterful ability to weave a tale and bring it to life with her vivid descriptions. I feel as if I have personally traveled to Stalinist Ukraine, Maldives, the Arizona desert and the Republic of Georgia thanks to her lush imagery. Cyndy is one of my unsung heroes (who really squirms when she is praised) and my trusty partner-in-crime in the Cuda approach to bone-crunching critiques. I hope I see the day at long last when she is granted the Newbury honor she is destined for.

Tell us a little about your background.

As a kid I loved reading and science. We moved a lot, so books were my dependable friends. When I was 15, my parents decided to leave the city and move to rural Oklahoma and live off the land. My parents, 3 younger siblings, and I moved into a one room cabin and learned to grow and can food, butcher pigs, milk goats, and build a house. I went to a small town high school where I learned to be comfortable not fitting in.

I’ve written everything from a weekly newspaper column to fiction and nonfiction for children. My graduate work was in geography, the field that covers everything that happens someplace -- perfect for me because I find everything interesting (yes, I even watched curling during the Olympics). I spent ten years working for an international environmental program which created the wanderlust itch that I still like to scratch.

What kind of books do you write?

Mostly great books, although one or two have been merely good.

Actually, I tried writing picture books but was told you can’t tell little kids that the rattlesnake was chopped and stomped and burned (this was before Neil Gaiman). Now I write mg and ya novels set in lesser known places. Currently, I am interested in young people in the post-Soviet countries that are struggling to regain – or invent -- their identity.

You just returned from a trip to the Republic of Georgia. Can you give us some highlights from your visit?

This was my third trip to Tbilisi, Georgia, one of the settings for my current work-in-progress. This time we went out to an ancient monastery. One of the monks took a liking to us and took us on a tour of the Patriarch’s private quarters (the Georgian Church is an Orthodox Catholic sect) then down the creepy stone steps into the cellars where we saw the 200-year-old wooden vat for grapes and cavernous underground storage jars for making wine. Then he opened a bottle to sample and toasted us – a lovely, lovely experience.

How have the places you've traveled inspired your writing?

I like to walk through regular neighborhoods, see what is on the shelves in the grocery store, visit local shops, watch the kids play in the park and how their parents react to them. I read up on the history of an area, then read local newspapers to see what people are talking about. I always think about what it would take for me to adapt to living in a place; and what it would be like for someone from this place to adjust to life in America. This is a theme that runs through much of my writing – what you keep, what you have to give up, and how you change in a new place.

What kind of children's and young adult books would you like to see more of on the shelves?

I love well-written, intelligent books; ones that transport you to another time or place or make you think about things that have never occurred to you before or that let you see things through new eyes. I’d like to see more historical fiction and contemporary stories set outside the US and more insightful science fiction.

Tell us something surprising about Cyndy.

Hmm. Writing? I wrote a My Turn column that was published in Newsweek then was reprinted as the Column of the Year with an update for their 30 year anthology.

Personally? I can make a wedding gown, tile a house, scuba dive, and I’ve never been bored.

Interview with Neesha Meminger, author of SHINE, COCONUT MOON

Neesha Meminger, author of SHINE, COCONUT MOON joins us today to hang a bit. Neesha is a warm, funny and brilliant woman whose works are deeply moving and poetic, yet starkly realistic, dealing with themes of coming of age, race, and cultural identity.


1. Hi, Neesha. Your first book, the young adult novel SHINE, COCONUT MOON came out last March. Can you tell us about the book and what prompted you to write it?

SHINE actually started out as an epic story of the bonds and fissures created between mothers and daughters through migration, culture, tradition, and the Great Generational Divide. After many ground-up revisions, the 9/11 layer was added, Uncle Sandeep entered the scene, and the story became more focused, more clearly about how relationships, in general, weather all sorts of storms.

2. I know this is not an autobiographical book, but can you tell us about your background, and how, perhaps that has informed the events in the book.

It's not autobiographical, but there is much in SHINE that reflects my own experiences growing up, the experiences of my family, my friends, and people I knew. There are several scenes in the book that are based on events I either witnessed or lived through. And the characters are all amalgamations of people I know and love. Including Mike :).

3. How long have you been writing?

I've been journaling for as long as I can remember. But writing, and reading, were always about survival for me. They were about *communication*--and when you don't speak the official language in your new home, your very survival hinges on communication. My parents both did not speak English fluently when we first moved to Canada from India, so as the eldest child, I became the default interpreter. It was critical that I learned, FAST, how to speak, understand, read, and write the language (and, by extension, the *culture*) that we were all immersed in.

When my mother lost my younger brother in a crowd, it was really a matter of life and death for her to be able to communicate that to a police officer. And, if she couldn't do it adequately, it fell on me.

So, I developed the habit, early on, of reading EVERYTHING--instruction manuals, signs in windows, ingredients lists . . . and packing every single second of each day scribbling words I'd learned.

I would say that was the beginning of my journey.

4. What have you been working on lately?

I've been deeply absorbed in a paranormal YA that I am *very* excited about. I would say it's eighty-five percent of the way there.

5. Can you share with us a bit about your path to becoming a published author?

My path was not easy, nor was it quick. I first saw my work published in my early twenties--mostly poems, essays, and short stories. It was a thrill, but it was not enough. I never felt my true self shone through in so few lines or so few pages. I had so much more to say and I knew it would take many, many more pages for me to say it! *grin*

So, I started to write longer and longer pieces, focusing on fiction. I knew I wanted to write book-length works because those were what had affected me so deeply. The books that really shaped the way I saw the world, books that taught me something about people, life, the emotions, how to navigate through difficult terrain -- not by telling me how to do it, but through *story* . . . those were the types of books I wanted to read, and those were the ones I wanted to write.

I completed my first manuscript when I was in the MFA program at the New School in NYC. It was a crappy manuscript, to be sure, but through writing it, I learned how to write a book-length work. How to stick with something and see it through until it was finished. And how to shape and mold small segments so that when you were finished, it was one, long, cohesive story.

After that, I took many years to learn how to revise. How to find more stories, give them form, and refine them. Then, began the years of querying agents and editors. Finally, after more polishing and refining, I caught the interest of two agents. I signed with one and, together, we worked on what would become SHINE, COCONUT MOON.

6. What advice would you like to give to fellow writers?

Honestly, the best advice I have is to keep going. I know it has been said many times before, but it is always worth repeating. You have to be as stubborn as my ornery father to get anywhere in life, I think. And writing is no exception.

The other advice I'd give is to find a community of writers. A good network of supportive writers, who are open and generous, is worth its weight in gold.

7. Name a book that influenced you the most, as a writer and an individual.

Hmm. For fiction that would have to be Tuck, Everlasting. It's MG, but it had a *tremendous* impact on me when I read it all those years ago. I had no idea you could write things that (a) weren't *true*; and (b) didn't even seem *possible*. So, that book really opened up, for me, one of the most important things a writer can possess: a vivid imagination.

In non-fiction, I would have to say Bird by Bird, by Ann Lemotte. I loveloveLOVED that book. She infuses humor, spirituality, and so much truth in each page of that book. I find it inspiring every time I read it.

8. Tell us something unexpected about yourself.

This may not seem unexpected to your readers, but it is unexpected for *me*. [whispers] I am horribly addicted to The Tudors series by HBO. When hubby is still at work and kiddies are in bed, I am watching episode after episode, back to back. I am deeply mesmerized.



Thanks for stopping by, Neesha! That was wonderful. Since we are actual *real-time* friends, and neighbors (yes, we literally live across the street from each other and have our regular pow-wows at the local Starbucks. How we met is quite a story in itself, though. We live in a very busy citified community where could have easily remained strangers) I am privileged to *hear* this in your lovely voice, which is as wonderful as your writing voice.

Love you, lady. and I am beyond ecstatic that you are finally writing a paranormal. Now I am dying to know more. Guess I'll find out at our next Starbucks meetup!