Interview with Meish
Goldish
Interview by
Howard Jay Meyer
Author Meish
Goldish spoke with Howard Jay Meyer recently about writing books, how many hours
are involved, what he did before becoming an author, the workings of becoming a
great writer, and his advice for writers. Meish Goldish has been writing
children's books for more than 30 years. He has had more than 150 books
published. Before he became a writer, he taught high school English for five
years.
How did you first get into writing?
A friend of mine who taught high school English with me left teaching to become
an editor at Prentice-Hall. He worked in their school division, which publishes
books for elementary and high school students. He asked me if I'd like to spend
my summer break writing a teacher's guide to go with a book of five plays that
Prentice-Hall was producing for high school kids. The teacher's guide would give
background information about the plays and their authors.
It would also include discussion question before and after each act of the play.
I accepted the assignment, and that was my first published piece of professional
writing.
What do you write mostly?
I used to write a lot of teacher's guides and school textbooks for subjects like
spelling, reading, literature, and grammar. However, these days I write only
stories and poetry directly for kids. I no longer write teacher's guides, which
are used by teachers, not students. I no longer write textbooks, either. Most of
my books today are supplemental storybooks for school reading programs. I also
write books that go directly to libraries.
Is being an author a good job?
No, it's a great job. You get to be creative in everything you do. That's my
favorite part of the job-- using my imagination. The only downside of the job is
that it's a very lonely profession. You must sit in a room all day by yourself
and work without allowing any distractions interrupt you. But you can set your
own hours for work each day, which is a huge advantage. And you can work at home
and avoid putting up with traffic going to and from work.
Do you do anything else besides writing?
Professionally, it's the only kind of work I do. Nearly all my writing is for
schoolchildren, although I do some comedy writing for adults for a New York
newspaper, The Jewish Week, for the Jewish holiday of Purim. I also
occasionally entertain for groups of adults by singing and telling jokes, but
don't make significant money from that. I also visit about a dozen schools a
year to talk about writing books.
What distinguishes you from other writers?
I'm not sure there's much that truly distinguishes me, since there are scores of
excellent writers currently doing the same kind of work I do. I am very good at
writing poetry, however, and Scholastic has published six books of my poems, and
is scheduled to publish another six books in a series at the end of this year.
Some of my books for Scholastic have become best-sellers for them, but they're
books for their school division, not their trade division, which publishes
things like the Harry Potter series and the Goosebumps series.
Have you won any awards?
Yes, a few years ago I wrote a book called Fossil Tales, which focuses on
different people-- some historical, some current-- who were or are fossil
hunters. The book won the Learning Magazine's Teacher's Choice Award.
Do you do your
own illustrations?
No, I can't draw very well. So each publisher always supplies the illustrator.
After they receive and accept my manuscript, they decide which illustrator has a
style they think would go well with my text, and they hire that person. I never
see the artwork until the book is published, but generally I am very happy with
the results.
How is writing for children different than writing for adults?
The main difference is in vocabulary and the sentence length. Obviously, the
lower the age of your readers, the easier the text must be to understand.
Sometimes it is a very great challenge to explain a difficult topic, such as why
the moon seems to change shape in the sky throughout the month, to
six-year-olds. But it can be done. Also, when you write for school publishers,
as I do, you must be very careful about things you discuss. Many topics are
strictly taboo, such as religion, sex, divorce, violence, witchcraft, and junk
food.
How does your job work? How many hours are involved?
It depends on how many assignments I have and when each deadline is. I am a
freelance writer who gets assignments from different publishers. Sometimes I get
writing offers from two or more publishers at the same time. They always work on
tight schedules, so they each want you to start on their project right away. You
can't say, "Let me finish one project, and I'll start yours in a month." That's
not good enough for them. I try to accept as many interesting projects as I can,
so sometimes my hours are very long, if I'm juggling two or more projects at
once. Even when I have just one project, I generally write at least eight hours
a day.
With several projects, the hours can be much longer. Occasionally I've even
pulled all-nighters to meet my deadlines.
Is there anything you'd like to tell our readers about a career in writing?
Mainly, you have to believe in yourself and believe your work is good. If you
submit a manuscript and it is rejected by a publisher, send it to another. But
only submit manuscripts that are perfect in every possible way. That includes
making sure your spelling, grammar, punctuation, and usage are absolutely
correct. Also, be prepared to compromise with editors who have suggestions for
improving your manuscript, even if you don't necessarily think their suggestions
are really improvements.
Above all else, have fun with your writing. Write about things you know, and
don't be afraid to use your imagination to its fullest extent.
Howard Jay Meyer
maintains a blog at http://spongeblog.blog-city.com.
