On Vacation In NYC

Will return with another Tiny Talk next week.

Tiny Talk Tuesday With . . . Kelly Bennett

 Kelly and I go way back to when we worked side by side on the Friends Board for the Maud Marks Library in Katy, Texas. I moved on at that time from the library due to a wrench in my life. Later, Kelly got bigger and better with her writing career and moved away from the area. We finally met up again after some time and she still remembers the little people like me. Kelly is full of life and a bunch of fun. I look forward to meeting up with her again sometime soon.

Kelly Bennett is the award-winning author of books for children—mostly picture books. Her stories, such as Vampire Baby; Not Norman, A Goldfish Story; Your Daddy Was Just Like You, Your Mommy Was Just Like You; Dad and Pop; Dance, Y’all, Dance; and One Day I Went Rambling, celebrate imagination, families, friends, pets… all that goes into being a kid!

A native of California, Kelly has rambled through all 50 states, 6 continents and 27 countries on all kinds of transportation from tuk-tuks to tricycles, bajai to bicycles, ojeks, rickshaw and rafts, trains and planes, helicopters and horses, dogs, elephants, camels—cars and feet, too! She holds an MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Kelly divides her time between Trinidad & Tobago, New York & Texas; visit her at www.kellybennett.com.

And now let’s learn a Tiny bit more about my friend, Kelly.

ME: Tell us something hardly anyone knows about you.

KELLY: “Kelly” is not my real name. My girlfriends and I renamed me in high school.

ME: What is your greatest accomplishment?

KELLY: Being a Mom. Nothing I’m prouder of than my children, Max and Alexis.

ME: I feel the same way.

ME: Are you a Pantser or a Plotter?

KELLY: Non-Fiction writing: Total Plotter. I create a formal 3 part outline.

Fiction writing: I’m a Half & Halfer. Before I start writing, I have to know the ending and the major plot point, so I do create a basic armature to build the story around. You might say my writing style epitomizes that Doctorow quote. I know what car I’m driving, and I follow my headlights to the end.

ME: Describe your writing style.

KELLY: I aim for a humorous conversational style. I visualize whomever I think would appreciate that particular story and write it with sole purpose of entertaining that one reader.

ME: I think being humorous in writing is a born talent. But I think I’m going to try one day.

ME: If you could hang with one of your characters for a day who would it be and why?

KELLY: Zane, from One Day I Went Rambling. Zane finds his fun via everyday castoff objects and a huge imagination. My kind of friend!

ME: Love that book.

Kelly, I appreciate you taking the time to answer these few questions. I can’t wait to read your next success. I hope someday soon we can meet up again.

P.S.-By the way, I love your haircut. I’m next.