Email Mary at: Marydwade@aol.com
Visit her website at:
Colphon House
Authors Among Us - Children's Writers Who Are or Who Have Been Librarians
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Mary Dodson Wade
Email Mary at: Marydwade@aol.com Visit her website at: Colphon House |
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Authors Among Us - Children's Writers Who Are or Who Have Been Librarians
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Mary Dodson Wade, a Texas writer,
features these books:
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My best-selling book is: I'M GOING TO TEXAS/YO VOY A TEJAS. ISBN1-882539-17-6 (Colophon House, 1995). |
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Another book I am proud of is: HOMESTEADING ON THE PLAINS; DAILY LIFE IN THE LAND OF LAURA INGALLS WILDER (Millbrook Press, 1998) ISBN 0-7613-0218-2. |
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I have also written a book on President-elect
George W. Bush (W.S.Benson & Co., Austin, TX, 1999). The original, |
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Colophon House http://www.wadeco.com/colophon.htm |
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| Forthcoming books (tentative titles):
TSUNAMIS; MONSTER WAVES will be published by Enslow, 2002.
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| What influenced you to become a librarian,
or to work in a library?
Books influenced me to be a librarian. Our house was full of them, and I do not remember learning to read. I loved getting lost in a story or just finding out stuff. Do you have a library/information science degree? I hold a Master of Arts degree with a major in Library Science from Texas Woman's University, one of the two ALA-accredited library schools in the state when I graduated in 1961. What kinds of library positions have you held and where? How long were you, or have you been, a librarian? I taught school for 5 years before getting my library degree and then worked as school librarian for 25 years, all but one in elementary schools. 1963-68 - South Euclid-Lyndhurst schools, Cleveland, OH (one school
with 1000 students) In 1990 I reached retirement age. Which came first in your life, your work or career as a librarian, or writing for children? During the later years that I worked as a librarian, I began to write for children, first for Sunday School take-home papers, then magazines like Highlights for Children. After that, I began to have books published. Did your library work have anything to do with becoming a children’s writer? Working as a librarian had everything to do with my becoming a writer. I observed what it was that appealed to children. I knew what was being published. And, most of all, I knew the competition I was facing. Did your library work directly influence your work as an author? Did librarianship increase your knowledge of children’s literature and influence the kinds of things you chose to write? Being a librarian has definitely influenced
my writing. For one thing, I knew where the holes were in the collection.
I used that to help choose what I would write about. Did incidents from your library work ever make it into your books? Did you ever set any scenes in your books in the library? Since I write mostly in the history area, I have never set a story in the library. What were the greatest benefits of being a librarian to you as a writer? The benefits of being a librarian are those
listed above. I know what has NOT been written about. Also, being a professional
librarian helped me form a standard of quality for writing. Were there any drawbacks to being a librarian and also a writer? I can see no drawbacks to the marriage of my two careers. One has helped the other. If you wrote while working as as librarian, how did you manage the time-juggling act? Finding time to write is a problem regardless of whether you work outside the home or not. When I started writing, my children were grown and my husband traveled. I wrote at night because that was the time available. A strange thing happened when I retired. For many months, it seemed that my writing brain would not kick in until after 4 o'clock in the afternoon. That was when I "quit" one job and "started" the other. Did you find any conflicts or job-related difficulties in being both a writer and a librarian? I found no conflicts between working as a librarian and writing. The two didn't cross over until my first book was published. How did your library administration and colleagues view your authorship? Was it appreciated and encouraged? Were the library patrons aware of your writing? My principal and co-teachers were thrilled and very supportive. Special quote about librarianship: "There is much to be said for being in professions where you can watch children's eyes light up and hear them say, 'That's the best book I ever read.' -- whether it's your book or somebody else's." |
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Last Updated October 30, 2003