I love books! I am an educator and author from Vermont. My most recent book is an eco-fiction novel for the middle grades called The Order of the Trees and published by Green Writers Press.
 

SIX MINUTES WITH KATY FARBER:

Joining LitPick today for Six Minutes with an Author is Katy Faber. She is the author of The Order of the Trees, but she is also a professional development coordinator and blogger. She writes about topics such as education, parenting, and the environment.

***How did you get started writing?     

I've been writing for as long as I can remember! As a child, I loved creating small books. They were stories about a giant stuffed bear my grandmother had and a polluted river near her house. That is funny because The Order of the Trees has both an environmental and a fictional, magical angle, just like my earliest stories. And I have always journaled. It helped me sort out feelings as a kid and record ideas. I still draw sketches and make lists of books I read, ideas I have, places I have been, and poems about emotions on my mind in my journal. 

***Who influenced you?

Growing up, books such Watership Down and Julie of the Wolves were incredibly inspiring. I loved getting lost in these adventures. 

Since that time, I have added so many more influences, including J.K. Rowling, JR Tolkien, RJ Palico, and Marcus Zusak to name a few authors of young adult books that have inspired and moved me. After reading The Book Thief, I went back and paid careful attention to the sky in each scene in The Order of the Trees. It is amazing to me what one book can inspire. I would add also books about creativity such as Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert and the books by Austin Kleon, Steal Like an Artist and Show Your Work! 

***Do you have a favorite book/subject/character/setting?

That is a bit like asking who my favorite child, student, or color is! Impossible. But, I have a love for characters that are undervalued, looked over, and underestimated, and then they serve some very important purpose in a story. Characters such as Neville Longbottom from Harry Potter, and Dan Bloom in my book, The Order of the Trees, fit this description. 

***What advice do you have for someone who wants to be an author?

You are a writer if you are writing. Don't let anyone else define for you that you are only a writer if you are published. Write what you love, what excites you, what you think should exist in the world. Then think about what you will do with it. What you do with it is really another story. The creation is what is important. 

***Where is your favorite place to write?

As a working mom of two, I write anywhere. I grab ideas in line at the grocery store and write them in the notes app of my phone. There is no one perfect time or place to write. No one is whisking me off to a cabin in the woods where they feed me grapes and I can write all day. I will write in my journal or type on my computer just about anywhere. I do love writing at my kitchen table, either late at night or very early in the morning, with a cat on my lap, and computer positioned right by the window so I can look out and see the sky. 

***What else would you like to tell us?

It is a special honor when anyone reads my words. It is a privilege that a young reader is letting me into their world and I take that very seriously. I hope you enjoy The Order of the Trees and thank you for reading.

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Katy, thanks for joining us to share more about your book and yourself. Your words will inspire many people who have a heart for writing but have not been published yet. We all have a story to tell, and we should tell it, whether it’s our full time job or we capture it in the line at the grocery store.