Literary Birthday – 18 November – Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Happy Birthday, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, born 18 November 1958.

Susan Campbell Bartoletti Quotes

1. I felt immense satisfaction in watching my students grow as writers. I wanted to practice what I preached, so I joined a writers group and got serious about my own writing. A Book And A Hug
2. I began to keep a secret notebook. I began the habit of scribbling notes and journal-keeping, something I continued throughout elementary school and high school and college and continue to do today. (Website)
3. My journey as a writer, like the journey of every writer, is the story of taking time to write. When I taught full-time, I wrote between 4 and 6 am. (Website)
4. Each rejection spurred me on, telling me to try harder, to learn more about the craft, to learn more about revising, to read more, to write more, to dig in. (Website)
5. Over time, I sold a short story. Then another. And another. Then a picture book. Then another picture book and a nonfiction book and a novel and another nonfiction book. (Website)
6. I do not write the stories I write to teach readers anything. Stephen King says that each book should be a letter to someone. If that’s true, then my books are letters to my middle school students. Eastern Penn Points
7. It was the teaching of writing that helped me make the three most important discoveries a writer can make: my subjects (to write about), my audience, and my voice. Eastern Penn Points
8. Choose a subject interests you, one that you feel passionately about. You can’t fake interest! You can’t fake passion! Cynsations
9. Read around. Once I have a subject that I’m interested in, I hurry to the library to check out every book I can. Cynsations
10. Don’t despair. Research is time-consuming, so time-consuming that some days I wonder if I’ll ever know enough to begin writing. But if I begin to write too soon, before I feel ownership over the material, my writing will fall flat. Cynsations

Susan Campbell Bartoletti is an American writer who has published poetry, short stories, picture books, and novels, but she is best known for her award-winning nonfiction books. She is the author of picture books such as Naamah and the Ark at Night, novels such as The Boy Who Dared, and non-fiction including Kids on Strike! and Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler’s Shadow. She has received dozens of awards and honors, including the Newbery Honor, for her writing.

Source for image: Author’s Website

by Amanda Patterson

Please click here for our Literary Birthday Calendar