Arts & Entertainment

Speaking With: Beth Ain, Children's Author

The Port Washington writer has a new book recently published.

Port Washington children’s author Beth Ain will be at the Dolphin Bookshop, discussing her latest book, “Starring Jules (As Herself!)” on Sunday, April 21, at 4 p.m. This book is geared for kids ages 6-9 and is also recommended as a pick for mother-daughter book clubs. Patch caught up with Ain, to learn more about her writing ife.

Patch: When did you first want to become a writer?
Beth Ain: As a kid, I don't think I ever understood that being a writer was something you could get paid to do,  I just always wrote as a way of working things out-I wrote songs lyrics, essays, stories, and very melodramatic diary entries. That was my specialty!

Patch:
What – or who – helped to make you confident that you could do it?
BA: A teacher, of course. I had a teacher in tenth grade who told me point blank that I was a writer and that was that. I actually recently wrote a piece for my blog about that experience. When someone takes a minute to tell a young person something like that, something that builds them up, well it's a very important moment. The best teachers really do change your life. Nowadays when I'm not feeling confident, all I have to do is tell my husband and he'll build me back up – his support of my writing is the only reason I didn't quit after my first rejection letter.

Patch:
Why children's books?
BA: I'm a very nostalgic person, so the things I feel a strong impulse to write about are often the things that remind me of recess and ghost in the graveyard, and of the teeny tiny fights with friends that get blown way out of proportion--these are the things that drive my writing. The ambiance of childhood is such an optimistic space, too – there is still so much ahead of these characters in their lives. It's a very hopeful place to write about. 

Patch:
Do you write when you feel the impulse, or are you disciplined, where you make yourself write a certain amount, or a certain number of pages everyday?
BA: I try to take a lot of notes and I'm always writing something in my head and I try to blog when the mood strikes me (which is not a successful approach to blogging!), but truly the only time I am truly disciplined is in the face of an imminent deadline. When a deadline is looming you will find me at the Dolphin bookshop or the Port Washington Library, and you should stop to say hi because my favorite thing to do when I am writing is to procrastinate!

Patch:
Who is your inspiration for Jules?
BA: For sure my daughter Grace is the inspiration – and for sure, my son Elijah is the little man behind Big Henry! While my daughter is a fairly shy kid in the outside world, I always say she is a mix of Taylor Swift and Amy Poehler at home, so I wanted to write about a kid with star-quality who doesn't exactly fit into the mold we all think of when she think of performing children. But I also see now that there is a little bit of me in Jules, too, and hopefully a little bit of all of us. It’s important to me that I write kids and their parents – and grandparents! – as authentically as I can, so I try to channel the most real people I know when I write. I’m very lucky to be surrounded by some seriously funny and interesting people.

Patch:
Who were your favorite authors growing up?
BA: Beverly Cleary, Judy Bloom, Paula Danziger, E.B. White, and Francine Pascal. (If there was some sort of controversy or angst or else a slew of witty, talking animals, I was in.) 

Patch:
What can we expect from your upcoming event at Dolphin?
BA: I will do a reading from the book, although I'm hoping there's a rising star in the crowd who will sing the first line of the book since no one wants to hear me sing the fizzy milk jingle. And then we'll chat a little about Jules and list-making, and whatever else comes up. And then cake and cookies for all! I'm really looking forward to chatting with kids in town about the book and seeing how creative they can get--I encourage them to dress in their quirkiest Jules-inspired outfits!


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