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Pegi's Bio

BIOGRAPHICAL QUESTION & ANSWER

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WHOOOOO ARE YOU? WHO, WHO,WHO, WHO?

I am a mother, wife, chef, landscaper, coach, dog trainer, and scullery maid. Oh, and the author of more than 400 articles, essays and poems for adults and children. I teach writing to adults and young adults through the Institute of Children’s Literature; and I teach Children's Lit and writing at University of Connecticut. I have given presentations at more than 400 schools, libraries and conferences around the country. I live in Northeast Connecticut with my husband, Tom, daughter Deirdre (22), son Tommy (20), and pointer/beagle Sunny (13, going on 1).

Pre-career bits: I was born in 1960 and raised with four brothers in Matawan, on the New Jersey Shore. My dad taught high school history and coached sports. My mom was a legal secretary and coached cheerleading. WE WERE A VERY ATHLETIC FAMILY! I attended St. Joseph Grammar School and Saint John Vianney High School. At Rutgers College, I double-majored in Honors English and Communications. I held all kinds of jobs—lifeguard/ swim instructor, newspaper deliverer, babysitter, waitress, and my most dangerous job—substitute teaching.

HOW DID YOU BECOME A WRITER?

Several signal events propelled me into a writing career. Great Aunt Beauregard read my 8-year-old palm and declared, “You’re a writer!” My mom scoffed, “Don’t listen to that nonsense. Your aunt thinks she can tell the future.” Only two years later, I won a regional poetry competition, netting me $2. At my Rutgers College graduation in 1982, I was awarded the Evelyn Hamilton Prize ($35) for Creative Writing. Soon after, the Asbury Park Press (NJ) began paying me $15/story for daily articles on local sewer commissions, boards of education, and zoning meetings--some of the most creative writing I ever done! I gained valuable experience in researching, interviewing, writing under deadline, writing to word count, being edited and composing on a word processor. (In 1982-83, you saved to a tape cassette!) All of these signal events should have discouraged me from trying to make a living writing. But I’m lucky to have a job that is fun, flexible, and constantly enriching, and lucky to have a family who helps support me--mind, body and wallet.

WERE YOU ALWAYS AN AUTHOR?

Before I decided to concentrate on my writing, I ran my own public relations firm for ten years in the film and video industry. I was director of advertising and PR at Unitel Video, NY, before moving to Connecticut in 1986. While I made a good deal of money in these jobs, I longed to write for myself and for you—not for companies. It’s very handy, these days, to have a marketing and business background, because we authors have do a lot of publicity for ourselves. Which is why I have this website!

WHAT WRITERS INFLUENCED YOU?

I loved Dr. Suess, how he played with words as if they were toys, how he invented them if no existing word suited him. What power! With four brothers and no sisters to tame me, I grew up very independent and strong. That’s why Pippi Longstocking was my hero. My reading preferences seemed to have jumped, however, from Pippi to The Godfather. I think it was the Catholic school libraries--no Judy Blume or Konigsburg. But lots of nonfiction and history. So, I’m making up for my middle grade and Y.A. fiction reading lapse now. Contemporary authors I admire include (I can't possibly name them all) the poets Joyce Sidman and Marilyn Nelson (whom I'm lucky to call friends), Eve Bunting, Karen Hesse, Laurie Halse Anderson, Jane Yolen, Jerry Spinelli, Christopher Paul Curtis, etc.

My writing itself was mostly influenced by my college professors--especially professors/authors Alicia Ostriker, Patricia Tobin and Bill Keach AND my husband Professor Tom Shea. In that academic corridor stretching from New York City to New Brunswick and Princeton were countless opportunities to hear famous poets, write, perform and publish poetry, and meet to discuss and critique writing.

I have not been without a writers group since I was 18. I’ve been with my current writers group since 1987, and the group had been founded by author Jackie French Koller about ten years before that. Though she’s no longer in the group, Jackie continues to be a great role model for me. Like her, I write just about everything, from board books and picture books to middle grade fiction and nonfiction. The children's book authors I admire most are my writers group members: Susan Aller, Nancy Wadhams, Barbara Barrett, Janet Lawler, Joan Horton, Jennifer LaRueHuget, Dana Meachen Rau, Joyce Stengel, Sandra Horning, and Stacey Dekeyser, because we all work together EVERY WEEK to lovingly challenge ourselves and each other. And we pick each other up after every rejection.

My Nana wasn’t a writer. But because she influenced me in so many ways, she has influenced my writing. For those of you who like my book, New Moon, Nana is the original “Vinnie.”

WHAT DO YOU DO IN YOUR SPARE TIME?

I read like mad—anything: newspapers, magazines, fiction, nonfiction, children’s literature (I prefer realistic over fantasy). I try to work out every day. Before I became ill (see next par.), I played tennis, softball, soccer, and I ran. Now I lift weights, swim, do aqua exercise, ride the recumbent bike, and do zumba. I love to travel and have visited 15 countries and 18 states. I also enjoy gardening, cooking, and doing anything on a beach. I love to do all of the above with my family and friends and alone too.

WHAT WAS THE MOST IMPORTANT EVENT IN YOUR LIFE?

Outside of family events, I’d have to say my trip to Thailand in 1989. Seeing tens of thousands of war refugees made me realize how much I had been taking for granted—a wonderful family, worthwhile work, food, shelter.

My second most important event was getting seriously ill with Lyme Disease in 1997. It’s 2013, and I have not had many days without head pain, muscle and joint trouble, and nerve spasms. The scariest things are my epileptic seizures, and my aphasia—not coming up with ordinary words, or substituting them with words that don’t make sense. (So, if I say something funny in a school visit, be patient with me!) To paraphrase one of my favorite quotes, from the poet Tagore: I prayed for strength so I could do good things; You gave me weakness so I can do great things…. Everyone has challenges. Lyme Disease is mine. God and medication help me deal.

DO YOU HAVE ANY ADVICE TO YOUNG WRITERS?

Yes, the word “writing” is only a part of a bigger and more important word: Rewriting. Your early drafts are like globs of play-dough; they may smell good and have a nice color, but they don’t become anything until you work them over.