Blog Tour - Viva Alice by Judi Curtin

Today I am pleased to welcome Judi Curtin to my blog. Judi is the author of Viva Alice which is the eighth book in her series of books about friends.

I asked Judi Curtin to tell me a little about her writing influences:

I can’t remember a time when I couldn’t read, so it’s difficult to pinpoint exactly which writers had the greatest influence on my writing. I think it’s fair to say that, for better or worse, every word I read influenced me in some way.

As a child, I read anything I could get my hands on. I loved Enid Blyton for the carefree, adventurous world she portrayed. I loved CS Lewis, for his beautiful writing and wonderful, vivid imagination. I loved Heidi because of the descriptions of Heidi’s life on the alm. I loved What Katy Did, because Katy was such a wild, fun girl – the kind of girl I could only dream of becoming. I loved Little Women because of the poignant portrayal of a family struggling together through hardship. But even though I was such an avid reader, I made no serious effort to become a writer until I was in my thirties.

After school I studied English and German in university, (lots of books), and then I trained as a primary teacher. When I started my first job, a colleague advised me to always end the day by reading a story to the children. Her thinking was that the school day can sometimes be tiring and frustrating for the children (and for the teacher), and a few minutes of story-time would be a happy note on which to send the children home. This was great advice, and it turned out to be the favourite part of my day. I think it may also be why I finally sat down and started to write my first book.

Sometimes, despite my best efforts, my end-of-school-day book selections were not good. On those occasions, my reading was muffled by the scrape of chairs and the restless shuffling of scores of feet. Sometimes, even if I was mid-sentence when the bell rang, there was a danger that someone might be injured in the stampede towards the door.

When the book was right, though, everything was different. I could reduce my voice to a whisper, and the children would strain to catch every syllable. I could pause, and look up to see the wonder on the children’s faces. The bell for home could ring and no-one would move. After-school hockey and ballet and swimming were all forgotten as the children willed me to turn the page and keep on reading.

Now, many years later, I can’t even remember who the most popular authors were. At the time, I was often surprised. They may not have been critically acclaimed award-winners, but they all had something in common – they made the children love books. So those were my true influences, the nameless authors who left my young pupils begging for more. In my dreams, I become one of them.

Thank you to Judi for visiting my blog today and to my readers, please check out my review of Viva Alice below.