All through October, Alphabet Soup is celebrating turning three. We have heaps of writers and illustrators stopping by to answer THREE QUICK QUESTIONS and today’s visitor is Claire Saxby, author of Sheep, Goat and the Creaking Gate, There was an Old Sailor, The Carrum Sailing Club, and many more fiction and nonfiction books.
1. Where do you like to write?
My favourite place to write was in the library, until they knocked it down to build another one. I can’t wait until the new one is opened in September NEXT year. I also like writing in cafes. Somehow the noise at a cafe isn’t at all distracting whereas the silence and call of all the housework is very distracting at home.
2. Can you name a book you’d recommend to our readers?
Surface Tension by Meg McKinlay was a great read about a girl who was born the day they flooded her town. Everyone else talks about ‘before’ and ‘after’ and she feels like the only one with no knowledge of ‘before’. After years of drought, the old town is becoming visible and bringing with it secrets. This is a wonderful story about friendship, and finding where you belong.
3. Can you offer a word or phrase that kids could use for inspiration if they have writer’s block?
I didn’t do it!
You can find out more about Claire Saxby on her blog Let’s Have Words, and see an interview about a picture book’s journey.
© October 2011 “Three Quick Questions with Claire Saxby” by Rebecca Newman (Alphabet Soup magazine)
(Psst … see you back here tomorrow when we talk to author Kathryn Apel.)
alphabetsoup.net.au 
Thanks for having me here, Rebecca. Great idea, these mini-stops.
Thanks for being part of the celebrations, Claire! It was good fun, having all our visitors …