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 Kathryn Apel, author of Fencing With Fear, and This is the Mud.
1. Where do you like to write?
Sometimes my brain likes to write by itself and I have to stop what I’m doing and dash for paper/pencil, computer—anything! —just to catch the words. My brain likes to write when I’m;
driving (alone)
walking (with the dog)
chopping vegetables
in the shower.
I like to write at the computer, because I can organize my ideas neatly and I don’t have to worry about my handwriting, which gets messier and messier the faster I write. (And even messier still when I change my mind and start scratching things out.) Sometimes I decide; It’s time. I will write. I sit at the computer … walk to the fridge … sit at the computer … walk outside … sit at the computer … go on Twitter … check my blog … go to the fridge … sit at the computer … and FINALLY … the ideas and the words come. Yay and hurray, I say!
2. Can you name a book you’d recommend to our readers?
I really enjoyed the unexpectedness of the picture book Fred Stays With Me by Nancy Coffelt and illustrated by Tricia Tusa. I think it’s cleverly done. I even gave a bark of laughter—which is appropriate, because Fred is a dog.
3. Can you offer a word or phrase that kids could use for inspiration if they have writer’s block?
“Did you see that?”
You can find out more about Kathryn Apel on her blog, and on her website.
© October 2011 “Three Quick Questions with Kathryn Apel” by Rebecca Newman (Alphabet Soup magazine)
(Psst … see you back here tomorrow when we talk to author Dee White.)
alphabetsoup.net.au 
That looks like a lovely book, Kat. I’ll look out for it.
I do like the cover!