Interview with My Mom

(Karina Anderson)

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TRANSCRIPT:

Jubilee (Jubi): Hey, Book Bards! Welcome back to my cottage in the woods for an interview with my mom, Karina Anderson. Mommy, I’m so glad to have you here today, and I’m excited talk about what it’s like to be the parent of a young writer. Thank you so much for joining me today!

Mom: Well, thank you so much for having me, Jubi. This is really exciting!

Jubilee: My first question is; What is it like to be the parent of a young writer?

Mom: Well, let’s see. You like to wake up at about 5:30 A.M. every morning and write for a couple hours before anyone else enters the room. So that’s amazing to watch the perseverance and just the joy that writing brings you. It’s pretty incredible to get to see something that you love to do, to get to see something that you are very excited about. It makes me excited for you. So let me think, what else.

It’s been really fun to see you grow in your writing. From your early, I don’t know, maybe you were 5 or 6 years old, writing Chrysanthemum stories and handing them out to friends that would come over for dinner, to then writing your first book, your Anda and Philip story, and getting to read through that and thinking, she’s really improved from her Chrysanthemum story! And then more recently getting to read the prologue and the first chapter of Knightfall. And, and just being pretty amazed at the leaps and bounds that you’ve made, even just this past year.

So that’s been fun to watch you grow in your writing skills. And also just to hear the different things that you’re excited about, what you’re passionate about, and what you’re learning. And it’s been fun that you’ve been bringing me into that world and telling me what you’re learning through the videos that you’re watching and the different instructors on The Young Writers Workshop and other podcasts and blogs and different things that you’ve been interested in and have helped me to learn alongside with you.

Jubilee: How do you balance critiques and encouragement when looking at your own child’s writing? I know a while back I gave you the Anda and Philip story, and then recently I shared with you the prologue and first chapter of Knightfall. You’ve been extremely encouraging, but also especially I’ve noticed with Knightfall, you’ve given some good critique. So how do you balance that?

Mom: Thank you! I never quite know for sure, but I think mostly is just being honest. You’re asking how to balance critique and encouragement, constructive criticism as we like to call it. I think it’s being honest.

You’ve mentioned to me several times how something that you love about being around peers that also love to write is that they will give you honest feedback. They’ll tell you where you can actually improve and not just saying, ‘Oh, that was great!’ but actually give you specific pointers on different areas that you can improve in your writing.

I tend to be kind of a detailed person, so I like to get into the little details whereas I know writers sometimes like bigger picture critiques. I know you told me sometimes, ‘This time when you read my writing, I want you to tell me how you’re feeling. What are you feeling whenever you read this chapter? Are you feeling scared? Are you feeling excited?’

And I had never really thought through too much about how to read through something that way. I don’t usually think through how my feeling as I read this, but it’s interesting because when I’ve watched movies before, there’s times where I’ve left the theater kind of anxious, or excited. There’s just different heightened feelings there. Or if I’m reading through something really sad, I end up feeling depressed for part of the day. And so that it’s interesting when you asked me that question it just made me think. And that was interesting to see you’re trying to get a feel for; ‘Am I conveying the right feeling to the audience, to my readers?’

And so that was interesting to be a part of that and to be able to share what I feel whenever I’m reading through something. And so how do I balance critique and encouragement?… I think with honesty, and definitely sharing positives first, and then, ‘Okay, here’s some areas where I see that you could improve upon.’ So that’s, that’s what I think I tend to do.

Jubilee: Yeah, that’s, that’s really good. Kind of going off of that, you and Daddy have invested a lot in my writing with The Young Writer’s Workshop, and with being willing to listen to me talk about writing all day long, over, and over, and over, and also by reading through some of my stuff. Was there anything in your childhood that your parents did with you, maybe with dance or with something else, that influenced the way you influence me?

Mom: Absolutely! My parents were very supportive and the cool thing was they recognized that my sister and I were two separate people and we had very different strengths and likes and dislikes. They, they were great about helping us to develop those things. And they were very aware that they themselves weren’t necessarily the ideal teacher for that thing, that that wasn’t their strength per se, but they walked alongside us.

I was a dancer, and I loved it! I would dance all the time. They would hear me dancing in my room nonstop. I had a closet with mirror doors. I think my parents very intentionally did that so that I could see myself doing the dance moves and critiquing myself, you know, ‘Point your toes,’ and all that kind of stuff. I don’t know how I got away with doing leaps in my room. It was a small room! Sometimes I would kick, kick the furniture by accident. So they put up with all of that.

But then my parents would also, and my mom in particular, would go to all of our dance competitions and they would stay late at the football games. Sometimes we would get home past ten for sure, sometimes closer to midnight. And they were just, especially my mom, she was just there to support us. I can’t imagine it must have been like for them. I think my mom had fun with it, but she never complained.

I see it now as an adult, as a mom myself, the sacrifices that she made. But at the time, it was just a ‘given’ that my mom was gonna give me rides to all the different places. And if I needed a new pair of tights that she was gonna buy them, and a new leotard. And those were expensive, but my parents didn’t complain about it. They were very supportive.

I remember I also got into theater at one point in high school and I think I had probably 14 lines in Charlotte’s Web. I was the baby lamb. And so most of my lines went like this: “Baa. Baa.” I had a few little one liners in there. But I was just excited to be a part of the show.

My dad went and watched me, and afterwards, it impacted me so much because he wrote me a letter with so much praise and encouragement telling me how proud he was of me. For my 14 lines. He said something to me. He said, ‘I support you and whatever you want to do when you grow up, even if it’s acting’ They were always very encouraging.

And then when I went to college, they just let me pick whatever I wanted to do. I started out doing accounting and realized pretty quickly that I didn’t want to sit behind a desk all day and be by myself. I thought, “Well, that seems kind of a lonely career. I think I would rather do education.” I switched to that and they were very supportive of that.

And not just for me but also for my sister. My sister was into music. She was in the band. She played trumpet, she was really good at it. She also played piano. They paid for her piano lesson since she was 7 years old. And, and then she also got into photography. That’s what her major was in college. They just supported us all the way through. They didn’t really question it. They just backed us up. So I loved that about them.

Jubilee: Wow, well, I did not know all that! That’s very interesting!

Mom: That’s your grandparents! 😀

Jubilee: Going back to sharing a piece of writing with parents, I know sometimes I’ve been in this situation before, where I want to share my writing with you because you’re my parents and you guys are supporting me! But sometimes I feel like a little bit scared. What would you tell a young writer who is afraid to share their writing with their parents?

Mom: I would tell them to let their parents know, “Hey, I really want to share this with you. I’ve felt a bit apprehensive about doing it. But, I want you to come in on that part of my life with me and to be a part of that!” And I think that their parents would be so honored. I know I have been. Anytime that you’ve shared something with me, I’ve just been so proud of you. And I’m sure that their parents would be so proud of them to be able to see what they’re doing, what they’re producing.

So, I would say, do it! Step forward in that fear. God does not give us a spirit of fear. (2 Timothy 1:7)

You’re gonna face many more fears and this is gonna be a small one. Because think about sharing it with the greater public: Sharing it with an editor, sharing it with an agent, those big people out there in the writing world. If you think about it, sharing writing with your parents is actually a really small step. That builds character right there and helps you to take a small step for that day when you’ll be taking an even bigger step when you go to try and publish your work.

Jubilee: I’ve really enjoyed this conversation with you!

Mom: Yeah. Me too! I’m glad to do this.

Jubilee: Thank you so much for joining me on my podcast!

Mom: Well, thanks for inviting me! I loved it!

Jubilee: Well, bye everyone!