Interviewing Sherry Ellis, Author and Musician!
What/who inspired you to start writing the Bubba and Squirt adventures?
Multiple what’s and a who’s inspired the Bubba and Squirt adventures.
Here are the what’s: When I was about 8 years old living in Florida, I decided I wanted to dig a hole to China. I got my shovel and dug in an empty lot near my house. Since we were so close to sea-level, my hole filled with water rather quickly, so I didn’t exactly get to my destination. But I always wondered what would’ve happened if it had worked. Bubba and Squirt’s Big Dig to China is an imaginative possibility. Both Bubba and Squirt’s Big Dig to China and Bubba and Squirt’s Mayan Adventure are set in places I have visited. I enjoy traveling and learning about other cultures and history. I wanted to write something that could both educate and give kids an idea of what other countries are like.
Here are the who’s: The characters Bubba and Squirt are roughly based on the personalities of my own two children when they were younger. Not quite the same, but the character of Bubba captures the playful, imaginative nature of my son when he was young, and the character of Squirt captures the nurturing big sister.
I saw on a recent blog post that your trip to Belize inspired Bubba and Squirt's Mayan Adventure. Can you describe a place, a scene, a person, or a moment on the trip that you included in the book or that inspired a particular moment in the book?
So many scenes were inspired by my trip to Belize. The storm and the muddy road scenes were based on an experience there. We didn’t have a tree fall in front of us, but the roads were nearly impassible due to the heavy rainfall from a hurricane. I also visited a village and had a little monkey, like the one in the story, sit on my shoulder. The village was very much like what is described in the book. Finally, the scene where Bubba comments about the grass growing all over the pyramid was taken from my thoughts of seeing such a pyramid at Altun Ha. I too, thought somebody should get a lawnmower and fix it.
You're a professional musician and author. How do these two creative endeavors work together for you?
Both appeal to my creative muse. I think being a musician gives me a good sense of rhythm which helps the word flow in my writing. If something doesn’t sound right, I intuitively know I have to change it.
If you could give your younger writer self a piece of advice, what would it be?
Everything about writing and publishing is a long process. Be patient!
Thank you for having me as a guest!
An ancient Mayan civilization!
That's what Bubba and Squirt find when they travel through the mysterious vortex for another wild adventure. There they meet archeologists who are unearthing priceless artifacts.
But someone is stealing them. And an encounter with the Tate Duende awakens magic within Bubba. Throw in the mysterious Alux and a new discovery and things get sticky.
Will Bubba and Squirt solve the mystery, or will they be stuck forever in the jungles of Belize?
Cool you had a monkey on your shoulder.
ReplyDeleteI can attest that music and writing go well together.
I love how Sherry got the idea for her book.
ReplyDeleteThank you for having me as a guest on your blog!
ReplyDeleteThank you for featuring Sherry. You should see the monkey photo - it's cute.
ReplyDeleteHi Tyrean - great having Sherry here ... she's so talented in many ways ... music, writing, imagining ... with these characters with their wonderful names - and an excellent ideal for helping other kids learn about other parts of the world. All the best to Sherry and you ... take care - Hilary
ReplyDeleteI love how Sherry takes aspects from her real experience and makes them fantastic. Great interview.
ReplyDeleteThanks for interviewing Sherry. It's fun to learn more of how she was inspired to write these books.
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