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Writing Climbing The Stairs has been a wonderful journey.
And as all good journeys do, it's been filled with pleasant surprises. Here are some of them:
- Writing the story enabled me to travel into my family's past, and learn a great deal about my mother's life.
- I wrote the book for young adults, but I've been touched, thrilled and most pleasantly surprised to see that many adults and senior citizens demand, "Why is this book classified as YA? I never realized it was. It's got as much sophistication as many adult novels." Mostly, this surprises me because I realize that the category "young adult" is sometimes construed as less sophisticated than just plain old fiction which is shelved in the grown-ups section. I think that my book and many other "YA" novels can and should be read by all adults - young, youngish, old and older still! Because, in the end, a novel is a novel, whether it happens to be labeled "multicultural" or "young adult" or whatever else. And just as anyone can enjoy a good movie whether it's rated G or PG-13, everyone should read a novel without worrying about categories. And yes, I think adults will learn a lot from reading my novel, and the questions it raises are important for people of all ages to ponder and debate.
