Writing By Fridge Light: a guest blog by Gail Donovan

One lucky commentor will win a copy of Gail Donovan's new middle-grade novel, Finchosaurus!

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: It's that time of year, and you need a Christmas gift or Hanukkah present for your child/grandkid/nephew/bff's sweet girl. I'm here to steer you right, by pointing you toward Gail Donovan's books. Gail is the critically acclaimed, bestselling author of In Memory of Gorfman T. Frog, What's Bugging Bailey Blecker, The Waffler, and her latest, Finchosaurus.

Gail writes for middle grade readers, that sometimes hard-to-please group between 7 and 12. I can personally attest to her powers, as she was one of Youngest's favorite authors when she was in that are range. However, Gail shares something in common with those of us who write for tiny tots, teens, or adults - finding The Idea; the one good enough to stake an entire book on.

With my newest middle-grade novel, Finchosaurus, just published, it’s time for me to start something new. Way past time. Unfortunately, I’m not the sort of writer with more ideas than I have time to execute. If you’re one of those people, I hate you. Just kidding. But I am jealous. Because my idea-creation mode is more the “pulling teeth” variety. 

That’s why I wasn’t about to let an idea escape, one recent night. I’d been trying to come up with a new character, but she wasn’t fully formed. So I set myself the task of thinking about her while I slept, hoping my nighttime brain could do what my daytime brain hadn’t. Hoping I would wake in the morning with an idea.

I woke up only a couple of hours later. Maybe the cat was making her weird “let me out” noises. But for whatever reason, I was awake, and I did have an idea. Good, I thought, I’ll write that down in the morning, and I drifted back to sleep.

I woke again. Same idea, with another twist. That could work, I thought, and went back to sleep. 

For the third time, I woke up. My brain: Do Not Forget. There’s the girl, there’s the twist. Me: Yes, I promise I’ll remember. Back to sleep, but not for long. Soon I was awake for the fourth time, knowing there was no way out: I had given my brain a job and my brain had done the job. Now it wouldn’t let me go back to sleep. Resigned, I got out of bed. Unfortunately, I seemed to have shed my pajamas during the night. I was stark naked.

I wanted to get the idea down on paper. I did not want to wake up any more than I had to by doing things like getting dressed, or turning on the lights, especially because the blinds were up, and we live in the city. 

That’s how I came to find myself crouching on the kitchen floor, scribbling notes by the light of the open fridge door. Writing just enough to convince my brain that it could let me sleep now. I don’t know if this idea will turn into a book, but I hope so. Because this character has persistence! She woke me up four times to say, Write about me! So, I’ll try. After all, it’s not every day—or night—I get an idea.

About Finchosaurus:

 Finch has trouble paying attention in school. He’s just too busy dreaming about uncovering a dinosaur fossil and naming a new species after himself—until he digs up a note in his fifth-grade class garden with the word HELP on it. He is determined to come to the aid of the mystery note-writer. But when the quest turns out to be harder than expected, Finch risks losing two things really important to him —his best friend Noah, and a field trip to Dinosaur State Park. Acclaimed author Gail Donovan gets inside the hearts and minds of fifth graders on this journey told with unexpected humor and impressive insight.

Gail Donovan is the author of middle-grade novels, including the recent release Finchosaurus and In Memory of Gorfman T. Frog, named to the New York Public Library 100 Books for Reading and Sharing list. She is also an author for the Rainbow Fish & Friends picture book series based on the bestselling books of Marcus Pfister. She is a Chicago Tribune Nelson Algren Award finalist and a PEN/New England Discovery. Donovan lives on the coast of Maine with her husband and two daughters, where, in addition to writing children’s books, she is a library assistant at the Portland Public Library.