Ann Cameron answers questions from children who write her
Dear Friends, If you want to know something about me and don't see the answer on this page, write to me by clicking here, and I'll post your question and the answer. Ann
Q. Where do you live?
I live in Portland, Oregon. For 22 years I lived in Guatemala (it's a country next to Mexico, in Central America). By plane, Guatemala is only about three hours from Miami, Florida. The capital, Guatemala city, is directly south of New Orleans, Louisiana. I moved to Portland in 2006.
Q. What's it like in Guatemala?
I lived in the town of Panajachel. This is the real name of the town "San Pablo" in my book The Most Beautiful Place in the World. (The town name is pronounced: Pah-nah-hah-CHEL.) If you want to know more about the town, read the book. You can see a slide show of pictures by clicking here.
Panajachel is on the shore of one of the most beautiful lakes on earth, Lake Atitlán. It's a big lake in the mountains above 5,100 feet altitude. Three volcanoes rise high above Panajachel and the lake along the south shore.
Panajachel is 60 miles from the Pacific Ocean, and about 180 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. On the coasts Guatemala is very humid and hot, but in Panajachel it never gets hot and it never gets cold. Because of its beauty, people from all over the world have come here to live. Most of the people who live in Panajachel are Mayan people. The newcomers are Americans, Canadians, Italians, French, Swiss, Belgian, German, Australian, Malaysian and Sri Lankan. A lot of tourists come here to visit, too.
I lived in a little cottage that's covered with flowering
vines--even
the roof is covered with flowers. There was a lemon tree in the
back yard and huge lemons growing on it all the time. Also roses
and petunias and lots of other flowers.
Q. Are you married?
Yes. My husband is Bill
Cherry. He used to work for the U.S. House of Representatives.
Now he is retired. Every day he gave away candy to children all
over Panajachel. One piece to every child he saw until he ran
out of candy for the day. He called the children his "clients."
They called him
"Don Dulce." Roughly translated, that means "Mister
Sweet." Sometimes Bill's clients tried to trick him by running
home and changing their shirts; then they came back and pretended
they never got their first piece of candy. But Bill knew his
clients, and I don't think they've ever succeeded in tricking
him--though they have lots of fun trying.
Q. Do you have children?
I have two step-daughters, Angie and Cristi, and I have seven grandchildren--Daniel, David, and Jonathan, who are 8, 10, and 12 in 2007; and Jessica, who is 23. They live in Virginia. Daniel is a serious one who likes reading, learning, seems to know how things are put together. David is also a reader with a quick learning span. Jonathan seems to be a natural athlete who always knows what his body is doing and what move he needs to make next. Jessica is a teacher of severely handicapped students in Fairfax County, Virginia, and is a post graduate student in George Mason University. She is married to Marc Livera Tennakoon, from Singapore, who is making a career change from computer programming to nursing by studing at George Mason.
If you are observant, you just
noticed that I only named four grandchildren. But there are seven.
Our elder Guatemalan grandson is 
Yovany
Yoc. He made friends with my husband and me when he was three,
and he asked if we would be his grandparents. We said yes. Now
Yovany is 16. We spent almost every Saturday with him. He has
the knack of knowing how things work and is outstanding in math
and science at Colegio Maya, an English language school in Guatemala
City, where he has a scholarship. Our Guatemalan granddaugher
is his sister Jaqueline, 10 in 2006. She also visited Saturdays,
and her aim in life right now is to be just like her brother.
They both are very quick learners and speak both English and
Spanish very well (she attends a school which has all lessons
in English except the daily class in Spanish). Their brother,
William, was one year old in October, 2006. This photo was taken
in 2003.
Q. Do you have a pet?
Until 1999 I had two cats, Jane
and Special, who lived to the age of 18--that's equivalent to
a human being living to be 126 years old! For all those years,
these cats were wonderful friends to me.
They moved with me from New York to
Panajachel.
Q. How do you write?
First I get an idea. It could come from something someone tells me, or from a dream, or from a memory. But the idea is just a glimmer. To extend it, I need to imagine, "What if?" What if the mine Huey and Julian and their friends dig grew so deep it was about to collapse? What then? What if Julian got out of his fear of riding a bike by making up a fib? What if his father found out about the fib? What could happen then? Without that question "what if?" I couldn't write a story.
The other part of where I write
is my outer circumstances. I've
written all my books in restaurants.
I feel happy and relaxed in restaurants, and feeling happy and
relaxed helps me to write well. I go to a restaurant--my favorite
is El Patio in Panajachel--order some ice cream or a Coke, and
make notes. Sometimes I write endings before beginnings. Sometimes
I think of middles first. I don't worry about the order of my
thoughts, I just want to get them down real and alive. The order
can come later. I keep trying out sentences until a character
says one that sounds real--that sounds as if he really means
it.
Then--if Huey said this, what would Julian say? I ask myself. I see all my characters on an invisible stage inside my head. I watch them all and let them tell me how they feel and what they want to say. Sometimes I laugh at what they say. Sometimes something sad happens--like the time Huey fell out of bed on his head to prove he was tough--and I sigh and tears roll down my face. The people in El Patio have gotten used to seeing me with pen poised over paper, smiling to myself, laughing or crying, all alone. They'll let me sit for hours with just a cup of coffee, and put on music I like. They accept me perhaps because they understand the secret of good writing: for a book to be real to other people, first of all it has to be real to the author.
Q. Do you have any tips for young people who want to become writers?
Yes. First of all, read a lot. Notice what you like in books and try to imitate those qualities when you write.
Make up stories and tell them to younger brothers and sisters or to children you babysit for.
Try to understand people. Ask them to tell you about their lives. Listen to them and remember what they say, and just as important, how they say it. That way, when you come to write dialogue, it will sound real.
Keep a journal of interesting things you learn about. If nothing interesting happens one day, make something up and put that in the journal.
Learn all you can about everything that interests you. The more experiences you have, the more material you will have for your writing. But avoid bad experiences--like drugs and alcohol and violent friends. The idea is to live through your childhood so you can write about it someday--not to have experiences that put you in a funeral home at an early age.
Q. Do you have any hobbies?
I like to swim. I bicycle a lot. I like learning languages. I speak Spanish well, and I'm learning French. I like parties with a few good friends. And full moons, and a black sky full of stars, and the scent of roses. . . Appreciating the beauty around me makes me very happy.
Q. Do you have any special projects?
I raised money to help the library
in Panajachel. Guatemala is a poor 
country. Many children don't go to school
and never learn to read. With the help of American schools and
individuals that sent us donations, we bought good books for
Guatemalan children and put them in the library.
If your parents want to help, tax-deductible donations for the library can be sent to Lake Atitlán Libraries, Inc., care of Teresa Cameron, 449 Overlook Pass, Hudson, WI 54016. We also recommend Child Aid, 917 SW Oak St., Portland, OR 97205, an organization which helps libraries in Guatemala and deaf children in Oaxaca, Mexico.
Please look at the special page about the library.
My Books On Literacy Parents Teachers Answers My Life Home
Copyright © 2000, 2007 Ann Cameron