HUTCHINSON SCHOOL–  Kate Klise came to Hutchinson school and gave the students a taste of what her job is like as a book writer.  Klise inspired kids with great stories and lots of laughs.

Klise said she likes to have reference books, tea, gum and a keyboard with her when she writes. She has written tons of books.  She said that having to pay her bills inspires her to write.

She taught students about her journey of becoming a writer.

Ms. Klise exclaimed, “My books were rejected for 10 years!” That was very surprising, because her books are very detailed, creative and unique.

She also explained, “I look up to many, many authors.  Some of the authors I look up to are Ed White, Katherine Patterson, Harper Lee, and many more.”

Ms. Klise informed us, “The first book I published was Regarding the Fountain, which I wrote in 1998.”

When asked who taught her to use the story circle as a tool for writing the plot of the story, Ms. Klise said she {kind of} made it up. In other words, she took an advanced version and made it more simple. When asked what her inspiration for The Regarding Series was, she stated that she read an article on two men who design fountains.

Similarly, when asked how she came up with the book Regarding the Bathrooms, Ms. Klise’s response was that she was renovating her bathroom. When asked why she wrote letters in the Regarding series, her response was that they really did not work as chapter books.

“When I was a kid, I wrote letters,” she shared.  She explained that the genre for letters is called epistolary.

When asked where she gathers her thoughts and ideas before writing a book, she responded, “I gather my facts in my files that I have. All I do is look at other books and just think to write a different version in my own words.”

Ms. Klise shared that when she was growing up, all of her friends wanted to be movie stars.  She continued, “I really don’t know why. It might all be because they wanted to be famous for who knows what answer. I, personally, would DEFINITELY want to be an author. You should know because I have already pursued my dreams and am an author.”

“It is so important to be positive when you’re writing,” explained Klise.

When asked if she ever put her nightmares into her stories, she responded, “Yes that story was called The Rabbit.”

When asked if the Mouse and the Cheetos book ever got re-written and published, Klise responded, “No! The story was too boring.”

When she was asked how many books she wrote, she responded, “30. I think I’m working on my 31st book now.”

When asked what her favorite part of the writing process is, she claimed, “Finishing. I like it when I finish something and I revise it.”

“Writing is a fun thing to do,” she shared, when asked why she wanted to be an author.  “Right now I’m working on a book called Stay.”

Klise told a funny story about a haircut she got as a kid.  When asked why her dad brought her to the barber shop, she replied, “He did not know where my mom went to get her hair cut.”

When Ms. Klise was asked about how long she had been using a certain writing structure, she answered, “I have probably written 15 stories in this order. When I looked back at my stories, I saw I had been writing in this structure all along.”

She also noted, “The thing is, when you’re a writer, you have to do stuff by yourself. I usually take a hike.”

When asked if she has been written to [by fans] about a typo in one of her books, Ms. Klise responded, “No, at least not that I remember.”

When asked if she ever wanted to be anything other than an author, she thought and then answered, “I thought being a librarian would be a good job.”

Thank you, Ms. Klise, for inspiring the students of Hutchinson School!