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Rita Antoinette Borg |
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Rita’s 18Q |
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18Q |
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On a Lonely Tree/ Fuq Sigra Mwarrba |
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1. Did you choose the writing profession or did it choose you? I chose the writing profession as a young girl. However, I tried to forget about it as I thought there would be no hope for me to write and publish in England and the US from Malta. I was proven wrong; thanks to the internet and a lot of work. So I guess I was re-chosen and I am glad I was.
2. What is your background? (education, work, etc.) As a child in New York City, I would devour the books in the Riverside Branch Library close to home. It was the only place my father let me go to by myself. Coming back to Malta changed everything. My hopes in becoming a writer were dashed. The one university had no courses for writing. I felt very isolated. Little by little correspondence courses began to filter into the country. I sent for three, from the UK and the USA.I did the Writing School program, the Institute of Children's Writing of Connecticut, and the ICL fiction writing course. Right now I am studying for my diploma in Child Psychology, ASDL Fiction Writing and soon to enroll in Illustrating for Children of the London School of Art. I became a storyteller by chance for my local council. I loved the job and now I get paid a decent salary for what I do. I have also been sending off poetry to various publishers and magazine articles which are often published.
3. When did you 'know' you were a writer? In New York I often wrote poetry. My teacher enjoyed reading and complimenting some of the ones I wrote. Once I wrote an essay and started with a very descriptive scene of a campfire. I saw the teachers face and a boy I had a crush on said," Wow! that's really good writing." It would be a long time till I actually got published, but that moment I know what I wanted in life. It made me feel special and I had so much to say; so much to show.
4. How would you describe your style of writing? My style of writing is finding out your inner self that is trying desperately to come out. We all live behind a mask and yet we are all so special. My style puts forth lots of emotions and feelings. I write mostly for children who somehow feel deprived and damaged. I want to reach out to them. I guess you have to think with my stories ,trying to dig out the meanings of what I write.
5. What is your writing process? My writing process? I think. I think. I think. I ponder. I sleep. I imagine. I scribble. I write tentatively. I scratch out. Write some more. Write some more. revise. revise. revise. Stop. Put away. Take out. Revise. Revise. I mail it away. I pray.
6. What was your path to publication? The writers' competition which my husband urged me to enter. He took the 3 kids to his mom's that day. Did not win the competition but an editor called and asked if she could publish the article. It was published on Mother's Day. I wrote more and more articles. Then I began to write and study children's stories. A publisher liked my original idea for a bilingual Maltese-English picture book. Now I am venturing into poetry.
7. What is your favorite self-marketing idea? I love to see children looking at children's books. Often I ask the mothers if their children love animals and reading. Then I show them my books, advise them on the importance of reading when young. Since I work in a popular bookshop on the island as a storyteller it is pure joy to see a child sitting down with an open book, hopefully smiling. I also love reading -aloud from my books to children.
8. What are the biggest surprises you've encountered as a writer? How children come up and hug you. I enjoy that so so much.
9. How do you inspire yourself? What are your sources of creativity? I read other authors. I like to write about home, family and good solid values. I speak to myelf and say," what makes you want to live another day?", "Whay made you happy being a child?", "What is so special about being me, and being alive?"
10. What is your proudest writer moment? The proudest moments are when I won the Malta Literary Prive in 2003,and when a child asks, " Did you write this?" or " I have that book, I really like it."
11. What's the best advice you were given about writing? Oh! I have read plenty of books about the craft of writing. I still need to learn more and more. But the best advise after reading and just writing is you have to crawl into your character's skin and get to know him/her very well.
12. What is your most embarrassing writer moment? When I wrote a poem for a young girl who left this world. I asked her fiancé to read it. He cried.
13. What business challenges have you faced as a writer? Marketing mostly.
14. What is your writer life philosophy? This is another thing I face each day. I have a new office now after years of writing on the dining room table. My husband and the kids all have their rooms and desks. I needed a corner just for me. Every day I ask God to help me write, to try my best, to make my best better, and always, by my writing, to spread the word that you, the reader is special, and God loves us all. I write because I love writing and it is a way of life for me.
15. When you're not writing what do you do for fun? Storytelling, drawing and painting, taking out the dog, talking to my children, traveling, swimming, reading, drinking hot chocolate and cooking, praying and hoping for a better tomorrow for the world's children.
16. Who do you like to read? I love reading children's books. My favorite authors are Katherine Paterson, Kate Di Camillo, Eileen Spinelli. In Malta we usually get books by British authors in standarized English. I enjoy reading American literature. Yet I love Cornelia Funke's Inkheart trilogy and Michael Morpurgo. Good value stuff.
17. What’s your advice for new writers? If you love writing, write. No matter what just write. And write what you love to write about. No matter what your inside and outside demons say.
18. What are you currently working on? I am currently writing two more bilingual Maltese and English picture books. A Maltese publisher has taken on a Maltese- only text which I am waiting for it to get published. Am also collecting some poetry for an anthology-maybe. I also am thinking about a book about Outer Space. |
