Louise Ladd
Writer, Editor & Teacher

The author

I became a writer so I could go to work in my bathrobe if I wanted to. Truth. After I was let go from a six-month stint in a funeral home (upstairs, in the office! not down in the creepy basement) my one and only office job, I roared to the heavens, "There's gotta be a better way!"
Then I realized my playwright/director husband, Doug Taylor, had the ideal commute: from bedroom to study. So, with his encouragement, I began to teach myself how to write. With a lot of help along the way.
One of my very first short stories, ground out word by painful word as an assignment for my course with the Institute for Children's Literature, eventually turned into my first real live novel for the middle grade kids. No one was more amazed than I when A Whole Summer of Weird Susan was published by Bantam in 1987. It was followed by The Double Fudge Dare two years later. As I wrote both books I was learning how to write, inch by painful inch at times; other times the words simply flew onto the page. And I could never predict which sort of day it would be.
May I take a moment to mention a few of the people behind the scenes who applaud while I take the bows? All my books, difficult as they were to write, were guided not only by terrific editors, but also by Doug's invaluable feedback and praise for chapters literally hot off the press. I'm impatient; I whip the sheets out of the printer and hand them to Doug, still smoking.
A great lady in publishing, Jean Mercier, served as my teacher and mentor for the first books. Among many other achievements, Jean was Children's Editor at Publisher's Weekly while she led a writer's workshop right in my hometown. One could not ask for a more qualified pro to guide my early fumbling, stumbling attempts into professional prose.
My children, when young, were not dedicated proofreaders but an occasional word of praise or encouragement meant the world to me. Much later, once Julie was grown up, she re-read my books, in preparation for presenting them to her second and third grade students. Her sincere delivery of the following words still sing in my ears; "Mom, they're really FUNNY!"
Mary Jack Wald deserves mountains of praise heaped on her. She agreed to represent my first book and has stayed loyal, helpful, invaluable; guiding and inspiring me for twenty years now. It's a huge understatement to say I couldn't have done it without her. I wish all writers the blessing of an agent as wonderful as Mary Jack.
I hit a dry spell where I kept writing but nothing sold. Bantam was undergoing a shakeup and most of its editors flew off to other houses. My first editor had already moved on to another house and invited me to meet with her to discuss possibilities, but in the long run, the type of books this house published weren't the type of books I write best.
On a whim, while waiting for something to sell, I agreed to ghostwrite 3 YA detective novels featuring a famous sleuth--but don't tell anyone! The world is supposed to believe Carolyn Keene is a real person. (Well, I am real...) The fee paid for writing this long-loved mystery character's amazing adventures was pathetic but I profited more than I realized by learning to conform to the strict guidelines that keep the books in the series sounding as if they have one author, when in fact there have been hundreds, if not thousands, over the years. By learning how to adapt to the rigorous rules, this time became an invaluable learning experience.
When I was Drew-ed out, Mary Jack suggested I take another look at Miracle Island. It was a novel we both loved but it hadn't sold for clear reasons not clear. With my newly-honed skills, I immediately spotted the problems. It required a complete rewrite, page 1 to end, lowering the age range and thus altering "the voice" from YA to grade school, fixing any number of small problems, but mainly making certain that my main character, Jenny, take charge, just as a certain nameless girl detective does. To put it simply: in the original version Jenny was a wimp.
Miracle Island sold in 3 months. Plus, the editor at Berkeley wanted two more, making it a triolgy. Talk about jumping for joy! They had to peel me off the walls! The Anywhere Ring became the series title. It's the humorous, romantic adventures of a young teenager who inherits a magical ring that can take her anywhere in the world, and even back in time, as she discovers to her shock. The problem is, the ring doesn't come with an instruction book, and Jenny finds herself in one pickle after another.
In August, a 10-day trip to Ireland with a friend gave me the setting for the second book in the series, Castle in Time. I made notes each night when we checked into our B&B as we traveled the country in a rental car, along with plotting the next day's route and adventures, with an emphasis on castles.
Now here follows a writing story that may sound more like fiction than truth, but it's exactly as it happened. Soon after I returned, on August 31 (the date is engraved on my mind) Mary Jack and I met with an editor from Tor/Forge and an old friend from Bantam who was consulting with her. We had sent Kathleen a couple of series ideas but to our surprise, she asked me if I'd be interested in writing a different series, set on a dude ranch. Well, I'd never been to a dude ranch, but have always loved horses so it was enticing. The only hitch was that she wanted 8 books, and she needed them by Christmas! It was a special deal with Wal*Mart--a big display planned, a zillion books guaranteed, a really great opportunity.
But it gave me only three and a half months to write 8 books, while I still had Castle, barely started, to write for Berkeley, plus the third as yet un-named, un-planned Ring book too! Feeling slightly dazed, Mary Jack and I discussed the possibility as we walked the NY city streets after lunch. Could I take on ten books, all due within a few months? Impossible.
However, on the train ride home to Connecticut, I scribbled down whatever thoughts came to me and by the time the train reached my station, I had reached a decision. I knew that some writers wrote a book a month, and I knew I'd never know if I could do this if I didn't try. I also had the bare outline of the series. I knew her name was Chris, her parents were divorced, and she lived with her father who was foreman of the ranch while her sweet, idealistic mother traveled the country, trying to make it big as a country western singer. Chris' best friend was Drew, son of the ranch owner, and her horse was Belle, a chestnut. I had what I needed in those few words, with the imaginary ranch painted clearly in my mind. I called Mary Jack and said yes.
Doug, bless him, took over almost all household duties while I went to work on the computer and in the library. I wrote most of the day and spent the evenings researching horses and ranches plus Irish history, culture and geography. The day after I finished Castle in Time I began the first Double Diamond. Before Chrismas Kathleen called to say the deal had been postponed due to Sam Walton's death and company reorganization so I didn't have to finish all 8 by Christmas, but she still wanted them. The day after I wrote the last book in the series, Belle's Foal, I began the third Ring book, Lost Valley, set in--surprise!--the Colorado Rocky Mountains, back at the turn on the century. By mistake Jenny and friends get zapped back in time to meet a girl who takes a dislike to her: her great-grandmother, the one who originally owned the magic ring. Meanwhile, the editor from Berkeley had called and asked for a fourth book, making the Ring a quartet! Normally I would have been thrilled, but buried as I was in horses and research, I was too tired to jump for joy.
Of course I said yes, but asked for a deadline that would give me a couple of weeks off once I finished Lost Valley. We spent part of that time on a real dude ranch, thanks to Jim and Bobbie Futterer, who, as executive directors of the Dude Rancher's Association, had been invaluable consultants, answering my many questions and proofing each book as I finished it. Oddly enough, the name of the dude ranch that hosted us was Lost Valley: pure coincidence, I swear. Or my subconscious playing tricks on me.
When we returned from our short but terrific vacation, Mary Jack suggested I set the last Ring book somewhere that didn't require a lot of research. I agreed that was an excellent suggestion and decided to plunge Jenny into Japan, on an air force base at the height of the Cold War, the mid-1950s, to find out if a friend's grandfather was really a spy for Russia or a loyal American. Cherry Blossom Moon didn't require much research, aside from checking a few details with my brother, a pilot and graduate of the Air Force Academy, because we had lived in Japan, on that base, during that time. I "borrowed" some friends and created others with pure imagination, but described the base and the atmosphere exactly as I remembered them. I also included an actual incident that occured with my best friend, Opal, whose recollection of those days is twice as good as mine. (After a 32 year separation, she found me and we've been in touch ever since.) It has to do with two girls getting caught in the middle of a train trestle, with a train coming--fast, and no possibility of outrunning it.
The story of how Doug and I became the co-editors of Sandy Dennis' memoir is quite another tale. I think I'll save it for the page about her book.
I could go on forever, talking about the class I teach for Fairfield U.'s University College, an ongoing workshop for more than 15 years, or some of my free-lance editing. I'd love to brag about far some of my "students" (some of whom are a generation older than I) have come, how they learn and respond to feedback, and grow so quickly. I teach through my free-lance editing too, as I guess it just comes with the territory. It's harder to read a manuscript without a pencil in my hand than with one. In fact, I'd love to correct books I read that are already in print. Once an editor, always an editor.
I could also talk about my adventures as a cancer survivor, battling sarcoma for ten years now, and still winning. Last winter's appearance of two new tumors really through me for a loop, but the miracle pill, Gleevec, is working beautifully, sparing me a ninth operation, an ordeal I don't want to even think about. Thanks to the miracle, I don't have to.
I'd much rather talk about books and writing. I'm no literary lioness, not by a long stretch, but I do love a good tale with imaginative characters and plots, plus discovering just the right word to create just the right word picture. Writing, editing, teaching... it all means a wonderfully challenging word game, with delightful discoveries as the reward.

PS Thanks to my kids' efforts, I am now enjoying five grandchildren. Aren't they nice to keep providing me with new babies to play with?