There’s this little rubber zebra striped ducky on Facebook named Sandy. He sits on a writer’s desk but he’s kinda nasty to her, he says she’s not a real writer because she does not write. You would think he would know because he sits on that desk and sees all that happens there. Suspiciously, he looks a lot like the duck that sits on MY desk….but it couldn’t be the same ducky because, after all, I do write.

Well, the little guy took on a project of talking to authors while he was at the Tucson Festival of Books back in March. Then I helped him put together a couple of little videos with the video clips he shot.

Sandy talked to 13 local (to Arizona) authors & illustrators about what it means to be a “real” writer, although I think he did quack with one author from New York? The Tuscon book festival has so much packed into it that things blur after awhile.

That could be part of the reason it took so long for us to complete these vids. We were just overwhelmed for awhile. If you asked Sandy, I think he would complain that he was left in the rucksack for too long. He’d probably say a bunch of other things too, but isn’t he just too cute?! ***kisses Sandy on his cute little beak***

Part 1 video, Sandy quacks with;

Larry Dane Brimner
Lisa McMann
Marge Pellegrino
Juanita Havill
Laurie Calkhoven
Nancy Bo Flood

And in part 2, the duck quacks with;

Janette Rallison
Angela Morrison
Pamela Keyes
Guy Porfirio
Gwen Russell Harvey
Adam Rex
Janni Lee Simner

Find Sandy on facebook here.

You can find me on facebook here, and on YouTube here.

I talked to Allen Zadoff about writing fears, finding inspiration, pushing through self-imposed blocks, theater influences and reanimating Shakespeare. He inspires me! Allen is the author of the YA book, FOOD GIRLS AND OTHER THINGS I CAN’T HAVE and MY LIFE THE THEATER AND OTHER TRAGEDIES. Visit Allen @ allenzadoff.com