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1. Were you born a writer, or drawn into it against your better judgment?

I think I always wanted to be a writer, but didn't know it. I wrote a silly story in the third grade about a talking freckle on a boy's face. My teacher made a big deal about it. My parents used to make me stand in front of the couch and read it to their friends when they came to visit. The story caught on and kept getting longer. I was finally invited to read it on the air at the local TV station. When I got back to school some of the kids made fun of me. I stopped writing and started playing baseball. I played baseball all through school, on my high school baseball team, and on the local American Legion Team. I loved baseball. I even went to spring training camp in Fort Myers, Florida and tried out with the Pittsburgh Pirates. I'm still waiting to hear from them. In the meantime, I've been writing poems.

2. What was your most relevant educational experience?

Besides that wonderful third grade teacher who liked my freckle story, I had a very good high school English teacher who let us do a lot of creative writing. By the time I entered college, I had developed a love of literature, particularly poetry, and could recite many poems by heart of Frost, Millay, Teasdale, Wylie, Sandburg and others.

3. Did people try to discourage you from writing?

No. Most people, including my family and friends, did not know for many years that I enjoyed writing poems every night.

4. What kept you motivated?

I began keeping a journal in high school. After a few weeks I became hooked. I stayed up late most every night writing my private thoughts in my journal. I kept it under my bed and pulled it out and wrote in it after everyone in the house was asleep. I even took it with me when I camped out or spent the night over a friend's house. It became like a best friend to whom I could tell all my secrets.

5. What was the best thing that happened with regard to your writing career?

The first best thing was getting a poem published in Harper's magazine while I was a student in the writing program at Florida State University. The next best thing was having a book of my poems nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. The third best thing was getting a four book contract from the Walt Disney Company to write children's books. But the greatest thing of all is having a loving wife and two wonderfully inspiring children.

6. The worst thing?

The death of my mother. She was the most inspiring, creative kid in the world. She taught me how to look at things and how to have fun with language -- and with life.

7. The most surprising?

Discovering how the endless stream of ideas continues to flow, how everything old seems new again when we look at the world through the eyes of a child.

8. The funniest?

9. The most embarrassing?

Wearing the new Father Goose costume to a book signing and being asked, "Where's the author?"

10. How have you chosen your topics?

My topics tend to choose me. And I'm glad they do! I like writing about nature, animals, sports, and the joys of childhood.

11. Do you stick to a writing schedule?

Yes! I write everyday -- almost all day -- whenever and wherever I can.

12. Do you use special tools?

Besides the computer, I use lots of yellow legal pads, note pads, scratch paper, hotel stationery, and anything else I can get my hands on quickly. I also like using dark #2 pencils, and sometimes I like to use black Stanford Calligraphic pens. I buy those by the dozens. I don't try to do the neat calligraphy with them, I just like the way it makes the words look playful and bold on the paper.

13. Where do you write?

I write everywhere. Mostly here at my computer or on the rolltop desk next to my computer desk. I also write a lot on the pad beside my bed, on yellow legal pads while waiting in airports, and in the car while waiting to pick up my son from school and from sporting events.

14. Do you have any advice for aspiring authors?

Yes. Get yourself a notebook and write in it EVERY night for two weeks. Then stop -- if you can. If you can't, you're a writer. And no one no matter how hard they may try will ever be able to stop you from following your writing dreams. Enjoy those dreams. Follow them. Make new ones. Share them. Write of your passions, your loves, your fears, your joys. Find your writer's voice by listening deep inside. It's that little voice that says in a low, soft whisper, "Listen to this..."

15. What else do you look forward to in your career?

I look forward to continuing to ride this magic carpet for as long and as far as it will take me. Writing, especially for children, is one of the most honorable professions in the world. It is one of the few professions that allows you to dream, that encourages you to dream, and to capture those dreams on paper and to make them come alive in the minds and hearts of others.

16. How do you maintain success?

By waking each morning with a humble heart grateful for being allowed to do what I love. And by keeping my editors happy!

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Charles Ghigna - Interview #1