The Mini Author Bio:
Catherine Stier won a creative writing contest—in first grade. Since then she has authored more than twenty children’s books and numerous magazine and newspaper articles. Her books have received honors from the International Reading Association, the Bank Street College of Education and others, as well as starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal. Stier has served as a newspaper columnist and freelance magazine writer, instructed writing classes, led a library Teen Writing Club and conducted academic research on children’s picture books. She holds a BA in Communication Arts and an MA in Reading and Literacy. Stier loves to travel to exciting locations to research books and get inspiration for new titles. Born in Michigan, she now lives in San Antonio, Texas.
For more info, please see the Press Bio.
My First Book
This is the book I wrote in first grade. I won a prize for my class, and decided then that maybe I wanted to be a writer and an author!
A Question for the Author:
What do you like most about writing a book?
Hmm, that is a good question.
Three things really stand out for me…
First, the research can be fascinating!
For the A DOG’S DAY chapter book series, I’ve met a movie star pup in Atlanta, Georgia, watched an avalanche rescue dog sniff out a person hiding under the snow in Utah, and accompanied a Canine Search and Rescue Team on training exercises in the desert of Joshua Tree National Park in California.
I toured and slept aboard the ship the RMS Queen Mary (some say it’s haunted) in Long Beach, California for the WWII historical fiction book WELCOME TO AMERICA, CHAMP!
I visited several of our beautiful National Parks including the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone and Yosemite and interviewed park rangers in Alaska, Tennessee and other states for the book IF I WERE A PARK RANGER.
And I tried out some fun scientific experiments at home for an upcoming STEM title.
Second, once I have a first draft, I love combing through the manuscript like a detective, on the search for evidence of unnecessary words to cut or sentences that could be re-constructed to be clearer or more vivid. I also look for little details to add to make the story richer.
Third, I loooove to see what an editor, designer and illustrator will do to really enrich, enliven and elevate a story – that’s when some real magic happens!
