ABOUT ANNE MAZER
Quite a lot of my writing education took place while I was unconscious. My parents wanted desperately to become writers and made themselves get up at 4:00 a.m. every morning in order to have writing time before their three young children awoke. The first thing I heard every day was two big, noisy electric typewriters: my childhood wake-up music. During the day, my parents endlessly discussed ideas, plot, and character, and before I was seven years old, I had heard about revisions, drafts, and rejection slips. It was like growing up in a twenty four/seven writer’s boot camp.
In order to escape from my parents’ obsession with writing, I turned to books. (Before I understood the meaning of the word "irony," obviously.) I was an avid reader from an early age and my love of reading has always inspired my writing. I loved fantasy, fairy tales, historical fiction, humor, realistic fiction, history, and adventure. At the age of twelve, I wanted to be an actress, a ballerina and a nuclear physicist. These careers were rapidly eliminated as I realized that I a) can't dance, b) can't act; and c) really suck at math.
Growing up with two aspiring writers, I learned about discipline, perseverance and dedication. I also learned never to lock the doors to my office when I had children. My parents eventually became successful and award-winning young adult novelists.
During early adulthood, I worked as an au pair, a bank teller, a pill bottle labeler, a receptionist, an English tutor, and an administrative assistant, as well as other jobs that I was ill-suited for. I attended three universities, spent several years in Paris, and wandered around aimlessly a lot, but never stopped reading.
My “eureka” moment about writing came when writing a research report on a secretarial job. As I lovingly polished each sentence, and meticulously organized the paragraphs, I realized that no one really cared how beautifully I wrote about the latest models of air-conditioners. Except me, of course.
I began to write more seriously. It took me seven years to publish my first book, a picture book inspired by my then two year old son, Max.
Over the last twenty years, I've written forty-five books for young readers. I hope I'll be writing for a long time.
Fun Facts About Anne Mazer
- Her favorite foods as a kid were popcorn, rice pudding and blueberries.
- When she was on vacation, she would sometimes read up to ten books a day.
- If she had magic powers, she'd choose invisibility.
- She painted the rooms in her last house yellow, orange, and violet. (Now they're ecru.)
- One of her favorite childhood books was The Twilight of Magic, by Hugh Lofting.
- When Anne was a teenager, her room was so messy that she needed a map to get from the door to the bed. (sort of)
- In school Anne often flunked her favorite creative subjects, like writing and art.