Dear Readers,

Thank you for visiting my website! I love having a place where readers can find me, and we can start to make a connection with each other.

When I go to schools, I'm often asked if I have any tips for young writers. Here are a few:

1) The only way to get better as a writer is . . . to write! Write all different kinds of things: keep a journal, send letters to your friends, scribble down poetry, create and stage your own plays, try writing songs -- just keep on writing!

2) It helps me to have a special time of day to write, and comforting writing rituals: I always write in the early morning, with the same kind of pad and pen, and while drinking my favorite beverages of Earl Grey tea or Swiss Miss hot chocolate.

3) This is my hardest one: try to learn how to accept and welcome criticism. It's so helpful to get feedback from trusted friends and teachers. Sometimes it hurts at first, but in the end, I've found my writing always gets stronger.

4) Show, don't tell. As you write, find ways of SHOWING what your character is feeling, instead of simply TELLING us. So don't just say, "Jenny felt sad." Say: "Jenny's shoulders slumped. She stared down at the floor and blinked back tears."

5) Be willing to cut out anything that doesn't fit in your particular story, however much you might love it otherwise. You'll find a story sometime where it WILL fit, but don't stick it in where it doesn't fit.

6) Start your story with action, dialogue, or humor -- NOT with a lot of background information about your characters. You can fill all that in later, as the story unfolds. You want to have a strong opening that pulls the reader into a gripping scene.

I love to get letters and e-mails from children who read my books, so if you write to me, I promise to write back!

Best,
Claudia Mills
claudia.mills@colorado.edu

My Bio

My mother was an elementary school teacher who loved to write. When I was six years old she gave me a blank notebook and told me that this was to be my poetry book. So I began to write poetry. This was the beginning of my life as a writer.

I have one sister, one year younger than I am. She and I were (and are) extremely close, since we both loved reading and elaborate fantasy games. Together we dreamed up the magical kingdoms of Bladen (perfectly round), Maloone (shaped like a star), Socker (shaped like a sock), and Moo (shaped like a cow), ruled by princesses with names like Candleceina and Moonerette. So my sister helped me to become a writer, too.

I wrote dozens of poems in elementary school, as well as stories and plays. By the time I was in junior high school, I was writing love sonnets to one poor, persecuted boy I called "Apollo." My major literary effort in those years was a hundred-page-long autobiographical book about my eighth-grade year, called T is for Tarzan (my nickname in those days was Tarzan). I still draw heavily from my own life in my books, but at least now I change the names. And I've learned that I can change the stories, too -- to make them funnier, sadder, better -- to make them turn out the way things should have turned out, but didn't, in real life.

I began writing professionally when I left graduate school impulsively in mid-year to take a secretarial job at Four Winds Press in New York City. I had a two-hour commute each way by bus, and I used that time to write novels and picture books. I began submitting these to Four Winds Press, using a fake name, so I could observe their fate undetected. On two occasions, I had the sad task of having to type rejection letters to myself. But finally a story proved promising enough that the editor who was my boss asked me to read it for a second opinion. I took the challenge and wrote an objective, balanced report on my own story, including suggestions for needed revision. The editor then sent the author (me) a copy of my report and said that if the manuscript was revised as suggested, she would like to see it again and consider it for publication. And so I took all the advice that I had had the good sense to give myself and reworked my story accordingly. It became At the Back of the Woods. And I became a published writer.

I have always had another job while writing my books. In fact, I have two other "jobs" right now, because I am a philosophy professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder and I am the mother of two boys. This means that my writing never seems like a job to me. It is the special, secret work that I love best. I write early in the morning, while the rest of my family is still sound asleep. I lie on the couch upstairs, with a mug of Earl Grey tea or hot chocolate beside me, and scribble away with my favorite felt-tipped pen on a narrow-ruled pad, as I watch the rising sun cast a rosy glow on the Rocky Mountains beyond my home. It's a lovely way to start a day. And I love thinking that on some other couch far away, someone will be reading my stories and sharing the characters and worlds I have created.

Claudia Mills was born in New York City on August 21, 1954. She received her B.A. degree from Wellesley College in 1976, her M.A. degree from Princeton University in 1979, and a Ph.D. in philosophy from Princeton University in 1991. She also received an M.L.S. degree from the University of Maryland in 1988, with a concentration in children's literature. She worked as an editorial assistant at Four Winds Press (Scholastic) from 1979-1980 and as an editor at the Institute for Philosophy and Public Policy at the University of Maryland 1980 to 1989. Since 1991 she has taught philosophy, first as an assistant professor at the University of Maryland at Baltimore County, then as an assistant professor and now as an associate professor at the University of Colorado at Boulder. She was married to Richard W. Wahl, a natural resources economist, in 1985. They have two children, Christopher Wahl (born in September 1988) and Gregory Wahl (born in October 1991). She lives in Boulder, Colorado.

Information on Author Visits by Claudia Mills

In my standard presentation (45 minutes), for grades three through six, I begin by sharing some of my own childhood writing (all embarrassingly autobiographical) and then showing how I now take the real events that happen in my own life and shape them into stories that may take a very different form. I also spend a lot of time on the process of writing, tracing a book from idea, through successive drafts, two stages of critique from my local writers' group, and finally, the devastating final critique from my editor. I like for the students to see that all authors revise in response to criticism, that we all find criticism excruciatingly painful, but that we all end up being grateful that we were lucky enough to be given suggestions that could make our work better. And I like to share some of the joy of writing, too.

For younger grades (kindergarten through second), I give a simpler and usually shorter presentation, focusing on the books I have written for that age group, and giving special attention to how an author works with an illustrator to create a book that is a true collaboration.

For middle-school and high-school students, I work with students who are in the process of shaping their own stories. Here I present workshops on plotting, developing character, and revision.

FEES: day trip from Boulder: $500/day (up to 4 presentations) with travel: $1000/day (4 presentations), plus expenses

CONTACT: (303) 492-8355 (voice mail) or (303) 499-8638 (home) e-mail: claudia.mills@colorado.edu 2575 Briarwood Drive, Boulder, CO 80305

"Mills writes with such a light, humorous touch that many scenes beg to be read aloud."
-- Kirkus

"Bully for Riley and bully for Mills."
-- Horn Book

"A crisp drama that aptly shows how things rarely turn out perfectly in life, but they often work out well enough. Mills level-headedly speaks for and to 'tweens about the ways we adjust to fit into an ever-changing world."
-- Kirkus

"A great choice to read aloud on field day, this upbeat picture book has broad appeal."
~Booklist.

"Mills lays out her themes for her audience clearly but not patronizingly, and always realistically and with good humor."
~Horn Book

"As unblemished as a good makeover."
~Kirkus Reviews

"Gus learns that sometimes doing your best makes family members just as proud of you, if not more so, than when you demonstrate perfection. An engaging easy-reader."
~School Library Journal

"Young fisherkids are an underserved readership, and they'll be glad to find an author who shares their appreciation of the graceful arc of a perfect cast..."
~Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

"Mills has a knack for getting into the confused minds of kids on the verge of adolescence."
~School Library Journal

"Illustrations reflecting Gus's many emotions. . . support Mills's perceptive portrayals of modern family life and Gus and Grandpa's loving relationship."
~The Horn Book Guide

"Mills has an unerring gift for identifying childhood challenges and joys."
~Horn Book

"This will have huge appeal for new readers and for reading aloud."
~Booklist.

"Claudia Mills excels at conveying the comforting news that everyone -- popular or not -- faces problems at school and at home."
~Horn Book

"The warm, loving relationship Gus and Grandpa share shines through. A charming addition to the series."
~School Library Journal