Q: When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

A.  I realized I wanted to be a writer when I was about seven years old. One day, I bolted out of the car to run to the park.  My father told me “close the door before someone takes it off.”  “Why would someone want to take our car door?” I thought.  Of course he meant that a passing car would accidentally tear the open door off.  I realized then how important the right words were.

Q: How and when did you make this dream a reality?

A.  Writing has been a reality all through my life.  In school, I wrote poetry and short stories.  I was co-editor of my high school newspaper, and was a staff writer/copy editor/photographer for my college newspaper and yearbook.  I majored in journalism and finally managed to land a cub reporter/photographer job for a small paper.  When I had to decide whether to feed my car or myself, I returned to college and sought a better paying job.  Although I wasn’t being paid to write, I kept on writing.  I started my first novel at the same time I started my family. Writing is part of my everyday life.

Q: What’s the most important lesson you’ve learned so far in your writing career?

A.  When the going gets tough…treat yourself to a new pair of shoes and lunch with your girlfriends before you go back to work.  It’ll inspire you to keep writing if you feel good.  Never, ever, give up for more than a day.

Q: What are you working on now?

A. I never work on just one thing–I have an ezine, www.broomstix.com, that I co-write/edit/publish with my author friends Natalie Zaman and Kat Clark.  Nat & I are co-writing a YA chick lit novel. I’m editing my first novel and third novels (again!), along with re-envisioning my second novel before I send them out.  And, I’m always writing articles and poetry for magazines and newspapers.

Q: Name some authors or books that have influenced your writing life in a positive way.

A.  I’m inspired when I read anything by Shakespeare and Tolkien.  Modern writers include Anne Rice, early Stephen King, Stephenie Meyers, Julie Garwood, Rick Riordan, Mary Janice Davidson, and the list goes on.  Just like editors, I’m always looking for new talent.  Reading is a passion, so it’s more important that a book gives me something to take home rather than be hot on someone’s list.

Q: What have you recently read or what are you reading right now that you would consider an outstanding work?

A. I read several books at once. This week it’s a YA fantasy called The Stolen Child by Keith Donohue, The Vampire Encyclopedia, and Faceless Killers by Henning Mankell.  Non-fiction has be enthralling for me to read it.  And, I usually don’t read what critics recommend because I find their taste is too dry and angsty.  I want thrill, chills and excitement.

About this NAWW Member:

While playing mom to three boys is a full time job, Charlotte Bennardo squeezes in writing novels for children and adults, articles and poetry for magazines, newspapers and ezines like broomstix.  She volunteers for the NJ Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, and her kids’ schools and church.  Don’t laugh, but she’s taken up the violin again to play in the Christmas Festival orchestra at her church while she ponders how to stop a few reckless drivers in her neighborhood.

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