History of Ann Rinaldi (continued) determined that were "terrible." But, in 1969, she asked for and was given a weekly column in the Somerset Messenger Gazette. She exults, "I earned seven dollars a week, but I was writing!" Then, in 1970, Ann was hired to write two columns a week for the Trentonian daily. She explains, "Within a couple of years I was writing features and soft news as well as columns, and learning the newspaper business." In 1979, Ann finally finished a short story she had been laboring over for years. She explains, "My experience in the newspaper business and as a parent gave me so much more to bring to my fiction." That short story, entitled Term Paper became her first published novel. Ann explains that she did not write her story for young adults and that only after finishing it did she realize that what she had written could be marketed as a young adult novel. Term Paper was bought by the first publisher who read it and was soon followed by its sequel, Promises are for Keeping. The rest is history. Ann was drawn into the study of American history when her son, Ron, became involved in Revolutionary War reenactments while he was in high school. After visiting historical sites, participating in reenactments, and ". . .see[ing] the history. . .as it was, from the bottom up, hands on, instead of out of a history book," Ann was addicted. In October 1981, when covering for the Trentonian the reenactment of the day Trenton learned of the Yorktown victory, "I realized I was going to write a young adult novel on the American Revolution. A good one. Not one utilizing all the myths and the famous figures." That realization quickly became reality. Within a year's time the research for and the writing of Time Enough for Drums was completed. A year after Time Enough for Drums was published, Ann declared, "Time Enough for Drums is close to my heart, my favorite -- the one everyone told me not to write! I went against the grain of what everybody told me, but then, that's what I did in my lifetime, too." Maybe that is why young adults find her work so easy to identify with. Ann explains, "These people [the founding fathers of the United States] helped form [my son, Ron's] foundation for life which, when tested, held strong. It is for this reason that I write historical fiction for young people. If I can 'turn them on' to our country's past, and seize their imaginations as Ron's was seized, then I may succeed in doing something really worthwhile."   <-- Previous Page
Site Design: Johnathan M. Schwarz Site Coordinator: Allison M. Schwarz Copyright 2002