Frequently Asked Questions
| 1. Where do you get your ideas? | Ideas can come from anywhere - even the newspaper! That's where we saw an article for a man who looks for bigfoot. That's where the idea for Bigfoot Doesn't Square Dance came from. Some ideas come from Debbie's children. Nathan was watching a cartoon and Debbie noticed there was a creature with one eye. That's where Cyclops Doesn't Roller Skate came from. Some kids in Marcia's class were making up titles one day. They decided on one called Aliens Don't Wear Braces and it became a book that we wrote! |
| 2. How do you write stories together? | Marcia and Debbie
write most of their stories together. Each person writes a few pages
and then they compare and change them with each others help. Working together is called COLLABORATING. You can look up this big word in a dictionary. Marcia and Debbie play "hot potato" when they write a story together. First, they develop a story IDEA and write an OUTLINE of the story. They each write a few pages of the story, then send their pages over the internet through e-mail to each other. They pass their story (the "hot potato") back and forth to each other until they have finished it. Then they send it through e-mail to their EDITOR in New York City. The editor is a person who may tell them to change (also called EDITING) and REWRITE some parts of their story. Marcia and Debbie may have to REWRITE different parts of their story several times before it's finished, like your teacher may have you rewrite your own stories to make them even better! After their EDITOR says their story is finally correct it then goes to the PRINTER where it is printed on paper and BOUND into a real book with a cover and inside illustrations! Lots of copies of their new book are printed and then SHIPPED to bookstores (like Barnes & Noble), Internet bookstores (like Amazon.com) and school book clubs in the United States and around the world. You probably have a Scholastic Book Club in your own school where your parents, teachers and librarians can buy books and you can read Marcia and Debbie's newest stories! CLICK HERE for a complete list of our BOOKS, including recently released New books and Coming Soon books! |
| 3. Who draws the book cover and inside illustrations? | John Steven Gurney did the original illustrations for our Bailey School Kids and Bailey City Monsters SERIES of books, and Nathan Hale has put new covers on some favorites. John Speirs did the illustrations for the Triplet Trouble SERIES and other artists have created the covers for several of our other books - check them out! (CLICK HERE) |
| 4. What are your favorite books? | Marcia's favorites are Santa Claus Doesn't Mop Floors and Vampires Don't Wear Polka-Dots. Debbie's favorite is Skeletons Don't Play Tubas. |
| 5. What are your hobbies? | Marcia and Debbie both enjoy nature and hiking in the woods. Marcia likes to bead necklaces and bracelets. Debbie likes to bike ride, make crafts, and play with her children. |
| 6. What are your favorite colors? | Debbie likes "blue" and Marcia likes "sea-blue & green" and the colors of a pretty sunset! |
| 7. What other jobs have you had? | We have both been
elementary school teachers in the past. Marcia worked at a book store and clothing stores during high school and
college. Debbie was a librarian and worked at several McDonalds restaurants during high school and college. |
| 8. Where do you live? | Marcia lives in
Lexington, Kentucky. Debbie lives in Furlong, Pennslyvania. |
| 9. Are you married? | Marcia's is married to
Stephen, a computer engineer. Debbie husband is Eric, a scientist. |
| 10. Do you have any pets? | Debbie has three dogs, Bailey,
Skip, and Shadow Marcia has two cats, Coco and Calli, and a Beta fish named Moby. |
| 11. Do you have children? | Debbie has three
children - Nathan, Becky,
and Alex. Marcia has two "babies" - her cats Coco and Calli! |
| 12. Do you have a biography we can use for book reports? | Yes, I do. To make it more fun, click HERE for a downloadable book report form! |
