Tuesday, May 19, 2015

Straight from the Mouth of 'Help Your Child to Thrive: Making the Best of a Struggling Public Education System' Liane Brouillette

Liane Brouillette has a passion for helping families prepare children to thrive in school and out. She has taught at the pre-university level in both Europe and the United States. Currently, Dr. Brouillette is an associate professor of educational policy at the University of California, Irvine and Director of the UCI Center for Learning in the Arts, Sciences and Sustainability. She also serves as managing editor of the Journal for Learning through the Arts.


Questionnaire:

Thanks for letting us interrogate you!  Can you give us a go-for-the-gut answer as to why you wanted to be an author?

In a world where day-to-day communication can be superficial, writing allows us to get to a deeper level and to thoughtfully engage with important issues. Because of the hustle and bustle of daily life, this sort of communication can be difficult to undertake face-to-face. But we can write when we find the time and inspiration. We can also read whenever we feel motivated to do so. This communication can be vivid in a way that is difficult to encounter elsewhere.

Tell us (we won’t tell promise!) is it all it’s cracked up to be?  I mean what are the perks and what are the demands?

The main perk is the ability to touch on subjects that are deeply meaningful. But finding the time can be demanding, causing writers to feel like they are often playing “catch up” in other areas of their lives.

Which route did you take – traditional or self-published – and can you give us the nitty gritty low down on what’s that like?

My first two books were traditional academic books, published with established publishers. The newest book was self-published because it does not fit as comfortably into an established academic genre.

Tell us for real what your family feels about you spending so much time getting your book written, polished, edited, formatted, published, what have you?

Actually, this is the first book that I could really share with my family. My children now have children of their own and the new book is about parenting. The challenge was to make recent research on child development accessible to parents in a way that is practical and enjoyable to read.

Are they actually still alive?

Fortunately, my husband has a “green thumb” and keeps the plants flourishing.

In writing your book, how did you deal with the phone ringing, your family needing dinner or your boss calling you saying you’re late?

I mostly do my writing in the early morning when the sun is just coming up.

What was the craziest or insane thing that happened to you in the book publishing process?

A computer glitch caused all of the footnotes to simply disappear.

How about the social networks?  Which ones do you believe help and which ones do you wish you could avoid?

My earlier books were sold in university bookstores. I’m just learning about social networks. To be continued…

Book sales.  Don’t you just love them (or lack of?)?  How are you making the sales happen for you?

The book just came out, so that journey is just beginning.

What is one thing you’d like to jump on the rooftop and scream about?

That the book is done! Fitting everything in was a bit of a challenge.

Okay, too much sugar for you today!  Here’s a nice cup of Chamomile tea and come on over and sit under the cabana and watch the waves roll in.  Now…can you tell us what you love about being a published author and how all those things above doesn’t matter because it’s all part of the whole scheme of things and you wouldn’t have it any other way?


For me, writing functions as a way of reflecting on experience, allowing me to experience life more meaningfully. Even if it was not published, I would still write. However, publication enables me to enter into a dialogue with readers.

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