Cynthia Lord
Encyclopedia
Cynthia Lord is a children's author. Lord's debut novel
Rules
was published by Scholastic, Inc. in 2006, and was a 2007 Newbery Honor book and winner of the Schneider Family Book Award.
After college Lord got married and became a teacher. As her children grew up, she returned to writing fiction. Now she gets up most mornings between 3:30 and 4:00 A. M. and tiptoes through the dark and sits at her desk. Lord says that: That’s my just-me time to open my heart and spill it across the white pages.
Lord says that she still loves watching words jump onto the page, and she still loves making people laugh and cry and shiver with her writing. She still loves to read a great story. Lord still has kept "Happy" and "Peppermint" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Winnie the Pooh" all of these years. She keeps them to remind her of the child she used to be, the one who liked surfboarding toads, sang the cherry song, and scared herself silly writing her first ghost story. She’s the one she writes for.
On top of her computer she keeps an object from every book she’s written. She even has a fortune from a fortune cookie stuck on the front of her monitor that says: “Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded.” She also has a quote by Aristotle,
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
Lord says that the quote reminds her to keep writing everyday, even when she doesn’t feel motivated. Lord says that some of her best writing comes from the days that she does not feel especially inspired.
She lives in Brunswick, Maine
.
Debut novel
A debut novel is the first novel an author publishes. Debut novels are the author's first opportunity to make an impact on the publishing industry, and thus the success or failure of a debut novel can affect the ability of the author to publish in the future...
Rules
Rules (novel)
Rules is the debut novel by author Cynthia Lord. Released by Scholastic, Inc. in 2006, it was a Newbery Honor book in 2007. It is also a Sunshine State Young Readers book for 2008–2009 and won the Schneider Family Book Award.-Synopsis:...
was published by Scholastic, Inc. in 2006, and was a 2007 Newbery Honor book and winner of the Schneider Family Book Award.
Beginning/Childhood
Cynthia Lord’s life as a writer began at age four with a song collaboration with her sister. The song was called “Ding Dong the Cherries Sing,” and they forced anyone within a 12-mile radius to listen to them sing it, over and over and over. Lord says that she was a day dreamer, a shy child, and she will always be grateful for the time and room that her parents gave her to be by herself. Lord’s favorite books when she was very young included Happy, Peppermint, Fantastic Mr. Fox and Winnie the Pooh by A.A. Milne.College & After
In college Lord had some short stories published, and even won a contest with one!After college Lord got married and became a teacher. As her children grew up, she returned to writing fiction. Now she gets up most mornings between 3:30 and 4:00 A. M. and tiptoes through the dark and sits at her desk. Lord says that: That’s my just-me time to open my heart and spill it across the white pages.
Lord says that she still loves watching words jump onto the page, and she still loves making people laugh and cry and shiver with her writing. She still loves to read a great story. Lord still has kept "Happy" and "Peppermint" and "Fantastic Mr. Fox" and "Winnie the Pooh" all of these years. She keeps them to remind her of the child she used to be, the one who liked surfboarding toads, sang the cherry song, and scared herself silly writing her first ghost story. She’s the one she writes for.
Present
Cynthia Lord lives in an old house with her husband. She has an office and on her desk she keeps a dictionary, a grammar book, books of photographs, a field guide of animals and plants, and other reference books, as well as objects and pictures of her settings.On top of her computer she keeps an object from every book she’s written. She even has a fortune from a fortune cookie stuck on the front of her monitor that says: “Your talents will be recognized and suitably rewarded.” She also has a quote by Aristotle,
“We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act but a habit.”
Lord says that the quote reminds her to keep writing everyday, even when she doesn’t feel motivated. Lord says that some of her best writing comes from the days that she does not feel especially inspired.
She lives in Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick, Maine
Brunswick is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 20,278 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Portland-South Portland-Biddeford metropolitan area. Brunswick is home to Bowdoin College, the Bowdoin College Museum of Art, the Peary-MacMillan Arctic Museum, , and the...
.
Works
- Rules, Scholastic, 2007, ISBN 9780545036405
- Happy Birthday Hamster, Illustrator Derek Anderson, Scholastic Inc., 2011, ISBN 9780545255226
Interviews
- "Author's Talk, Megan McCarthy
- Interview: Cynthia Lord", Bildungsroman, April 3, 2006
- 2008 Audio Interview of Cynthia Lord
- An Interview With Debut Author, Cynthia Lord, Debbi Michiko Florence
- Author Interview: Cynthia Lord on Rules, cynsations, March 10, 2006
External links
- Authors website
- "Rules by Cynthia Lord", Maw Books