Author Interview with Daniel Jude Miller
I’m interviewing Daniel Jude Miller, author of children’s book / picture book “Earclaw and Eddie”. Welcome to my blog, and thanks for answering my questions!
Q. When did you know you wanted to be an author?
A lot later than I realized that I wanted to be an artist. I’ve been drawing constantly since I was 6 years old, but didn’t even attempt to write anything until I had
graduated from art school. Still, to this day, I am humbled by the term author and consider myself more of a story teller.
Q. Where did you get the inspiration for Earclaw and Eddie?
I wish Earclaw‘s genesis was something more fun, but he was actually created in response to an illness that I was suffering from. After a very painful few years from an undiagnosed problem, it was revealed to be severe allergies. I’m fine now, but the experience seriously side tracked my career. This book was a way for that unpleasant time in my life to come full circle and be used for something great. Hopefully it can also help children realize that life is many times littered with obstacles that can be overcome, resolved or at least accepted.
Q. What is your editing process like?
I am very mechanical with my writing. It’s less creative and more mathematical with me writing in chart form. Odd, huh? And I always write backwards. The end of the story is written first, that way I avoid one of the trickiest parts of telling a story – how does it all end? After about 10 drafts, I let a couple of other writers take a look to clean it up.
Q. Who is your favorite character from the book?
The boy is my favorite character by far. Even though he only appears towards the end of the book and he’s definitely not the most visually interesting or colorful character of them all, if it wasn’t for him, Eddie would never find peace.
Q. What are your writing goals for 2015?
I have spent many years writing and drawing stories that I would never finish and release, so 2015 is completely about putting a bow on so many projects and making sure that these characters and stories are shared with as many children, adults and other amazing artists as possible.
Q. Are you working on something now?
After completing both “Earclaw and Eddie” and “Everybody Wake Up!” in the last six months, I will finally be ready to turn my attention to a project that started my whole writing career. It’s a very large, exciting project written in rhyme called Monsters in Manhattan. It’s the first in a series of three children’s books with the first releasing by Halloween and books two and three following in 2016. This story was my first ever attempt at writing and has taken so long to finish because of its complexity and detail but will definitely be worth the wait. Stay tuned!
About the Book
Title: Earclaw and Eddie
Author: Daniel Jude Miller
Genre: Children’s Books
Eddie is just a regular guy trying to get by in his boring life, when out of nowhere he finds himself underneath a very unwelcome visitor. Earclaw is the unwelcome visitor and exists as nothing more than a crushing weight on Eddie’s head. Faced with this permanent guest, Eddie must learn to endure, accept and possibly trick Earclaw in leaving once and for all.
Author Bio
Dan’s story is a simple story. He grew up in a rugged logging camp of the great northwest. His father wished him to be a skilled tree-splitter but Dan didn’t have the stomach for it. Instead he headed east at age 9 with a pad of paper and 12,000 fresh, wooden pencils. The next 30 some odd years were mostly uneventful, filled with family, growth and other uninteresting stuff. Then, recently, those 12,000 pencils finally started getting put to good use.
Links
Amazon: www.amazon.com/author/djudemiller
Website: www.djudemiller.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/djudemiller
Title: Earclaw and Eddie