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Judy Cox

Web site: http://hometown.aol.com/authorjudycox/

Judy Cox, author of several humorous picture books and chapter stories, was the oldest of five children. “Even when I was young, I loved to tell stories to my brother and sisters. As soon as I learned to read, reading became my favorite thing to do. I love books, the way they look, the way they feel, the way they smell. I wanted to be part of that.”

Cox wrote her first story in the third grade and by the time she was eleven, she knew she wanted to be a writer. “In the sixth grade, a poem I wrote was published in the local newspaper. My grandmother was so proud of it, she framed it. It hung in her house for the rest of her life.”

But, like most writers, she had to wait a long time before being published again. “I sat on the screened sun porch of the old farmhouse we rented in Idaho, and I wrote my first children’s novel, a mystery, on the backs of old dittos he brought home from his teaching job. . . But, I couldn’t sell anything. I got discouraged, not realizing that all this practice was leading somewhere.”

Cox, whose hobbies include music, bird watching, reading, and playing bass guitar, started keeping a journal to help with her writing. “I used to think nothing interesting ever happened to me. But, I discovered the interesting stuff in your head. Your dreams. Your fantasies. Your pretends and wishes, and ideas. Once I knew that, I had lots to say after all. I use bit spiral-bound notebooks and write my journal on one side of each page. The other side I use for story ideas. I started to send things to magazines and book publishers. My husband calls me ‘the Queen of Persistence’ because I have more than 350 rejection slips. I have written seven books and more than thirty short stories for magazines such as Cricket, Spider and Highlights for Children. Not everything I write gets published. But writing is like piano practice. You do it every day to keep in shape.”

Published books include:

Now We Can Have a Wedding!
illustrated by DyAnne DiSalvo-Ryan, Holiday House (New York), 1998.
The West Texas Chili Monster
illustrated by John O’Brien, Bridgewater Books, 1998.
Third Grade Pet
illustrated by Cynthia Fisher, Holiday House, 1998.
Rabbit Pirates: A Tale of the Spinach Main
illustrated by Emily Arnold McCully, Harcourt/Browndeer Press (San Diego, CA) 1999.
Mean, Mean Maureen Green
illustrated by Cynthia Fisher, Holiday House,2000.
Weird Stories from the Lonesome Café
illustrated by Diane Kidd, Harcourt (San Diego, CA),2000.
My Family Plays Music
illustrated by Elbrite Brown, Holiday House, 2001.