 Michael Elsohn Ross
Web site: www.bugauthor.com
My wife, my son, and I live on a bluff overlooking the Merced River. During spring runoff the river roars. During big floods (like we had in January 1997) it rolls boulders and shakes the whole town. The town we live in is El Portal and it's in the Yosemite National Park Administrative Site. There's a small school here with only three teachers. The kids at the school help me a lot with my books and you can see pictures of some of them in my Backyard Buddies Series.
You might wonder how I get to live in the park. That's easy. Besides writing I also work here as a naturalist taking visitors on hikes and walks to learn about the Park. I've been doing it for more than 20 years and plan on doing it for at least another twenty.
Most of my book ideas come from my work as a naturalist or my adventures with school kids. When I'm not taking people on hikes, I'm either writing or taking myself on a hike. I usually don't write for more than five hours a day. That's plenty!
When I was a kid growing up in Huntington, New York, I liked to draw way more than write. In fact, I wrote my first kid's book Cycles, Cycles, Cycles because I had so much fun drawing the weird characters. These days I just do the writing and other people create the art for my books. I had a lot more fun writing once I started to use a computer. It usually takes me about a month or two to write the rough draft for a book. Usually I write two more drafts before a book is ready to be printed. I actually like to rewrite and really enjoy doing research for my books. It usually takes two years from the time I start writing to when the book is in print.
This year I have two new books, Snug as a Bug (Chronicle Books) and Salvador Dali and the Surrealists (Chicago Review Press). What's the Matter in Mr. Whisker's Room?, (Candlewick Press) will be released August, 2004. I also teach field adventure classes in Yosemite National Park. You can visit Yosemite Association for more information.
Even though this seems busy, I still have a lot of time to ride my bike, hike, and travel. Feel free to e-mail me anytime.
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