Quotes by Kimberly Willis Holt

About Kimberly Willis Holt:

Kimberly Willis Holt is an American writer of children's literature. She is best known for the novel When Zachary Beaver Came to Town, which won the 1999 U.S. National Book Award for Young People's Literature. It was adapted as a 2003 film of the same name.
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Although I sometimes enjoy writing from an adult's perspective, I feel dedicated to the coming of age story - that part of a young person's life where he must make a decision that will change his life forever. I still remember what it's like to be tw...

Kimberly Willis Holt

...I decided I'd changed my mind about home. Home was not Pensacola San Diego Guam or any of the other places we might have lived. In fact home wasn't any particular place at all. Home was my family. Even if they didn't get my jokes sometimes.

Kimberly Willis Holt

And in this moment, I realize one reason it's so great to have a best friend is sometimes, like right now, Cal and I are thinking the very same thing.

Kimberly Willis Holt

Zachary smiles, and I wonder if he's felling different. Because standing out here waist deep in Gossimer Lake, next to my best friend, I'm feeling different-light and good and maybe even holy.

Kimberly Willis Holt

The Mozart sonata Dad picked out begins to play. When we hear the first note, we open the sacks and the ladybugs escape through the opening, taking flight. It's as if someone has dumped rubies from heaven. Soon they will land on the plants in search ...

Kimberly Willis Holt

It seems like our town has closed down these days leading up to the funeral. Old people still sit on their porches and talk, but their conversations aren't sprinkled with laughter anymore. Since the new, little kids haven't played outside, as if thei...

Kimberly Willis Holt

Although I always loved reading and putting words on paper, I never thought about becoming a writer until I was twelve.

Kimberly Willis Holt

My biggest disappointment is that once I'm finished working on the characters, I really do expect to see them in the flesh one day.

Kimberly Willis Holt

One of the reasons I write is to be in other people's skin.

Kimberly Willis Holt

Sometimes I'll get a premise, you know, for a book. In fact, I get those quite often. And I don't commit to it until I really know the voice of that character. It's almost as if the character is speaking to me.

Kimberly Willis Holt

I'm amazed how the tiniest moments grow into books.

Kimberly Willis Holt

When I begin to write a story, I usually know how things will end. It's the journey toward that point I must discover. The process is sometimes painful, but also exciting.

Kimberly Willis Holt

I have to re-write a lot. I couldn't tell you how many drafts I write, but I know I've done at least twenty rewrites on each book.

Kimberly Willis Holt

If you haven't taken a writing class, take a writing class. I took every class that was available in my area. I went to conferences inside and outside my area to network with people. That's how I got my agent. I found my agent through another agent w...

Kimberly Willis Holt

Even though writing articles relies completely on truth, you still must tell an interesting story. You can't worry about people knowing who you are and whether or not they want to read your stories.

Kimberly Willis Holt

I like the fact that I'm from the South and that I have this rich history behind me. I come from a family of storytellers. They can't just tell you how someone went to the store. They have to tell you who they saw, what they were wearing, what they s...

Kimberly Willis Holt

If you're having trouble finishing a book, it might be that you're trying to fix it as you go. Just finish the story, no matter how terrible you think that first draft is. Then let it cool off. In other words, don't look at it for a while. Then you c...

Kimberly Willis Holt

I always tend to write about outsiders. And what's been fun for me is, as I travel around and visit schools, is that other kids that feel the same way relate to some of my characters, and so I hope in some way that's helping them when they want to re...

Kimberly Willis Holt

I hope the wonder of what happens to my characters never goes away. That yearning keeps me writing.

Kimberly Willis Holt

When I was a child, the thing I wanted more than anything was to grow up and live in one house. Since my dad was in the Navy, that wasn't possible. Instead, I lived in a different home every couple of years.

Kimberly Willis Holt

Author Bio

  • NameKimberly Willis Holt
  • DescriptionAmerican children's writer
  • BornSeptember 9, 1960
  • CountryUnited States Of America
  • ProfessionWriter