Hello, hello everyone! I am very thrilled to share today’s post with you. I recently reached out to Anna Rose Johnson, an author of vintage middle grade fiction, and asked if she would be willing to answer a few questions for my blog about her newest book. She was kind enough to agree, and now I’m able to share her answers with you all!
Anna Rose is a lovely author to look into if you haven’t heard of her before. Her stories are sweet and filled with delightfully fun and bookish characters. To learn more about her you can visit her website, here. I hope you’ll take the time to check her out!
Anna Rose Johnson’s Books
Her first book, The Star that Always Stays, came out in summer of 2022, making it almost two years old! This is the story of a young girl adjusting to changes in her family. I listened to this book on audio (yes- there are audio books!) a little before Christmas and was delighted by all of the bookish references it had.
Anna Rose’s second book, The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, came out this past March. I enjoyed this book even more than her first! From the very first chapter I could tell it was going to be a great story and it only got better from there. It’s the story of a lighthouse, and secret treasure, and going to live with a rather large and interesting new family.
The Interview
First of all, congratulations on your newest book, The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry! I enjoyed reading it so much and quickly grew to love Lucy and her imagination. Do you remember where you got the first seed of an idea for the story?
I first had the idea for LUCY when I watched a webinar about women lighthouse keepers of the Great Lakes. The webinar got me thinking about the children of lighthouse keepers and what that experience would have been like, which led me to create Lucy and her story!
About how long do you think it took you to finish the first draft?
I finished writing the first draft in about two months! It was a joy to work on and it came together quickly. That said, there were challenges along the way—working out the mystery in the story and doing the research it takes to pull off a unique historical setting—but it was amazing.
I’ve found that almost all authors (myself included) take certain personality traits or details about their characters out of their own lives, but I always find it interesting to hear how strongly this is true for different people. Did you find that you were basing Lucy on yourself at all? If so, in what ways?
I didn’t really base Lucy on myself, but I certainly had a lot of imagination as a child (and still do!), so I understood that element of Lucy’s character very well.
Your first book, The Star That Always Stays, came out not too long ago in 2022. I’m curious at how the writing and publishing process compared this time around. Was there anything significantly different or was it a lot of the same thing?
I think that it’s always different working on your first book, because you have a lot of time to work on it—many writers work on their first book for years, like I did. But when I worked on The Luminous Life of Lucy Landry, I had to expedite the process because I was on deadline. It was a quicker process but I enjoyed it so much, and the manuscript still went through a number of revisions.
I love that your blog focuses on vintage middle grade fiction (a great many of my own favorite books fit into that category 🙂 )! When it comes to writing your own stories, what qualities were important to you after reading those kinds of books?
I love the quiet elements in vintage MG, and incorporating those into my own novels—the way that small things can be crafted into big, meaningful moments for the characters; the way that these stories are often less action-packed and fast-paced than modern books, but they still resonate with readers because of the strong emotional connection to the characters. I strive to create that kind of experience for my readers!
Finally, what is one book you’re in the middle of reading right now?
I’m actually not currently “in the middle” of a book; I just finished reading Somebody Else’s Summer by Jean Little, which I enjoyed immensely. Jean Little was an amazing writer and this book had some fun Parent Trap vibes!
Final Thoughts
I’m so grateful to Anna Rose for letting me interview her! It was such a pleasure to get to hear all of her wonderful answers.
If you enjoyed reading this post please leave a comment below! I would love to hear what Anna Rose said that stood out to you, or if you’ve read any of her books.
For the Love of Stories 