Author of the Month

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Nixon always knew that she wanted to be a writer. Even before she knew how to write, she asked her mother to write down her poems. Nixon published her first story in a magazine when she was 10 years old and sold her first story when she was 17 years old. She always wanted to be like the character Jo March from Little Women. She attended the University of Southern California and earned a degree in journalism, but when she couldn't get a job, she returned to college and earned a teaching degree. She taught kindergarten for three years and then attended a conference on writing for children. She immediatly began writing her first novel The Mystery of Hurricane Castle which was published in 1964. Her 100th novel was published in 1994.

About the way she writes, Nixon says: "I don't write unless I'm excited about something. Usually, I start with an idea; it can come from anywhere. I look for ideas in newspapers, from friends. I'll use something as a springboard for my own ideas. For instance, on a trip to New Orleans, I met a woman who lived in the garden district next to a cemetery. She noticed it had become run-down, so she proposed the idea of a tombs party. She and her friends adopted the cemetery; they each adopted a plot and fixed it up. So I had the idea what would happen if whoever was in the tomb, followed you home? That idea became a book."

For more information about Joan Lowery Nixon, try these links:

Joan Lowery Nixon: Authors Online from Scholastic
The Joan Lowery Nixon official website
Mystery Writing with Joan Lowery Nixon