Priscilla Cummings has an inspiring story of growing her childhood writing passion into a profession. From growing up on a farm writing about barn cats, Priscilla became a reporter and journalist for thirteen years. She has now been a published author since 1986 of over twenty-five children’s picture books and novels.
Her very first published picture book, Chadwick the Crab (FCPL copies; Bookshop.org), has continued to be a beloved character with many subsequent tales. As her own children grew, Priscilla went on to write children’s/young adult novels as well, such as Red Kayak (FCPL copies; Bookshop.org), a coming-of-age story of three teenagers in the Chesapeake Bay area.
It is commonly assumed that Priscilla grew up in Maryland because of her Chadwick stories, however she was born in Massachusetts and later moved to Maryland which inspired Chadwick’s creation. Maryland also led Priscilla to meet her husband John Frece - also a writer and former journalist - and they currently reside in Annapolis.
Priscilla Cummings has created a beautiful collection of stories, as well as two adult children…and two adopted cats (Romeo and Mr. Charles Bingley). FURL recently had the pleasure to hear from Priscilla Cummings for our Local Author Spotlight Series below, and find out more at her website www.priscillacummings.com.
HOW DID YOU GET STARTED WRITING?
Wow. I’ve been writing stories since I was about five years old so it goes back quite a ways. I guess I was born with the book-lover gene because I don’t really know why I loved writing and reading stories so much, I just did. My first stories were about the cats and their kittens who lived in our dairy barn. I came up with many cat adventures, drew illustrations and fashioned little books about those barn kitties. In my early years I kept diaries, corresponded with dozens of pen pals, wrote for my school newspapers and following college graduation was a newspaper reporter and then a magazine writer for 13 years before I wrote my first book.
WHERE DID YOU GET THE IDEA FOR YOUR FIRST BOOK?
I’m from New England but one of my newspaper jobs brought me to Maryland where I saw the Chesapeake Bay – and blue crabs – for the first time. I was intrigued by those crabs. When I learned that they spent the winter napping at the bottom of the bay (it was the summer that the National Aquarium opened in Baltimore) I began thinking of a little crab who didn’t want to sleep all winter but instead yearned for fame and fortune at the aquarium! Hmmmmmm . . . how would he get there? And what would his friends, like Orville Oyster, Baron von Heron and Toulouse the Goose back in Shady Creek think of all this? It became my first book, CHADWICK THE CRAB, which, by the way, is still in print and 35 years old in 2021!
HOW LONG DID IT TAKE YOU TO WRITE IT?
It probably took about three months for me to write CHADWICK THE CRAB. It’s a text-heavy picture book, third grade reading level. Since I wrote my first book, I’ve written 25 other books including eight novels. Each of those novels took a lot longer than three months to write! I know for a fact that it took me eight months to write the first draft of my novel, RED KAYAK, and that I spent the next year rewriting it to make it a good book. That does not include all the research I did for the book, which won the Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award in 2008. In all, the novel was three years in the making.
WAS THERE ANY PART OF THE PUBLISHING/PROMOTION PROCESS THAT SURPRISED YOU?
When I wrote my first book I had no idea that I would be asked to do book signings and that I would be invited to elementary schools and conferences to talk about my books. What a wonderful experience that has been. I have made over a thousand school visits in the 35 years that I have been an author and travelled all over the country including visits to New Mexico, Montana, Oklahoma, Florida, Missouri, New Hampshire, Illinois, New York, Wisconsin, my home state of Massachusetts and many other states. I live in Annapolis so I’m glad that most of my school visits have been in Maryland including Frederick! Maybe we met there?
IS THERE ANY ADVICE YOU WOULD GIVE TO A BUDDING AUTHOR?
I have been asked this question many, many times and what I always tell young people is to 1) Keep reading – all kinds of books; 2) keep writing – maybe keep a journal? 3) Have many different experiences because writers write from their whole world of experience. Many ideas and details for stories come from your own life. Also, learn to be a good listener. I spend a lot of time asking questions, listening to what people say and simply observing.