Counting by 7s

About Holly Goldberg Sloan

Holly Goldberg Sloan was born in Michigan, USA and spent her childhood living in the Netherlands, Istanbul and various parts of the USA.

She has written and directed a number of successful family feature films. The mother of two sons, Holly lives with her husband in Santa Monica, California.

I’ll Be There was her debut novel, published to much acclaim, followed by Counting by 7s and Just Call My Name.

A Q&A with Holly

What inspires your writing?
I write contemporary realistic fiction, which means that I write from people, places, incidents and emotions that I have experienced or heard about.  I love listening to other people’s life stories.  I find nothing more fascinating than how two people met. How people find their jobs, their friends.  I’m very interested in the real stuff of life.  The moments of triumph and the pain of loss.   

What has been the most exciting moment of your career so far?
I’m no spring chicken, so I have had many moments that felt special in my work life.  I wrote a movie called Angels in the Outfield and we screened that movie in Pittsburgh at the baseball stadium outside at night during the All-Star game in front of 45,000 people.  That certainly felt like a very big deal. Counting By 7s was chosen as the best book of the year for young people this past December by Amazon.  My agent called and I remember her saying “The largest retailer in the world has picked your book for this honor.”  I felt the hair stand up on my arms.  

How did you first become an author?
My mother moved not long ago and I found the little report cards that my teachers had written when I was a child.  When I was seven years old my teacher wrote: “I hope for the rest of her life Holly tells stories.”  I was shocked. What kind of stories does a 7 year old tell?  I think I became an author at an early age.  I become a screenwriter before I became a published author, and I think that adds an element to my writing.

What are you reading right now?
I just read a book called I’ll Give You The Sun, by Jandy Nelson.  I really enjoyed this novel.  It’s coming out in the U.S. in September of 2014.  And I loved John Corey Whaley’s Noggin.  I just finished Wild, by Cheryl Strayed.  I’m late to the party on that book, which was great.

What was your earliest career aspiration?
I believe when I was really young I told people that I wanted to be President of the United States when I grew up.  This caused people to howl.  I believe what I was saying was that I wanted some power in the universe.  

What advice would you give to budding writers?
I think all writers are readers. And I think all writers are writers.  And by that I mean that you have to do it all the time.  You have to write and then rewrite.  Your work gets better and better.  Your commitment to writing is as important as the writing itself in the beginning.  You have to be all in.

What was your favourite childhood book?
I think the first book I truly loved was Charlotte’s Web.

Where is your favourite place to write?
I write sitting on my bed.  I have an office in my house.  And for a long time when my kids were young I rented an office so that I’d be forced to leave and go to work.  But my favourite place to write is sitting on my bed.  You can see the ocean from there and I look out at the vast expanse of blue grey and stories begin to tell themselves.

How do you read- print, digitally or both?
I read in both formats.

Who do you most admire?
I most admire teachers and architects.  They both change the world and don’t get enough credit.  I loved so many of my teachers as a child.  They taught me to think for myself and to dream big.

Are there any books you wish you had written?
There are many, many, many books that I wish I had written.  Anything by C.S. Lewis.  Anything by Faulkner.