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Interveiw with Barb Oranaka
I meet Barb Oranaka at Portland. She wrote Skateboard Mom and is one. This is her interview.
1.How old were you when you first started skating?
I was 10. Santa brought me a Hobie Super Surfer, which was the coolest board around in 1972. It was all wood--a beautiful deck laminated with oak and walnut--and had those infamous clay wheels. Basically my girlfriends and I "sidewalk surfed" all over the neighborhood and learned to "tic tack." When the urethane wheels (Cadillac Wheels) came out a few years later, we were in heaven. And then sealed bearings! (Road Rider wheels) I heard about a try-out for the Hobie amateur team and to my surprise I nabbed one of the five spots on the team (out of 200 kids who tried out). There is more on this on my website, if you want details.
2.Have you been skating ever since?
No, unfortunately I stopped when I turned 13 because my high school cross-country coach told me I couldn't run on the team if I skated. The running career paid off--I ended up with a college scholarship--but I always thought about skateboarding for the 25 years that I took off.
3.What type of skating do you like most? (street, vert, pool?)
I'm not good enough to call myself a pool skater, but I think if I could manage it (drop in on vert) I would like that. I guess my favorite is a good park (especially early in the morning when it's empty!) with big bowls that you can roll into. I just started dropping in this year, so I'm not quite comfortable dropping in on vert. All psychological, I know.
4.What is it like being a skateboarding mom?
Well, you do get a lot of looks from people who think skateboarding is for kids. But overall, I enjoy it. I like challenging people's perceptions of what a "mom" should be (or what a skater should be, for that matter). My son isn't wild about it (he's more ho hum) but it's fun to see the other kids at the skatepark start to accept us after a certain point. Some of the little kids even latch on to the skate moms. One asked me to tie his shoe! :-)
5.Where do you think skateboarding is going for girls?
Hopefully it's going back 25, 30 years---when skater girls were totally accepted! I was amazed and saddened to see skateboarding become such a male-dominated sport. When I was young, no one thought of skateboarding that way. All my girlfriends skated and no one (boys) thought any less of them. Now, bit by bit, girl by girl, I see a momentum growing. I think it will only get stronger. Part of that is the moms these days are less concerned with raising girly girls. Most moms want their daughters to be strong and confident, and skateboarding certainly develops strength and confidence!
6.What gave you the idea to write your book?
Well, the old saying is "write what you know," and if there's anything I know it's a mom's obsession with skateboarding!
7.How long did it take you to write your book?
I think from the time I got the idea until I finished the manuscript was about 6 months. But then it took another 6 months to sell to Putman, my publisher. And then it took THREE YEARS for my publisher to turn it into a book! (That is standard in the industry.)
8.Is it hard to get a book published?
Well, odds are not great. It is said that most of the major publishers receive around 5,000 to 10,000 manuscripts a year, and they only publish 1%. So it's a tough market to crack. But if you work hard to make it the very best story you can, and have an original idea (one that appeals to kids!), it's definitely possible!
9.Have you always wanted to write a book?
I was always creating stories and poems as a kid--sometimes because it made for an easy and cheap gift for Mother's Day or a parent's birthday! I always thought about writing children's books but assumed (like most people) that I had to either illustrate it myself or find someone to do that for me. I'm not very talented when it comes to drawing and I was having a hard time finding someone to do that for me, so for many years I figured, oh well, I'll never get a book published. Then I finally went to a conference where I learned that publishers actually want to be the ones choosing the illustrator for a book. In fact, they insist on choosing! So once I accepted that, I was ready to dive in.
10.What advise do you give someone to write a book?
Write what you're passionate about. Read, read, read! The more you read, the better writer you'll become. Don't be afraid to try something new, but also be aware that super unique topics (like lima beans) might not have broad enough appeal to kids and thereby publishers might not be interested. Also, don't wait for inspiration to hit. Just get started. If writing a whole book intimidates you, try to write a page a day. Or a paragraph. Or one sentence!