He was a brat," says Williams-Justesen, who graduated from Cottonwood High School and Westminster College. "Whenever they'd go any place, he'd take off running. So they'd miss buses, be late for events and he'd be covered in mud from hiding in people's backyards. So Mother got the idea of putting him on a leash. When she arrived at a friend's doorstep, she'd hand the leash to her brother and tell him to 'Watch Donny,' and he'd stand there holding his own leash. He was only 3 or 4 at the time, so it took a while before he caught on that he was actually free to run."
Hence the title of Williams-Justesen's juvenile novel, My Brother the Dog (Tanglewood Press, $6.95). Tuesday, the author will read and sign copies of it and her other books at the Sugar House Barnes & Noble.
If you need a plot, it helps if you come from a family of funny storytellers, but Williams-Justesen will be the first to tell you that real writing is about emotions, not facts or lessons. "It's about figuring out how to connect characters in relation to other characters, and then connect them to the reader," she says.
It took Williams-Justesen a lifetime to learn this crucial lesson - and a master's degree in children's literature from Vermont College. "I'd always been a writer. In third grade, I'd write little books and then write book reports on my own books. Fortunately, I had the world's most wonderful teacher, who showed me library books that I could actually write reports about. In high school, I worked on the student newspaper, then got an English degree in college. But everyone told me I'd never make it writing fiction and I'd need a fall-back. So I worked in public relations and advertising for 12 years."
When her third child was born, Williams-Justesen took stock. "All my income was spent on child care," she says, "so my husband and I decided it was time to make some changes." She quit public relations and went to writers' workshops and conferences, joined networks and sold three nonfiction books on national parks. The realization that she had a love for children's literature led to the distance-learning writing program at Vermont College.
"I was a good writer, but I never knew how to write for me," she says of her own turn-around. Her final master's thesis became My Brother the Dog, a chapter book about the exasperation 14-year-old Maddie feels being saddled with a difficult sibling, and her elation when puppy love develops for high-schooler Nate.
The author has her narrator's voice pegged - Mattie really sounds like a modern teenager. While admitting to having a good ear for dialogue, Williams-Justesen confesses that it helps to eavesdrop on her three teenage children. "And I try to remember what it was like being 14 myself. I'm not a preacher, I just want this story to say to innocent kids out there that it's OK to be where you are, and that there are a lot of kids just like you."
And what is it like when your wannabe dream comes true and you're a real-life published author, traveling the country and going to big-time book fairs? Better yet, having one of your middle school daughter's friends run up to you and exclaim, "You wrote that book! It's my favorite book. I made my mother buy it for me!"
Laughs the now-famous (at least in Sandy) author, "I've had a total ball."
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* JANE GRAU can be reached at jgrau@sltrib.com or 801-257-8694. Send comments to livingeditor@sltrib.com.
Book signing:
Kim Williams-Justesen will be signing copies of My Brother the Dog (Tanglewood Press, $6.95) and other books in the children's area of Barnes & Noble, 1104 East 2100 South, on Tuesday at 7 p.m. For information call 801-463-2610.
