I talked to Kerrie Hollihan at the Ohioana Book Festival.

Reporting Under Fire is a book I wrote for seventh grade on up.

When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?

In the fourth grade.

How long did it take for you to write the book?

About a year to do the research and get it to my editor for the first go.

What is your writing schedule when you are writing?

I’m at my desk about 6 hours a day. Before I even get started, I sit in a comfortable chair with a pile of books that I have gotten from the library and from websites. I sit and I read, and I mark them. I immerse myself in the stories and the information I can get about the people I am writing about.

What is your interesting/unique writing quirk if you have one?

I can’t sit at the desk all the time. I move around and write with various implements to write in different chairs in my house.

What is the most surprising thing you learned when writing this book?

There were two women in this book who dated the same man. I don’t put that together for the reader, but if you read carefully you will realize that two of these women reporters had a relationship with the same newspaper reporter from Chicago.

Why did you write this book? What makes it special?

This book was one of the first ones published by Chicago review press. They started a women of action series. Since I have a background in journalism and went to journalism school in Chicago, I decided to write a book about women who are reporters. I tried to focus on back in the day when they were called “girl reporters.” We didn’t have tough women like Christine Brennon. I wrote about women who are now deceased, who were fearless. That was a time when women only wrote the feature stories in the so-called women’s pages. They were never thought to go to the front lines and report on action in the war front.

Where can a person buy your book?

Independent book stores, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, and the library.

Anything I didn’t ask you that you want to add?

There is a story there when people are well known.  I write to uncover and tell that story. By reading about other people’s journey, you may be able to figure out your journey.