Motivation from author David Greenberg

Children’s book author David T. Greenberg spoke to our meeting of the European Parent-Teacher Association Saturday. Greenberg is a graduate of Reed College in Oregon who wanted to write poems. In wading into the world of writing, he received bolstering from an unlikely source, Maurice Sendak, who write Greenberg a letter that said, in essence, “Keep going. I’m digging what you’re doing.”

Marching toward his eventual success with books like “Spiders,” “Bugs,” and “Snakes,” Greenberg had his first poem rejected by published 111 times. On the 112th time, Little, Brown and Company bought it, and it became the best-seller, “Slugs.” Mr. Greenberg also wrote a book about his father, who served as an attorney for Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Aside from reading from a few of his books, Greenberg declared his love of the language and reminisced about the Sendak letter. But one statement caught my ear, a feeling I’ve never completely been able to verbalize. In a paraphrasing, here’s what he said.

“If my writing is ‘excellent,’ then I’ve dropped down a notch from where I want to be.”

He’s always reaching for new heights with language and the things he writes. And aside from the moments of children’s entertainment, Greenberg was forceful about writing — as a catalyst for learning and more. Such energy! He made the perfect oral presentation that not only fired me up again and had me sitting down in front of the keyboard trying to hammer out my pitiful bits of prose. He also envigorated my writer’s soul.

You can find more on Greenberg here.

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