I’ve been crazy busy this week getting ready for the New York premiere of our new play, Wave Me Good-bye, based on my children’s book of the same name. So, since that’s all I can think about right now, I thought I’d share with you the fascinating story behind the story.
Way back in 1998, I was researching my book, Dancing in Combat Boots: and Other Stories of American Women in WWII, and reached out to the Advertising Research Foundation in New York City. The woman who answered the phone, Roslyn Arnstein, did her best to answer my specific questions. Then she said, “But if you want to hear some stories about New York during World War II, I could tell you a few things.” She started to share some memories with me about growing up as the only Jewish girl in her Bronx neighborhood, and her stories were captivating. I asked if I could conduct a formal interview with her for my book, and she agreed.
Then, as writing projects often do, the direction of my book changed, and a child’s view of the war just didn’t fit. Still, I never forgot Roslyn’s stories, and they began to stir my imagination.
At the time, I was involved in a truly amazing writers group filled with incredibly talented writers. One day, I told them I was going to write a short story entirely in dialogue, with no narrative and no exposition at all. They said it couldn’t be done. But dialogue is my strong…
