My brother was (and is!) excellent at finding his way around. Like Nero, I had to work at learning how to find my way. My big brother became a navigator in the Navy, so you can imagine how well he finds his way around. I love exploring with him! Unfortunately, he doesn’t live nearby and also has a life to lead—instead of always having time to keep me from getting lost.
I write books for ages 9 to 12 about fears I know personally. 🙂 #authentic
That’s why there’s a Seven Kingdoms Fairy Tale with a hero who’s always lost.
Which leader would you follow?
Some people have a gift for it!
When I wrote Lost With Leeks, getting lost was on my mind. One of the worst times I got lost as a child was in a huge campground. I found the shower building. No problem. 
When I came out again, nothing looked familiar.

That's why I know exactly how Prince Nero feels . . .
Hundreds of tents and campers stretched out in all directions. The sunset showed me West, but that didn’t help me. I didn’t know where I’d come from. 
I also didn’t speak any French. By filling my hands with water from the wash room sink, I tried to mime that our tent was near the lake. *blushes* 

That didn’t work.

It got dark. The tent colors faded into sameness with the falling light. Finally, I walked out from each side of the building. In straight lines, so I couldn’t get more lost.

Eventually, I tripped over our tent lines and recognized where I was. I’d gotten back to base camp! 
I was the returning arctic explorer! I could have died out there.
My family was unfazed.
 They were used to me.
My mom asked, "How are you going to get around later?"
My mom used to ask me how I was going to get around later if I didn’t learn which way was North, South, East, and West.
I said—smart aleck answer #1—I was going to specialize in asking for directions so I would learn ALL the languages.
She helped me find my way . . . just like Nero's friend Magellan helps him!
Mom taught me to use landmarks and my body to find the compass points, the same way Nero does in Lost With Leeks.
“Look at the mountains,” she would say. “They are always East.”
“Now put the mountains at your Right hand. You are facing North.”
“Everything behind you is South. Everything by your Left hand is West.”
Of course—smart aleck answer #2—I asked about the one mountain that was North.
She patiently pointed out that the nearest, biggest, mountain range was East.
(Until we moved to another city and—believe it or not—the mountains were on the other side. How annoying!)
She also used to make me give her directions home from the store. I remember her sitting in the driver’s seat with the car idling, at the corner of our dead-end dirt road. I was chatting away. She was waiting for me to realize I was supposed to tell her to turn right. I really miss her.
So I started writing about a prince who didn’t think he could be a leader, because he couldn’t find his way around.
So I wrote about a prince who didn't think he could lead, because he always gets lost:
Lost With Leeks is a reindeer-chasing, dragon-herding rescue of St. Nicholas by eleven-year-old Prince Nero, sometime hot air balloon pilot . . . with zero sense of direction.
