{"id":4116,"date":"2008-11-17T00:00:00","date_gmt":"1970-01-01T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4116"},"modified":"2013-11-07T21:29:16","modified_gmt":"2013-11-08T05:29:16","slug":"noozhawk-talks-leslie-dinaberg-sits-down-with-lynn-montgomery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lesliedinaberg.com\/wordpress\/?p=4116","title":{"rendered":"Noozhawk Talks: Leslie Dinaberg Sits Down With Lynn Montgomery"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Lynn<\/a>

Lynn Montgomery (courtesy photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

Children’s book author sees the beauty in every opportunity.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Award-winning documentary producer and television writer Lynn Montgomery<\/a>
\nrecently turned her talents to Butt Ugly<\/em><\/a>, a children’s picture book that tells the
\nstory of a loveable little green mutt who needs a home. Not only does this heart-
\nwarming story teach children important lessons about self-esteem, the book was
\nprinted in a 100% green manner.<\/p>\n

Leslie Dinaberg: How did you go from writing television to writing your book, “Butt
\nUgly?”<\/p>\n

Lynn Montgomery: When I was writing television I was working 100 hours a week and didn’t
\nhave children … I stayed in television for about 10 years, the amount of money
\nthat they give you to write for television is obscene. And I was never doing it
\nreally for the money, I was doing it because I loved to write and I loved to write
\nmore than I loved to get all this money, so eventually the love of writing went out
\nfor me in television and I decided that I would just write features and continue
\nwith writing some books that I had started.<\/p>\n

LD: So you’re working on both picture books and young adult books. Are they all
\ncomedic?<\/p>\n

LM: Well I have a comedic voice. … My goal is to make you laugh and make you
\ncry and if I accomplish both of those then I am really happy.<\/p>\n

LD: How did you decide to incorporate the green aspects into the book?<\/p>\n

LM: I have always been passionate about the environment. … In writing a
\nchildren’s book, this was an opportunity to make it as green as possible. The
\nstory is for children that is an uplifting important story about self-esteem with the
\nname-calling, but also is a way to educate the children about the environment
\nand about recycling. This book is made 100% recycled- the paper is 100%
\nrecycled, the paper is not bleached, so it doesn’t produce any dioxins in the
\nbleaching processing, … most ink is petroleum-based ink, this ink is vegetable
\nbased ink and then I even was able to go a step further. It was printed in the U.S.
\nbecause most four-color children’s books … the vast majority of four-color
\nchildren’s books are printed in Asia, in Singapore and China, and there are no
\nenvironmental standards. Ancient forests being cut down to print children’s books
\nwhere we tell stories about preserving the environment. It makes no sense to me.
\nSo this was printed in the U.S. and it was printed by a printer in St. Louis that
\nruns on wind power.<\/p>\n

LD: Wow.<\/p>\n

\"1117-Butt_Ugly-540\"<\/a>LM: I just did as much research as I possibly could to find out how could I make
\nthis as green as green can be. … Then after the book was printed, I found out
\nabout this new wonderful organization called Eco Libris<\/a> … it’s a tree offset
\ncompany … when you make a contribution to them a tree will be planted in a
\ndeveloping company. … So not only is the book green and no trees were cut
\ndown to create this book, but also trees are being planted if you buy this
\nbook.<\/p>\n

LD: That’s great. That’s really a nice give back.<\/p>\n

LM: So you can feel good about buying the book.<\/p>\n

LD: How does that pencil out in terms of the cost of the book?<\/p>\n

LM: It’s twice as expensive to publish a book this way, but we have to start. I’m
\nnot going to make a lot of money on this book, but what I’m trying to do is start a
\nconversation within the publishing world.<\/p>\n

LD: And you are also donating some money from the book to CALM.<\/p>\n

LM: Yes, some of the proceeds are going to CALM<\/a>. I used to be on the board of
\nCALM … also some of the proceeds will go to animal rescue
\norganizations.<\/p>\n

LD: Are you working on another children’s book?<\/p>\n

LM: Yes, there’s another on in the series which is called Butt Ugly Love<\/em>, he falls
\nin love with the most beautiful dog he every saw. She’s absolutely perfect and
\nhe’s smitten at first sight. It’s about true love and you find out on the last page as
\nthey are strutting off into the sunset that she only has three legs. Of course he
\nnever saw that and it didn’t matter he’s in love and she’s perfect she’s
\nbeautiful.<\/p>\n

LD: That’s very sweet.<\/p>\n

LM: … Then there’s a third in the series,Butt Uglier<\/em>, and that’s of course when
\nthey have puppies. And then that’s it.<\/p>\n

LD: So where are you with the books?<\/p>\n

LM: Butt Ugly Love<\/em> will be out around Christmas 09, the story is written and the
\nillustrator is working on the illustrations and right now she’s at the point of trying
\nto conceptualize what this beautiful dog that he falls in love with will look like.<\/p>\n

LD: Is the illustrator someone you had a connection to?<\/p>\n

LM: The illustrator is Terrie Redding<\/a>, she was from Santa Barbara and she
\nmoved to Dallas, Texas a couple of years ago. … Then my husband does all the
\ncoloration and then the layout. I had no idea what a huge aspect of book
\npublishing art direction would be.<\/p>\n

LD: What’s your husband’s name?<\/p>\n

LM: Richard Kriegler<\/a>. He is an Art Director, Matte Painter and Concept Artist and
\nhe’s done scores of movies, and children’s films, he’s done Stuart Little<\/em><\/a> and
\nPinocchio<\/em> <\/a>and Thomas and the Magic Railroad<\/em> <\/a>and he also did Contact<\/em><\/a> and
\nWhat Dreams May Come<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

LD: That was a beautiful looking movie.<\/p>\n

LM: What Dreams May Come<\/em>, what inspired him, he did the concept work for
\nthat movie, and do you remember the art that he disappeared into? Those were
\ninspired by Richard’s paintings that are hanging in our house.<\/p>\n

LD: Oh, those are gorgeous.<\/p>\n

LM: So I always say thank goodness I’m married to Richard because otherwise I
\nnever would have been able to afford him … He’s also the art director for one of
\nthe top selling videos games in the world. So I tell him that this is his penance he
\nhas to pay for taking children away from reading, he has to art direct all of my
\nchildren’s books.<\/p>\n

LD: How long have you been in town?<\/p>\n

LM: We’ve been here going on 11 years. I first moved here, our big entree into
\nSanta Barbara, this big old run down house that had been on the market for four
\nyears, I think. And then when we bought it somebody told me about CALM and
\nhow they do the designer showcase house. And we had done houses before and
\nrenovated them but never one quite this large and never one where we had two
\nsmall children. Hannah was six months old at the time. So we put the house up
\nto be a design showcase house … so it’s like we came into town and opened our
\nhome to thousands of people. So I am always running into people that say, “Oh
\nyeah, do you still have that train bed in your son’s room?” (Laughs) Everybody in
\ntown has been in our house.<\/p>\n

LD: What else do you do when you’re not working?<\/p>\n

LM: Well I love to garden, I love to go on walks through beautiful Santa Barbara,
\nand I mean we’re so lucky to live here. I explore areas up the coast, I love to
\nhike. To take care of my chickens<\/a>. I love to watch the chickens in the garden. I
\nalways feel like I’m looking at an old painting, just watching the chickens walk
\nthrough and free range in the garden, it’s so beautiful and peaceful. I think it must
\nlower your blood pressure.<\/p>\n

… I’m always working on some cause. Right now it’s to the send the fifth graders
\nat Roosevelt to Astronomy Camp. … We need to raise $15,000 to send the kids,
\nand I happened to raise my hand at the meeting and said I’ll take that
\non.<\/p>\n

LD: It’s supposed to be a great camp.<\/p>\n

LM: … Our fundraiser is going to be a Chicken Coop Tour, Loupe de Coop on
\nMarch 22.<\/p>\n

LD: That sounds really fun.<\/p>\n

Vital Stats: Lynn Montgomery<\/strong><\/p>\n

Born: Upland, CA, on April 24th<\/p>\n

Family: Husband Richard Kriegler; daughter Hannah, 10; and son Austin,
\n15<\/p>\n

Civic Involvement: CALM, Roosevelt School<\/a>, Pearl Chase Society<\/a><\/p>\n

Professional Accomplishments: Won a Writer’s Guild Award Adapting Mrs. Piggle<\/a>
\n Wiggle<\/a> for Showtime and Universal; won an LA Emmy award for writing and
\nproducing a documentary that dealt with the failures of the child abuse protective
\nsystem in Los Angeles; produced a 100% green children’s four-color children’s
\npicture book, Butt Ugly<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Best Book You’ve Read Recently: “The Story of Edgar Sawtelle<\/em><\/a>, It was
\nwonderful for getting inside the head of a dog; there are some chapters in there
\nthat I will re-read many times in my life, but they’ll always make me cry.”<\/p>\n

Little-Known Fact: “I have never had a beer in my life, but I love wine.”<\/p>\n

Originally published in Noozhawk<\/a>\u00a0on November 16, 2008. Click here<\/a> to read it.<\/h6>\n

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