First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My name is Jen, and I’ll be your server today…oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out of your writing schedule—which I’m sure is busy!—and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let’s get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you wanted to be a writer?
When I was little I wrote poems – sad ones that made me feel better – and later thought I might like to be a journalist. I have always loved words.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
My first publication was a story I wrote in college to fulfill a writing assignment. After the story was anthologized, I decided to try to take my writing more seriously. The next publication – another story – didn’t happen for another 5 years. Lots of rejections have paved the path to almost everything I have published.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
My latest novel is Black Box. The one thing I’d like to say about it: I hope it’s a sad book that will make some readers feel better.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
Real life – my own experience -- is always a starting point for me, but it is rarely the end point. I try to follow a story in the direction it seems to want to go, and once I’m finished with the final draft, it seldom resembles the real-life experience that inspired it.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
I’ve got a loving spouse and two daughters, who have all been very supportive of my work. I’ve also got three eccentric cats: Vince, Moo and Hazel.
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Chocolate in any form.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Coffee, the advice columns, the comics.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
I am not a collector – I hate clutter – but I do collect decks of playing cards from foreign countries (I am choosy about these). And I have half a dozen lacrosse sticks I am unwilling to part with.
Everyone asks the question about “if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?” so I want to know: If you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Sky blue – my favorite color.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
I am not a cartoon watcher, or a TV person, so this is hard to determine. I do remember having a fondness when I was little for the Tasmanian devil: I would like to be that fast in my progress through the day….
Which cartoon character is most like you?
?
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world (“Beam me up, Scotty!”), during any time in history, where and when would it be—and why?
I’d love to spend a month inside a Jane Austen novel – probably Emma or Pride and Prejudice. Too bad we can’t take vacations to literary moments in time….
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
I can’t listen to music while I’m writing – I’m not enough of a multi-tasker for that. And I have what other people generally tell me is a very ordinarily and uninteresting taste in music. I like R&B, but otherwise I tend to listen to whatever is on the radio while I’m in the car.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie you saw at the theater?
I’m not a TV watcher – I can’t stand the advertising – but I love movies and am a Hitchcock fan and a devotee of movies made from Jane Austen novels.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Read. Books are so much richer, so much more individualized, so much more sophisticated and vivid than television. TV stoops down to the viewer, and often assumes a lack of intelligence. TV is spiritual and emotional and intellectual junk food.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
I’m working on two novels, both of them for teens – but I’m superstitious and hate to discuss a book before it’s finished. Thanks for asking, though….
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com
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