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 toda…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?
In third grade. We got a writing assignment and I wrote this little poem about a ghost in a graveyard. My teacher told me I had scared her! I realize now she was just being a teacher, but that was the first time I realized that a person could affect another person’s emotions by what they wrote. I knew then that writing was what I wanted to do.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
What, that corkscrew over there with the missing concrete and all the switchbacks? That road? LOL! I wrote my first novel when I was 13 and sent it—typed on a manual typewriter on yellow typing paper with white dabs of correction fluid—to a literary publisher. In my innocence, I thought publishers printed whatever you sent them, and I was pretty proud of this story with all its strange similarities to a Nancy Drew mystery, which is what I read at the time. Needless to say, it came back in two weeks flat. But the editor was very kind. He told me I knew how to tell a story. That kept me going through high school, a B.A. in Literature, and a master’s degree in Writing Popular Fiction. I wrote romances and women’s fiction before I lucked into the young adult market and found my true joy.
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?
The next release in the All About Us series is called Be Strong and Curvaceous. And the one cool thing about it is that it was based on true events. On January 29, 2001, 18-year-old Kelly Bennett alerted police to the contents of a packet of photographs she’d processed in her part-time job behind a drugstore photo counter. The photos were of guns and bombs, and as a policeman’s daughter, she alerted the authorities. Because of her courage and quick thinking, a troubled young man was arrested before he could detonate his homemade bombs and commit mass murder at a local college—on the same morning my husband was scheduled to be in class.
Needless to say, I’m pretty grateful to Kelly, and thanked her publicly in the acknowledgements in the front of the book.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
There’s no single inspiration, really. It comes from all over: snippets of conversation, an article in People, a scene on the Discovery Channel. It all forms grist for the mill. One thing about Carly Aragon, the heroine of Be Strong and Curvaceous . . . she and I both share a love of historical costuming. Some of the dresses I’ve researched for my own gowns inspired the clothes that Carly creates in the book.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
My parents are bemused and happy they have a writer in their midst … happy because I’m their little girl, and bemused because they never know what’s going to end up in a book! And my husband carries my bookmarks and postcards in all his vehicles so he can hand them out to the checkout girl, the dentist, his coworkers . . .
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
That’s easy: pierogies. Love ‘em. Slather ‘em with sour cream, chopped bacon and fried onions. The best thing for a winter night!
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
1. Put my glasses on.
2. Let my chickens out and give them a morning treat.
3. Kiss my husband.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?
Oh, my goodness. Don’t look in my closet. You’re liable to be killed by falling objects when you open the door! Surprising? Hmm … my motorcycle helmet? The Writer’s Guide to Poisons? Teen Vogue? My boxes of photographs from all over the world? All nine seasons of The X-Files and all thirteen episodes of Firefly? You pick J
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?
I would be a beautiful golden yellow. I love sun colors because they brighten things up and make people feel happy.
Who is your favorite cartoon character?
Zeng, the messenger duck in Kung Fu Panda (voiced by Dan Vogler). He was shaking with fear the whole mission, but he did it anyway, even when it meant staring death in the eye.
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 go to Regency England. I could even take my own clothes! I love the language and the comedies of manners, where every word has its precise meaning, and yet when men and women talk to each other, there are layers of meaning underneath. And did I mention the clothes?
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?
I listen all over the dial, depending on whether I’m driving on the freeway or not, LOL! Some days are good for Celtic harp or Sarah McLaughlan, others for Stevie Ray Vaughan and the blues. Some days I’ll feel like Mozart, other days like classic Van Halen. And some days, nothing will do but Newsboys or Point of Grace. It just depends. I never listen to music while I’m writing, though. There’s too much going on in the movie in my head and I’m afraid I’ll miss something.
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?
My must-record TV shows are Supernatural and Gossip Girl on the CW and Masterpiece Theatre on PBS. I’m a sucker for Mystery Monday on the BBC, too. The movies on my shelf that are the most worn out are the Colin Firth version of Pride and Prejudice, Star Wars (episodes 4, 5, and 6), and Men in Black. And the last movie I saw at the theatre was High School Musical 3! Don’t worry—I took a cover kid with me, the teenager next door. Go Wildcats!
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
A goal is just a dream with a plan. Dream big and plan wisely, and you’ll find the greatest satisfaction in whatever direction your life takes you. And don’t forget to pack a good book for the trip!
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
There are three more books in the All About Us series. In Who Made You a Princess? Shani meets a real-life handsome prince; it comes out in May. Then in September, Mac takes the stage in a Christmas story called Tidings of Great Boys. Last of all, in January 2010 the series wraps with The Chic Shall Inherit the Earth. I’m 45 pages from the end as we speak, writing like mad, and can’t believe the series will be finished when the girls graduate!
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
Thanks for the opportunity to stop by and chat!
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