Interview with Jo Knowles

www.joknowles.com

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.

Thanks for having me, Jen!

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?

I loved to write even as a little kid, making up terrible poems about my pony, Smoky, and various other oddly inspirational pets and family members. But I never thought of myself as a writer and certainly never thought of writing as a possible career choice. Then when I was in graduate school studying children’s literature, I took a class called “Writing for Children” and I loved it. It was all I wanted to do. I even got permission to write a novel for my masters thesis. After I graduated, I just kept writing.

Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?

Long and winding. :-) On the road to publication, there are all kinds of things that can slow you down, including yourself. In my case, I am truly glad I took the long road. I don’t think when I started submitting my work I was anywhere near ready to sell a book. I didn’t know enough. Maybe I still don’t! But while I was waiting to hear from various publishers, I was always writing and going to conferences and meeting people and basically learning a TON. Most importantly, I was lucky enough to form a really wonderful support network so that when I did finally sell my first book, I felt like I was celebrating with a whole community of caring writers. I wouldn’t have had that if I’d sold my first novel right off the bat.

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?

I think that is probably the hardest interview question I’ve ever been asked! My next book, PEARL, will hopefully be out Spring 2011. Only one thing? Lets see, how about: “The book involves a very unfortunate mishap with the ashes of the main character’s grandfather.” Hmm. No. I’m not sure that will have them lining up at the door.

What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?

Robert Cormier

Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!

My sister is a K-8 school librarian so she’s still waiting for me to write a book she can have in her school. :-) My mom’s a children’s librarian, too. Luckily she’s in charge of purchasing for the YA collection. She also tells me when my books are checked out, which always makes me smile.

Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?

My mom’s mashed potatoes.

What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?

Curse the clock. Feed my cats. Try to go back to sleep and fail.

If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise me the most?

That one home could actually contain that much dust.

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 think I would like to be green because I think of all the colors, green seems to be the most hopeful.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Appa from The Avatar

Which cartoon character is most like you?

I’ve been told I resemble Max, from How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I cannot even begin to tell you how much this depresses me.

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 would like to hear Martin Luther King’s I Have A Dream Speech. I think we could all use some inspiration to do our part to help make this world a more peaceful and fair place to live.

So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while you’re writing?

I love all kinds of music but for writing, I like jazz. Specifically John Coltrane.

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 don’t really watch T.V., though sometimes I catch The Daily Show online. I do love movies. The last movie I saw at the Theater was Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs. The directors were there and gave this incredible talk beforehand. They described their journey to success and they were so honest about the level of luck that was involved. They were very humble, and I thought that was incredibly refreshing.

You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?

Don’t be afraid to be yourself.

One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?

Well, there’s PEARL, the book I mentioned above. And hopefully I will finish the novel I’m working on, though I’m afraid it is slowly sucking the creative life out of me. Chocolate would help if you have any interest in saving me. ;-)

Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!

It was my pleasure. Thanks for having me!