Interview with Laura Pedersen

www.laurapedersenbooks.com

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 started winning essay contests in Junior High School but I only enjoyed the writing when it was humorous or entertaining. I suppose that by the time I was thrown out of high school for some forged attendance notes (but I’d done them in sonnet form!) I knew that my life would involve writing.

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

I had an easy start in publishing since my first book PLAY MONEY was written around the same time a popular Wall Street book called LIAR’S POKER came out and so it was viewed as the female version of that book. Like movie producers, publishers often try to repeat the success of other projects by keeping a storyline but changing the players. However, with the advent of laptop computers, publishing became more difficult because everyone started writing books. I know some very famous writers who are incredibly frustrated right now because after thirty years of having a high author profile they can no longer get reviewed in The New York Times. Up until about fifteen years ago, writers were regularly interviewed on TV shows, and now you hardly ever see one.

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?

BEST BET is the fourth entry in the Hallie Palmer series and you can definitely read it as a stand-alone book, but it might be more fun to go in order (BEGINNER’S LUCK, HEART’S DESIRE, THE BIG SHUFFLE) so the ending is a surprise. I think the main reason to read them is that they’ll make you feel good. The novels are hopeful, funny, and affirmative.

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

Growing up in Buffalo, NY, that polestar of the Rust Belt constellation during the stagflation 1970s certainly shaped my life. Also, my 8th grade Social Studies teacher Peter Heffley was a tremendous influence. We became lifelong friends after discovering that we both collected bizarre newspaper stories. Our most prized article was titled “Meet Me at the Top of the Hill,” where an outlaw motorcycle gang arrived at their designated meeting point only to crash into one another. It wasn’t the tragedies themselves we relished but the resulting headlines, i.e. “Deaf Mute Gets New Hearing in Killing” and “Farmer Bill Dies in House.”

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

Actually, they’re not that impressed because I come from a newspaper family. And my grandfather and father are both decorated war veterans. In my family it’s impressive if you can spend less than ten hours a day in a bar and if some good stories are written by you rather than about you.

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

A Mexican sundae (hot fudge sundae covered in Spanish peanuts) with just a dollop of vanilla ice cream. I really only like the fudge, peanuts and whipped cream.

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

I remove dogs from my head, neck and feet; look at The New York Times online to make sure the world is mostly the way I left it the night before; and then I get a glass of juice since I’m not a coffee person.

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

Dead people. Well, they’re cremated, and mostly in pickle jars because having grown up in Buffalo I can’t help but be reminded of a bowling trophy whenever I see an urn containing ashes. Obviously my people aren’t very good when it comes to planning.

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’d be royal purple since it’s vibrant but won’t show the dirt.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

I like Snagglepuss. "Heavens to Murgatroyd!”

Which cartoon character is most like you?

People have often called me Tigger, which I think is a nice way of saying “Stop bouncing around and sit down.”

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 parachute in on the Aztecs in 15th century Mexico, but one would have to be careful with regard to human sacrifice. They had terrific art, literature and even a calendar, so you didn’t have any excuse for being a couple of days late to astronomy class.

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 to songs with a good beat while rocking out on Rollerblades, such as “I’m Gonna Be” by the Proclaimers and “Hey There Delilah” by Plain White T’s. When writing I’ll sometimes put on classical but I don’t really hear it. Otherwise, I like jazz and standards. Right now I’m enjoying the albums “Ballads, Blues & Bey,” by Andy Bey and “My One and Only Thrill” by Melody Gardot.

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 father recently got me involved in the TV series NUMB3RS. Over the holidays I took the kids at the school where I volunteer to see The Princess and the Frog. When life gets me down my friends all know I pull the shades and put on the movie Harold and Maude.

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

It’s between always put candles in a dish or on a plate with some water at the bottom, or if you ever see a pickle jar in someone’s closet don’t assume that the stuff inside is potpourri. It could be my great aunt!

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

Last year I wrote a humorous memoir called BUFFALO GAL about growing up in the Snow Belt during the 70s which sold well and won some awards, and a sequel called BUFFALO UNBOUND is coming out this fall.