Interview with Yvonne Prinz

www.thevinylprincess.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 think I’ve known since I was wee. I worked in several jobs that required some writing (TV, Radio, Advertising) but most of what I wrote was 30 seconds or sixty seconds long. I’ve always written for myself, poetry, short stories, stuff like that, then, after moving to California, I finally sat down and wrote my first YA novel.

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

Two words: Long and Winding. I wrote my first book, Still There, Clare in 2000. I was very encouraged by the feedback I got. I joined a writers group and SCBWI and attended the conferences and then I got an offer from a Canadian Publisher. I was ecstatic. Then the publisher went out of business. Raincoast in Canada made an offer on Still There, Clare and they became my publisher for the next two books as well, Not Fair, Clare and Double Dare Clare. Then they closed their publishing arm. I’m still in the process of getting the rights to those books back. Fortunately, in my search for an American agent, I was lucky enough to find Charlotte Sheedy who took me on and led me out of the wilderness. She sold The Vinyl Princess and my next book All You Get Is Me to HarperCollins.

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?

Music is Love. If you love Music you should read this book.

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

I think that changes from book to book. The Vinyl Princess was inspired by my life in the record stores and music. My next book All You Get Is Me was inspired by what I learned about the demise of the family farm in America and the migrant farm worker situation in California. Plus, I’m a food person and very invested in the Fair Food Movement.

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

My father lives in Europe on the Swiss Italian Border with his German wife (his third). He plays the French Horn in several Orchestras. My mother still lives in Canada with her husband, George. Both my parents are Dutch. They love my books. I have a 97 year-old Grandmother who lives in a home near my mom and seems to be channeling a featherweight prize-fighter but we can’t be sure because she’s invented a new language that has nothing to do with English.

I’ve been married to my husband, Dave, for almost twenty years. He’s a music nutball too.

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

Cheese Fondue…mmmmmmm.

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

Remove my mouthguard (I’m a clencher).
Look outside.
Make coffee (Blue Bottle, drip, Giant Steps blend).

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

My former roommate’s body (kidding). Hmmm, you might be surprised by my various wigs. I have a penchant for complete transformations from time to time. Also a wedding dress I use to clean the house in from a wedding that never happened. I love a wedding dress out of context. I also have a stuffed Armadillo.

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?

Oh, Blue, definitely blue. Blue Skies, pools of water, the blues, I love the blues.

Who is your favorite cartoon character?

I adore Lisa Simpson, little Feminist.

Which cartoon character is most like you?

Brian, the dog, on Family Guy. I don’t see myself as a dog but I share his observations on humanity.

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?

That’s tough to answer because I really like top notch plumbing but I do love the Renaissance. Hmmm, maybe Paris in the 50’s and 60’s when Jazz was everywhere and the clothes were fabulous and the mood was Bohemian and art was embraced.

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 so many different kinds of music. I love Brit Punk, Alt. Country, jazz, Indie folk, Gypsy Jazz, classical, Show tunes, Mississippi Delta Blues, Rock. I’m afraid to start listing artists because you’ll never get this interview back.
Generally I don’t listen to music while I write because I’m so emotionally invested in Music and it distracts me but I did listen to music while I wrote The Vinyl Princess. I had to remember how it felt to listen to Jimmi Henrix singing “Angel” and Janis Joplin singing “Ball and Chain”.

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 love Nurse Jackie, Men of a Certain Age, Family Guy, Big Love. I do watch a few movies over and over. One of them is Everything Is Illuminated. I also watch Woody Allen movies umpteen times.

The last movie I saw was Crazy Heart. Loved it.

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

Get out there and live. Put down your cell phones and your video games and fall in love, get your heart broken, go to Europe, eat weird food, learn to speak Italian, ride an elephant. Oops, that’s more than one piece isn’t it?

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

I’ve mentioned my next book All You Get Is Me. It’s about Roar, short for Aurora, a girl who loses her mother (literally loses her, she just disappears) and ends up leaving her beloved San Francisco for an organic farm that her father, a human rights lawyer, buys on a whim. Roar becomes a reluctant farm girl. She and her father witness a horrible accident on their way to market one morning. A local woman recklessly passes their slow truck and ends up killing an undocumented Mexican migrant worker, a housekeeper named Sylvia. Roar’s father takes it upon himself to build a case against the driver on behalf of the widowed husband, dividing the small farm community and bringing racism to the forefront. Roar finds herself caught in the middle of it all, especially when she falls in love with the son of the woman who was driving the car. This book has been called a modern day To Kill A Mockingbird.

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

Thank you!