Friday Five -- Kami Kinard

Today's interview is with the author of THE BOY PROJECT, published this year by Scholastic.  Kami Kinard has been writing all of her life (just check out the bio on her website!) but is also a teaching artist, which I think is just as cool as it sounds.  


THE FIVE:

1.  What single thing would improve the quality of your life? 

A cure for childhood illnesses.

2.  What is your guiltiest pleasure?  

The Chocolate Tree. Beaufort, SC.

3.  What do you consider your greatest achievement? 

A lot of moms probably say this, but I’d have to say my children. There is nothing else I’ve given up more for, and nothing else I love more.

4.  Who would play you in the film of your life? 

Meryl Streep. She can play anyone.

5.  Who are your real-life heroes? 

People who are willing to give back – to share. I admire people like Bill Gates and Warren Buffet, who have acquired so much, but want to, and are willing to, share their assets and good fortune. I also admire people who give back in other ways. Good teachers are among my greatest heroes, as are caring physicians who use their brilliance to help others.

ABOUT THE BOY PROJECT:

For anyone who's ever felt that boys were a different species.... 

Wildly creative seventh grader, Kara McAllister, just had her best idea yet. She's going to take notes on all of the boys in her grade (and a few elsewhere) in order to answer a seemingly simple question: How can she get a boyfriend? 

But Kara's project turns out to be a lot more complicated than she imagined. Soon there are secrets, lies, and an embarrassing incident in the boy's bathroom. Plus, Kara has to deal with mean girls, her slightly spacey BFF, and some surprising uses for duct tape. Still, if Kara's research leads her to the right boy, everything may just be worth it... 

You can order THE BOY PROJECT here!

ABOUT KAMI:

You can find Kami on her website.

On Twitter.

And on Facebook.

Friday Five -- L.B. Schulman

L.B. Schulman is another Apocalypsies author who lives in Northern California.  I met her several years ago, just after LEAGUE OF STRAYS sold and just before GILT did.  She is gracious, unassuming, welcoming and courageous, and I am delighted to be able to consider her one of my writer friends.  She also has an incredible talent for writing setting and character details that spark and pop and make every scene in STRAYS come alive.

THE FIVE:


1.  What keeps you awake at night?

My plots. I keep thinking of points I forgot to put into my work-in-progress. I am writing a very complex story right now, involving the Holocaust, and I wake up wondering what major details I’m missing.

2.  What is your most treasured possession?

My Nespresso machine. I go through three lattes a day. I adore the colorful pods, the no-clean-up hassle. I even polish it every day with stainless steel cleanser, lovingly.

3.  What is the most surprising thing you’ve learned since becoming a writer?

That people don’t always have patience for weak heroines who learn how to find their way; they prefer strong ones who grow stronger and solve problems. I tend to write realistic, every day characters, but I am finding that they’re not always the most likeable or commercial. This theory may change, but it’s how I feel right now.

4.  What intrigues you?

At the moment, controversy. But I’m afraid of it at the same time. I wish I had the guts to say what I mean, when I feel it, and not have to worry what others will think. I find controversy to be very exciting and thought-provoking.

5.  What annoys you?

As soon as people have to be by themselves in public, they pull out their cell phones. I get that it’s a way to look busy, but it’s eliminated the possibility of random communication. Twenty years ago, I met a really good friend in the DMV line. I’m not sure that would happen today.

ABOUT LEAGUE OF STRAYS:

This suspenseful debut follows a group of teenage misfits in their delicious quest for revenge on those who have wronged them at their high school. When a mysterious note appears in Charlotte’s mailbox inviting her to join the League of Strays, she’s hopeful it will lead to making friends. What she discovers is a motley crew of loners and an alluring, manipulative ringleader named Kade. Kade convinces the group that they need one another both for friendship and to get back at the classmates and teachers who have betrayed them. But Kade has a bigger agenda. In addition to vandalizing their school and causing fights between other students, Kade’s real intention is a dangerous plot that will threaten lives and force Charlotte to choose between her loyalty to the League and her own conscience.

You can order LEAGUE OF STRAYS here!

ABOUT L.B. SCHULMAN:

You can find Lisa on her website.
On Twitter.
And on the blog Emu's Debuts.

Taking a Break

As some of you may have noticed, I didn't post last Monday.  I've been going through a rough time, personally, which I wrote about on the YA Muses blog last week.  Between that, copyedits for TARNISH, finishing the first draft of Book 3, upcoming events and just life in general, I need to take a bit of a break from the blog.  So please, bear with me - I'm hoping November will be a bit less hectic.

I will continue to post the Friday Five, so please come back and meet more Apocalypsies authors every week!

Friday Five -- Tamara Ireland Stone

I've had the incredible good fortune to meet the adorable Tamara Ireland Stone in person because she, too, lives in Northern California.  She is kind, enthusiastic, and passionate about writing and YA literature.  Her debut time-travel romance, TIME BETWEEN US, came out earlier this month.

THE FIVE:


1.  What would your super power be?

That's the question that prompted me to write a whole book! One evening, my husband and I got into a funny conversation about superpowers. He said he wished he could fly. I said I wished I could time travel. But then I clarified it, and said that I really just wanted to go back to the mid 90’s for a few hours and see Green Day when they were playing small clubs in Berkeley. He laughed and asked if I’d take him with me. Twenty-four hours later, I started writing Time Between Us.

2.  If you could go back (or forward!) in time, where/when would you go?

It's funny, but I have no interest in going forward in time. I guess I've always liked surprises. But like I said to my husband that night, I would love to go back and see concerts I missed when I was younger. I love live music, and while I don't have many regrets in life, I really wish I'd made it a priority earlier.

3.  What single thing would improve the quality of your life?

I wish I had the ability to travel more frequently. Not only do I enjoy the adventure of travel itself, I love the way the trip changes me when I get back home. It never lasts as long as I want it to, but for a few weeks, I see my own world a little differently. I don’t take the little things for granted. I naturally slow down and look around. I view my neighborhood and my garden and my living room with fresh eyes, like a visitor might see it. I like being in that post-travel, reflective haze.

4.  What is the worst job you’ve done?

I worked at Taco Bell for a summer. I’d come home smelling like beef and beans, my hair sticky and nasty from the tortilla steamer, and with pieces if cheese stuck under my fingernails. But honestly, I didn’t hate it. It was my first job and I was pretty happy to have one. The best part was that we didn't have a manager that summer. We got into a lot of fights with the sour cream guns after hours.

5.  What one word do you think describes you best?

Driven.

ABOUT TIME BETWEEN US:

Anna and Bennett were never supposed to meet: she lives in 1995 Chicago and he lives in 2012 San Francisco. But Bennett’s unique ability to travel through time and space brings him into Anna’s life, and with him, a new world of adventure and possibility. As their relationship deepens, they face the reality that time might knock Bennett back where he belongs, even as a devastating crisis throws everything they believe into question. Against a ticking clock, Anna and Bennett are forced to ask themselves how far they can push the bounds of fate—and what consequences they can bear in order to stay together.

Order a copy of TIME BETWEEN US here!

ABOUT TAMARA:

You can find Tamara on her website.
On Twitter.
And on Facebook.

Friday Five -- Janci Patterson

This week's five features the author of CHASING THE SKIP, a contemporary YA novel published by Henry Holt on the 2nd.  Janci is a poet and an Apocalypsies author (though perhaps not an Apocalyptic Poet) and a self-proclaimed geek.  

THE FIVE:


1. If you could go back in time, where/when would you go?

This will show you the flavor of literary nerd that I am, but I would love to have been at the Six Gallery Reading on October 7, 1955 when Alan Ginsberg’s “Howl” was first performed.  That reading was going to change the world, and I’m sure nobody knew it.  

2. Who would play you in the film of your life?

The film of my life would be very boring, but if I was lucky, Kate Winslet.  We look nothing alike, but she can play anyone.

3. What one word do you think describes you best?

Intense

4. What is the most surprising thing you’ve learned since becoming a writer?

That the actual work of writing is only one tiny step toward a novel—the real work happens in revision.  This shouldn’t have been a surprise, but I was sure blindsided by it.

5. If you knew you would be stranded on a desert island, which book, piece of music, and snack food would you take with you?

Beyond the basics to survive?  CAKE’s Comfort Eagle, Pringles, and a Norton Anthology of British Literature.  It comes in two volumes—I’d bring the second half.

ABOUT CHASING THE SKIP:

Ricki’s dad has never been there for her. He’s a bounty hunter who spends his time chasing parole evaders—also known as “skips”—all over the country. Ever since Ricki’s mom ran off, Ricki finds herself an unwilling passenger in a front-row seat to her father’s dangerous lifestyle. Ricki’s feelings get even more confused when her dad starts tracking seventeen-year-old Ian Burnham. She finds herself unavoidably attracted to the dark-eyed felon who seems eager to get acquainted. Ricki thinks she’s ever in control—the perfect accomplice, the Bonnie to his Clyde. Little does she know that Ian isn’t playing the game by her rules.

You can order CHASING THE SKIP here!

ABOUT JANCI:

You can find Janci on her website.
On Twitter.
And on Facebook.

Anne Boleyn

As many of you know, a couple of weeks ago, Jaime Arnold over at Two Chicks on Books announced that Book 2 will be titled TARNISH and will be narrated by a young Anne Boleyn.  Jaime asks fabulous questions, so if you're interested in knowing a little more, please see the whole interview here.

One thing Jaime didn't ask was why?  Why Anne Boleyn?  If anything, I'm treading over already well-trodden ground with this character.  The number of biographies (by such greats as Eric Ives and Alison Weir) and historical novels (The Other Boleyn Girl, anyone? Not to mention the amazing Hilary Mantel) are daunting.  Plus innumerable extensive chapters in every history of Tudor times, from Starkey's Six Wives to books solely about Anne's daughter Elizabeth.  We know all of this already, don't we?

The decision was a daunting one.  Anne is iconic.  She fascinates - her charisma transcends 450 years.  It's not just the tragedy of her story that captures the imagination - not like Romeo and Juliet.  I believe it's her strength.  She was an opinionated, outspoken woman in a time when women were meant to be seen and not heard.  In a time when even queens (including Mary I) believed they should be ruled by their husbands, Anne Boleyn believed in telling her husband exactly what she thought - and sometimes disagreed with him when he did the same.  So not only would I be fictionalizing the life of a beloved figure, I had to be true to her spirit. (kind of like Michelle Williams playing Marilyn Monroe or Katie Holmes playing Jackie Kennedy).

I have to admit, I was afraid.  I never intended to write a book about Anne.  But on a long drive one day, a voice came to me.  Not a Joan of Arc, "the saints are speaking to me" kind of voice.  But a fictional voice.  A strong, opinionated, snarky, emotional, teenaged voice.  The voice of a girl who speaks without thinking - often ending in regrets.  A girl who can love, but is afraid of it.  A girl who doesn't fit in, who isn't well-liked, but is, ultimately, likable.  Even lovable.  And once I started thinking in that voice, it wouldn't let me go.

I wanted to write a book about a girl who could become the tragic, iconic, lovable-hatable figure history has handed us.  And in the process, I, too, fell under her spell.

I'm still afraid.  I hope I do Anne's character justice.  I hope the other Anne Boleyn fans out there agree with my portrayal.  I hope, above all things, that I get it right.  Because I think she deserves it.

Friday Five -- Tiffany Strelitz Haber

Something new for the Friday Five this week - a picture book author!  Tiffany Strelitz Haber is the author of THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN, which was published by MacMillan in July.  Tiffany is another avid traveler, albeit one who is a much more adventurous eater than I am (calf's brains ravioli, anyone?).


THE FIVE:


1. What would your super power be? 


Flying.  I realize there is an originality factor of zero with that answer, but I would lovvvvves me some wings.

2. What is the worst job you’ve done?

Hmmm…Imma roll with the job I’ve done the worst AT, if that’s ok.  And that would be: waiting tables at a super trendy, enormous, high-volume restaurant in the heart of Times Square.  Totally UN-qualified for the position, I wrangled the job by acing the pages long “food test” they gave applicants, and then creating an award winning (albeit fantastically falsified) resume of where I had waited tables in the past.  Holy.  Crabcakes.  Waitressing is no joke.

3. Who are your writing heroes?  

That’s an ever changing answer.  Currently, I am obsessed with Brian Selznick (WONDERSTRUCK) and also Robert Paul Weston (ZORGAMAZOO).  Nothing is cooler to me than authors that change the game in terms of format.

4. What annoys you?

When people drive up my a** when I am already going 8 over the speed limit in a 25 and there is a cop down the road handing out tickets like it’s his last day on earth.  DUDE.  I’m not driving this slowly for my health.  Promise.

5. What keeps you awake at night?  

A certain thumping sound…but I really can’t elaborate.

ABOUT THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN:


Everyone knows that the M in “monster” stands for MEAN. But what happens when a monster can’t be mean any more? Is he still a monster at all?  One young monster's attempts to live up to his name go hilariously awry as he discovers—with a little help from new friends—that it's not what you're called but who you are that counts.

You can order THE MONSTER WHO LOST HIS MEAN here!

ABOUT TIFFANY:

You can find Tiffany on her website.

On Twitter.

And on Facebook.