So, yesterday was my older kids' last day of school. My preschooler's been out for a week. I think classes had been out for a whole hour before I heard the first "I'm bored." At that second, I realized: this is going to be a verrrrryyyy long summer.

At least I got to sleep in this morning, right? Um, no. My husband's getting over pneumonia, so he was coughing up a storm last night. After tossing and turning for an hour, I decided to let him hack it up in peace. I had just settled in on the game room couch (that's how it seemed, anyway) when I heard a loud banging noise. The clock said 6:15 a.m. The banging was actually frantic knocking coming from the front door. Since my 8-year-old had threatened to run away last night after not getting the DVD she wanted at Blockbuster (no, she's not dramatic AT ALL), you can imagine the kind of thoughts that were running through my head as I dashed down the stairs. Thankfully, it was just my little drama queen. She locked herself out when she went to get the newspaper. Why she decided to fetch the paper at 6 in the morning, I couldn't fathom. As I made my sleepy way back upstairs, I cursed the idiot who created summer vacation. Seriously, was it created just to make my life miserable?

A couple hours later, I made my way back downstairs. My 11-year-old was busily sweeping the kitchen floor, my 18-month-old was chattering adorably, and there on the kitchen table sat a plate of cookies with a handmade card from my 8-year-old telling me sorry for her behavior at Blockbuster last night. Next to the cookies lay the newspaper. It made me all sniffy to think that my little girl had locked herself out of the house while trying - in her sweet and innocent way - to apologize. I don't know if I made the stinkers feel super guilty for acting out at the movie store or if they're just good kids. Either way, I win. Maybe this won't be such a bad summer after all ...

And what better way to start off the summer than to announce the winner of Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt? It's ... drumroll, please ...

You know how some people get all depressed when the weather's cold and drizzly? I'm kind of the opposite. Not that I'm depressed, exactly - constant sunshine just kind of zaps me. Not only does it herald swimsuit season (horror of horrors), but it means the end of the school year, plus blistering hot days to come. *Sigh* Even though my kids are very patient with my reading habit obsession, I'm not sure how many of these ding dang ARCs I'm going to be able to plow through this summer. I have a serious inability to say no. How can I, really, when there are all these free books to be had? And don't even get me started on BEA. Let's just say I'm insanely jealous of all who get to go. Worst of all, my favorite show came to an end this week. I know, right? These crises in my life are enough to put me into serious therapy. Hee hee.

Okay, to combat the blues, I offer solutions:

- There's not much I can do about the weather, unfortunately. However, I do have a big, nice pool in my backyard which means that not only do my kids and I have a place to swim every day, but we can do so in privacy. No public displays of me in a bathing suit. You're welcome.

- The ARCs: I shouldn't whine about this. Reviewing books is one of the funnest things I've ever done, and people are so generous about sending me books. It does get overwhelming, though. If book blogging's getting you down, check out Book Blogging Blues. Just the name makes me laugh. It's actually a really helpful resource, though. Check it out.

- BEA. I'm totally going next year. Seriously. I'm saving my pennies. In the meantime, have you heard about Armchair BEA? It sounds like lots of fun.

- Now we come to LOST. The. Best. TV. Show. Ever. Many moons ago, my husband and I watched the pilot episode. We were entranced. Somehow, though, we didn't remember to watch the next installment. By the time we next thought about the show, we were so LOST that we decided not to watch that season. Eventually, we caught up on the first two seasons. We watched the DVDs one right after the other, often staying up way, way too late because we couldn't stop ourselves from viewing "just one more episode." We've watched LOST projected on the wall of our bedroom, on the beach in Jamaica, in the airplane (not the best idea, BTW) and from a condo balcony in San Diego. The thought that I'll never watch a new episode again makes me decidedly sniff-y.

If you've never seen LOST, you're completely out of the loop, not to mention certifiably insane no worries. My friend, Brodi Ashton, has composed a series of limericks to explain it all.

A fairy godmother is one thing; a fair (as in not excellent, not great, not even good - just fair) godmother is quite another. Ask Savannah Delano. She's stuck with Chrissy Everstar, a ditzy, shopping-obessed fairy who didn't exactly make the honor roll in Fairy Godmother School. Nevertheless, she's standing in Savannah's bedroom ready and willing to grant three wishes. And Savannah's got wishes. Boy, does she ever. She doesn't need beauty - she has that - or friends - she's got those, too. She doesn't even really need to wish for male attention - she could probably find a prom date on her own - but ever since Hunter Delmont dumped her (for her older, smarter sister, no less), her self-confidence has taken a major nosedive. Arriving at Prom on the arm of a prince would change that. If she made Hunter jealous in the process - well, she wouldn't complain.

When her basic Cinderella wish goes horribly wrong, Savannah realizes that fairy tales might not be all they're cracked up to be. Castles, knights and royal balls are nice, but so are electricty, daily showers, and cell phones. Cleaning chimneys, cooking for dwarves, dining on hard bread, dodging angry goats - well, where's the magic in that? After her Cinderella and Snow White adventures, Savannah's ready to wash her hands of the whole godmother mess once and for all. There's just one problem: thanks to another blunder from Chrissy, Tristan Hawkins is now stuck in medieval times. And it's all Savannah's fault. She has no choice, she has to help him get home.

A little magic and poof! she's back in the smelly, rat-infested Middle Ages. This time, she's not after a prince - her one wish is for Tristan to return home safe and sound. The only thing standing in her way is the mysterious Black Knight. And a fire-breathing dragon. And an evil queen who's trying to kill her with a poison apple. And an ogre. Well, at least she brought shampoo.

Each misadventure teaches Savannah something new about her own talents, strengths and weaknesses. Chrissy's screwed up royally, make no mistake, but the closer Savannah gets to the kind-hearted Tristan, the more she wonders about her fair godmother - Could the airheaded fairy be wiser than anyone ever suspected? Does Savannah really have all the magic she needs inside herself or is that another one of Chrissy's tricks? There's only one way to find out. Unfortunately, it involves a dragon. A big, scary dragon. All she's got is a bottle of Pantene and a godmother who couldn't perform a spell to save her own life, let alone Savannah's. What's a 21st Century high schooler (with very shiny hair) to do?

My Fair Godmother by Janette Rallison is one of those sweet, light-hearted stories that's just fun to read. It's got a little big of everything - comedy, adventure, romance, mystery - thrown against a delightfully twisted fairy tale background. Despite being both pretty and popular, Savannah is a surprisingly sympathetic character. She's spirited, likeable and brave. Rallison keeps the moralizing light, imparting simple wisdom through dingy Chrissy Everstar. While nothing about the book really knocked my socks off, I thoroughly enjoyed this delightful romp through fairy tale land. It also taught me a valuable lesson: Be careful what you wish for and always pack shampoo.

(Readalikes: reminded me of Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt and a little of Just Ella by Margaret Peterson Haddix)

Grade: B

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG simply because it's a teen romance most suitable for readers 10 and older (although my 8-year-old loves it)

To the FTC, with love: I bought this book with some of the millions I make from my lucrative career as a book blogger. Hee hee.

Update: Well, you all have convinced me - I'm going to finish Ender's Game. Just not right now. Thanks for all the comments. Keep them coming - I love to hear your thoughts!

Seriously. I want to know. Why does everyone love this book so much? And I do mean everyone. Have you ever dropped the name Orson Scott Card in a conversation? I guarantee, someone will gush, "Oh, I love him. You've read Ender's Game, right?" I've whispered, "Um, no" as shamefully as if I was confessing to torturing small animals.

So, a couple years ago, I decided I should finally read the book. It's such a cult classic that I decided to buy the thing rather than borrow it from the library. Even the cashier at Border's was enthusiastic - "You haven't read this yet? Oh, you're going to love it!" Her enthusiasm wasn't enough, apparently. I seem to have returned from the mall and promptly shelved Ender's Game somewhere in the deep, dark recesses of my game room, never to be seen again.

While I was in Utah last month, I spent the night with my friend and her family. Theirs is my favorite kind of house - one filled with books, and not just for display purposes either. Naturally, bookish conversations abound in such a fertile environment. Knowing sci fi was a favorite genre of the household, I should have been wary of outing myself as a Card ignoramus, but no, I quickly found myself on the receiving end of an incredulous, "You haven't read Ender's Game?" from my friend's younger brother. When he insisted, "It's the next book you read. No, not after that one" - with a contemptuous glance at my current pick - "The. Next. One," I agreed. It was time.

Because I hate to let anyone down, I'm really, really trying to get through Ender's Game. I'm on Page 95, even though I've been tempted to put it down several times. Now, I admit, I never ever in a million years rarely read pure science fiction (In fact, just typing the word "science" makes me want to fly upstairs and hide under my bed). Maybe that's the problem. Or maybe it's because Card can't show a story to save his life, he has to tell, tell, tell. His "style" makes me crazy. The premise of the book is interesting - the government is making kids into uber soldiers to combat a fierce alien threat - but the characters are flat (Ender's an arrogant little brat - that's about as far as his personality goes), the dialogue is stale (to say the least) and the writing is just, just ... I don't know ... irritating.

For those of you who have read and loved Ender's Game, give me a reason to keep going. Why do you love this book? Do I need to be a male sci fi geek to really appreciate Card's genius? Help me out here!

Incidentally, I'm also reading Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. It, also, has received an extraordinary amount of positive buzz. I'm not forcing myself through it the way I am with Ender's Game, but I'm still wondering, "Exactly when am I going to be blown away?"

Maybe it's just the end-of-the-school-year blues that are making me snipey. I don't know. What do you think?

I'm thrilled to have author Jenna Blum hanging out with me today on Bloggin' 'bout Books. Jenna's the author of two novels - Those Who Save Us (read my review here) and The Stormchasers (which will be out on the 27th of this month. You can read my review of it here.


Welcome, Jenna!

Me: Tell me a little about your path to becoming a published author. I know you've wanted to write since you were a child, but how did you actually make it happen?

JB: I’ve wanted to be a writer since I can remember. My dad was a writer, a broadcast newswriter for the networks, and my earliest memories have a soundtrack of his typewriter (remember those?). So from the time I could scribble, I was writing stories. I wrote my first novel, about my crush on my Social Studies teacher, when I was 11. (I shopped it around and got encouraging remarks but, much to my annoyance, no publishing contract.) I won the Seventeen Magazine national fiction contest when I was 16, and I published a lot of short fiction in college, all of which combined to give me the idea that the world owed me a living in writing fiction. What happened was, I graduated, worked in food service for about a decade, wrote and marketed more short stories, had some published, received many many rejections, and kept pollinating the world with work. My mantra, a Winston Churchill quotation I had on my wall, was—and is—“Never give in, never give in, never give in.” THOSE WHO SAVE US, my debut novel, was published the traditional way: I wrote it, published some excerpts from it as short stories, revised the whole to the best of my ability, sent it out, got an amazing agent, the agent sold it. This was the fulfillment of a lifelong dream. I am very, very lucky and grateful.

Me: Your first novel, THOSE WHO SAVE US, is about the experiences of the German people during WWII. What inspired you to write about this time period, especially from the perspective of non-Jewish Germans?

JB: You can find the long answer on my website, http://www.jennablum.com/, but the short answer is that while I was researching THOSE WHO SAVE US, I went to Germany with my mom, who has German relatives on her side of the family. Neither of us speak German, nor did we have a plan; basically, we tooled around the country visiting sites and asking each other, “How could the Holocaust have happened here, in this beautiful place? How could people—from the country that gave the world so many great composers, musicians, writers, artists and thinkers—have aided, abetted, stood by, let this happen?” One day we were driving from Buchenwald, which we had just visited, to neighboring Weimar, and I was struck by the fact that from the camp, you could see the city—so from the city, the citizens must have been able to see the camp. What did the Germans tell their children when ash fell from the sky in May? I asked my mom, “If you had lived here during the war, what would you have done?” Because I’m half-Jewish, I would have been sent to the camps with my Jewish dad, but my mom would have been considered a full-blooded Aryan. She said thoughtfully, “I don’t know. I hope I would have been brave enough to help my Jewish neighbors, but if the Nazis caught you they would kill you, and if I had you kids to care for….I just don’t know.” That’s when the character of Anna came to me, on the road from Buchenwald to Weimar: an ordinary German woman caught in the crucible of circumstance and forced to make terrible decisions.

Me: What kind of research was involved in the creation of the book? What did you learn from the Holocaust survivors you interviewed that surprised or touched you most?

JB: To write THOSE WHO SAVE US I not only went to Germany three more times with my mom, I engaged in what one reader kindly called “method research” and others might call “insanity.” I read everything I could about the time period, but I also tried to immerse in my characters’ lives as much as possible. I listened to German music. I took German classes. I baked everything that appears in the novel, which was no small undertaking considering half the novel is set in a bakery. For a while, I even dressed like Anna, my heroine, when I was writing—wearing a dirndl skirt, my hair in braids. (But only inside the house. Except on Halloween.) Of course, I was privileged to be able to interview survivors for the Steven Spielberg Survivors of the Shoah Foundation, and although I didn’t consider that research per se—it was an honor unto itself—this blessed experience did inform the novel. I did NOT use any survivors’ stories in the book, because I believe those are hallowed ground. But what astonished me over and over was how generous the survivors were. Here was this stranger coming to their homes to ask them to excavate their worst memories, many of which they had not talked about in fifty years—even to their children, even to their spouses, even if those spouses were also survivors. And what did they do? Fed me. “Eat,” they would always say to me, settling me at their kitchen tables. “Eat.”

Me: How have readers responded to THOSE WHO SAVE US, especially those who lived through the events described or lost loved ones in the war/concentration camps?

JB: My readers have been incredibly generous in their reactions to THOSE WHO SAVE US. I have had several interesting dialogues with readers about the graphic sex in the novel, which to me is intrinsic to the story of Anna’s realistic wartime treatment at the hands of her captor, the Obersturmfuhrer, and her subsequent shame—which so strongly affects her daughter as well as herself. Readers often write to me about this aspect of the book with varying degrees of discomfort, but I am grateful to say these emails have become conversations about writing choices and what happens to women in wartime. Otherwise, I have been humbled by how many readers have written to me to say THOSE WHO SAVE US has touched their lives by explaining to them why, maybe, their parents didn’t talk about what they endured during the war. I think the book has become sort of a lightning rod for the second generation struggling with their parents’ experiences, and I feel very grateful that it has brought some readers solace by providing an exploration of how people act when they’ve survived trauma.

Me: Your second novel, THE STORMCHASERS, is vastly different from your first. Did you purposely plan to publish such diverse books? How did both stories come about?


JB: Actually, THOSE WHO SAVE US and THE STORMCHASERS share very similar thematic ground—which speaks to your next question as well. THOSE WHO SAVE US is obviously a historical novel, and THE STORMCHASERS is contemporary. But both novels are set partially in “New Heidelburg,” the fictional Minnesota town based in part on the southern Minnesota town where my mom and grandmother were born. So readers who read THOSE WHO SAVE US will be able to revisit that landscape in THE STORMCHASERS. Both novels pose a moral question: what would you do, how far would you go, to save somebody you love? THOSE WHO SAVE US tests a mother’s love for her daughter; THE STORMCHASERS asks this question of a twin trying to care for her mentally unstable brother. Both novels are about people whose lives have been swiftly devastated by enormous forces beyond their control: the Nazi regime, mental instability. And with both novels, I aimed to give readers a good story, well told.

Me: Will fans of THOSE WHO SAVE US find anything familiar about THE STORMCHASERS? What similarities are there between your two books? What differences?

JB: Since I’ve discussed the similarities already, I will say that one difference between the two novels is stylistic. For instance, although I didn’t use quotation marks in THOSE WHO SAVE US because I wanted the novel to have an austere, almost sepia atmosphere of memory, there ARE quotation marks in THE STORMCHASERS. This should please a lot of readers who weren’t so happy about their omission in the first novel! Also, with THOSE WHO SAVE US, I aspired to give the writing a formal cadence, almost as if the language had been translated from German. With THE STORMCHASERS, my goal was to be able to capture the storms in the novel—atmospheric, mental, and emotional—in as simple and descriptive a manner as possible, so their enormous power would speak to readers for itself.

Me: I know you did extensive research for THE STORMCHASERS. Tell me what got you interested in the subject in the first place, and then what your research involved.

JB: I’ve been fascinated with severe weather since I was four years old, when I saw a tornado at night in my grandmother’s southern Minnesota hometown. While everyone else was asleep, I hid under the living room couch and watched a black rope twister move slowly across the picture window, left to right. This experience—which I transposed into THE STORMCHASERS—was terrifying, but to a little girl so obsessed with the Wizard of Oz she would answer only to “Dorothy,” it was also terribly exciting. I spent much of my adult life trying to see another tornado, chasing as an amateur when I lived in Minnesota in my 20s, often with my poor mom in tow. The results were predictably disastrous, like we’d end up cowering in a barn with a severe storm coming on and all the animals running like heck in the other direction. Finally it occurred to me that it would be much safer and more effective to chase storms with people who knew what they were doing, so when I started researching THE STORMCHASERS in earnest, I signed on to follow the professional storm tour group Tempest Tours, the model for Whirlwind Tours in the novel, as their media correspondent. I’ve been tailing Tempest for five years now and am about to take readers on a storm tour this June—check out http://www.tempesttours.com/ if you’ve ever wanted to stormchase! We will keep you safe while we take you on the big weather safari—and I’ll tell you how my experiences translated into the book. There’s also a photo and video gallery and audio about my close calls—I had a few really hair-raising ones—on my website, http://www.jennablum.com/.


But the real heart of THE STORMCHASERS is bipolar disorder—the novel is about twins, a brother and sister, and the brother, Charles, is bipolar whereas his sister Karena isn’t. Like many of my readers, I have beloved people in my life who are bipolar, and for years I’ve watched them struggle with the unspeakable conundrum the disorder presents: either take medication to comply with polite society and run the risk of not feeling like yourself, or don’t take medication and feel like yourself but risk alienating family and friends. While researching bipolar disorder, I was struck by how often it is likened to storms—mania is literally caused by a storm of electrical energy in the brain. The brother in the novel, Charles, believes he is a sort of human storm, that his rapid-cycling moods enable him to understand severe weather better than anyone else, and I wanted to explore how he and his twin grapple with the disorder in this context—through describing Charles’s storms in the mind’s eye and their consequences.


Me: How would you describe the *crazy* people who are obsessed with chasing storms? What did you learn about them that surprised you?

JB: That actually, they’re not crazy! From what we see in movies and on TV, we have the idea that all stormchasers want to do is hurl themselves into the heart of a tornado, screaming the entire time. That’s not true. There are a few “yahoos,” as chasers call them, who want to do very dangerous things so they can post the footage on YouTube and get famous. But really, what we fear is what they’ll get is dead. The chasers I know are a super-responsible bunch of scientists, meteorologists with master’s degrees and PhDs. They drive the speed limit. They’re veteran chasers of 10 years or more. They’re cabinet salesmen, supermarket managers, graphic designers with a summer hobby about which they are extremely passionate. Most chasers chase because they love the extraordinary majesty of big weather—simple as that. They love the awesome experience of being in the great lonesome Back Of Beyond, watching a cloud grow from a cumulus puff to a sculpted supercell. How does this happen? Why does one storm put down a tornado and another not? Chasers want to know this, and we also provide a public service by calling dangerous storms in to emergency management—on my Facebook page, there’s a video of my doing this during a recent chase on May 12th! Finally, it comes down to what my stormchasing friend Leisa said once: “I’m not a religious person, but chasing makes me think I could be; it’s like communion, to be one with something so much bigger than yourself.”

Me: You've taken readers to Nazi Germany and to Tornado Alley - where are we going next? What are you working on now?

JB: I’m sorry to say that’s a secret for now :) I do have another book in mind, and even when I’m not actively writing, I’m thinking about it—which to me is actually a big part of writing! But if I talk about the story now, it will dissipate. As the witch in The Wizard of Oz says, “These things must be done delicately, or you break the spell.”

Me: Finally, I ask this of all the writers I interview because I'm so fascinated by the variety of answers I receive: What is your writing routine? Do you write at the same time every day or do you wait until inspiration strikes? Do you outline or just let your ideas flow? Where do you write? What do you have to have (food, music, lucky charm, etc.) in order to write? How do you handle writer's block? Of the 24 hours in a day, how many do you spend writing?

JB: Oh, gosh. Well, I’m a crop-rotation writer; my writer’s life occurs in seasons. There’s the season of rest, when I don’t write much of anything except journaling and correspondence, and this is typically when I am miserable to live with because I always feel I should be writing. But in my wiser moments I remember this fallow-feeling period is actually very productive and necessary, because it overlaps with the information-gathering season: I’m traveling to research, I’m forming and discarding and considering ideas. Then there is writing season, when I’m actively working on a project; I go into lockdown, immerse totally, write and talk about and think writing 24/7. For instance, while I was writing THE STORMCHASERS, I moved to a motel in the small town the book is set in, lived there for two months with my black Lab Woodrow, so I could write without distraction until the novel was done.


In order to write, I need strong coffee, Ultra-Fine black Sharpies, canvas-covered notebooks from Borders to write longhand in, and my MacBook Air to actually write the scenes. I also need Woodrow for ruminating walks.


Because I can’t imagine setting out on a journey without a map, I always, always outline, although the outlines always change; for THOSE WHO SAVE US and THE STORMCHASERS, I had at least 11 outlines apiece! Finally, when all the writing and revising is done, it’s promotion season, as it is now. This is the delightful time when I get to go out on the road to bookstores, book clubs and events to meet the readers who have been so wonderful and supportive to me and my books. I very, very much hope everyone will come out and let me introduce them to THE STORMCHASERS, and I hope you will love my second baby as much as I do.

Me: Thanks so much, Jenna!


JB: Thank you!


(Author photo from Jenna Blum's Official Website)

Whew! Where has this week gone? For that matter, where has this month gone and this year? Everything's whizzing by in one big blur. My kids have less than 2 weeks of school left, then it's onto a long, hot summer. Heaven help me.

Is anyone else growing tired of the helpless "heroines" who seem to populate every paranormal romance? You know, those beautiful, clueless girls who get themselves into all kinds of scrapes just so they can be rescued by some hunky half-man/half-some-kind-of-mystical creature? Do you ever wish for female leads who contribute more to the story than just a pretty face? Well, you're in luck. Mistwood, a debut novel by Leah Cypress, stars a woman who's tough, smart, and, oh yeah, did I mention she's the king's bodyguard? See, I told you you were going to like this one ...

Isabel knows she's a shape shifter, a creature who lives only to serve the king she's sworn to protect. Human weaknesses, petty emotions, silly courting games - none of these things penetrate the heart of the Shifter. She's focused, determined, and so attuned to her master that she recognizes a threat almost before it materializes. At least that's how it's supposed to work.

As soon as Prince Rokan rides into the mystical woods, Isabel knows her duty - she must guard his life with every fiber of her being. Still, something about the would-be king troubles her. Confused images flash into her battered memory, but she can make no sense of them. Something happened long ago to make her wary, to tamp down her powers, to cripple her confidence. What was it? None of it matters as much as protecting Rokan, except that she's having trouble even doing that. As much as Isabel longs to change herself into a wolf, an eagle, or a sly cat - bodies she remembers inhabiting - she can't. Fear she shouldn't feel haunts her every move. As fuzzy as her memory is, she knows she's failed before. She can't let Rokan down, can't let another king die because of her.

Piecing together clues about herself leads Isabel to some startling discovers about who she is, what she is and why she is. What it doesn't tell her is how to deal with everything she's suddenly feeling - fear, jealousy, envy, love. The Shifter has no right to experience anything that will distract her from duty, or does she?

If you haven't guessed already, I loved everything about Mistwood. It's a fast-paced story filled with adventure, mystery, and plenty of courtly intrigue. Isabel's character captured me - she's tough without being hard, vulnerable without being weak, and cool without being arrogant. The minor characters could have used some fleshing out, as I didn't care about any of them nearly as much as I did Isabel.

Now, I know you're thinking, "This chick never loves everything about a book," and you're right. If pressed, I'd have to admit that Mistwood gets a little predictable. Not enough to be bothersome, but enough that the big reveals aren't that big. Still, Mistwood provides the kind of fun, exciting - and clean - adventure that I'm always thrilled to find in a YA novel. It's not perfect, but it will do. Very, very nicely.

(Readalikes: Reminded me a little of The Bayern series by Shannon Hale; the back of the book compares it to Kristin Cashore's Graceling and Fire and Megan Whalen Turner's Attolia books)

Grade: B+

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for very mild language and sexual innuendo

To the FTC, with love: I received this book from the generous folks at HarperTeen. Thank you!

Today, I'm pleased to introduce Lindsey Leavitt, author of Princess for Hire. Welcome to Bloggin' 'bout Books, Lindsey!



Me: You've said that you were a bit of a tomboy growing up, so what prompted you to write a princess book? It's an anti-princess book, but still ...


LL: Ha! I don’t really know why I’m the chick writing the princess books. Ideas just kind of come and you go with them. I fought it a bit, actually, because I didn’t think I could do it justice! Someone else with the same idea would have written a totally different story, but I do think my tomboy ways add a unique perspective.


Me: Since you were THAT girl in high school (the one who was popular and involved), how do you tap into the kind of insecurity/angst felt by kids like Desi, who are picked on and not part of the in crowd?


LL: Oh wow, maybe I should revise my website bio. Involved at my high school did not equal popularity. It just meant I really wanted to get into college and so spent more time padding my resume than my bra. So I still had plenty of insecurities, ESPECIALLY in junior high. I felt like everyone was watching me and that I never measured up in comparison. That was really easy to go back to because emotions at that age felt so BIG. And the more I talk to people about their adolescence, the more I find these feelings of alienation and invisibility are sadly universal.


Me: Why did you include the Old Hollywood themes in PRINCESS FOR HIRE? I'm in my 30s and I barely recognize the names Grace Kelly, Paul Newman, Ingrid Bergman, etc. Do you think modern kids will be able to connect with this old-time glamour?


LL: I didn’t want to date the story—if I would have included celebrities hot right now, they might not be hot next year. Old Hollywood has a timeless quality that more closely resembles the elegance we associate with royalty. AND I wanted Desi to be a little quirky, to have interests that don’t match her peers. Modern kids don’t have to know who Ingrid Berman is to appreciate that. (and to learn more, I’ll be featuring a different Old Hollywood screen siren every month on http://www.princessforhire.com/)


Me: How did you come by your love of Old Hollywood? What are your favorite classic movies?


LL: I used to watch them with my dad. I remember one time REAR WINDOW was on and he pointed to Grace Kelly and said, “You know, she left acting and became a real princess.” How cool is that? I was hooked.My favorite movie when I was younger was SABRINA with Audrey Hepburn, William Holden and Humphrey Bogart. Does the love triangle thing like no one’s business.


Me: Since we're talking favorites, who are the authors you like to read? Which writers have inspired/influenced you most?


LL: I seriously read all over the map. I’ve been reading lots of tenners books lately (debut authors in 2010) because I’ve made friendships with lots of these authors and am interested in their work. Some I’ve read recently from that group that I really enjoyed are PROPHECY OF DAYS by Christy Raedeke and TORTILLA SUN by Jennifer Cervantes. Oh, and another that won’t be out until fall is THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff. Chilling and delicious.


I grew up a reader, and my favorite writers inspired me to give writing a go—Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, Kurt Vonnegut, P. G. Wodehouse, Jane Austen... we could be here awhile.


Me: You've got several projects in the works. Tell me about them (I know you like to be cryptic, but we want DETAILS).


LL: Well, I have to be cryptic about the second book in the PRINCESS FOR HIRE series because I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t read the first! Plus, I’m still tweaking it and thus don’t want to say there will be a zombie mermaid because zombie mermaid might not make final cut.


Another book I have coming out next March is called SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD and I’m so excited about it! It’s a little older than P4H and straight contemporary. Here’s a bit about it…After discovering her father’s big Multiple Sclerosis secret, Payton Gritas’s structured life crumbles. So begin her excruciating ‘chats’ with Ms Callahan, a school counselor aiming to save Payton from drowning in denial by encouraging her to write Focus Exercises on any random object. Payton chooses Sean Griswold, her alphabetical connection since kindergarten. More specifically, she chooses his somewhat over-sized head.As Payton’s research grows into something a little less scientific and a little more crush-like, it spawns more and more questions about Sean and his dome. Like what’s with the scar? And why is a fifteen year old training to be the next Lance Armstrong? Payton finds answers to these questions by getting inside Sean’s blond head, while Sean somehow finds a way into her guarded heart. But when Payton realizes her Sean obsession won’t ultimately mend her battered relationship with her dad, she must shift her focus to the one person who can find the way forward – herself.


Me: Okay, The Tiara Tour - how much fun did you have on your first book tour?


LL: You know, I was warned that tours aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. And it’s true, it’s pretty nerve-wracking walking into a store and not knowing if anyone is going to come. Still, it was a blast—blogged about it here http://lindsey-leavitt.livejournal.com/124255.html. It’s been so wonderful to meet readers and potential readers and booksellers and teachers and librarians. Writers spend so much time behind the computer, it was lovely to step out and talk with real life PEOPLE for awhile (but just awhile. Gotta get back to those fictional characters, after all).


Me: How has your life changed - or not - since you've become a real, live, published author?


LL: The main thing that's changed is I have a career now (It still feels funny using that word. Like when I first signed with my agent, I dropped her name All The Time). A career gives me legitimacy to family, friends, and anyone else I have to tell to leave me alone so I can hole up and write. I’ve also had to take on some more authorly roles (interviews, fan mail, book signings, ect) but the writing is the same. I still need to hammer out the next story.As far as day to day living goes, everything is really the same except now there’s a book on a shelf (and okay, maybe I go visit said book about three times a day).


Me: Lastly, I ask this of all the authors I interview, because I'm always amazed by the variety of answers I get. How do you write? Is there a certain time of the day when you prefer to work? Do you write every day or just wait for the mood to strike? Do you outline or just let the ideas come as you're writing? Is there anything - chocolate, perhaps? - that you have to have by your side in order to write?


LL: My best writing usually happens late at night, but lately, with three little kids, I’m finding I’m just too tired to go with the muse most evenings. Now, I write WHENEVER I CAN. As I type this, my baby is sleeping and my other two (6 and 3) are playing Play-Dough at the table with me. I find I can do businessy stuff when they’re around, but save real writing for when I’m alone. When I have a deadline, I hire sitters or hubby helps out. There isn’t a set schedule, I just kind of get by and do what I can when I can. I prefer to let my ideas take me where they may, but with a series, that can really turn into chaos. So I’m starting to outline more than I have in the past and I keep charts so I can keep track of details for continuity purposes. Chocolate is always readily available in this home. Always. That and a laptop and I’m good to go.


Me: Thanks so much, Lindsey!