Interview with Holly Schindler

As part of her blog tour for The Junction of Sunshine and Lucky, Holly Schindler is stopping by to talk to us about her book, writing, and other things!

Your previous novels have been YA-- what's the difference between writing YA and MG and why did you make the switch?

Actually, I started writing YA and MG at the same time. A bit of backstory: I got my master’s in the spring of ’01, and was encouraged to devote full-time attention to getting my writing career off the ground. I still wanted to do my part to pay my own bills, though, so I started teaching music lessons in the afternoons. And I was shocked at how familiar those kids seemed—as familiar as the kids I’d known when I was in school! They actually inspired me to try my hand at writing in the juvenile market; I dove in headfirst, trying both MG and YA at the same time. (The first books I published were YA, but I’d been writing MG all along as well.)

The main difference is that your characters have different abilities, which changes your plot to some extent. Something as simple as the ability to drive can change your book dramatically; a teen has access to a car, so they can go literally anywhere. An MG character has a bike—their “backyard” is much smaller than a teen’s. It changes the shape of the book.

Librarians are always on the look out for books with diversity--especially stories that feature characters of color that aren't about race, so it's worth mentioning that your main character Auggie and the mean girl, Victoria, are both African-American. However, this fact is very subtly coded in the text (and one reference to Auggie feeling like her skin looked like mud while Victoria's was fine imported chocolate) so readers might miss it. Can you talk a bit about diversity in middle grade lit, why you made your characters African-American, and why you wrote it the way you did?

My YAs began with concepts: in A Blue So Dark, I played with the idea of mental illness and creativity being linked; in Playing Hurt, I explored learning the difference between loving someone and being IN love. But THE JUNCTION began with a figure—Grampa Gus. I saw him as clearly as I’ve seen anyone in my life. When I first envisioned him, he was African American. But as I drafted the book, I knew I wanted a neighborhood to look every bit as diverse as the figures in Auggie’s yard. I wanted to show the different faces who were all in the same boat.

Your book deals with a lot of heavier topics--class, beauty, eminent domain, changing friendships, and missing parents, and deals with them well, but it's not a heavy book. Why were these issues important for you to discuss and what was your process for dealing with them without making the story a total bummer?

It’s funny—early critique of the book when I was attempting to shop it was that the original beginning chapters were a bummer. (I certainly didn’t think so, but I did go back and rework those opening chapters several times—even after the book was acquired—in order to make them feel lighter.) The trick is pulling the reader in early on so that they know it’ll be a delight to come to your book—not something they dread! You want to draw a reader back, make sure they will finish your book, be hungry for another read.

If you had Auggie's artistic talent what changes would you make to your house? (Personally, I'm all about colored glass in my windows!)

I’m with you on the colored glass! And the sidewalk—I’d love that, too.

If you could go back in time and talk to yourself when you were Auggie's age, what would your advice be?

Never, never, never be afraid to say what you think. Even when it goes against what everyone else is saying or doing.

What are you working on now?

My next MG—and my next YA, Feral, which releases on August 26! FERAL is my first thriller:

It’s too late for you. You’re dead.

Those words float through Claire Cain’s head as she lies broken and barely alive after a brutal beating. And the words continue to haunt her months later, in the relentless, terrifying nightmares that plague her sleep. So when her father is offered a teaching sabbatical in another state, Claire is hopeful that getting out of Chicago, away from the things that remind her of what she went through, will offer a way to start anew.

But when she arrives in Peculiar, Missouri, Claire quickly realizes something is wrong—the town is brimming with hidden dangers and overrun by feral cats. And her fears are confirmed when a popular high school girl, Serena Sims, is suddenly found dead in the icy woods behind the school. While everyone is quick to say Serena died in an accident, Claire knows there’s more to it—for she was the one who found Serena, battered and most certainly dead, surrounded by the town’s feral cats.

Now Claire vows to learn the truth about what happened, but the closer she gets to uncovering the mystery, the closer she also gets to discovering a frightening reality about herself and the damage she truly sustained in that Chicago alley. . . .

With an eerie setting and heart-stopping twists and turns, Holly Schindler weaves a gripping story that will make you question everything you think you know.

What are you currently reading?

The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing

What are you currently watching?

RAKE. THE AMERICANS. (Not really kid-friendly, eh?)

What are you currently listening to?

The SteelDrivers. Will Hoge (he’s my favorite, actually).

Thanks for stopping by Holly!


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Interview with Hilary McKay

YOU GUYS! So, I don't do that many blog tours, because they can be work. But occasionally I do, usually for an author I'm already a huge fan of.

The good people at Albert Whitman approached me for this one and it said I could interview the author. I COULD INTERVIEW HILARY MCKAY. Fortunately, they asked over email, and not in person, so they didn't see my stunned stammering followed by my ecstatic happy dance.

Then it took me FOREVER to come up with questions, because all I really wanted to ask was "what's your secret to being totally awesome?" and "Is Saffy real, and if so, can I be her second-best friend (after Sarah)?"

Luckily (for you), I pulled it together. I reviewed McKay's latest, the Lulu books, yesterday.

Questions about Lulu:

Lulu is known for animals. At the beginning of Lulu and the Dog from the Sea, she has "two guinea pigs, four rabbits, one parrot, one hamster, a lot of goldfish, and a rather old dog named Sam." She's also not your only character to have a backyard menagerie (the Cassons, for instance). How many pets do you have? What animal have you always wanted as a pet, but are unable to have?

At the moment I have only one cat and a lot of goldfish. I am looking out for a puppy but it has to be the right one. In the past, especially when my children were younger, we have had rabbits (several) hamsters (three) guinea pigs (two) dogs (two) hedgehog (one) tortoise (one). As a child I longed for a donkey, but I have got over this now.

What is Lulu's dream pet? Where would Lulu's parents draw the line at what she could adopt, even if she did clean up after it?

Well, Lulu isn't silly! I think she would probably like all sorts of wild and interesting animals in her life, but perhaps not as pets. Maybe she will end up working in conservation. She is very interested in animal welfare.

I think her parents might draw the line at snakes. In a later book in the series a snake is mentioned and her mother is not enchanted.

In the illustrations, Lulu is a person of color, even though this is never mentioned in the text. How did you convey this factor to your editor and illustrator?

I said "Let's make Lulu black." And they said, "Yes okay." So we did.

Will we see more of Lulu?

I hope so! There are six books out here and I have two more to write.

Questions about your work in general:

You've written for a wide variety of ages, from picture books to YA. What's your favorite age-range to write for? How hard is it to switch between age-ranges?

My favourite age range is the 10+ books, when you can be a bit more self indulgent with jokes and descriptions and hope the reader hangs on with you. I think books for younger readers are much harder- you need an equally strong plot and characters, but you have fewer words to achieve your end. Illustrations help. Priscilla Lamont's Lulu illustrations have been a wonderful asset to the stories.

Which one of your characters is your favorite? Whose voice refuses to leave your head?

I don't have a favourite character- or at least not a perennial favourite. There are some that I have become very fond of. Lulu is one (and Mellie is another). I have a grumpy young lad in my latest book who has stolen my heart at the moment!

English-English and American-English are not the same, which can cause issues for Americans, especially new readers. The Lulu books have been 'translated' into American. How much of your work in general gets this treatment? How do you feel about it?

I should say that at least three quarters of my work eventually makes its way across the water. The translations are minimal, and I rarely find them difficult. We have a lot of American culture over here, don't forget; films and tv and music, perhaps more than goes back the other way, so the American editions feel quite familiar. (I wonder a lot more about the translations into languages I have no hope of reading! Chinese, Korean, Arabic- I look at the pretty writing and hope for the best!) Also, I was brought up on American children's literature- everything from Alcott onwards. Laura Ingalls, Eleanor Estes, LM Montgomery (okay, Canadian there), Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, and lots more. Ursula le Guin. So in some ways I feel quite at home.

How do I feel about it? Thrilled. Enchanted. Privileged.

Questions about you:

If you could go back and talk to yourself when you were Lulu's age, what would say?

Things were not good for various small reasons when I was Lulu's age. I would say, 'It'll be all right in the end.'

What are you currently reading?

Sara Wheeler The Magnetic North

What are you currently watching?

Grey light across the valley. I wish Spring would come!

What are you currently listening to?

Nothing. I can hear a blackbird singing, far away traffic, my daughters flute, and the washing machine.

Thank you so much for stopping by!

Tomorrow, Hilary McKay will be at Bring on the Books. You can see her full tour schedule here. I especially want to highlight her excellent post about libraries that appeared earlier in the week on GreenBeanTeenQueen.

Want to win a signed copy of a Lulu book for your very own? (The answer is OF COURSE I DO, JENNIE!) Fill out the form below and I'll pick a winner next weekend!




Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Interview with M. Molly Backes!

OMG YOU GUYS! The Princesses of Iowa comes out TOMORROW!

I've been talking about her and her book all week, and now it's time for the interview that Molly promised me 5 years ago...

General Questions about Molly

This is not your normal blogger/author interview. You and I go back to the days before blogs. Wanna tell the kids how we met?

I do! If I recall correctly, it was almost exactly mmrph years ago this month, at an admitted students weekend at Grinnell College, so we were both seniors in high school. One of us was wearing a UU chalice necklace, and the other was like, Hey, is that a UU chalice necklace? And then Necklace was like, Why yes, it is, and then Asker was like, I’m also a Unitarian and also I’m from Wisconsin! And Necklace was like, me too! We are the same person! Let’s be best friends!

I don’t remember which of us played which role in the conversation, but I’m fairly sure it went just like that. And then we went on to not actually hang out in college – but then, through the tight-knit (some say “cultish”) online community of Grinnell students &alums, we became besties. Awwww.

ed. note: That's how I remember it too. Also, I was the asker and you were the askee. 

When I lived in Michigan and worked at the co-op grocery store, people mocked my love of Iowa, except for one guy in the kitchen, because he used to live in Des Moines. One day, he decided to move back to Des Moines and everyone was like "ugh, why?" and then he came to me and I was super jealous and he said "you're the only one here who gets it." The Iowa-hate is even worse here on the coast. Tell the good people at home why Iowa is awesome. Please keep the Dar Willaims quotations to a minimum (Even though it's totally her fault that I ended up there.)

Yeah, when I was getting ready to go to school there, everyone was like, “Iowa stands for ‘Idiots Out Walking Around’!” and “Why does all the corn in Illinois lean to the west? Because Iowa sucks!” (Wisconsin’s state-bullying isn’t limited to Iowa; we also like to make fun of Illinois and Minnesota, and sometimes consider building a militia to take back Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.)

The sad thing is that when I moved to Iowa, no one there seemed to know that they were basically universally hated & mocked by every other state in the Midwest. Iowa hates no one! They’re the nice state.

Seriously, though, a friend of mine once described Iowans as “lacking guile,” and I always felt that was such a great description. There’s something about Iowans… I’m nervous about making broad generalizations here, because I don’t want to pull a Stephen Bloom and become the next most hated person in Iowa. (Note: Iowa does hate someone! They hate Stephen Bloom.)

But look: Iowa is SO beautiful -- it’s much more than cornfields (though I happen to think the cornfields are very lovely, myself) – it’s also rolling hills and secret caves and winding rivers and stunning bluffs. The next time someone tells you that Iowa is flat, make them do a Google image search for “driftless area Iowa” and then stand over their shoulder screaming “ISN’T IT SO BEAUTIFUL????”

Despite our shared Iowa connection, we're both actually from Wisconsin. What do you think the Pack's chances are this year?

Chances are good that my best friend Cindy will yell at me if I call her during a game. Hey-o! But seriously, I have no idea. I’m more of a Badgers fan myself. I literally had a dream about Bucky Badger last night – my friend was mad because he thought I’d gotten us lost, and then we ran into Bucky Badger, and I was like, “See, if I hadn’t gotten us lost, you wouldn’t have gotten to meet Bucky!”

ed note: I think this really shows the difference between us-- you grew up outside Madison, I grew up outside Green Bay


You teach writing when you're not doing your own writing. Before that, you taught English and got your entire class to do the NaNoWriMo's young writer's program. What's your secret to being so awesome?

Ha. Mostly coffee, plus a short attention span and an unwillingness to be bored. I don’t know, I’ve always felt that I have the teacher gene, so a part of me is only truly happy when I’m teaching. A big theme of my life has been trying to find a balance between teaching and writing, which is why NaNoWriMo was so awesome – I got to do both! Incidentally, there was no such thing as a young writer’s program when I did it with my kids, but I emailed the headquarters to let them know I was planning to attempt it with 140 middle schoolers, and they sent me a bunch of swag.

ed note: So basically, you invented the Young Writer's program. I'm pretty sure that's what happened.

Whatcha reading?

I just finished reading two manuscript drafts, one a MG from a student of mine, one a grownup novel from a friend. They were both great!

Whatcha listening to?

I’m trying to perfect my Peter Gabriel Pandora station. It needs a LOT of babysitting. This morning I added Everything But The Girl, and so I’ve gotten a bunch of early 90s ladyrock, which is awesome, but I don’t want my PG station to turn into my Chick Rock station, soooo….

Whatcha watching?

OMG I JUST FINISHED ALL THREE SEASONS OF VERONICA MARS AND I LOVE IT SO MUCH. Now I don’t want to watch anything else ever again.

If you could go back in time and talk to your high school self, what would you tell her?

1. Take it easy on yourself and consider getting more than 3 or 4 hours of sleep a night.

2. If your friends constantly make you feel like shit about yourself, find new friends.

3. Don’t quit dance classes. Are you crazy? Quit one of your five hundred other extra-curriculars instead. Turns out regular exercise makes you feel less insane. WHO KNEW.

4. Keep writing and keep listening to yourself. You’re actually doing a good job at life so far, all things considered.

I've mentioned a few times on the blog that you taught me how to apply eyeliner using only your words. Do you want to tell everyone your eyeliner tricks? (Sadly, only using your words means I can't Pin this.)

I’m pretty sure the main thing I told you was that you’re allowed to gently stretch your skin in order to make a straight line. Sure, we’ll probably have terrible crows feet eventually, but… worth it! Plus, then we’ll just fill in our wrinkles with more eyeliner and be old ladies who rock Amy Winehouse eyes.

Oh, I just searched for it in my email and turns out it was like 10 Steps to an Adequately Made-Up Eye. If your readers are actually interested, I will re-send and you can post it later.

ed note: Readers, if you've ever struggled with your eyeshadow, demand Molly pass this on. Seriously, we went to a hippie college where most of our classmates didn't regularly shower and Molly always had awesome eye make-up on.

Book Questions:

Give us your elevator pitch.

How long is the elevator? If we’re just going up to the third or fourth floor, I’ll say, “It’s a reverse-Cinderella story in which a homecoming princess who seems to have it all – perfect boyfriend, popular best friends, etc – starts to wonder if there’s more to life than being popular.”

If we’re still on the elevator after that? Like we’re riding all the way to the top of the Sears Willis Tower? I’ll start awkwardly shouting out other elements of the book. “Hot teacher who might be gay! Fake car accident! Real car accident! Sexy nerd! Angry alternateen! Jokes about Muttnik! Airbrushed rainbow t-shirt that says ‘I Love My Iowa Grandma’!” And then everyone will get off the elevator whispering “Did that girl have Tourette’s?”

If we were going to do a mash-up of your book a la Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, what supernatural creature(s) would be added in and how?

Birds! Like, Hitchcockian birds. Am I right? There are already a lot of birds in Iowa, so it wouldn’t take much to add a menacing crow or two to basically every single scene, and then whenever the characters are outside (which is often), they’ll just get divebombed.

OR evil cars, a la Stephen King’s Christine, or the one where all the machines attack and everyone ends up in a truck stop. Spoiler alert! Who crashed the car? IT CRASHED ITSELF!! EEEEEEEVIL!

Side note: Speaking of monsters, along the upper Mississippi River (that’s Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Iowa, for you geographically-challenged folks), there are these things called fishflies, which are SUPER gross giant bugs that smell like fish, and once a year they all hatch on the same day and SWARM the towns and cover all the windows and then die all over, to the point where people have literally gotten in car accidents because they slid on the insect carcasses, and the towns actually have to bring tractors out to shovel bug carcasses off the streets. It is truly horrifying. Don’t google it, I’m serious. You’ll never be able to unsee that shit.

ed. note: you know, having lived on the East Coast for almost 7 years now, I had managed to block that from my mind. THANK YOU FOR REMINDING ME.

Using only fictional characters, cast the movie version of your book.

This is the hardest question ever.

Paige: Franny Glass
Lacey: The Red Queen
Nikki: Emma Woodhouse
Jake: Logan Echolls
Ethan: Marcus Flutie
Shanti: Rowie Rudra
Mirror: Daria Morgendorffer
Mr. Tremont: Henry DeTamble
Mrs. Sheridan: Ruth DeWitt Bukater

What else did I forget to ask? Ask it and answer it.

Q: Remember that time you interviewed me for your blog?
A: Why yes, I do!


HEY! Want to win an autographed copy of The Princesses of Iowa? Fill out the form below. Molly will even sign it for you!




Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Melissa de la Cruz Interview!

I'm very excited to welcome the wonderful Melissa de la Cruz back to Biblio File. She's stopping by as part of her blog tour for the latest Blue Bloods book, Bloody Valentine.

I'm loving this in-between books that give us further insight to the Blue Bloods story. Will we see more of them?

Probably not in the near future, right now I am concentrating on the novels, since the story is really heating up in Book Six. But who knows. I always envisioned Blue Bloods as a huge world, a big universe, so never say never.


Will we get more of Allegra's back story? The one included in Bloody Valentine just whet my appetite for more.

Oh yes, there is a lot about Allegra in Lost in Time. I'm starting to peel back all those layers and reveal the core of her story.


You included a recipe in Oliver's story and the book says we'll see more of Freya in your adult summer release, Witches of East End. Do you like to cook? Will you please share your favorite recipe with us?

I love to cook but never have time, and there are a few more spellcipes in Witches of East End. My one go-to dish that I can still make, other than Mario Batali's insane sausage and chestnut stuffing at Thanksgiving and Christmas, is a penne pasta with broccoli and sausage. It's a variation on the one in the Joy of Cooking. Penne, garlic, broccoli, Italian sausage, red pepper. Cook the garlic and the sausage and the broccoli in that order. Cook the penne according to the directions on the box. You can add the red pepper in the beginning or the end. Combine everything and grate Parmigiano Reggiano over the top (the king of cheeses according to Mario Batali - I still miss his show “Molto Mario”) So easy even a writer can make it. :)


So far the mythology of vampires-as-fallen-angels has been very Christian and heavily influenced by Milton. In Misguided Angel, we get to really meet Deming Chen and hear about her twin Dehua. Deming is the Angel of Mercy, whom you name after the Bodhisattva of Compassion. Dehua is the Angel of Immortality, whom you name after the Queen of the West, who's the Chinese goddess of immortality. Why did you decide to bring in other religions? Will we see more of this blending? What steps (if any) do you think authors need to take when tweaking the characters and story of a faith that isn't theirs?

I always envisioned Blue Bloods as the alternate "true" history of the world, so of course other religions, and other faiths would be part of it from the beginning. I don't really see it as blending, since for me Blue Bloods follows a literary tradition - Milton's Paradise Lost is a literary work, not a religious one. So I don't feel tied to a certain religion, Blue Bloods was influenced by myths and legends, most of which are in the Christian tradition since that's what I grew up in. But most of the angel mythology I based it on is from Muslim and Hebrew myths.

I think authors should feel free to do what they want, faith-based stories have resonance, but we should feel free to create our art without worrying about offending, I don't believe in self-censorship at all. It's art, it's not religion.


In addition to Blue Bloods and the spin-off series which will start in next spring, you have a new adult series coming out this summer. What's the difference between writing for teens and adults?

Not much when it comes to my writing. Readers can still expect a fun, romantic, epic story, with great strong heroines and heroes to fall in love with. The only difference for me is that I get to explore more adult issues: pregnancy, adultery, politics, the questions are less "who am I" or "what will I grow up to be" and "I have so much promise" and more "this is who I am, now I have to deal with it."


What's your favorite way to spend Valentine's day?

We always go out to dinner a few days before, just the two of us, I hate going to restaurants and seeing all the couples celebrating V-D day all in row. Something about it feels...robotic and depressing. On Valentine's Day now that we have a kid we usually go to a family dinner which is how I grew up, my parents always took everyone out on Valentine's Day and we all got presents, not just Mom and Pop. It was a fancy dinner and the kids had to dress up too and that was always fun. And presents are always fun of course. Presents in tiny jewelry boxes and a huge bouquet of flowers from a swanky Beverly Hills florist is a must. I'm so practical though, whenever I see flowers I think "that was a lot to spend on something that will last one week." So I'd rather just have a pretty arrangement and not a bombastic one. Especially when it all comes from the same bank account anyway. :)


What's your most horrifying Valentine's moment?

Oh god, probably the time a guy I was good friends with that I had a crush on, invited me to dinner at his apartment and I thought we were celebrating Valentine's Day and I was so excited to take our friendship to the next level but then nothing happened and then later I found out he was dating some other friend of ours and he was calling her on the phone the whole time I was there. What an ego slam! I've forgiven him though, we're still friends, and god we were young then. Now I know better, and since I met my husband fifteen years ago, every Valentine's Day has been great.


What's the funniest Candy Heart saying?

I had to do a little internet digging and found out that one of the sayings they had to discontinue was "You are Gay" (from the 1950s or something). So sad! I would have loved to buy a bunch and given them all out to my main gays. They would say "Yes. Yes I am. Thanks Mel. Happy V-D day."


What's the best Valentine's candy?

I always like champagne truffles from Teuscher.


What's the best song to slow dance to?

We danced to "Seventeen Again" by Annie Lennox at our wedding. That was our song. "And it feeeels like I'm seventeen again...." No wonder I write for teens!


Thanks for stopping by Melissa! Happy Valentine's Day!


Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Interview with Jacqueline Davies

Hi All! As I said yesterday, I'm part of the Sydney Taylor Book Award Blog Tour!

Yesterday, I reviewed and haunting and wonderful Lost by Jacqueline Davies. Today, she's stopped by Biblio File to have a chat!

My favorite part of this book was Essie's voice. It grabbed me from the first sentence and didn't let go. It's extremely distinctive and consistent throughout the book. How did you find (and hang on to!) her Lower East Side Jewish speech patterns?

Finding Essie’s voice was one of the greatest challenges in writing Lost. It’s an incredibly daunting task to travel back through time to resurrect a way of speaking that no longer exists. As I tried to create an authentic voice of that time, I went back to primary sources. I looked through books that included interviews with Lower East Side Jews at the turn of the century. I studied trial transcripts that recorded speech patterns, word for word. I read through the newspapers of the day, as well as fictional stories by Anzia Yezierska, who wrote of that time in that time. It was very important to me to rely on first-person sources, because anything else has passed through some kind of filter, and that distorts the material. So anything that was created or recorded contemporaneously and accurately, I paid close attention to and took from it what I could.

Then I widened my search and listened to as much current Yiddish as I could—from people, websites, recordings. I listened to the songs. I loved listening to the songs!

Most of all, though, I lived with that voice for ten years. For ten years, I heard Essie talking inside my head, and that, more than anything else, is what made it possible to write the novel in a voice that remained consistent from beginning to end. There are parts of Essie’s speech pattern that have crept into my own and my family’s. Just the other day, my daughter asked a question in exactly the way that Essie would have. We all lived with Essie for the past ten years!

In your acknowledgments, you say that it took you ten years to find a way to tell the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. What about this tragedy spoke to you so strongly?

This book began with a sound. Back in 1999, I was watching Ric Burns’ documentary New York. I already knew the story of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. I’d studied it years ago in college. But watching that film, I heard a sound effect that was created by the sound engineer: It was his imagining of the sound you would hear when the body of a young girl strikes the sidewalk after falling eighty feet. The sound was like a combination of an overstuffed dufflebag thrown from a great height, a stack of books dropped on a hard wooden floor, and a hand smacking a face. It’s a sound I will never forget, and it had the effect of pulling me back over a century and putting me in that place, in that fire, with those girls. The story I wrote ended up changing many times over the years, but it always goes back to that sound and my wondering of what it must have been like to be there. That’s the hook that always pulls me into writing historical fiction.

How much research on hat making did you have to do? Have you ever made a hat?

A lot! When you have a character doing something in a book, you have to know how to do that thing. So I had to know every step of making a frame hat, especially a hat as stupendous as a Merry Widow. It wasn’t just about hat-making, though; it was about hat-making at the turn of the century. Luckily, I was able to get my hands on a few hat-making manuals written in the Teens and Twenties. I also have stacks of books that show photographs of vintage Edwardian hats. I love those hats. Every hat described in Lost is an actual hat in one of those books.

I’ve never made a frame hat before, but I’ve made many knitted hats. And I’ve done a lot of sewing and designing of clothes over the years. I like to work with fabric and yarn. I like the feel of those materials in my hands.

So, this is a blog tour for an award for Jewish books. One of the things I loved about it was that while Essie was Jewish and that was a big part of her, the story would have also worked if she had a different ethnic or religious background. Why did you make her a Jew?

You’re right. Essie could have been an Italian immigrant—most of the workers at the Triangle were either Eastern European Jews or Italians—and there was a time early on when I experimented with the idea of going that route. Both of my mother’s parents emigrated from Italy around 1915.

But the experience of Jewish immigrants at the turn of the century was different in many ways from that of Italian immigrants, both in terms of why they came to this country (religious persecution versus economic hardship) and why they stayed (or ended up going back as so many Italian immigrants did). In early drafts of the book, I was exploring the themes of opportunity and fate and luck, and I think at that stage my main character could have been of nearly any ethnic background. But as the book developed, the theme that emerged was one of loss, and that’s a theme that particularly resonates with Jewish history, culture, and ethos. As the book is now, I couldn’t imagine Essie being anything other than Jewish.

There's been a lot of talk lately in the blogosphere lately about diversity in books. On January 4th, Colleen from Chasing Ray dared us to name 10 books with Jewish characters that weren't about the Holocaust. It was pretty hard and over half my list were books written by Judy Blume 20 years ago. Why don't we see more non-Holocaust books about Jews?

I’m glad this discussion is underway. It gives all of us the chance to recall some of the great books with Jewish main characters that have come out in the last few years: The Other Half of Life by Kim Ablon Whitney (a WWII story, but not a Holocaust story), So Punk Rock by Micol Ostow, Naomi's Song by Selma Silverberg, The Truth About My Bat Mitzvah by Nora Raleigh Baskin, Letters from Rifka and Brooklyn Bridge by Karen Hesse, and then the series of American Girl Rebecca books written by Jacqueline Denbar Greene.

When talking about diversity in books, we each—writers, publishers, reviewers, readers—bring something unique to the table. I can speak only as a writer, which means my view has both insights and limitations.

There are several possible reasons we don’t see more non-Holocaust books about Jews. It might be that writers aren’t writing that kind of book. It might be that writers are writing it, but publishers aren’t publishing it. It might be that writers are writing it, publishers are publishing it, and reviewers are ignoring it. Or it could be that writers are writing it, publishers are publishing it, reviewers are championing it, but readers aren’t buying it. And of course, if readers aren’t buying a particular kind of book that might lead to fewer writers writing such books, and it will certainly lead to fewer publishers publishing these books, because publishers respond to the marketplace. I remember when I showed an early draft of Lost to my editor, we talked about the similarities between the fire scene and accounts of the World Trade Center falling. My editor told me, “Teens don’t want to read about 9/11,” and that awareness of what teens want and don’t want was part of our discussion. So are we talking about a cycle here, and if so, who started the cycle turning: writers, publishers, reviewers, or readers?

As a writer, I don’t write books because of a personal or social agenda. Some writers do, but I don’t. I have a lot of causes I feel passionate about, but that’s not where my art comes from. I write because I have a story to tell, and out of that may come a call to action or the expression of a personal view I hold. But it’s never the reason for writing the book. I also don’t write books in response to the market. I don’t survey the market, identify a hole, and say, “I’m going to write a book to fill that hole.” Some writers do, but I don’t. I can’t write a good story if I’m following the dictates of an agenda or the marketplace. The only way I can write a good story is if I let the story itself guide me. So that’s how I do it.

It might be useful to flip the question around and ask, Why are there so many books about the Holocaust? From an author’s perspective, I can only say that writers look for conflict in telling a story, and it’s hard to imagine a more compelling, moving, heartbreaking, significant conflict than the Holocaust.

That said, I look forward to the day when the Jewish experience—along with the experiences of every ethnic and religious group — is portrayed in children’s and teen literature in a way that is full, well-rounded, and balanced. The responsibility for moving toward that goal belongs to all of us.

And now questions about you:

What is the worst job you ever had?

Oh, I’ve had some doozies. I think the winner, though, is the time I spent selling solar doors by phone. Can you believe such a job existed? I was in college at the time and needed a job that could work around my schedule. I would make cold calls—that’s right, dialing right out of the phone book—and try to get people to agree to have a sales rep visit their home. The vast majority of the people I called were elderly. Many of them were shut-ins, and they just wanted someone to talk to. Of course I listened! You could tell how lonely they were, and besides I like listening to the stories that people tell. So at the end of an hour, I would have completed two, maybe three, calls. But because I only got paid for sales calls that eventually led to sales, I never made a dime!

Where do you do most of your writing?

I write at home, in my office. A few times a year, I manage to sneak away from my family for a three- or four-day writing retreat, and those times are always particularly productive for me.

What do you do when you're not writing?

I take care of my three children. I read. I knit. I garden. I run three miles a day. I try to sleep! That pretty much takes care of the day.

What are you reading right now?

At the moment, I’m reading What the Dog Saw: And Other Adventures, which is a collection of New Yorker essays written by Malcolm Gladwell on every subject under the sun. I’ve also accepted the challenge of the students at Fox Hollow Elementary School in Port Richey, Florida, to read along with them every title on the Sunshine State Readers List, so I’m reading a lot of terrific middle-grade fiction, like: Igraine the Brave, Brendan Buckley's Universe and Everything in It, and The Fabled Fourth Graders of Aesop Elementary School. The kids are way ahead of me, though. I still have six more titles to read on the list, and the deadline is fast-approaching!

What are you watching these days?

You mean television? Uh, did you see my answer to the question what do you do when you’re not writing? Honestly, I don’t have time to watch television! Except for the occasional Celtics game, the TV in our house is pretty much a dead zone. I do watch movies, though. Mostly documentaries. I just watched “The Boys of Baraka,” and tonight my daughter and I are going to watch “Across the Universe” (her choice).

What are you listening to?

When I turn on the radio (in the car or when I’m cooking), I listen mostly to NPR. When I run, I listen to a weird mixture of singles that motivate me to keep going. My current running playlist includes Cold Play, the Beastie Boys, Joe Cocker, The Fray, The Chiffons, Sheryl Crow, and Jack Johnson, among others. My son Sam and I swap an iPod Nano back and forth for running and skiing, and so I sometimes listen to what he’s listening to: Jay-Z, Counting Crows, Bone Thugs-N-Harmony, Lady Gaga, Shwayze, the Doors. The kid’s got wide-ranging taste in music.


Thanks so much for stopping by!

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Melissa de la Cruz Interview!

Yay! Melissa de la Cruz, author of Blue Bloods and The Au Pairs is finally answering my questions, instead of just raising them with each new installment of the Blue Bloods series!

Revelations and The Van Alen Legacy are extremely hard to blog about, due to the huge plot details that you want to gush over, but also not spoil. What's your advice for bloggers on how to deal with later books in series such as yours? What do you prefer as an author, and as a reader?

Interesting question! I do prefer if bloggers would not spoil the plot points and just talk about the story in a general manner. As a reader, I don't read reviews with plot details at all because I don't like to find out what happens, I just like to find out if the reviewer recommends the book, that's usually all I need to know. As an author I feel the same way.

The Blue Bloods sure do like to travel! Have you been to all the cities you describe in such detail? What are your favorite places to visit?

Yes, although I also rely on research assistants who have lived in the city for a long time to help me with details. My absolute favorite place to visit is Italy – I set a lot of Blue Bloods in that country so I get to go a lot!

Many pieces of history are important to the Blue Bloods story--everything from the fall of Caligula to the lost colony of Roanoke. What's your favorite period in history to learn about?

I love the Roman Empire, I love the decadence, and the urban drama, and the culture, that whole feeling of 'all roads lead to Rome' – it was a place where everything happened, it reminded me so much of living in New York – that feeling of being in the center of the world. I think that's why I relate to that time period so much.

You mention on your website that you have an outline for the Blue Bloods series, but in The Van Alen Legacy you work in the current economic crisis and the devastating effects it has on the Blue Blood community. How specific is your outline and how much did you have to tweak it to work the recession in?

My outline is very specific on the plot points but not on the details of the environment they are in– the recession was easy to work in because it wasn't a plot detail, just a fun kind of filigree to add to the book to make it current. The story is classic – it can be told in any time period - but I like to root the story in what is happening now, at least on the surface. So that's fun to do.

If you could go back in time and talk to your high-school-freshman self, what would you tell her?

That life only gets better after high school.

What's your favorite place to write?

I can write anywhere as long as it is quiet. I have an office at home that I write in, but I can also write at my husband's architectural studio/office as long as there isn't too much noise, which is hard because contractors and clients are always coming in and out. I actually prefer writing in a corporate environment, since for years I wrote while I had my day job, so I find the sound of softly ringing phones and keyboard typing very soothing. But I haven't had a day job in more than a decade and I don't think I can just barge into an office and ask if I can write there. J

What are you reading right now?

Julia Powell's Cleaving: A Story of Marriage, Meat, and Obsession, Emma Mclaughlin and Nicola Krauss's Nanny Returns, and Tad Friend's Cheerful Money. I try not to read in my genre, I find it limiting. I'd rather read books that are very different from mine. I loved the The Nanny Diaries, though, (which was an inspiration for The Au Pairs) so I'm really excited about Nanny Returns.

What are you listening to these days?

When I take breaks I dance around to Lady Gaga. Although for the first time ever I really feel old—because whenever I see her on TV, I always think, "Madonna already did this! Kids today…" (shakes head) LOL!

Also, if you've already read Revelations, I have an extra question on the Spoiler Blog. It will only make sense if you've read the book though, so, you know, read the book first!

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Justina's in the House!

I am doing my happy dance about hosting Justina Chen Headley today for her blog tour for her kickass new book, North of Beautiful.

See, I'm even prepared--these are my really big straws, which are for BUBBLE TEA. Except I might just take her to that place in Georgetown for bubble tea and all of yesterday's bubble tea haters can just deal with it already. (I was totally going to photoshop a picture so it would look like Justina and I were drinking bubble tea together, but then I remembered I don't have photoshop on this computer and my paint skills aren't that awesome. Or I could have photoshopped myself into the above photo at Shanghai hotspot M1nt, but I wasn't sure I could handle also doing my reflection in the tank...)

Anyway, frequent readers of my blog know that most of my reading falls into 2 categories: YA fiction, usually girly, and Adult non-fiction, usually about China. And, while North of Beautiful is about many things, it is also a YA Novel that goes to China and talks about how China is changing. Also, Justina just moved back from Shanghai, so how could I not ask her about China? I couldn't.

While in Shanghai, Jacob says that "real Chinese culture" is "anything to do with money...Everything in China is tied to making a buck." Terra thinks this is because in a country with, and escaping, such poverty, how could you not think about money all the time. "Who wouldn't be consumed with money if they lived in such squalor, if they had to worry about their next meal--and whether they would have a home because of the threat of progress." Do you agree with these characters' assessments of modern China?

Let’s just say that when I was living in Shanghai for the last couple of months, it was seen as completely acceptable for everyone and anyone—even taxi drivers—to ask point blank how much money you made, how much your house cost, how much your friends earned.

One of the sad, unwitting victims in China’s mad dash to modernize are its historic neighborhoods, razed without thought to preservation. These old neighborhoods (hutongs in Beijing and lilongs in Shanghai) won’t be around for much longer. Every day in Shanghai, I saw more and more sections being torn down. That’s history—tangible history—disappearing every moment. Some locals explained to me that the Chinese have no qualms demolishing this past since it’s a reminder of a poverty that’s too close in memory for comfort.

What do you wish Americans knew or understood about China today?

China is hungry and working an eight-day work week, literally every second around the clock. There is a viable pulse—at least in Shanghai where I lived for a few months. You could feel it in the city and see it in the number of cranes erected for its non-stop construction. The work ethic in China is extraordinary. You can check out my blog (www.justinachenheadley.blogspot.com) for my Shanghai turnstile posts about some of the movers and shakers in the creative industry…and how hard they work.

China’s fervor to lead the world into the twenty-first century should be a wake-up call to America. There’s so much work we as Americans need to do. We need to invest seriously in education, raising our math and science standards, encouraging more kids (including girls!) to enter technology fields. And then we all need to hunker down, sock away money into our savings, and rebuild our America.

What music are you listening to these days? What TV shows/movies are you watching?

I spent the last four months living in Shanghai and so I feel out of touch with music, TV, and movies. So I’ll put out an SOS to your blog readers:

Young adult author in need of a serious influx of new tunes and TV shows. Smitten with hip hop and rap rhythms. Loves voices like Natasha Bedingfield and lyrics like K.T. Tunstall’s. Looking for a compelling, happening TV show with the unique storytelling of Heroes (first season), wittiness and pop cultural references of the Gilmore Girls, and procedurals like Law & Order. Has serious crush on Eugenides from Megan Whalen Turner’s Attolia series. Email all suggestions to Justina [at] justinachenheadley [dot] com immediately.

If you could go back in time, what would you tell your high school self?

Chill! Not everything has to be done right NOW. And not everything has to be done perfectly. (I often have to tell my forty-year-old self this, too.)

But I would also tell my high school self to be more financially savvy. Don’t fall into the “good girl” trap of not talking about money. Independence—being able to do what you want—is tied to having the financial wherewithal to bootstrap your own dreams.

Excellent advice! Now, before we wander around DC to make sure all of your books are prominently displayed in bookstores, Justina's giving away an AUTOGRAPHED copy of North of Beautiful to the 1st person who leaves a comment correctly answering the following question:

What famous librarian has gone geocaching with Justina

Hmmm... maybe we'll go geocaching around DC, so someday when I'm a famous librarian, I can be the answer to this question!

Anyway, if you've missed her earlier this week, check her out at Mitali's Fire Escape, Shelf Elf, Archimedes Forgets, and tomorrow she'll be hanging out over at Teen Book Review.

AND! Be sure to read all of Justina's books! In the words of my dear friend Molly, "ZOMG! I LOVE HER!"

Author Interview: Kim Flores

Hello All!

To welcome you back from your holiday weekend, I bring you Biblio Files first ever author interview!

Kim Flores wrote the wonderful Gamma Glamma, which I reviewed for the last issue of The Edge of the Forest.

But here's the interview!

Were you a total science geek in school?

In school, I wouldn’t say I was a geek but I was a hybrid of sorts because I was in band, I twirled knives, worked on the annual staff and student council. I hung out with smart geeks and the “beautiful people”. I was a challenge to label.

What I did like about school was that it was the ultimate science experiment. Every day something was changing (your clothes, haircuts, your friends and your dramas) You had to constantly adapt and try new things and face fears in order to not only thrive but survive. I call it “the most wonderful horrible time of my life”.

I ate all the jelly beans you sent and while my tongue turned cool colors, my skin is still so white it glows in the dark. What did I do wrong?

Oh, you probably didn’t eat enough so I’m sending you a ten-pound box next time. But do you really want to lose that glorious white glow in the dark skin? Who doesn’t like things that glow in the dark?

And with mad skills like that, your crush would love you even more because you would have the ability to find seats at the movie theaters when the lights were dim.

You totally named Luz's crush, Swen after your guy. Confess.

Yes it’s true. Swen is named after my crush Mike. Mike is like Swen in a tons of ways. He does wear white shirts, wear old skool Addidas and he is a very gifted writer. And not to mention, he’s so cute and manly that I tell him that I think he’s “man-some”!

They say write what you know and so, I did. It was funny because as I was writing, I totally began crushing on the make-believe Swen. And then when I would see my real one, I would actually feel guilty like I was two timing. Strange, I know.

Also another behind the book look is that Luz’s dog Shortie is named after one of my three dogs. Both Shorties are infamous for their silent, deadly farts. I love my dog and he’s amazing but his “silent killers” not so much.

Luz is Latina, but it's not a major issue in the book. In a lot of YA lit, being non-white is a major plot point. Why is that?

Being another ethnicity like Latino, African American, Native American, Asian or even from Mars can give a unique perspective because sometimes you do get treated different (for better or for worse) due to the color of you skin.

It’s not a major issue in this book because this is how I grew up. Yes, I dealt with some discrimination issues but in the high school I grew up in, we had a nice mix of black, white and brown and we weren’t segregated as friends. In fact, we were more concerned about what we were going to wear to the dance or what we were going to do on the weekend than anything else.

I attribute this because I grew up in a big city and the fact that everyone’s parents were extremely active in PTA.

All stories ethnic or not have their place, but for me I would love to continue writing stories where the color of the characters’ skin doesn’t matter because the audience is more interested about the characters’ life experiences.

To me, that would show that as a human race we have truly begun to evolve beyond color. And wouldn’t that rocking?

Texas gets a bad rap outside of Texas. Tell us why Texas is actually awesome. (I married a Texan, so I know this is true.)

Texas is a character in itself. Some love it. Some hate it. But Texas can never be overlooked because, well.... we’re crazy. And not in the gun-toting kind of way, I must say.

We’re crazy because we say, “Hi, hello, or howdy” to everyone we meet. We thrive on being the best (that said that goes for our football teams, pageants, shopping, cars, hamburgers and everything else.)

Texas is also crazy for it’s kindness.
I was born and raised here and even though I’ve worked other places, I will always have a place here because I’ve never met anyone as generous as folks here.

The outpouring of kindness that I have witnessed over the years in Texas is jaw-dropping amazing - like helping to care for families when they’ve lost their house to fire or unemployment to the little things like giving directions, opening a doors or finding homes for stray pets.

It’s really easy to take all this kindness for granted when you travel to another state or country and you DON’T experience it. That’s when you are the most grateful.

If I had to make a state motto it would be “We’re crazy but we’re kind.“

What's your new book, American Twirl, about?

American Twirl is very different from Gamma Glamma in that it deals with more challenging issues. But like Gamma Glamma it’s all about the decisions you make and the outcomes of those decisions - especially long term.

It takes place in Mt. Pleasant Texas which is an hour and half outside Dallas. There is a fifteen year old girl named Blaze and she’s about to start her freshman year. She used to be a twirler along with her older sister but quit right before her mom died.

Her mom was a twirling teacher. Their dad drives a truck and has left the daughters to fend for themselves with a few hundred dollars. This is the first time Blaze is going to be with her sister Belinda in school since elementary. The sisters don’t get along because Belinda still twirls and Blaze hangs out with a group of misfits from a school called Metro. She was sent there after setting a football field on fire. Thus the name “Blaze.” Her real name is Francine. And she is a cutter.

This book comes from many of my own experiences of being a twirler, having an older sister who was a twirler (And my mom was too). And being a cutter.

I wanted to write about a cutting because it’s still a really foreign thing to many people. Most people can understand eating disorders and substance abuse but cutting is still considered pretty unusual and can be a bi-product of other traumatic events or conditions.

I wanted to put cutting in a new context since it’s often portrayed very over the top in movies and books. So, I just brought my own “normal” experience of it.

But it’s ultimately for anyone’s who been on the outside and burning on the inside. American Twirl is a humorous story of pain, passion and having the courage to face fire in order to ignite your life.

You were a twirler in school. Every time I try to twirl a baton, I end up hitting myself in the head. Any tips?

How about wearing a helmet? Just kidding. Twirling or like anything else you feel passionate about takes patience and lots of practice and staying in the moment.

If you are worried about what happened to you in the past, or what might happen to you in the future, you totally miss the present moment. And when you take your attention away from that, that’s when you get knocked in the head by a baton or another one of life’s unpleasant surprises to remind you to stay present in the present.

What else are you working on?

I love this question because I really want to say things like I’m working on a nap, fitting into a smaller size of pants, begging “Swen” that we really need one more dog and these are all true but here’s what else is shaking.

My other half Mike Swenson and I are about to pitch three shows to Nickelodeon. One is an animated show and the other two are girl buddy comedies that are live action shows. This takes a lot of time because it’s not just coming up with cool show ideas but it’s also doing research of what types of shows are being produced and created AROUND THE WORLD so that you are not pitching a show that is already being done or is currently on the air.

It’s a lot of work but it’s an amazing opportunity to get to present to these folks.

After that I already have plans for my next three novels.

Back in film world, Mike and I are also helping my father finish a documentary called Hispanics in the 1950’s. It’s an interesting look at growing up in the 1950’s in South Texas.

We are also working on our websites. In addition to kimflores.com, we will have a separate site to showcase our commercial work.

And then, finally, I hope to be able to work on my Needy Babies toy line. Whew!
Where’s that nap?

Your film, Vocessitas/Little Voices won an American Latino Media Arts Award. Tell us about it!

Vocessitas/Little Voices was a film that Mike and I wrote, produced, co-directed, and edited ourselves. It was an intense labor of love. It was one of the hardest things we had to do.

The story was about a woman who was raped but unsuccessfully tries to deal with it by herself and it’s only when she becomes involved with a pen pal girl from Guatemala she sponsors through a church program that she actually begins to find help.

We were honored to be nominated for the ALMA award and we were really excited when we won. We were in the audience with Jennifer Lopez when she was just starting out and winning awards for the movie Selena. Tyra Banks was also sitting in front of us and she looked amazing (and still does).

I was also really excited to see Rita Moreno who is a Latina that I looked up to all my life, especially when she was on the Electric Company.

It was a very special night and that experience also helped open many doors for Mike and myself after that.

How is making movies different than writing? (And, inversely, how is it similar?)

I’ll start with how writing for books and writing for movies are the same. It’s the same because you are creating a story that you hope that people will enjoy spending time with.

I like writing novels because it’s only me that I’m dealing with (at least at that moment) and I feel the same is true when writing a screenplay unless I am writing with a partner.

When your book is done and sold it goes through an edit process and you more than likely will work with an editor and proofreader. After going through other hands your story may change slightly or could change a lot depending on the editor.

In filmmaking, it’s the same process. Especially in independent filmmaking. You can write the grandest of visions but if you don’t have the time or money you will have to rewrite to make things work. And you story may evolve as well.

How making movies is different from just sitting and writing by yourself with your stinky dogs is that you are dealing with anywhere from 20 to 50 other people (stinky or not) when making a movie.

You have to have enormous amounts of energy and organization skills because everything you have written then becomes interpreted by the director of photography - the cameraman who shoots your story. In your mind’s eye, you may have seen your character in a close up shot with a solid tear when she is left alone when you originally wrote the script. But your cameraman might see it differently and have an extreme wide shot of your character in giant room standing in a corner to convey the same idea.

But you don’t just have to communicate your vision (and your story) with the cinematographer, you have to be able to communicate this vision to the gaffer (the one who lights the set), the art department, the hair and make up folks, wardrobe, sound, the script supervisor, the music supervisor and the editor.

You get to used to working 12 hours a day minimum on a film set. This endurance helps when you want to become a writer and have to sit and write all day long.

Both writing for novel and screenplays and making movies aren’t for the weak of heart. And you have to have extremely thick skin. My skin has grown so thick over the years maybe that’s why I have to wear bigger pants! Thank God for stretchy yoga pants!

Little Willow already asked about your favorite books. What are your favorite movies?

I can’t even begin to tell you but here’s a few.

Willy Wonka, Imitation of Life, Amelie, City of Lost Children, Delicatessen, Mean Girls, Roll Bounce, Little Miss Sunshine. Napoleon Dynamite, Pulp Fiction, Wizard of Oz, It’s a Wonderful Life. I love lots of foreign films and anything that has Will Farrell or Jack Black.

What are your top 10 songs?

I don’t really have a top ten because like my life, my songs evolve. But here are some that have been theme songs to my life.

1) I Will Survive (My daily motto)

2) The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow. (I sang this in the 8th grade. Now that I recall, I actually sang the song called Maybe from Annie but I really wanted to sing The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow. My family sang it for years after that to remind me of my shortcomings in life. Love them. My family not my shortcomings.)

3) At Last by Etta James (We played this on our iPhone when Mike and I eloped on a beach)

4) We are Family (My family’s motto)

5) I Love New York by Madonna (NYC is my favorite city outside Texas)

6) Lose yourself by Eminem (This is a good running song)

7) Mama Used to Say (This is a song I used to dance to when I was little)

8) Theme to Twighlight Zone and Night Gallery (Both still freak me out)

9) All pop, rap, dance and soundtrack songs that I forgot to mention due to low blood sugar.

10) Theme song to Sponge Bob Squarepants. (I love that show)

I know you draw, but do you do other crafts?

I like to paint and design toys and clothes. I love making gift baskets for my friends and I love surprising people with hand created notes or my photography.

I have a new sewing machine that I need to break in because I bought it over a year ago!

You have 3 rescue dogs. I can't shut up about my rescue dog, so I'm guessing you love to talk about yours. Tell us all about them!

I love dogs. I love animals in general but I LOVE dogs. I’ve had two of my of my dogs Shortie and Rabbit for ten years. We had another dog that we had for eleven years named Pud who we got when he was anywhere from 5-8 years old from the SPCA of Dallas. We had to put him down in September and he was probably close to 100 years old in dog years. That was the hardest thing we ever had to do but also the most compassionate thing we had to do because of Pud was in extreme pain and was beyond medicine or treatment because of his age.

Shortie is a black and white rat terrier and he’s Mr. Personality and needs tons of attention. We found him a day before an important shoot in our alley when we lived in a warehouse downtown. Rabbit is a Poodle-Terrier and was found on another shoot. It took Mike and our make-up artist friend Kalen Hoyle three hours just to shave off all the nasty matted hair Rabbit had. Mike named him Rabbit because he used to hop when he was walked on a leash.

Our newest member came from the internet. We had 3 shoots back to back and then Mike and I were going to be gone for 3 weeks and then I saw this dog online. Mike thought I was crazy for even looking. Something told me to look at the SPCA site and I’m glad I did. The local SPCA had just rescued 100 dogs from a puppy mill then a week later at another location they had rescued another 250 animals. The conditions were awful to say the least. Our dog had been locked in a crate for 3 years (he is only 3). He didn’t know what grass was or what petting was. The folks at the SPCA said that he would need special help.

We brought him home and he didn’t know what to do. Then we had to leave him for three weeks. We had my friend stay at our house and work with him. Because of the two other dogs our dog (who we called Nelson after Nelson Mandela), started to feel much more at home. We have been nicknaming him Waggles because that’s all he does)

Waggles brings us so much joy along with our other boys, maybe I’ll write a book just for him.

Adopt a dog from the SPCA. Change their lives. And change your own. I promise!

Thanks so much for stopping by!!