13 Questions with Kimberly Pauley

Kimberly Pauley loves a good book you can sink your teeth into. She majored in English at the University of Florida and took as many classes in adolescent fiction (and science fiction) as she could find. As her alter-ego, the Young Adult Books Goddess of YA Books Central (yabookscentral.com), she has been reading and reviewing books since 1998 and meeting tons of great authors. Sucks to Be Me is her first novel, though she has published various poems and short stories over the years that she will even periodically admit to. She now lives in Illinois outside of Chicago with a husband who loves her even though he hasn’t read a young adult book since he was about twelve and can’t quite comprehend what the whole fuss is about, a brand-new baby boy already completely surrounded by children’s books, and a devious cat who looks a lot like a tub of lard.

Website Address: www.kimberlypauley.com



1) what's your book about?

Mina is a high school junior who has a pretty normal life, other than that her parents are vampires. When the local vampire Council discovers her existence, they give her a month to decide whether or not she wants to be one too. And they make her take vampire lessons to help her in her decision. Add in normal teenage girl stuff like drama over boys and stress over prom, and you've got Mina in the middle of a crisis. What's a girl to do, when blood is the last thing on her mind?

2) favorite Halloween candy?

Those really horrible peanut-buttery-ish (and I say "ish" 'cause they really aren't all that peanut buttery) candies in orange or black wrappers. Do they still make those?

3) favorite spooky novel?

Coraline by Neil Gaiman. Hands down. Love it.

4) fangs or fur?

Fangs!

5) Monster Mash, Thriller, or The Time Warp?

The Time Warp, definitely. I actually own the soundtrack...and the movie.

6) cape or no cape?

Um...no cape...Didn't you see The Incredibles? Capes can kill you.

7) Bela Lugosi or Gary Oldman?

Bela Lugosi.

8) Trick or Treat?

Treat, definitely (I have a total sweet tooth)

9) favorite costume?

I have this kind of combo vampire / devil costume that I've worn at Halloween a couple of times (I got the horns at a Renaissance Festival). I have a picture of myself in it, but I was about 4 1/2 or 5 months pregnant at the time, so I am SOOOOOO not going to show that one to anyone.

10) favorite scary movie or television show?

Scary? Um...I'm not a big scary movie / tv show person, really. But I guess I could say Clive Barker's Hellraiser, but ONLY because a) I love Clive Barker because he is awesome (I interviewed him once and he's just so cool) and b) the movie is partly responsible for me meeting my husband Tony.

11) what really scares you? (like spiders or the dark or whatever)

Stupid people.

12) what’s your favorite way to spend Halloween night?

Passing out candy.

13) what’s the scariest thing that ever happened to you?

When I was about 13 or 14, I thought I saw a ghost in the middle of the woods at night (of course, you might be asking 'what the heck were you doing out in the middle of the woods at night??' and you'd have a very good question there).

Teen Read Week Books with Bite

Celebrate Teen Read Week at the YA Authors Cafe

Our guests will be:

Monday, October 13- Kimberly Pauley, author of SUCKS TO BE ME
Tuesday, October 14-Annette Curtis Klause, author of BLOOD AND CHOCOLATE and FREAKS
Wednesday, October 15-Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of TANTALIZE
Thursday, October 16, Kristopher Reisz, author of UNLEASHED
Friday, October 17, A.M. Jenkins, author of NIGHT ROAD
Saturday, October 18, Marlene Perez, author of DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK

DEAD IS THE NEW BLACK by Marlene Perez

It's here! It's here!

The first installment of Marlene Perez's hilarious and mysterious new trilogy debuts today! See what readers and reviewers are saying . . .

Teri Lesesne, YA goddess librarian says:
"Humor, romance, and the undead: a perfect combination of elements . . . "

The Hip Librarian's Book Blog:
"Strong female characters abound . . . "

Enchanting Reviews:
"If you're looking for a fun paranormal series, this is the one."

AND, it's a Seventeen Magazine Summer Buzz Book!
". . . a supernatural mystery featuring a new batch of characters that walk that Twilight fine line between hot and, well, undead."


And now, what do YOU say? Open up your coffins! Throw some confetti! Show off your fangs for Marlene! DEAD IS SO . . . worth it!

Alive and Well in Prague, New York by Daphne Grab

Matisse Osgood is a New York City girl through and through. She buys her clothes at Andy's Cheapies, watches indie films at the Angelika, and wouldn't be caught dead on a hayride. But when her father gets sick and Matisse's parents decide to leave Manhattan for a small town in upstate New York, her perfect world crumbles. As Matisse trudges through life in Prague, she dreams of waking up in her apartment on West 78th Street with a father who's well enough to walk with her in Central Park and a mother who doesn't pretend that everything is okay. When rumors surround Matisse at school and her father's symptoms worsen, Matisse realizes that the friends she's making in Prague are the kind you can count on. They help Matisse find the strength to reach out to her father, who may not be as far from her as she thought. And one particular farm boy shows Matisse that country living is a lot more magical than she ever imagined.

Daphne Grab grew up in upstate New York, so she knows whereof she writes! She holds a MFA in creative writing and is a member of the Longstockings group. We're delighted Daphne has dropped by the Cafe this week.

Melissa W: Tell us about your newest book

Daphne: ALIVE AND WELL IN PRAGUE, NEW YORK is about a girl whose dad has Parkinson’s Disease. The family is in denial as his symptoms are worsening and they’ve just moved from NYC to a small town so Matisse is taking on a whole new social scene in addition to trying to come to terms with her dad’s illness. There are boys and evil cheerleaders involved as well.

Melissa W: What is your favorite line, passage, chapter from this book?

Daphne: Ironically my favorite scene had to be cut from the book. It was when I was in my last round of edits and my lovely editor Jill Santopolo pointed out that I had too many flashbacks in the first two chapters. This scene was the one that was the easiest to cut and I knew it was the right thing to do, even though it was painful to press delete. But I was unable to let it go completely and it’s posted on my website. You can read it here.

Melissa W: Argh! The proverbial killing of the darlings! I feel for you. What are you working on now?

Daphne: My second book will be out spring 2010 and it’s about Louis, a 12 year old boy who is a bit of a misfit in school and a huge football fan. At the start of the story he learns that the baby his mom gave up for adoption 21 years ago is the best college football player in the country and he wants to come meet his biological family. The story is all the ways Louis’s life changes and he grows as his brother enters his life, and it includes bullies, girls and some pretty tough choices. My editor and I are just getting started working on it together so that is exciting (and a lot of work!).

Melissa W: What's on your nightstand right now?

Daphne: TOP 8 by Kate Finn. I was lucky enough to get an ARC and it is so good!

Melissa W: What were you like as a teen?

Daphne: Pretty insecure. I was obsessed with staying part of the cool crowd at my high school and spent way more time than I should have worrying about what people thought of me. It was really fun to write Matisse because she is so confident and could care less how people judge her.

Thanks so much for having me at the café!

Melissa W: Our pleasure!

~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Daphne, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott

Dani has been trained as a thief by the best--her mother. Together, they move from town to town, targeting wealthy homes and making a living by stealing antique silver. They never stay in one place long enough to make real connections, real friends--a real life
In the beach town of Heaven, though, everything changes. For the first time, Dani starts to feel at home. She's making friends and has even met a guy. But these people can never know the real Dani--because of who she is. When it turns out that her new friend lives in the house they've targeted for their next job and the cute guy is a cop, Dani must question where her loyalties lie: with the life she's always known--or the one she's always wanted.

Elizabeth Scott is the author of such popular and acclaimed books as Bloom and Perfect You and coming this fall, Living Dead Girl. As you can see, she's a busy girl and we're happy she took a moment to join us at the Cafe!

Melissa W: Tell us about your newest book, and what was your inspiration for this story?

Elizabeth: Stealing Heaven is about a girl named Danielle, who travels around the country with her mother, robbing houses. They focus on stealing antique silver. (For real!) But when they travel to a small coastal town, Danielle starts to really question what she and her mother do, and tries to decide what kind of life she wants.I got the idea for the story because I wanted to write a book about a mother/daughter thief team, and I wanted the daughter to *not* want to be a thief. The only problem was, what could they steal? I didn't want them robbing banks or anything like that, and after reading an article about someone who'd tried to steal antique silver, I thought "huh." It was just such an unusual thing to steal, and the more I thought about it, the more it felt like it was the right thing for my two thieves to chase after.

Melissa W: Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Elizabeth: I do, and they are! (A rare thing, that!)

Melissa W: It sure is! What kind of research did you have to do for this story?

Elizabeth: I did a lot of research--I read about antique silver, of course, but I also read about thieves, and lock-picking, disabling alarm systems (they really have books about that), police work--all kinds of stuff, really.

Melissa W: So if you ever need a part time job, you'll have something to fall back on! What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Elizabeth: Revising. I have to do a lot of it, and there are times when I'm rewriting a story for the third (or fourth. or fifth.) time when I start to get pretty tired of it. It's one of the many reasons why I don't read anything I've written once it's published.

Melissa W: I'm with you on the revising! How did you become a writer?

Elizabeth: Totally by accident! I was 27, bored out of my mind at work, and decided to try writing a short story. I ended up finding a bunch of people who were willing to read it, and were very supportive, and from there I just kept going.

Melissa W: If you could be anything else besides a writer, what would it be?

Elizabeth: If I could get paid to read books, I would do that in a second. Half a second, even!

Melissa W: What were you like as a teen?

Elizabeth: Completely and utterly average!

Melissa W: Well, you are far from an average writer. Thanks so much for visiting the Cafe this week!

~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Jennifer, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith

When Ryan Walsh cuts class to visit Wrigley Field on the fifth anniversary of her father's death, she meets Nick, the new kid from her school, who seems to love the Cubs nearly as much as she does. But Nick carries with him a secret that makes Ryan wonder if anyone can ever really escape their past, or believe in the promise of those reassuring words: "Wait till next year." Is it too much for Ryan to hope that this year, this season, might be her comeback season?

Join us in congratulating Jennifer E. Smith on the publication of her warm and poignant debut novel.


Melissa W.: Tell us about your newest book.

Jennifer: It’s a love story about two kids who meet at a Cubs game, and the way they teach each other to hope, even when the odds are against them.

Melissa W.: Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Jennifer: Yes, actually the whole first chapter is almost exactly the same. I’d been watching the Cubs lose for what seemed like the millionth time, and when I turned off the game, the movie Fever Pitch happened to be on another channel. I have nothing against the Red Sox, but I remember thinking that the Cubs have just as many curses and an even longer losing streak, and that their fans have done their fair share of suffering too. I went straight to my computer without knowing what I was going to write, but almost as soon as I sat down, the character of Ryan just kind of appeared in my head, sitting there on the train on her way to Wrigley Field, the way she does at the opening of the book. It only took me about an hour to write the first chapter, and it’s hardly changed at all. It was one of those really rare and lucky moments, when something comes so naturally that it almost seems like you’ve been carrying the story around forever, without even knowing it.

Melissa W.: It's a great feeling when that happens. What kind of research did you have to do for this story?

Jennifer: I’ve been to a lot of Cubs games over the years. It was a very tedious research process!

Melissa W.: What was your inspiration for this story?

Jennifer: It’s a story about hope, but it’s also about loss. A lot of people can’t bear to read sad stories, but I’ve always been really drawn to them, because they move you in a way that makes them really meaningful. My favorite books growing up were always the ones with a lot of heart, books like Where the Red Fern Grows and Bridge to Terabithia – the kinds of stories where you really feel like you’ve really been through something by the time you reach the end. Those are the ones that have stayed with me through the years, and I think there’s something to be said for that. So I guess I took inspiration from a lot of different places, but mostly I just wanted to write the kind of book I’d like to read.

Melissa W.: What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Jennifer: Finding the time to do it. I work in publishing too, so I spend a lot of time focusing on other people’s books. It’s something I love to do, but both writing and editing take a lot of creative energy, so it’s sometimes hard to balance the two. Overall, I think it’s a good thing – I think I’ve become a better writer because of the time I’ve spent editing books, and a better editor for being a writer. But it would be helpful if there were more hours in a day to do both!

Melissa W.: If you can work on that more hours thing, I know plenty of writers who would be grateful! What are you working on now?

Jennifer: Another YA novel called You Are Here, about a boy and a girl who come from different backgrounds and seem like opposites, but who get thrown together on a sort of haphazard road trip, and find out they’re more similar than they thought. It’ll be out from Simon & Schuster in Summer 2009.

Melissa W.: Sounds fantastic! I love a road trip story. What’s on your nightstand right now?

Jennifer: War and Peace (partly as decoration, partly as wishful thinking), Love in the Time of Cholera, Alice in Wonderland, and a somewhat chewed up copy of Beagles for Dummies (I have a three month old puppy who likes to eat books almost as much as I like to read them).

Melissa W.: Congratulations on your first novel, Jennifer and good luck with that puppy!

~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Jennifer, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

Something to Blog About by Shana Norris

Shana Norris is the author of SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT, which is about a fifteen-year-old girl, Libby, who starts a secret blog after she burns half her hair off thanks to a run-in with a Bunsen burner. She starts writing about her secrets and her friends' secrets, but then she gets into a bit of trouble when the blog is found out and posted all over her school. Please visit Shana at www.shananorris.com

Marlene Perez: Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Shana Norris: I do remember writing them! I save all of my old drafts, so I still have the very first one I wrote.The first words have changed since then. They used to be "Really, who gets a pimple on the bottom of their earlobe?" This was the first sentence of the very first blog entry I wrote for Libby.

Marlene Perez: What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Shana Norris: I know a lot of writers struggle with the first draft, but the hardest part for me is what comes after: revision. I usually write a first draft really quickly and don't worry too much about timelines or delving too deeply into subplots or consistency in names or personalities. During the first draft, I just want toget the main story down. So that means I have to do A LOT of cleaning up during revisions. I'm usually pulling out my hair while trying to make sense of my messy first draft!

Marlene Perez: What are you working on now?

Shana Norris: Right now, I'm working on my second book, which is a modern day retelling of a story from Greek mythology, set in high school. I don't want to say a lot about it right now since it's not done, but I'm really excited about it!

Marlene Perez: Tell us something about you that no one knows.

Shana Norris: I can recite all 50 United States in alphabetical order in less than 20 seconds. I was a bit odd as a kid and used to come up with things like that to challenge myself!

Marlene Perez: What is your favorite line, passage, or chapter from this book?

Shana Norris: There's a fight scene in the book. I won't spoil it for people who haven't read it yet, but that was my favorite scene to write. It's meant to be funny, so I really enjoyed writing it.

Marlene Perez: Was there any part that you struggled with or avoided writing?

Shana Norris: Developing the character of Seth, the love interest, was the hardest part for me. At first, he was a little too detached and mysterious, so I had to really work at him to make him into someone that Libby would be attracted to.

Marlene Perez:What's on your nightstand right now?

Shana Norris: Right now, I'm about to start on I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME by Lisa Schroeder and THE ASSASSIN KING by Elizabeth Haydon.

Marlene Perez: What are your hobbies?

Shana Norris: I like to knit, sew, and scrapbook. I also dabble a little into photography from time to time.

Marlene Perez: Have you ever wanted to quit writing? Why?

Shana Norris: I have, several times. Before I wrote SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT, I wanted to be a fantasy writer. I wrote a huge fantasy trilogy and tried to get an agent for it. But all of my queries were rejected without any requests for partials or fulls, so I fell into a deep funk and considered giving up trying to be published all together. Even after I wrote SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT, I had moments of wanting to give up. I remember getting a rejection from an agent for STBA the same day that my dog died and that sent me into a three month period of not querying or writing at all. I think any creative field is a very hard career to get into because your work is so personal and rejections can feel like an attack on you as a person rather than just one person's opinion on this work in particular.

Marlene Perez: If you could be anything else besides a writer, what would it be?

Shana Norris: An archaeologist. I've always loved history and I would love to go around digging up ancient cities!

~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Shana, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!