Interview with Judy Gregerson, Author of BAD GIRLS CLUB

What reviewers are saying

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW-"Bad Girls Club is as riveting as Dave Pelzer's A Child Called It books, but is far better at exploring the psychological reasons why the abused remain so loyal to their abusers. This is definitely a novel all young adults should read!"

PROFESSORNANA-"Books like A CHILD CALLED IT have long been popular with teens. This book will appeal for many of the same reasons. It is the story, ultimately, of triumph over incredible odds."

Marlene P.: Tell us about your newest book BAD GIRLS CLUB.

Judy Gregerson: BAD GIRLS CLUB is very special to me. It is so much a part of what happened to me as a teen and I wrote it to show what abandonment and abuse does to the soul and mind of a teenager. We read stories about abused kids in the paper all the time or we see it on the news, but we don't hear much about their inner conflicts and how they struggle with their own feelings and thoughts about what has happened to them. But I think that every teen knows someone who wrestles with these issues and I thought there was a place in teen literature for this story.

Marlene P.: What was your inspiration for this story?

Judy Gregerson: Several things, really, but probably the biggest one is that my mom left when I was thirteen and went into a mental hospital. She never returned and because of it, one of the biggest themes in my writing has been abandonment. No matter what I write, it just shows up.

I tried writing other stories for a long time, but this one kept calling to me. I didn't want to write it at first. It was too close to home. Too scary for me to tackle. But eventually I decided that I would have to take a stab at it. And as I got deeper into the story, I knew that I had to keep going.

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

Judy Gregerson: The hardest part for me is finding the real, naked truth of the story and bringing that to the forefront. It's easy to write off the top of your head, but when you go deeper, through layers of what you think is truth, eventually you find the real core of the story or the character. It's difficult because you have to keep digging until you find it and that is real work. The other hard part for me is a first draft. I hate first drafts. They're like ugly little anemic stories that are going to have to be fixed.

Marlene P.: What are you working on now?

Judy Gregerson: Right now I'm pretty busy with marketing this book, but I have a humorous YA I'm trying to find a home for and a silly midgrade that I'd like to polish. I've also gotten back into a novel I started in 2002 and couldn't finish. I woke up one night at about 2:30 a.m. and all the answers to the problems were very clear to me. So the next morning I got up and started writing. That's going well, but it's slow because I tend to veer off into marketing or chatting or something else. I'm easily distracted, probably too easily, and I really have to fight to stay on track.

Marlene P.: What is your favorite line, passage, chapter from this book?

Judy Gregerson: Ooooh. You're going to go make me fish it out? Ok, let me go find it.

My life, this island on which I stand, is built with sand, and with each step I take, my feet sink to my ankles. Some days I sink all the way up to my knees. Today I will pull my little sister behind me, sometimes carrying her on my back because she is too small to pull herself out of the quicksand that often traps us. And on our way across this island, I will tell her jokes, and I will hold her hand, and I will shield her from the woman who used to be my mother.

~~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 Judy Gregerson, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

OPEN DISCUSSION - Why do you read?

In a call for topics, "little willow" asks:


"Why do you read? Do you look for books that are similar to YOUR life or vastly different?"


So, are you looking to relate or escape?

REPOSSESSED by A.M. Jenkins

A. M. Jenkins's favorite deadly sins are Sloth and Gluttony. The others are also enjoyed in moderation. The award-winning author of Damage, Breaking Boxes, and Beating Heart: A Ghost Story, Jenkins lives in Benbrook, Texas, with three sons, two cats, and two dogs . . . and has never been possessed by a demon, so far as anyone can tell.

Her latest book is REPOSSESSED, and HarperCollins says, "In this devilishly funny look at the complexities of being a teen, Jenkins tells the story of an unforgettable--and irresistibly endearing--demon's sojourn on earth, where he learns more than he ever expected about humans and himself. "

And Jennifer Hubert of Reading Rants says, "A.M. Jenkins' inspired portrayal of a sympathetic demon and his longing to stay human, so that he might actually be NOTICED by the all-powerful (an apparently, all-too-busy) Creator, is funny, thought provoking, and surprisingly deep."

I will add a hearty amen to both of those descriptions. This latest book is humorous, deep, surprising, and a testament to the many layers of Jenkins writing talents.

Join me in welcoming her as our guest this week at the Cafe.


Mary P: This story has so many layers, including a surprising romance. The love story that unfolds in this is amazingly tender. It started out as a Lust Quest, and ended up--well I don't want to give it away--but Kiriel's quest was transformed into something much richer. One thing that is endearing is that he is often so clueless. Did you know the direction Kiriel was going or did you bumble along with him as he pursued Lane?

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A.M. Jenkins: When I write a book, I generally know what will happen in the end, and then my process always takes me down blind alleys while I'm getting there. I have to back up, reassess, delete, and rewrite. With Kiriel and Lane, same old same old; I knew where they were ultimately heading, and there were the usual dead ends. But most of the bumbling I did with Lane wasn't due to Kiriel--it was due to Lane herself. Girl characters are not my strong point and I kept going off course with her and that made Kiriel's reactions inaccurate. That last scene between Kiriel and Lane took several different rewrites after the rest of the book was done; I knew what happened in that scene, but I couldn't get the emotional arc of it right, and by that point I had looked at the ms so many times I couldn't really "see" it anymore. My editor would read it and say, "Nope, this doesn't ring emotionally true." So I'd tackle it again, trying to nail it without pushing the characters around. I don't remember how many times I rewrote that scene, but it was a bunch. I'm very glad my editor kept handing it back to me instead of saying, "Eh, I guess this'll do."

Mary P: This book, while dealing with many deeper issues, is also packed with humor. There were so many places that I was snorting out loud as I read. Did you have as much fun writing it as readers have reading it? Was there a particular scene that still makes you laugh?

A.M. Jenkins: There were a *ton* of scenes I enjoyed writing in this book, but the only one that ever made me laugh was the bit where Kiriel cries. No kidding.

Mary P: The story touches on several deep theological questions, such as separation from the Creator, which I think you explore particularly well, raising questions but leaving it to the reader to supply the answers. It makes us think which is what I think any good story should do. Were these questions difficult for you to explore?

A.M. Jenkins: Nope. It's hard for me to believe that everybody doesn't think about this stuff all the time. My feeling has always been that religion, the supernatural and the afterlife are *the* most important issues any human has to face. We're alive on this earth for less than 100 years (most of us, anyway), and then there's the question of what happens to us for the rest of eternity. I'd say the answer to that question is crucial. And the answer--or lack of an answer--that each of us comes up with is what provides us with a moral system to live by. Even if you feel that you have the one true and correct answer to the question of eternity, how can you blithely go about your business without weighing your daily choices, attitudes, and actions in terms of that answer?I was just talking about this with a couple of friends, and one presented the theory that most people don't think about the above, that most people don't like to think at all, and especially not when they read books. It made me wonder about YA in general: do people prefer books that present answers and solutions rather than asking questions? I guess this blog is my forum for a few days, but I'd like to know other people's opinions: Is a good book one that makes you think? One that gives you a model to emulate? One that confirms your feelings about something? One that entertains you for a few hours?

Mary P: Do you hoard ketchup packets?

A.M. Jenkins: No, just the little tubs from Whataburger.

Mary P: What are you working on now?

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A.M. Jenkins: I just sent a ms off to copyediting. The book is currently titled NIGHT ROAD, and will be out in spring 2008. This completes what has turned out to be an unintentional trilogy of three weird little books about the supernatural: BEATING HEART (2006), which is about a ghost; REPOSSESSED (2007), about demonic possession; and then NIGHT ROAD, a book about hemovores--blood-drinking humans who are not your typical vampires. These three books are weird not because they're about the supernatural, but because they sound like horror books when they aren't, not exactly. I don't know what they are. I just know I've enjoyed writing them.

~~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 Amanda Jenkins, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

STUCK IN THE 70s by Debra Garfinkle

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

Debra G.: I actually do remember writing the first words for this book. The first line was really the genesis of the book, and I think it’s a catchy one: “There’s a beautiful naked girl sitting in my bathtub.”

With my first novel, STORKY, I wrote many drafts of the first few pages. With this one, the first few pages hardly changed from the first draft to the final book. Soon after I wrote the first page, it was read aloud at a writing conference and got a lot of laughs. That really encouraged me to keep going with the manuscript.

Marlene P.: What are you working on now?

Debra G.: I’m writing the third book in a series of humorous children’s books called THE SUPERNATURAL RUBBER CHICKEN. I’m having a wonderful time writing about wacky situations involving a cranky rubber chicken, bickering twins, their smelly teacher Mrs. Crabpit, and the twins’ neglectful mother, a children’s book author obsessed with winning a Newbery Award. The first RUBBER CHICKEN book will be out in June 2008.

Marlene P.: What kind of research did you have to do for this story?

Debra G.: I did a lot of research on news events, movies, music, fashion, etc. from the fall of 1978, when STUCK IN THE 70s is set. That was fun. I also researched Albert Einstein, since one of my main characters loves him. That was fascinating. And to get the time travel theories down right, I researched physics. That was excruciating.

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

Debra G.: For many years, my best friend and I collected empty toilet paper rolls from around the world. We wanted to be in The Guinness Book of World Records. When our friends and family went on vacation, they knew to bring us back a roll. We would write down the date and place on the roll. We never did write to the Guinness people. At my friend’s wedding shower years later, her parents presented her with the many, many bags of toilet paper rolls they had stored in their garage.

Marlene P.: How did you become a writer?

Debra G.: I loved to write as a child and teenager, but took the practical route and majored in economics and became a lawyer.

After practicing law for nine years (part-time for the last four years) and having two children, I was falsely diagnosed with cancer. I reevaluated my life. I quit my job, decided to have a third child, and started writing a novel (STORKY). I began it the day after I left my job, and wrote most of it while I was pregnant. Under the “write what you know” principle, there’s a pregnancy in STORKY, as well as a heroic retired lawyer.

I liked practicing law, but I LOVE being a writer.

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

Debra G.: There’s a funny scene when Tyler goes to the movie theater with Shay and two other girls. He really wants to hold Shay’s hand. A preview for Rocky II comes on, and he predicts it will bomb, that no one will want to see another Rocky movie. The girls go to the bathroom. When they come back, Tyler finally gets up his nerve and holds Shay’s hand. She squeezes it back. He’s thrilled! Then he realizes the girls switched seats and he’s not holding her hand after all. Well, I think it’s funnier when you read the whole scene than when I try to summarize it.

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

My editor at Putnam didn’t like the ending. I had to throw away the last fifty pages. He sort of liked the next ending I wrote, but had me do a ton of revisions to it. Even though the ending gave me a lot of trouble, I think it came out good “in the end.”


Marlene P.: What are your hobbies?

Debra G.: I have three children, a puppy, and a husband who travels a lot. I’ve spent the last year simultaneously writing a trilogy for teens and a chapter book series for children. And I’m supposed to have hobbies? Are you nuts?

Well, when I have spare time, I do like to take walks, watch reality TV, play Hearts on the computer, and watch movies. And I always make time for reading.

Marlene P.: Have you ever wanted to quit writing? Why?

Debra G.: Never! Okay, about every other day. It’s a wonderful way to make money, but it’s also a difficult way to make money. I’d be happy just to draft and revise my manuscripts. The stuff that drives me crazy is having to promote my books as a midlist author, the long waits for responses from editors, the laborious contract negotiations (thank Gawd for my agent, but I still bite my nails until I have both the check and the book in my hands) … I could whine for hours.

I doubt I’d ever really quit writing. I love creating a scene I’m proud of, a character I care about, a joke that makes me laugh, etc.

And just when I’m feeling really low, I always seem to get a wonderful email from a teen reader that makes everything worthwhile.

Beauty Shop For Rent by Laura Bowers

Abbey Garner has it all planned out. Become a millionaire by the time she's thirty-five and avoid making the same mistakes the other women in her family made. School Library Journal says of debut author Laura Bowers' warm and funny novel "This deceptively simple book reveals Abbey as a wonderful character who will appeal to a broad spectrum of readers. Her quiet, almost folksy lifestyle demonstrates the powerful impact of a loving family and good mentors."

We're delighted to welcome Laura to the Cafe to talk about Abbey, writing and why you should never give her nice jewelry.

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

Laura B.: My favorite chapter from BEAUTY SHOP FOR RENT has always been the final one, because the setting was inspired by my county's annual 4-H & FFA fair. A close second would be the first chapter that was set in the beauty shop. I love the sassy, fun, "let your hair down" conversations that happen when it's just the ladies around and how this chapter shows the close, unique relationship between fifteen-year-old Abbey, Granny Po and the other Gray Widows. But my favorite lines are from chapter twenty-four, when my characters are driving into Ocean City: "But now the town didn't cast the same spell. Instead of enchanting, it seemed noisy and cheap, almost tacky, like I was no longer childlike enough to see its beauty."

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

Laura B.: I do remember writing the first words. It was for the opening scene in chapter one, where Abbey is stuck in the middle of another one of the Gray Widows' many tiffs. Writing that scene was one of those rare, wonderful moments when the words tumble out so fast your fingers can't keep up. The main points and concept of this chapter have always remained the same, despite the many rewrites, but my original opening line was, "I'll be dead. Dead and done buried by the time this shop is ever rented." I've since changed it to the first of many "hypothetical questions of the week."

Melissa W.: Tell us something about you that no one knows.

Laura B.: Well, my husband is perfectly aware of this, but not too many people know that I cannot be trusted with fine jewelry. Seriously. We've been married for fourteen years and in that time I've already lost my diamond engagement ring, my original wedding band, my replacement wedding band, and a diamond tennis bracelet. But, my husband is a lovely man who doesn't get upset over material things, (my character Gena is based on him,) and I'm happy to report that it's been a while since I lost something. Why? Because I hardly wear jewelry now out of fear of losing it! ;)

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

Laura B.: I would be a photographer. And, after the kids go to college, my dream assignment would be to travel the country with Bob taking beautiful pictures of historic main streets, town festivals and county fairs that could be used for a super-thick coffee table book. Talk about a cool job! That or someone who's sent to different hotels and resorts to rate them. Being paid to travel? I'm in.

Melissa W.: That does sound ideal! Can I come along? What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Laura B.: At the beginning, I think the hardest part of writing for me was viewing it as a job rather than a hobby. Before, I would only allow myself time to write after the laundry was done, my to-do list was finished, the house picked up, etc. While I still have the occasional lapse, I view my writing as a full-time job now and I no longer feel guilty about editing during my boys' baseball practice if I have a tough deadline! ;)

Melissa W.: Good for you! Thanks so much for stopping by the Cafe. We wish you the best of luck with your wonderful new book and many more to come!

~~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 Laura, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

BAD TICKETS by Kathleen O'Dell

Join us this week as we welcome Kathleen O'Dell to the Cafe. Well-known for her warm and funny mid-grade novels, including Agnes Parker, Girl in Progress, for which she was named a Publisher's Weekly Flying Start, Kathleen enters the wild world of YA fiction with her newest novel, Bad Tickets, which has already garnered a starred review from Booklist and which School Library Journal calls a "humorous and engaging story with just a bit of spirituality."

The Cafe is delighted to host Kathleen this week and be a part of celebrating her wonderful new novel.

Melissa W.: Tell us about your new book.

Kathleen O.: BAD TICKETS features Mary Margaret Hallinan, a Catholic high school sophomore in Portland, Oregon during the summer of love. Rumblings of what’s going on in San Francisco are being felt all over the world, but she’s still living in a place where most girls believe that their entire destinies are tied to the men they marry. When Mary Margaret meets Jane Stephens, she loves her new friend’s rebel spirit, but upon closer examination finds that for all her so-called adventurousness, Jane is actually following a pretty old-fashioned script.

This is my first young adult book. As I was writing it, I kept on thinking about how many adult struggles are just modified adolescent struggles. One of life’s central conundrums concerns figuring out when being good is actually bad for you and being bad is good for you and being good is good for you and being bad is bad for you (and bad for everyone else). Before you hit your teens, the answer is: be good. Growing up requires examining received wisdom. Even if you conclude that ninety-nine percent of everything your parents taught you was good and true, at least you’ve made it your truth.

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

Kathleen O.: I was a kid in 1967, but I remember that summer. On one of the first sunny Portland summer days, I put on my baggy, hand-me-down, red, one-piece bathing suit and went with some fourth grade friends to Blue Lake. The park was filled with glamorous baby-oiled girls in gold and silver bikinis and gorgeous, sulky boys with long bangs hung over their sunglasses. Every kid there had the radio tuned to KISN and Jim Morrison was daring everyone to “Light My Fire.” Sex hung heavy in the air. We picked our way through the crowd of these simmering, shimmering creatures, and when I finally got to the lake I plopped down and stared at my knobby knees in a state of shock. It hardly seemed like the place for a pigtailed girl in an inner tube anymore.

I wanted to capture the experience of these girls who came of age just before the first wave of modern feminism. Even though young people were breaking all kinds of taboos and experimenting with different ways of living in the 60’s, many men still wanted a cool “old lady”--someone nurturing and mellow who tended to her man and the organic baking.

Another source of inspiration is my memory of a recurring nightmare I had in my teens. I dreamed I was getting married in my high school gym, and that I was wearing a Jackie Kennedy suit and a leopard pill box hat--something that even someone my mom’s age was too hip to wear. The priest would be reading the vows as I kept on urging myself to run away! Now! Before it’s too late! I always woke up breathless and terrified before I realized that I was safe in my pink bedroom in my twin bed and perfectly single. The thought of lock stepping from the high school gym into a married life was scary to me in part because like Mary Margaret, I was the oldest in my family. I had already devoted a big chunk of my life to domestic stuff such as babysitting and dishwashing and cooking. The romance I was looking for involved the freedom to take care of only myself. Oh, and to have my own bedroom. That was a big thing to me.

Melissa W.: Was there any part that you struggled with or avoided writing?

Kathleen O.: Mary Margaret’s mother, with her omnipresent cigarette and laundry basket, really got to me. Every time I got into her head, I felt incredibly sad. I was a homemaker with little kids for years, and whenever I felt burnt to a crispy critter, I would set myself down and tell myself that staying home for now was my choice, that my two kids would eventually grow up, and that there was a different life waiting for me not too far down the road. That’s not true of Cynthia Hallinan. She feels she made a lifetime bargain when she married her high school sweetheart, and she’s determined to deal with pregnancy after pregnancy even though she’s depressed, unsupported and miserable.

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

Kathleen O.: There are Starbucks receipts with scribbled revision notes all over them. At night, right before I fall asleep, I get these flashes on how to work out the kinks of my latest manuscript. I jump out of bed, dig blindly through my purse for scrap paper and start scrawling. You’d think I’d keep a notebook nearby, wouldn’t you, seeing that I’m a writer tending toward nightly inspiration? But no. I’m also superstitious and believe that if I’m too premeditated, the inspiration won’t show up. This morning’s note read: “Tessa-- SWITZRLND--Boarding school? Has to rtrn home @ the end ar havee aplace.” At least I think that’s what it said. I wrote it in the dark.

Melissa W.: Best of luck deciphering your notes! And thank you so much for stopping by the Cafe. We wish you much success with your new book! Congratulations!

~~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 Kathleen, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

OPEN DISCUSSION - Who is reading Young Adult books?

"Exactly 'who' are YA readers? Is the age range broadening? "

This was a question posted by one of our visitors and it is a question we all hear periodically.

And so many other questions are tied into it: Is the defintion of YA changing? What makes a YA book a YA book? Content? Publisher designation? Something else?

Tell us your thoughts!