A BLUE SO DARK by Holly Schindler

After obtaining her master’s in English back in 2001, Holly Schindler decided to nix the idea of getting a full-time job in favor of pursuing a writing career, her lifelong dream. She says, “After wearing out a half-dozen or so keyboards drafting far too many manuscripts to count…after revising and submitting and revising again…after seven and a half years of rejections…I sold my first novel, a YA titled A BLUE SO DARK, to Flux!” In addition to her debut novel, Holly sold two more books that will be forthcoming in 2011!

The buzz for A BLUE SO DARK:

"Breathtakingly, gut-wrenchingly authentic...A haunting, realistic view of the melding of art, creativity, and mental illness and their collective impact on a young person’s life."
—Booklist, starred review



“A Blue So Dark is one of those rare books: It never shies away from the darkness yet still manages to find the light. A truly real, emotional, and honest read.”
—Catherine Ryan Hyde, author of Pay it Forward and Love in the Present Tense



“Schindler’s lyrical debut explores the nightmare of mental illness in a voice that is sharp and funny and all her own. This is as real as teen fiction gets. A must-read.”
—Crissa-Jean Chappell, author of Total Constant Order



“A Blue So Dark is a raw, compelling and eloquent portrayal of art and madness, and the freeing, healing gift of creativity. Schindler's voice is brilliant and true.”
—Carrie Jones, New York Times bestselling author of Need and Captivate


Congratulations on your debut and the awesome reviews, Holly! Welcome to the Café! Let’s get started . . .

Mary: Tell us about your newest book, A BLUE SO DARK.

Holly: In short, A BLUE SO DARK follows a young girl’s attempts to care for her schizophrenic mother (an artist and art teacher), while fearing that her own artistic ability is an indicator that she, too, will become mentally unstable.

Here’s the jacket copy, which offers a little more detail:

"Fifteen-year-old Aura Ambrose has been hiding a secret. Her mother, a talented artist and art teacher, is slowly being consumed by schizophrenia, and Aura has been her sole caretaker ever since Aura’s dad left them. Convinced that “creative” equals crazy, Aura shuns her own artistic talent. But as her mother sinks deeper into the darkness of mental illness, the hunger for a creative outlet draws Aura toward the depths of her imagination. Just as desperation threatens to swallow her whole, Aura discovers that art, love, and family are profoundly linked—and together may offer an escape from her fears."

Mary: It sounds like a gut-wrenching book to write. Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Holly: I remember writing the scene in the kitchen, which appears in chapter 1: Aura making a sandwich for her mother, who’s already beginning a descent into madness.

But as I rewrote and rewrote, the mermaids (driftwood carvings that were always hanging from the ceiling of the kitchen) began to feature more dominantly in the book. The last things I wrote were the prologue and epilogue (which both take place in Florida). I really love the bookends they put on the novel. With Aura being in the same physical place at the beginning and end of the book, it kind of forces readers to consider the EMOTIONAL place she’s in at the novel’s start and at the novel’s end.

Mary: What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Holly: First draft. I think most readers assume that the first draft is the fun part—the discovery part, the time when an author’s imagination can run wild. But I really dislike the first draft. It’s sort of painful for me to have to start from scratch.

Revision? I ADORE revision. I feel much, MUCH better when I get something DOWN to work with.

Mary: I'm right there with you on revision. That’s when the fun starts.

Holly: The thing is, I love a book that’s layered. A book that has multiple dimensions. And I think a book gets layered with successive rewrites. Every single time an author goes back, she (or he) adds a new subplot. Or a secondary character that forces the protagonist to reveal another dimension of their personality. Or a simple turn-of-events that notches up the tension in what can so often be the saggy mid-section of a book.

When I’m writing that first draft, it seems so…two-dimensional to me. But once I start to go back, start to add in all those layers, and my book starts to come alive? THAT’S when my juices REALLY start flowing.

Mary: Do you work on more than one book at a time?

Holly: I ALWAYS have another book in the works. I’ve got a towering stack of manuscripts that I drafted in my pre-acceptance period, which now need to be revised and resubmitted. And, of course, there are the two books that are still in development. I know…to go from no publications to THREE in one year…I was incredibly lucky.

New ideas for novels pop up all the time. Drafting one project, I’ll get ideas for half a dozen additional books! When ideas pop into my head, I jot down whatever’s just come to me—a character sketch, a premise, a basic outline—then try to put it aside so that I can finish my task at hand. That also means I have a stack of notebooks FILLED with ideas for books! Honestly, once I finish a project, it's kind of hard to decide which idea / outline I want to tackle next. (What a fantastic dilemma, right?)

Mary: Yes, that is one great dilemma to have! What three things are always on your desk?

Holly: Confession time: I have a tendency to be a little bit of a slob while drafting. But I also tend to really want to tidy everything up while I’m revising! So my desk can either look totally cluttered or completely clean and dust-free, depending on what stage my writing’s in.

Three constants, through either clutter or clean, are a cup of hot coffee (cream, no sugar), my dog, Jake (who’s usually UNDER the desk or the nearby couch), and my glasses. (I’m totally blind—20/700 vision! So if I want to completely turn off my inner critic, I take my glasses off and type away. If I can’t SEE it, I can’t second-guess it!)

Mary: I love this! It’s a great way to tame that annoying internal critic.

Readers, now it’s your turn. Ask a question! Leave a comment! Holly will pop back in for one week to respond to questions and comments.

Operation Book Drop

From Readergirlz website:

In 2008 and 2009, readergirlz (http://www.readergirlz.com), Guys Lit Wire (http://guyslitwire.blogspot.com), and YALSA (http://www.ala.org/yalsa) orchestrated publishers' donations of nearly 20,000 new young adult books to hospitalized teens across the country.

For 2010, If I Can Read I Can Do Anything (http://www.ischool.utexas.edu/~ifican) has joined forces with these three organizations to drop over 10,000 new YA books, donated by publishers, into the hands of teens on Native American tribal lands. Nationwide, librarians, over 100 YA authors, and teens will drop YA books in their own communities on April 15th, 2010, to raise awareness for Operation TBD 2010 and Support Teen Literature Day. Everyone will join an online TBD Post-Op party at 6 PM PST / 9 PM EST that evening at the readergirlz blog (http://readergirlz.blogspot.com).

So Rock the Drop!

Interview with Ron Koertge

Marlene: Tell us about your book.

Ron: Shakespeare Makes the Playoffs is a sequel to Shakespeare Bats Cleanup, so readers are following Kevin Boland—poet and first baseman. (Both are novels-in-verse, free verse and not-so-free, but every page had to be a poem of some kind.)
In Shakespeare 1, Kevin hooks up with a girl who might not be much of a ball fan and only likes poems about her, but she is great looking! Every reader knows there’s going to be trouble. In Shakespeare 2, trouble shows up in the form of another girl, Amy. Not as cute but she loves poetry, too, and is big fun to be with. How’s Kevin going to work this out? He’s a good kid, so he’ll find a way. But it might not be easy!

Marlene: What was your inspiration for this story?

Ron: My wife and I like AAA and AA baseball. Major league teams have these farm clubs with stadiums (actually it’s stadia) within fifty miles or so of L.A. We were at the one in Lake Elsinore a few years ago and I saw a kid, thirteen at the most, sitting with is dad and writing something. I started thinking of a story about a boy like this, a fan of two very different things. I’d just written a novel and was tired of prose, so I thought I’d try my hand at poetry.

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

Ron: I’m one of those writers who revises a lot. A lot! And first drafts for me are almost always junky and fat. I write fast and blow by mistakes. Then I start over, sometimes from scratch. So I don’t remember the first words. There’s every chance they were for a poem that ended up deep in the book, anyway, since I don’t write novels-in-verse in order.

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

Ron: Are you kidding? I hate research. I’m a fiction writer. I make stuff up. Well, I guess you could count going to ball games. But I think of research as sitting indoors with a big book in front of me and wishing I were anyplace else.

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

Ron: There’s a form-of-poetry called a sestina. It doesn’t rhyme and it doesn’t have to be metrical, right? No da-Dum, da-Dum, da-Dum. But every stanza (except the last) has six lines. There are six stanzas (not counting the last) and the last words of stanza #1 have to be used as the last words of every line in every stanza but in a different order. Are you following this? Sestinas are so hard to write! The one in Shakespeare 2, though, is not only good, it’s hilarious. So that’s my favorite page.


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

Ron: The part of any book that makes me want to avoid it, is where I go first. That part is like the monster in my nightmares. When that happens in the night, I go right to the monster and put my arms around him and hug him and kiss him. Then he isn’t a monster anymore. And that works with the so-called hard part of a novel. I go right to it with my arms open wide. And the hard part melts like a Popsicle.


Marlene: What's on your nightstand right now?

Ron: Donald Barthelme. He’s such a weird and wonderful writer. I don’t read a lot of kids’ fiction and students I talk to during school visits sometimes don’t either. They read odd cats like Jack Kerouac or Italio Calvino. If I get something out of the library that’s too hard for me (that usually just means it’s dull), I take it back. I like to read over-my-head and I especially like to read “things I shouldn’t.”

Marlene: Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

Ron: I love to bet on thoroughbred horses. And, like my visits to the various AAA baseball diamonds around where I live, I like to go to different race tracks. A buddy of mine and I take a trip every year to see a different race track or two. So we’ve been to Canada and Arizona and Kentucky and six or eight other states. My wife likes the little tracks in Arizona—Sonoita, especially.


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

Ron: Gee, no. It’s about the only thing I’m good at. It costs me a few thousand dollars a year to bet on horses, so I can’t afford to quit writing even if I wanted to.


Marlene: Leaving aside reading other writers, are there things that inspire you?

Ron: Besides my wife and horses, I love the movies. I go to probably 60 or 70 of them every year plus watching TCM and IFC on TV plus renting videos. (Just last night I saw “Near Dark” again, a terrific vampire movie set in the Southwest. Cowboy vampires in a van. Who wouldn’t like that?) I love to sit in a theatre with thirty or three hundred strangers. And when I’m working on something of my own, little bits of the film fly off the screen and stick to me and want to be used in the new book. A word or turn of phrase. Maybe the furniture in a living room. Maybe just a barrette in some girl’s hair. I almost never go to a movie and come out empty-handed.

Readers, now it’s your turn. Ask a question! Leave a comment. Ron will pop back in for one week to respond.

Interview with Libby Schmais, author of The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein

Marlene: Tell us about your book

Libby: The Pillow Book of Lotus Lowenstein is a novel about existential dread, cupcakes and l’amour. It’s the story of a teenager named Lotus Lowenstein who lives in Park Slope and is kind of obsessed with Sartre (who she calls JP), France and falling in love. Her diary book chronicles her day-to-day life in Brooklyn, falling in love, going to Montreal, not to mention a falling out with her best friend Joni over Sean, the boy they both have feelings for.

Marlene: What was your inspiration for this story?

Libby: I was inspired by The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagan, which is a diary book written by a young woman in the Imperial Court of Japan in the year 1002 It’s called The Pillow Book because the author, Sei Shonagan, was given some notebooks by the Empress to make into a pillow. She used the notebooks to write her thoughts down. When I first read The Pillow Book, I was struck by how modern and even witty it was. I’ve always loved diary books, so I wanted to find a way to use the diary concept and The Pillow Book in a novel. I came up with the idea of a girl living in Park Slope, Brooklyn who was studying The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon in English class, and has the assignment of writing her own pillow book. This also allowed me to include a number of quotes from the original Pillow Book.

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

Libby: Yes, I remember writing the first sentence and immediately liking the character of Lotus. The beginning is pretty straightforward, in the classic first person narrative “Call Me Ishmael” tradition. Lotus starts with: As you may have guessed, my name is Lotus Lowenstein and this is my diary.

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

Libby: The research for this book was, as Lotus would say, très enjoyable. I read a great biography about the relationship between Jean Paul Sartre and Simone de Beauvoir, perused some books of French slang and existentialism and took a road trip to Montreal to eat Poutine (a Canadian concoction of French Fries, cheese curds and gravy). I also wandered around Park Slope, eating cupcakes and drinking cappuccino.

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

Libby: I am particularly fond of the opening of the book where Lotus describes her hopes and dreams, which involve moving to Paris and wandering around in a Trenchcoat with her imaginary French boyfriend, Jean-something.

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

Libby: One of the parts I had particular trouble with was the fight between the two best friends, Lotus and Joni, and accurately portraying the deep emotions of a friend breakup. Towards the end of the writing of the book, I actually had a falling out (later resolved) with one of my own close friends, which actually helped give me insight into how painful it was for Joni and Lotus.

Marlene: What's on your nightstand right now?

Libby: A glass of water, my Juice Beauty moisturizer, a book on Henry the VIII by Alison Weir (research for my next YA novel), Life in Tudor England (see the theme here), On Writers Block by Victoria Nelson (a great book) and Gidget (highly recommended & who knew she was Jewish).

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

Libby: Yes, there have been times that I’ve definitely wanted to quit writing. It’s easy to get discouraged when the writing isn’t going well, or when you start comparing yourself to other writers (always a bad idea). Before I started writing this book, I hadn’t written for a while. But I find than when I stop writing, I actually feel worse, not better, so I need to keep reminding myself of that during difficult writing periods.

Marlene: What’s the French Word du Jour?

Libby: Today’s French Word du Jour is Chouette, which means great. If you collect all the French words du jour on the Blog Tourapalooza, you can enter a contest to win fabulous prizes (A $25 Sephora gift card and a personally autographed Pillow Book!). Once you’ve visited all the blog tour stops and collected all the words, email the list of words to lotuslowenstein@gmail.com with the subject line “French Word du Jour Contest.” The deadline for entries is December 20th and a winner will be selected at random on December 22, 2009. The complete My-Life-Is-Merde-but-Have-a-Bonnes-Fêtes-Anyway Blog Tourapalooza schedule can be found at lotuslowenstein.com. Our next tour stop is Carrie’s YA Bookshelf http://carriesyabookshelf.blogspot.com/ on December 3, 2009. See you on the road, mes amis!

Readers, now it’s your turn. Ask a question! Leave a comment. Libby will pop back in for one week to respond. You’re up!

Interview with Alyson Noel, author of Shadowland

She always believed he was her destiny—but what if fate has other plans?

Enter the realm of The Immortals—and experience the extraordinary #1 New York Times bestselling series that has taken the world by storm.

Ever and Damen have traveled through countless past lives—and fought off the world’s darkest enemies—so they could be together forever. But just as their long-awaited destiny is finally within reach, a powerful curse falls upon Damen…one that could destroy everything. Now a single touch of their hands or a soft brush of their lips could mean sudden death—plunging Damen into a bleak afterlife in the Shadowland, an eternal abyss for lost souls. Desperate to break the curse and save Damen, Ever immerses herself in magick—and gets help from an unexpected source…Jude Knight.

Although she and Jude have only just met, he feels startlingly familiar. Despite her fierce loyalty to Damen, Ever is drawn to Jude, a green-eyed golden boy with magical talents and a mysterious past. She’s always believed Damen to be her soul mate and one true love—and she still believes it to be true. But as Damen pulls away to save them from the darkness inhabiting his soul, Ever’s connection with Jude grows stronger—and tests her love for Damen like never before…

Marlene: Tell us about your book

Alyson: SHADOWLAND is the third book in THE IMMORTALS series and it picks up right where BLUE MOON left off, with Damen and Ever unable to touch due to a poison that turns their touch lethal, prompting Ever to turn to magick, hoping to find a cure. Along the way encountering the mysterious Jude Knight who will test her love for Damen like never before . . .

Marlene: What was your inspiration for this story?

Alyson: The inspiration for the series was grief. A few years ago I lost three people I loved in five months, and shortly after that I nearly lost my husband to leukemia (he’s in full remission now!). Experiencing that sort of loss got me thinking a lot about life and death, mortality and immortality, the bonds that tie us even after a loved one is gone, and how our youth loving culture sort of seeks physical immortality by trying to remain youthful looking for as long as we can—and yet, what would happen if we really could achieve it? What would it mean for us, our loved ones, society in general? And since I’ve been interested in all things paranormal since I was a kid, Ever and Damen’s story seemed like the perfect vehicle to explore all of those themes.

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

Alyson: Yep—and it’s the same routine with each book. Before I start the actual writing, when I’m still in what I call the “organizing stage,” where I’m outlining, researching, and getting my notes together, that first sentence always just pops into my head, and so far, oddly enough, it’s never once changed!

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

Alyson: The research I’ve done for this series has been eye opening, mind-blowing, fascinating, and fun! I took a three-day, psychic development course with world famous medium James Van Praagh that exceeded all my wildest expectations, and I went under hypnosis for a past life regression with best selling author, Dr. Brian Weiss where I saw things I never could’ve imagined! I also read a ton of books on psychics, mediums, ghosts, reincarnation, near death experiences, past lives, chakras, crystals, you name it! And I took a few field trips as well, like one to The Getty museum where I checked out an exhibit I reference in SHADOWLAND, as well as a really fun trip to the “Shake Shack” in Crystal Cove where I pretty much had no choice but to consume a variety of milk shakes to ensure I got the flavors in EVERMORE right. Oh how I suffer for my art!

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

Alyson: Well, without giving anything away, I have two favorite scenes in SHADOWLAND. One that takes place in The Getty Museum in LA where some secrets of Damen’s are revealed, and one that takes place in an art gallery and Amsterdam that actually made me tear up!

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

Alyson: My deadlines are such that I have no time for avoiding or prolonged struggling—I just plow my way through no matter what!

Marlene: What's on your nightstand right now?

Alyson: The Encyclopedia of Ghosts and Spirits—research!

Marlene: I have that book too!

Marlene: Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

Alyson: Travel, Travel, Travel, reading, art, food, wine, movies, music, TV, shopping, and did I mention Travel?

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

Alyson: Nope, not once. I’ve had so many jobs I either disliked or hated, and this is not one of them. In fact, it’s not even a job—writing books is still a dream come true for me!

For more information about Alyson and her books visit her website at http://www.alysonnoel.com

Readers, now it’s your turn. Ask a question! Leave a comment. Alyson will pop back in for one week to respond. You’re up!

Teen Read Week with Marlene Perez

October 18-24 is Teen Read Week! Sponsored by YALSA, this year's theme is Read Beyond Reality @ your library, which encourages teens to read something out of this world, just for the fun of it.Here are a few "beyond reality" musings from YA Author Marlene Perez:

What is the strangest thing you have ever seen? I once lived in a house that I thought was haunted. Flickering lights, banging noises, and strange voices. I have a suspicion that it may have been one of my brothers playing a prank, but at the time, I was scared silly. Nevertheless, it left me with the idea that anything is possible.


Which Beyond Reality character would you want to have dinner with? All of them! But if I had to pick just a few, I'd say Aragorn from Lord of the Rings, Holden Caufield from Catcher in the Rye, Meg Murry and Calvin O'Keefe from A Wrinkle in Time.


In ten words or less, what is the most "Beyond Reality" thing in your newest book? Nightshade, CA (where the DEAD IS books take place) is a pretty unreal place, so the abnormal is the normal. So everything. And I can never say ANYTHING in ten words or less.

Laura Wiess Celebrates Teen Read Week

October 18-24 is Teen Read Week! Sponsored by YALSA, this year's theme is Read Beyond Reality @ your library, which encourages teens to read something out of this world, just for the fun of it.

Here are a few "beyond reality" musings from YA Author Laura Wiess:


What is the strangest thing you have ever seen?

Stranger than large, hairy men strolling the beach wearing nothing but Speedos, black socks and sandals? Sorry. That was an old summer flashback. But even my lone brush with the supernatural still kind of pales in comparison.

Have you ever encountered a ghost?

Well…I don't think of it as a ghost, exactly. More like a leftover imprint in time. But yes, I have.

About fifteen years ago, I was living in an old farmhouse in New Jersey, home alone writing in the studio off the living room, and I wanted fresh coffee. So I got up and totally preoccupied, walked through the living room and as I entered the kitchen (still lost in thought), I glanced down the hall leading to the back door.

There, standing inside and next to the door was a tall, thin old man wearing a plaid hunting shirt and a pair of old, worn-looking gray work pants.

I looked away and just kept walking, thinking distractedly, Oh, there's an old man by the door, and then skidded to a stop and was like What?? So I backed up three steps and looked again, and of course there was nothing there.

I waited a moment to see if I felt anything, but no. No chill, no threat, no ghostly whispers. I made sure the door was still locked – it was – and then I just started laughing because it was so cool. He was a stranger, maybe a hobo who'd stopped for food once a long time ago, maybe a former occupant. I have no idea, but I'd never seen him before, and never did again.

UFO?

No, I can't even manage to catch sight of a shooting star, despite the night sky being full of them here.

Other?

Not yet, but I'm pretty open to whatever comes along. (Even if nothing ever does.)

You wish you could:

Twitch my nose like Bewitched with the same grand spectrum of results. Oh, what a time I would have!


Which Beyond Reality character would you want to have dinner with?

I have two, both from A.M. Jenkins' novel Night Road. Cole, the main character, because he endlessly fascinates me, and Sandor because I think he'd be great to hang out with. I'd love to hear more of the stories of their lives.

Where would you go? What would you eat?

We'd need to be able to relax, talk freely and just hang around with nobody giving us dirty looks for hogging the table, so maybe an empty park with picnic tables in the shade. I'd bring deli food and coffee, but they would either have to feed before we met up or bring a Building omni along for a snack because my blood is definitely not on the menu.

In ten words or less, what is the most "Beyond Reality" thing in your newest book?

A secret past is invisible, unless it's deliberately revealed.

Laura Wiess is the author of Such a Pretty Girl, Leftovers, and the recently-released How It Ends. For more information, visit http://www.laurawiess.com/.

Thanks, Laura!

Your turn--have YOU ever seen a ghost?