YA Q&A with Natasha Sinel

Yay! Yay! YAY!!!  Did you know that Natasha Sinel’s debut novel, THE FIX, came out yesterday?  Well, it did and I’m super lucky to get to host her for YA Q&A.  If you want to know more about her favorite super powers and about her new book, then read on!

 

BW: You wake up one morning and, OMG, you can fly. What’s the first thing you do with your new ability?

NS: Well, I want to take a test-fly immediately because…I can fly!? So I zoom around my bedroom and realize a minute too late that I have no idea how to steer or stop. I slam sideways into my dresser and everything on it falls to the floor with a loud crash. Well, at least now I know one way to stop.

BW: Turns out your parents aren’t too happy with the dent you put in the wall. What fictional character do you ask to help you get out of the bind, and how do they “fix” you?

NS: On my way to school, I run into the Green Hornet, and even though he doesn’t fly, he explains wind patterns and aerodynamics to me. He also tells me that my new power is tip-top secret, and if I tell anyone that I can fly, I will lose my ability.

BW: Green hornet, huh? He is sort of pretty to look at. Back to normal, you arrive at school and literally crash into your crush. He asks you why you’re shaken up. What do you tell him?

NS: “I can fly!” I say. He looks at me funny.

BW: He isn’t convinced you’re telling the truth — after all, it’s a pretty far fetched story. He suggests going somewhere to talk about it more. Where’s this dream date taking place?

NS: I take him to the roof to prove I can fly. I stand on the edge and just as I’m about to take off, I remember the Green Hornet’s words: “If you tell anyone, you’ll lose your ability. Poof!” Suddenly, I feel kind of wobbly, like I’m going to fall. “I fear I can no longer fly!” I shout as I jump back onto the roof. My crush gives me that funny look again. “Maybe I’ll see you around sometime,” he says and heads back into the school building.

BW:  Aww! Sad. It might not be true love yet, but there is a Happily Ever After in your near future. As a Fearless Fifteener, your debut is out this year. Tell us about your book in 140 characters or less.

NS: When Macy falls for Sebastian, she realizes that revealing her shameful past could ruin her family but keeping silent could destroy her.

BW: And if that isn’t enough info, here’s the full synopsis for THE FIX.

One conversation is all it takes to break a world wide open.

Seventeen-year-old Macy Lyons has been through something no one should ever have to experience. And she’s dealt with it entirely alone.

On the outside, she’s got it pretty good. Her family’s well-off, she’s dating the cute boy next door, she has plenty of friends, and although she long ago wrote her mother off as a superficial gym rat, she’s thankful to have allies in her loving, laid-back dad and her younger brother.

But a conversation with a boy at a party one night shakes Macy out of the carefully maintained complacency that has defined her life so far. The boy is Sebastian Ruiz, a recovering addict who recognizes that Macy is hardened by dark secrets. And as Macy falls for Sebastian, she realizes that, while revealing her secret could ruin her seemingly perfect family, keeping silent might just destroy her.

The Fix follows two good-hearted teenagers coming to terms with the cards they were dealt. It’s also about the fixes we rely on to cope with our most shameful secrets and the hope and fear that comes with meeting someone who challenges us to come clean.

About Natasha:

 

Natasha Sinel writes YA fiction from her home on a dirt road in Northern Westchester, NY. She drives her kids around all afternoon but in her head, she’s still in high school and hopes no one near her can read minds. THE FIX is her first novel.

Becky Wallace is the author of THE KEEPERS’ CHRONICLES: THE STORYSPINNER, a magical adventure in which a case of mistaken identity exposes a young performer to a danger she could have never imagined and a secret her father died to protect. It will be available from Simon & Schuster in March 2015. When Becky’s not writing, she’s baking cupcakes and teaching her kids ’90s dance moves.

ALL FOUR KIDS: An Interview with Rachel M. Wilson, Author of DON’T TOUCH

Today we welcome OneFour KidLit author Rachel M. Wilson, whose YA debut, DON’T TOUCH, releases September 2nd!

About DON’T TOUCH:

Caddie has a history of magical thinking—of playing games in her head to cope with her surroundings—but it’s never been this bad before.

When her parents split up, don’t touch becomes Caddie’s mantra. Maybe if she keeps from touching another person’s skin, Dad will come home. She knows it doesn’t make sense, but her games have never been logical. Soon, despite Alabama’s humidity, she’s covering every inch of skin and wearing evening gloves to school.

And that’s where things get tricky. Even though Caddie’s the new girl, it’s hard to play off her compulsions as artistic quirks. Friends notice things. Her drama class is all about interacting with her scene partners, especially Peter, who’s auditioning for the role of Hamlet. Caddie desperately wants to play Ophelia, but if she does, she’ll have to touch Peter…and kiss him. Part of Caddie would love nothing more than to kiss Peter—but the other part isn’t sure she’s brave enough to let herself fall.

From rising star Rachel M. Wilson comes a powerful, moving debut novel of the friendship and love that are there for us, if only we’ll let them in.

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LG: Congratulations on the release of DON’T TOUCH! It’s a powerful, tough story that’s told beautifully. What inspired you to write it?

RMW: Thank you so much! I was inspired in part by my own experience with OCD and anxiety, and in part by those more ordinary fears that can keep up from the life we want to be leading. It’s possible to waste so much time with fear, to become completely paralyzed at the thought of change, and that’s something I wanted to explore. I also wanted to get into stigma—both from the outside and the inside—the fear of being seen as strange or off-balance and all the complications that can bring to relationships. In a way, I think I was writing to my younger self, wanting to say, “yes, I see how bad this can be, but it also won’t be the end of your world.”

I gave an interview at Disability in Kidlit that goes into more depth about OCD for anyone who’s particularly interested in that.
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LG: How much research when into creating Caddie’s anxiety, and Caddie herself?

RMW: Well, even though I experienced OCD and anxiety myself, Caddie’s symptoms and life circumstances are different from my own, so I still did a bunch of reading about OCD and other anxiety disorders. At one point, I tried focusing on a touch phobia as opposed to OCD, but I found that the magical thinking I’d built into the story belonged more properly in the OCD world. I think I was scared of writing too close to myself, or of misrepresenting something I ought to know well in the process of making fiction. But ultimately, I decided I’d given a healthy amount of attention to those fears and it was time to put them aside. I consulted with a couple of psychiatrist friends to ensure that Caddie’s symptoms rang true for them. And while writing my author’s note, I checked in with a couple of counselor friends who work with youth to make sure I wasn’t unintentionally saying anything harmful.

In terms of Caddie’s character, I used a lot of the character creation techniques I learned while studying acting – playing with metaphors, free-writing, interviewing her. I also created a Pandora station of music that suited Caddie to get myself in her headspace.

LG: Theatre plays a large aspect within the book. Why did you find theatre important for Caddie’s story, aside from the fact that it’ll force her to touch Peter? And why Hamlet?

RMW: She’s always acting, always putting on a show that everything’s okay. One of the titles I considered for this book was Cadence Finn Is Fine—but that sounds a lot like a chapter book. Even before theater was a part of the story, I knew I wanted that element of performing for others to be in Caddie’s character. Out of all the scenes in the book, some version of that first lunch scene has survived from the very beginning, and it was always about that, trying to pretend like nothing bothers you when inside you’re falling apart. I was using acting as a metaphor before it became a concrete part of the storyline. In an earlier draft, Caddie was a ballerina—as with OCD, I think I was afraid of writing Caddie too close to myself. It helped me to write Caddie’s story with those degrees of remove and then bring the ingredients that I knew well back into the story. Not the most efficient process, but hey, it made a novel.

Hamlet came into the picture fairly late in the game as well. Early drafts used The Glass Menagerie, but I wanted to use lots of text from the play and worried about securing permission for that. Plus, that play introduced resonances that didn’t match up with Caddie and Peter’s relationship. A mentor suggested Hamlet after seeing how many scenes involved water imagery or swimming pools; I’d been thinking about that myself, so I reread the play, and was like, “Yeah, that’s right.” There’s so much language about fear and doubt, and Hamlet’s the classic character who’s always acting but afraid to take action. Ophelia was the obvious foil for Caddie, but I became equally interested in how Hamlet relates to Caddie’s character.

LG: What was the hardest part of writing your story? And what was your favorite part?

RMW: The hardest part was probably finding that external storyline—as may have been suggested above, I tried several. I really wrote two or three potential books in tandem, so at some point, I had to perform major surgery and sever the one that survives from all the other possibilities.

My favorite part was drafting those scenes that seemed to come out of the aether. Many of these went through major revision later on, but while writing, I’d get that feeling, this, this is my story . . . this will be a part of my book no matter what. Because I wrote so much that was exploratory and fumbling, writing those scenes I felt confident would stick was a huge boost.

LG: In general, when did you figure out you wanted to be writer, and what inspired you to become one?

RMW: I didn’t figure that out until my senior year of college, and my inspiration came out of theater. I’d been studying acting, but as an actor, you’re always a player in someone else’s story—the playwright’s, the director’s. I needed a creative outlet where I had total control. *laughs maniacally* My acting teacher required us to freewrite every morning, and out of that came a desire to write fiction. I was already very into the adaptation of literature for the stage. Writing adaptations was a kind of stepping stone to writing original fiction because it forced me to take apart and study all the elements of a text. Eventually, I started creating original characters and stories, and I ran with that.

LG: Last, as this community is fearless, we’d like to know something you are afraid of and something you are not afraid of.

RMW: As will probably be clear to readers of DON’T TOUCH, I’m afraid of change, but I’m more afraid of stasis. I have a recurring nightmare about being in a house full of other people’s junk that I don’t know how to get rid of, and I think that comes from a fear of being stuck in the past or tied down by old stuff. I’ve rarely met a horror movie I didn’t like, but I could never make it through an episode of Hoarders.

I’m not at all afraid of heights, or at least, it’s a fear I enjoy–that thrill of standing on the edge of something. The fear’s natural, and it’s fun to stand there in spite of it.
About Rachel M. Wilson:

Rachel M. Wilson studied theater at Northwestern University and received her MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Originally from Alabama, Rachel currently writes, acts, and teaches in Chicago, IL. DON’T TOUCH is her first novel. Rachel can best be found on her blog, Tumblr, or Twitter.

Lauren Gibaldi is an author and public librarian who lives in Orlando, FL with her husband and overflowing collection of books. She likes dinosaurs, musicals, and the circus (two of which she’s participated in. Hint: It’s not being a dinosaur). Her debut YA novel, THE NIGHT WE SAID YES, will be released summer 2015 with HarperTeen/HarperCollins.

ALL FOUR KIDS: AN INTERVIEW WITH LISA COLOZZA COCCA, AUTHOR OF PROVIDENCE

Today we are featuring OneFourKidLit author Lisa Colozza Cocca, whose YA debut PROVIDENCE came out on March 18!

About PROVIDENCE:

“I first met Baby Girl in a freight car.
I was carrying a bag.
She was sleeping in one.”

When Becky runs away from home she sees it as a temporary solution to a problem. Finding an abandoned newborn is nowhere on her radar. Yet only hours after leaving home, she finds herself in a new town making decisions that will affect both Baby Girl and herself. As she forges bonds with the people in town and the infant she has rescued, Becky becomes more tangled in the web of lies she has hidden behind. Who can she trust with the truth?

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Sharon Roat: Congratulations on your debut, Lisa! Can you tell us what sparked the idea for your novel?

Lisa Colozza Cocca: Thank you. Quite some time ago, I saw a news story about a girl who found an abandoned newborn on the roof of the apartment building in which the girl lived. She immediately told her mother, who called the authorities. Later, a news reporter interviewed the girl and told her she was a hero for saving the baby’s life. This little girl was having none of that. As far as she was concerned, she had found the baby, the baby needed a family to love her, she and her mom were a family with plenty of love to spare, so who were these people taking the baby away? It seemed totally unjust to her.

When I decided to write the book, I knew the protagonist couldn’t be a ten year old girl. She needed to be old enough to keep the baby safe and thriving and there needed to be no adult intervention keeping her from caring for the child. Hence, my main character, Becky, became a sixteen year old runaway.

SR: PROVIDENCE takes place in a small Georgia town, far from your stomping grounds of upstate New York and New Jersey! What inspired you set your novel in the south and what kind of research did you do to capture the feel of the place?

LCC: One of my favorite things to do in life is explore and what better way to do that than a road trip? I’ve been on many and love to cruise through small towns along the way. So often, these towns make me feel like I’ve traveled back in time. Watson’s Grove is really a compilation of all of those towns – the ones’ whose main streets have seen a revival and those who are still suffering from neglect. As for why it is set in the south, I hope my answer doesn’t make me sound strange. I knew I wanted it somewhere freight trains still stop with some regularity. Beyond that, I had Becky’s voice in my head and that voice told me this was the South. Things like adoption laws and GED policies can easily be researched.

SR: I love your title, PROVIDENCE, which is simple yet represents a complex concept. How did you choose the title and how does it reflect the theme of your novel?

LCC: Thank you. For a while I had thought about Serendipity for the title. Although outcomes are dependent on how each character reacts to the various situations in the book, the opportunities seem to simply fall into place. The more I thought about it though, Rosie, one of the other main characters in the book, is very religious. She would have never thought the intersection of the characters’ lives was pure chance. She saw God’s hand in it and acted accordingly. So I guess in a way, Rosie chose the title when she told Becky their relationship was providence.

SR: While PROVIDENCE is your debut novel, you’ve written quite extensively for young readers as an author of school and library materials. Can you tell us a little bit about your journey as a writer and where you hope that path will take you in the years ahead?

LCC: A little more than a decade ago, I went to a writer’s conference. We were seated in a large room waiting for the keynote speaker. The woman sitting next to me started chatting about her work. She was the director of the art department at a publishing house. They specialized in educational materials and she told me a bit about the products they were working on. I’m not an illustrator, but I was familiar with the reading program she was discussing. She offered me her card and the name of a colleague who was looking for another writer for the program. I followed through and was soon writing for this program. (Serendipity? Providence? Hmmm…) This led to many other jobs and after about two years, writing and editing became my full time job as a freelancer. Originally, I thought this move would give me more time for my own writing. Wow, was I wrong. After writing and editing for eight to twelve hours a day, it was tough to sit back down at a computer and write some more. Eventually, I worked it out and although I’m not perfect at it, I am better at keeping a balance between the two worlds. As to the future, I would love it if someday I could cut back on my day job and devote more time to my personal writing. I don’t think I want to give up the educational work entirely though. For one thing, it pays the bills and I like things like electricity, heat, and health insurance. For the other, I really love my job. I work on so many different kinds of projects. They feed my self-discipline, my creativity, and make me think. I’ve met some wonderful people through it.

SR: What are you working on now?

LCC: I’m polishing another novel. It is a bit younger YA, I think than PROVIDENCE. It is set in the early sixties and has quite a bit more humor in it.

SR: And lastly, as this community is fearless, we’d like to know something you are afraid of and something you are not afraid of.

LCC: I am intensely afraid of heights and speed. This makes me no fun at an amusement park. One thing I’m not afraid of anymore is failing. I’ve lived long enough to know I can bounce back from a failure. It might mean I have to adapt in some way, but it won’t be the end of me. I think once you realize something doesn’t have complete control over you, you’re no longer afraid of it. Now, if I could only apply that philosophy to heights and speed!

Lisa, thank you so much for the interview, and huge congrats on your debut!

ABOUT LISA COLOZZA COCCA:

Lisa grew up in upstate New York between Albany and Saratoga, and lives in New Jersey today. She has always worked around books as a teacher and school librarian. She’s also authored tons of school and library materials. PROVIDENCE is Lisa’s first published novel. Visit her on Facebook and Twitter!

Sharon Roat is the author of IVY’S TOWER (HarperTeen), a contemporary young adult novel coming in summer 2015. She lives in Delaware and can be found online at YA Q&A and on Twitter @sharonwrote.

ALL FOUR KIDS: An Interview with Julie Murphy, Author of SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY

Today, we welcome OneFour KidLit author Julie Murphy, whose YA debut, SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY, releases today!

About SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY:

What if you’d been living your life as if you were dying—only to find out that you had your whole future ahead of you?

When sixteen-year-old Alice is diagnosed with leukemia, her prognosis is grim. To maximize the time she does have, she vows to spend her final months righting wrongs—however she sees fit. She convinces her friend Harvey, whom she knows has always had feelings for her, to help her with a crazy bucket list that’s as much about revenge (humiliating her ex-boyfriend and getting back at her arch nemesis) as it is about hope (doing something unexpectedly kind for a stranger and reliving some childhood memories). But just when Alice’s scores are settled, she goes into remission.

Now Alice is forced to face the consequences of all that she’s said and done, as well as her true feelings for Harvey. But has she done irreparable damage to the people around her, and to the one person who matters most?

Julie Murphy’s SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY is a fearless and moving tour de force about love, life, and facing your own mortality.

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JM: I’m so happy to be here! Thanks for having me!

LG: SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY has a fantastic premise – a girl with incurable cancer decides to seek revenge on those who’ve been mean to her, and then, when all is said and done, she goes into remission. What was your inspiration for this story?

JM: Until recently, I had worked with teens at a public library. At one of our gatherings, the teens and I got into a heated discussion about the zombie apocalypse and where we would all barricade ourselves should we be stranded in the library. This topic quickly evolved into a discussion about all the things that we weren’t allowed to do in a library that we might do if all bets were off. And that’s where it all began. Here I am on the OneFour KidLit YouTube channel, talking more about my inspiration while my cats steal the show.

LG: How much research went into the story in regards to Alice’s diagnosis and treatments?

JM: When I wrote the first draft, I actually hadn’t decided what kind of cancer Alice had. I consulted with a few medical professional friends and the ever trusty internet quite a bit as I weaved in the details of her illness. But most my research time was spent reading blogs written by cancer patients. Have a glimpse into their situation and mindset was invaluable. People who had lived really full, incredible lives were emotional wrecks. Witnessing their struggle was a painful necessity. There’s nothing pretty about cancer, but I am forever grateful to those who have chosen to document their journey.

LG: You wrote the book from both Alice and Harvey’s perspectives, and also in two timelines – before remission (then) and after (now). Was it hard going back and forth between voices and time periods? Did you write it chronologically, or how it appears in the book? Did you prefer one voice over the other?

JM: It was actually a very natural thing. I didn’t write chronologically. I love both of their voices in such different ways. After being with one of them for a few days, it was kind of a relief to get into a new headspace.

LG: Alice is a strong, raw, determined character. She does some things, especially to Harvey, that aren’t always likable, yet we’re still able to cheer her on. Why did you create her like that? Was it hard?

JM: I wanted to create someone who was the antagonist of her own story. Sure, Alice is strong, but like all of us, her greatest strengths can also be her greatest weaknesses. Alice toes this line. For example, Alice is honest, and sometimes you love her for it, but at other times it’s her greatest downfall. My hope was that she would feel human above all, and I think that’s what makes it possible to cheer for her. It was definitely a challenge, but Harvey created this wonderful balance that only made my job easier.

LG: Can you tell us a bit about your writing process, and your follow-up novel?

JM: Well, I used to be a total pantser, but after selling my second book on proposal, that just was not going to work. Book two, DUMPLIN’, has had an outline since day one. It’s definitely morphed, but the heart of the story has remained. Since I’m still writing DUMPLIN’, I can’t say much but I can give these hints: fat girl, small town, Texas, Dolly Parton, beauty pageant, best friend love, secret summer romance, and grief.

LG: How has the debut process for you been? Any advice for the Fearless Fifteeners?

JM: Everything happens at once. Publishing is all about stretches of painful silence, and then flurries of action. Enjoy the flurries, and learn the value of the silence. It’s all about balance. (Something I don’t think I’ll ever finish learning.)

LG: And, last, since this is a fearless community, what’s something you’re afraid of, and something you’re not afraid of?

JM: I am terrified of cicadas. I am not terrified of failure. Been there. Done that.

About Julie Murphy:

Julie Murphy lives in North Texas with her husband who loves her, her dog who adores her, and her cat who tolerates her. When she’s not writing or trying to catch stray cats, she works at an academic library. SIDE EFFECTS MAY VARY is Julie’s debut novel. Julie can best be found on her website , Tumblr , or Twitter .

Lauren Gibaldi is an author and public librarian who lives in Orlando, FL with her husband and overflowing collection of books. She likes dinosaurs, musicals, and the circus (two of which she’s participated in. Hint: It’s not being a dinosaur). Her debut YA novel, THE NIGHT WE SAID YES, will be released summer 2015 with HarperTeen/HarperCollins.

ALL FOUR KIDS: An Interview with Maria E. Andreu, THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY

Today, we welcome OneFour KidLit author Maria E. Andreu to the blog to discuss her debut novel, THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY. Here’s the book’s official blurb:

As a straight-A student with a budding romance and loyal best friend, M.T.’s life seems as apple-pie American as her blondish hair and pale skin. But M.T. hides two facts to the contrary: her full name of Monserrat Thalia and her status as an undocumented immigrant. But it’s harder to hide now that M.T.’s a senior. Her school’s National Honor Society wants her to plan their trip abroad, her best friend won’t stop bugging her to get her driver’s license, and all everyone talks about is where they want to go to college. M.T. is pretty sure she can’t go to college, and with high school ending and her family life unraveling, she’s staring down a future that just seems empty. In the end, M.T. will need to trust herself and others to stake a claim in the life that she wants.

KS: You’ve said THE SECRET SIDE OF EMPTY has some autobiographical elements. Which parts are based on your own experiences?

MA: Well, the big one obviously is that I too was undocumented. I went to a small parochial school. I wondered how I was going to build a “normal” life when so many things seemed stacked against me. And some small details are nods to real life too. I really met my high school boyfriend the way the protagonist meets hers. I really did have a Ms. North in my life. Things like that.

That said, the book is mostly fiction. Real life is messy, lessons take a long time to learn, things stop and start and stop in ways that don’t make for a very clean narrative. I took the real emotion of it and put it to snappier, grander action.

KS: You take exception to the term “illegal immigrant” to describe your main character, MT. Can you explain?

MA: There is a wonderful quote from Elie Weisel, author of Man’s Search for Meaning, that says, “No human being is illegal.” Calling a human being “an illegal” as if it were a noun, or even an “illegal immigrant,” has a dehumanizing effect which then opens the door for people to pile on other judgements. It basically says that the human being is illegal, not their actions. In M.T.’s case, it’s not even her own actions that have made her undocumented. Her parents brought her as a baby.

If you get ticketed for speeding, are you an illegal driver? If you’re late on your taxes, are you an illegal taxpayer? Being undocumented isn’t even a violation of criminal law. It’s a violation on confusing and conflicting civil statutes. No human being is illegal.

-steps off soapbox-

KS: MT’s major secret is that she’s undocumented. What are the other “secret sides” to MT?

MA: M.T. hides a lot of secrets. She doesn’t tell her friends what’s going on in her life, not just her undocumented status but everything that’s happening at home. She doesn’t tell her boyfriend Nate her fears and vulnerabilities. She doesn’t tell people at school what’s causing her grades to slip. When stuff finally starts to hit the fan she doesn’t want to tell anyone the truth about herself. So she’s just a bundle of secrets. She wants to go it alone. Or, rather, she thinks she has to.

The other characters have their secrets too. Her best friend Chelsea’s life isn’t as perfect as it seems. Her boyfriend Nate has something he’s not telling her. Even Quinn, whom some might consider something of an unlikeable character, has a story we don’t know at the start which reveals something unexpected about her character. Part of what I wanted to say with this book is that everyone’s got something they’re hiding or not fully revealing. No one’s life is really as it seems from the outside.

KS: MT’s future is shaped by federal regulations, laws, and policies that are out of her control. Did you have to do a lot of research on immigration policy to write it?

MA: As someone who has been undocumented, I knew a lot of the background. I’ve also volunteered for a non-profit that lobbies for immigration reform and awareness, so I get some of it there. But TSSoE isn’t a policy book. There’s actually not a lot of that in there. I’ve tried to let the reader into M.T.’s experience of being undocumented, complete with the confusion, fear and lack of information.

KS: As this community is fearless, we’d like to know something you’re afraid of and something you are not afraid of.

MA: I can almost always trace anything that’s making me afraid – problems with mates, kids, work – to the fear of not being heard and considered. Of not mattering. That is probably my biggest fear. Probably not surprising given my story.

As for what I’m not afraid of: I’m no longer afraid that I won’t do what I’d dreamed of with my life. I don’t know if ten people or a million people are going to read this book, but I know I’ve written it. How the world feels about it is out of my hands. But I can live the rest of my life knowing I put it out there. And that feels amazing.

Go Fearless Fifteeners! Can’t wait to read your wonderful stories!

Author Maria E. Andreu draws from her personal experience as a (formerly) undocumented immigrant to explore an issue that affects over one million children in the U.S. But while the subject matter is timely, it is M.T.’s sharp, darkly funny voice and longing for a future that makes this story universally poignant.

http://mariaeandreu.com/about/contact/

https://twitter.com/WriterSideofM

Kim Savage is the author of AFTER THE WOODS, a debut psychological thriller for young adults coming in 2015 with Farrar, Straus and Giroux/MacMillan. She is working on CELLOPHANE SISTERS (working title), also with FSG/MacMillan, her second thriller for young adults. Before writing fiction, she worked as business journalist, pitching stories along the lines of “Stigmatized Properties: When Murder Kills Property Values”. You get the idea.

Introducing: Sarah J. Schmitt

Hello everyone! I’m Sarah J. Schmitt and I’m a Fearless Fifteeners premie. My YA Ghost story, IT’S A WONDERFUL DEATH, comes out from Strange Chemistry (Fall, 2014).

When I was in fourth grade, I proclaimed to my mother that I was going to be a writer. Many decades later, that dream is finally coming true. I even came in second in a county wide writing contest when I was a freshman in high school. (I lost to my English teacher’s son… I wanted to cry fix, but they showed me the shiny trophy and I was distracted.) When I got to college, I decided I needed to get serious and got a bachelor’s degree in Political Science and Psychology, but I kept writing a few pages of fiction here and there. When I graduated, I was pretty directionless. I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life, so when someone commented that I would be a good college administrator, I thought, “Sure, what the heck.”

Best and worst decision of my life. Worst decision because midway through my first semester of graduate school, I realized I was tired of school and just wanted to be a writer. Best decision because I finally figured out what I wanted to do with my life and I met so many amazing people who encouraged me to follow my dreams. They continue to be the greatest cheerleaders of all time. I graduated with my Masters, came home, wrote seventeen chapters of a horrible novel, had two babies and thought this is as good as it’s going to get.

Then one day, when I was folding clothes and watching The Ellen Show. Ellen was interviewing Stephanie Meyer about Twilight and I remember Stephanie saying she had three small kids at home and had never wanted to write a book before but she had to know how the dream ended. I thought to myself, “Hey. I only have two kids and I’ve always wanted to write a book. If she can do it, why can’t I?” That week I started writing and within 6 months had a first draft. It was that moment, on October 3, 2009, that I knew this is what I was supposed to do with my life.

Three years and two completed manuscripts later, I decided that I was FINALLY going to “win” NaNoWriMo, but instead of saving the world like my other books, I just wanted to save the cheerleader… a snarky, self-centered, barely redeemable cheerleader. I finished in 23 days and then revised for six months before sending out my first batch of query letters. A week later I signed with my agent, Liza Fleissig of Liza Royce Agency and five months later received my offer from Strange Chemistry.

I’m looking forward to the year to come and celebrating the successes of my Fearless Fifteeners! This is a crazy wicked talented group of writers!

Here’s the summary of IT’S A WONDERFUL DEATH.

Seventeen-year-old RJ always gets what she wants. So when her soul is accidentally collected by a distracted Grim Reaper, somebody in the afterlife better figure out a way to send her back from the dead or heads will roll. But in her quest for mortality, she becomes a pawn in a power struggle between an over-zealous arch angel, who has grown tired of the white wings and harps, and the Hawaiian-shirt wearing Death Himself.

While she waits for the decision of the Tribunal charged with determining whether her life is worth rewinding the hands of time, RJ wanders through the afterlife where she meets several colorful characters including the Cornhole-playing St. Peter and Al, the handler for the 3-headed Hound that guards the gates to Hell. Finally, the Tribunal present her with two options: she can remain in the Lobby, where souls wait to be processed, until her original lifeline expires or replay three moments in her life in an effort to make choices that will produce a future deemed worthy of being saved. It sounds like a no brainer. She’ll take the walk down memory lane. How hard can changing her future be?

But with each moment, RJ’s life begins to unravel until this self-proclaimed Queen Bee is a social pariah. She begins to wonder if walking among the living is worth it if she has to spend the next sixty years as an outcast.

Sarah J. Schmitt is a K-8 school librarian and Youth Service Professional for Teens at a public library. She lives outside of Indianapolis with her husband, two kidlets and a cat who might actually be a secret agent. Her debut novel, IT’S A WONDERFUL DEATH, comes out Fall 2014 from Strange Chemistry. Check out her antics on Twitter.