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Thursday, December 5, 2013

Author Interview: Beth Bauman

2:00 AM | Posted by Ashley G. |

Today, I am pleased to welcome Beth Bauman, author of Jersey Angel, to Wholly Books! Beth was kind enough to do an interview with me! Check out what she had to say below and be sure to find out more about Beth and her book, Jersey Angel.

First, tell us something about Jersey Angel we should know before reading it that we won’t get from the description.

This is a serious book in many ways. The bikini butt cover belies that fact, maybe. It’s also a funny book. At least I think so.

Angel isn’t your typical YA female protagonist. How exactly did she come to be and why?

She first appeared, in a slightly different form, in a short story I wrote (the title story of my first book Beautiful Girls). I’d always wanted to make the story into a novel, because I liked the characters, and the more I mulled over the possibility I realized it was perfect material for YA, in that Angel is a character you don’t often find in teen fiction. It was fertile territory to explore a sexually unapologetic girl, a girl who behaves more like a boy when it comes to dating, romance, and sex.

Avid readers’ books tend to change quite frequently (at least mine do!) What’s your favorite book right now?

My three favorite recent reads are The Great Man by Kate Christensen, The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls by Anton DiSclafani, and Don’t Cry by Mary Gaitskill.

I believe all writers have something they want readers to take away from their books. What do you want
readers to take away from yours?

I want readers to learn about a girl who may be very different from them. I also want readers to enjoy the ride.

What’s the most challenging part of being a writer for you?

Not writing. When I’m not writing and want to be, I feel out of whack and it’s very hard to get going. It’s much easier to write once I have momentum on my side. It’s also hard to keep my butt in the chair. I often want to flit away, probably because writing well is so demanding. It’s a love/hate relationship.

Coke or Pepsi Diet Coke

Chocolate or Vanilla (both!)

Night Owl or Early Bird Night Owl, mostly.

Harry Potter or Twilight (I may be the only person on the planet who hasn’t read Harry Potter, though I want to! I don’t understand the Twilight craze)

Vampires or Werewolves Vampires
Zombies or Unicorns Zombies
Twitter or Facebook Facebook

MAC or PC PC (I want a MAC!)

Ebook or Print Print

ABOUT THE BOOK

Goodreads Description:

It’s the summer before senior year and the alluring Angel is ready to have fun. She’s not like her best friend, Inggy, who has a steady boyfriend, good grades, and college plans. Angel isn’t sure what she wants to do yet, but she has confidence and experience beyond her years. Still, her summer doesn’t start out as planned. Her good friend Joey doesn’t want to fool around anymore, he wants to be her boyfriend, while Angel doesn’t want to be tied down. As Joey pulls away, and Inggy tours colleges, Angel finds herself spending more time with Inggy’s boyfriend, Cork. With its cast of vivid and memorable characters, this tale from the Jersey shore is sure to make some waves.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

I’m the author of three books—a short story collection Beautiful Girls (MacAdam/Cage), and the young adult novels Rosie and Skate(Random House), which was selected for the New York Times Editors’ Choice list and Booklist’s Top 10 First Novels for Youth, andJersey Angel (Random House) forthcoming in May 2012. I’ve been awarded fellowships from the Jerome Foundation and the New York Foundation for the Arts. I live in New York City but will always be a Jersey girl at heart.

What’s the upside of being a writer?
Staying in my pajamas until 3:00 PM

What’s the downside of being a writer?
Not getting out of my pajamas until 3:00 PM

What does all this mean?
I need better pjs, I think.

My lofty (forgive me) thoughts on writing:
Writing is hard. Writing well is harder. To give voice to someone’s experience is a big and daunting challenge. Sometimes I don’t like writing at all. When it’s going badly it’s frustrating, boring, lonely. Sometimes I love it. I love how I can get lost in it, how it enlivens me. I think it’s good for my soul. Any work, not only creative work, that uses us, demands from us, is good for us. It’s what we’re here to do—spend ourselves.

Some of the coolest places I’ve been:
Kenya, Madagascar, Zanzibar, Tangier, Denali National Park, Mumbai

Some of my favorite things:
Dogs (big dogs), meatballs, swing dancing/lindy hop, the Jersey shore

Some of my favorite novels:
Jane Eyre
Lolita
The Member of the Wedding

Some of my favorite YA novels:
Weetzie Bat
Catcher in the Rye
Someday This Pain Will Be Useful to You

Some of my favorite children’s books:
Harriet the Spy
Matilda
Bridge to Terabithia
Anything by Kate DiCamillo

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Wednesday, December 4, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday (37)

12:00 AM | Posted by Ashley G. |

Waiting on Wednesday is hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine.

Title: The Unbound

Author: Victoria Schwab

Publisher: Hyperion

Release Date: January 28, 2014

Goodreads Description:

Imagine a place where the dead rest on shelves like books. Each body has a story to tell, a life seen in pictures that only Librarians can read. The dead are called Histories, and the vast realm in which they rest is the Archive.

Last summer, Mackenzie Bishop, a Keeper tasked with stopping violent Histories from escaping the Archive, almost lost her life to one. Now, as she starts her junior year at Hyde School, she's struggling to get her life back. But moving on isn't easy -- not when her dreams are haunted by what happened. She knows the past is past, knows it cannot hurt her, but it feels so real, and when her nightmares begin to creep into her waking hours, she starts to wonder if she's really safe.

Meanwhile, people are vanishing without a trace, and the only thing they seem to have in common is Mackenzie. She's sure the Archive knows more than they are letting on, but before she can prove it, she becomes the prime suspect. And unless Mac can track down the real culprit, she'll lose everything, not only her role as Keeper, but her memories, and even her life. Can Mackenzie untangle the mystery before she herself unravels?

With stunning prose and a captivating mixture of action, romance, and horror, The Unbound delves into a richly imagined world where no choice is easy and love and loss feel like two sides of the same coin.

Why I'm Waiting: The Archived was one of my favorite books this year! I absolutely loved it and can't wait to see what happens next with Mackenzie!

PREORDER THE UNBOUND

THE BOOKS DEPOSITORY | AMAZON | BN

Labels:Victoria Schwab,Waiting on Wednesday | 6 comments

Monday, November 25, 2013

Guest Post: Ingrid Jonach

12:00 AM | Posted by Ashley G. |

Remember that post I did about how I was obsessed with an old dead guy on That Awkward Thursday a while back? Well, turns out there is someone else that is even more obsessed with Albert Einstein than I am. Today, I am happy to have Ingrid Jonach, author of When the Word was Flat on the blog to discuss Albert Einstein and how/why it influenced her writing!

Enjoy!!

When the World was Flat and Einstein

Albert Einstein died in the early hours of April 18, 1955 in Princeton Hospital. The official cause was an abdominal aortic aneurysm. The internal bleeding could have been stemmed by surgery, but Einstein insisted he had done his share and it was his time. He was working on his Unified Field Theory at the time of his death, which he had called an attempt to “read the mind of God.” His final words were uttered in German to a nurse who spoke only English.

My imagination was captured by the circumstances of his death and the opinions of his contemporaries that he had wasted his final years on his Unified Field Theory, which is colloquially known as the Theory of Everything.

When the World was Flat (and we were in love) explores a reimagined history where Albert Einstein accepted a life-saving operation and lived long enough to finish his Theory of Everything and read the mind of God.

We are heading into spoiler territory, so I will sidestep it by telling you that I stumbled on the Theory of Everything while researching String Theory. A third theory that I wove into the book (but which is not actually mentioned) is Quantum Entanglement, which is a theory where particles are linked and can potentially explain what we otherwise would term Fate.

I am not a physicist. I just have an interest in physics and fringe science. There were times when I thought my brain was going to explode while I was reading up on the various theories that went into When the World was Flat (and we were in love). I did feel a bit better when I read that Einstein was not understood by many of his contemporaries, except for English astronomer Arthur Stanley Eddington, who led an expedition to West Africa that provided the first confirmation of his General Theory of Relativity.

Einstein was very modest though. He reportedly said about his genius, “It's not that I'm so smart. It's just that I stay with problems longer.”

He also had a knack for explaining his theories through simple and humorous sound bytes. His sense of humor was evident by his friendship with legendary comic Charlie Chaplin, who told Einstein, “People cheer me because they all understand me, and they cheer you because nobody understands you.”

Luckily for the general populace, Einstein believed that his theories were useless, unless they could be explained to a barmaid.

I now give you some of his most quotable quotes on his theories:

• “Put your hand on a stove for a minute and it seems like an hour. Sit with that special girl for an hour and it seems like a minute. That's relativity.”

• “Gravitation cannot be held responsible for people falling in love.”

• “Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one.”

• “Time is what prevents everything from happening at once.”

I really encourage everyone to read up on his theories and, if you are feeling like they are going over your head, just remember this Einstein quote: “Everybody is a genius. But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.”

About the Book

When the World was Flat (and we were in love)

Author: Ingrid Jonach

Publisher: Strange Chemistry

Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/15767908-when-the-world-was-flat

Available in hardcover, paperback, ebook and audio through all good bookstores and online.

Blurb

Looking back, I wonder if I had an inkling that my life was about to go from ordinary to extraordinary.

When sixteen-year-old Lillie Hart meets the gorgeous and mysterious Tom Windsor-Smith for the first time, it’s like fireworks — for her, anyway. Tom looks as if he would be more interested in watching paint dry; as if he is bored by her and by her small Nebraskan town in general.

But as Lillie begins to break down the walls of his seemingly impenetrable exterior, she starts to suspect that he holds the answers to her reoccurring nightmares and to the impossible memories which keep bubbling to the surface of her mind — memories of the two of them, together and in love.

When she at last learns the truth about their connection, Lillie discovers that Tom has been hiding an earth-shattering secret; a secret that is bigger — and much more terrifying and beautiful — than the both of them. She also discovers that once you finally understand that the world is round, there is no way to make it flat again.

An epic and deeply original sci-fi romance, taking inspiration from Albert Einstein’s theories and the world-bending wonder of true love itself.

Author Bio

Ingrid Jonach writes books for children and young adults, including the chapter books The Frank Frankie and Frankie goes to France published by Pan Macmillan, and When the World was Flat (and we were in love) published by Strange Chemistry.

Since graduating from university with a Bachelor of Arts in Professional Writing (Hons) in 2005, Ingrid has worked as a journalist and in public relations, as well as for the Australian Government.

Ingrid loves to promote reading and writing, and has been a guest speaker at a number of schools and literary festivals across Australia, where she lives with her husband Craig and their pug dog Mooshi.

Despite her best efforts, neither Craig nor Mooshi read fiction.

Find out more at www.ingridjonach.com

Labels:guest post | 0 comments

Thursday, November 21, 2013

Guest Post: Tracy E. Banghart

1:00 AM | Posted by Ashley G. |

Today, I am pleased to hand the blog over to Tracy E. Banghart. Tracey has written an excellent post about her writing process in honor of NaNoWriMo (which I am totally behind in right now). I hope you all enjoy! :)

Thanks again, Tracy!!

My Writing Process – An Evolution

Ashley invited me to Wholly Books to talk about my writing process in honor of NaNoWriMo. Thanks so much for having me, Ashley!

The thing about my writing process is…it’s changed. You hear all the time about authors and their “formulas” or “she’s a pantser” or outliner or whatever. I’m working on my fourth novel now, and the truth is, my process is completely different this time around.

My first completed novel, Moon Child, was actually a Nano novel. Up to that point I’d begun a lot of projects, even gotten about 40k into one…but I’d never been able to go the distance. I’d get stuck or bored or distracted…and put it away, move on. It was a terrible habit and one I had to break. So, when I heard about National Novel Writing Month, I knew this was my chance. Nano TOTALLY worked for me. The forums filled with commiserating writers, the challenge of the word count graph, the email pep talks…the whole structure of Nano was the kick in the butt I needed to bang out a short, messy COMPLETE first draft.

I think, at the time, actually FINISHING was the biggest mental hurdle I had to leap. After I’d proven to myself I could do it, the actual finishing took less of my focus. With my second novel, By Blood, I gave myself a little more time. I still wrote fast (and kept my own daily word count chart) but I had space to be a little more thoughtful, to plan a bit more. I fell into the habit of taking notes for the next scene when I was finished writing for the day, so I’d know where to begin next time. I still do this…it’s a great way to overcome the pressure of a blank page.

When revisions of my third novel, Shattered Veil (also a Nano book) ended up taking years, I made a realization about my writing. Up to that point I’d been writing short first drafts…blowing through the story, rushing to the end as if scared (still) that I wouldn’t make it. My first drafts were filled with holes: missing scenes, absent character development, huge chunks of telling instead of showing. In revision, I had to unpack those rushed scenes. I had to fill in the blanks.

To be honest, it can be really hard to tell where the blanks are. I relied so much on my critique partners telling me where they felt the story was “missing something”...instead of polishing and adding nuance, my first several revision rounds consisted of writing entirely new scenes. Even occasionally creating new characters.

So, with my current work in progress, I decided to try something different. I told myself I’d write EVERYTHING down…and cut later. I wouldn’t watch the clock, I wouldn’t count words…I’d just write every detail that came to me and worry about whether it was “too much” later.

It’s taken me a lot longer to write this novel (definitely NOT Nano-worthy). But I’ve found that slowing down, taking my time, has made this first draft cleaner and more complete than any of the others. Maybe it’ll require less revision. One can hope. ;)

But one thing I’ve learned in comparing both processes….a good book takes time to write. Whether it’s time at the revision stage, where a messy first draft is painstakingly groomed into something beautiful…or at the first draft stage, each word carefully considered and given weight…if you want to write a good book, you have to do what works for you. And it’s okay to take the time – at the beginning or later in the process – to slow down, be thoughtful, and make sure the story you’re trying to tell has made it onto the page.

Whether you’re a slow writer, fast writer, plotter or pantser, it’s all about finding the best way to tell YOUR story. Good luck to everybody participating in Nano…and to everyone – Nano or not – who is striving towards those two magical words…

THE END.

About the Author

Tracy E. Banghart is the author of YA novels By Blood and Moon Child, and the forthcoming NA scifi Shattered Veil (Feb 2014). She’s an Army wife, Mom, and cupcake connoisseur.

About the Books

Moon Child

A Companion to By Blood

Before Emma's adventures in Oxford, her best friend Diana came face-to-face with a killer...

Diana Calvert is so over high school. Who cares if Olivia hates her? And David needs to forget about having a crush on her STAT. Even Emma’s crazy fashion choices can’t keep Diana entertained. All she can hope for is a dance scholarship to a college as far away as possible from too-small, too-boring, too-nothing-ever-happens New Freedom, PA.

Then Diana meets Nicholas Woodhaven. He’s pale, angry…yet weirdly charming. And she can’t stop thinking about him. The more time they spend together, the more she wonders who – or what – he really is. Because he isn’t anything like the other guys she knows. Not with the whole only-going-out-at-night thing. And living with his creepy aunt instead of his parents. Not to mention, he doesn't even go to school!

Just when Diana thinks she’s got Nicholas all figured out, people in her small, nothing-ever-happens town start dying. She has to wonder – can she trust him? And even more alarming – could she be next?

A murder mystery with a paranormal twist, Moon Child is best read under the covers with a flashlight...if you dare!

Add to your shelf on Goodreads!

Now available on Amazon!

By Blood

A Companion Novel to Moon Child

For 17-year-old Emma Wong, spending a summer in England should be a dream come true. Gorgeous scenery? Check. Lots of hot guys with accents? Yes, please.

Spending two months with her mom, Dr. Mike (don’t call him her stepdad), and their pooping, puking infant son? Not what she had in mind. It’s a disaster even her favorite cherry red leather jacket can’t fix (leather and spit-up do notmix).

Not only does she get put on diaper duty (gag), but there’s also Dr. Mike’s cute research assistant to contend with. The only thing more embarrassing than her trying to plant one on him hours after they meet is knowing he’ll be a witness to her family’s dysfunction all. summer. long.

So when Emma meets a mysterious girl who happens to be a Druid, the summer suddenly promises to be far more intriguing than she expected. Powerful rituals, new friends, an intoxicating sense of freedom...and Simon, the sexy foreign stranger she was hoping for. It’s all a perfect distraction from dirty diapers and awkward family dinners.

Trouble is, intriguing doesn’t often mean simple. And Emma is about to discover just how not simple her life really is.

Add to your shelf on Goodreads!

Now available on Amazon, and most ebook retailers.

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