Joy Preble's Blog, page 39

guilty and not so guilty pleasures

I have now watched parts of the new Lifetime bio pic about Jo Rowling two times. Actually, for all I know, it may not be a new movie. It is just new to me. Eventually, I will have to see the entire thing. Do you ever have that happen - you flip by a movie on some channel and then three days later it runs again but somehow even though it's a different day and a different time you still end up seeing about the same exact 30 minutes?

I have no idea if it's a good movie or a bad movie. But it's every wanna be author's dream story, even beyond the feel good part about how JK Rowling was a single mother on welfare when she finished writing HP. There was something just tingly about watching the scenes every author waits for: I have an agent! He sold my book! He gave me a check! I got a copy of the real book in the mail! I did a reading at a book store! I sold foreign rights! (in this case it was the American rights)

And here's the part that was the most fun: When Jo's agent Chris says on the phone, "You'll be getting a phone call from Scholastic from a man named Arthur Levine," and I smiled and laughed because I have met Arthur Levine and I adore Arthur Levine and once on an elevator at SCBWI LA Arthur Levine told me that it was going to be chilly outside and maybe I should go back up and get a sweater! This was totally awesome tv.

I also wrote more on the WIP this weekend. I am loving me my WIP.

What I'm not loving? The chinch bug invasion that's killed our front lawn. But the nice guys from Ray's Nursery are attempting to make it better with chemical warfare. Watch out nasty chinch bugs! You are not long for this world.

Thank You Borders

The publishing world is buzzing with the news that Borders is now closing all stores, starting this week. Personally, I was stunned. I figured they would make it through the bankruptcy, consolidate things and regroup. But when they didn't find a buyer, it was over.

Here in the northern burbs of Houston, my local Borders had stayed open after the initial closings and had continued to do well. One reason for this - besides the staff - is that it is a free-standing store, making for easy access and impromptu visits. There's a spacious cafe upstairs, where I've written and hosted literary magazine events with students. To be honest, it always seemed a little too large - definitely some wasted space and a lot spent on music, cd's etc, that just always felt unused, although interesting to browse. But as I say, the store did well. A few years back our B&N moved from its free standing store next to Target to a huge two story property at the mall. While it is accessible from outside the mall proper, there is very little parking near the store itself, most of which gets taken by the waitstaff at PF Changs and Brios by about 4 PM. Unless you're at the mall already, it is doubtful that you would just drop by B&N on a whim as I used to do. In the free standing store, one of my favorite things to do if I'd had a crap day at school was to stop by for about 20 minutes or so. I'd get a coffee or tea and browse. Generally, I'd buy something. No more. Now it is a planned event. And the B&N cafe is about the size of a pencil eraser. Much less fun. I adore the B&N staff. But getting to the store is an endurance contest.

Borders has had a long and wonderful relationship with my publisher, Sourcebooks. Sourcebooks writes about that here. And Borders has been very, very kind to me. Borders supported paperbacks with great zeal, and my Dreaming Anastasia series has been published in trade paperback. Borders jumped on the Dreaming Anastasia wagon from the start and has continued to stock and feature my books long into their life. For a smaller, genre blend paranormal/historical fiction from a medium sized independent house and an author who up until 9/09 was teaching Julius Caesar to the masses, chaperoning the Homecoming dance, and cheering at her son's football games, this is huge. I mean seriously, you have no idea how huge!

Assistant mgr. Cindy Wexler at my local Borders has been a dream as well. She has personally supported my career many times over - inviting me to do signings, writers' workshops, featuring my book on many special displays and tables. This kind of special attention can be rare, but it wasn't rare at Borders. And it helped me build my career.

Lots of talk now about what happens next. Will other bookstores take over some of the properties? Will our beloved indies benefit and grow. (I hope so) Will it be something else we can't anticipate - like some groups of authors banding together to start bookstores? (someone mentioned this, so I figured I'd throw it out there)

I am huge fan (as is Sourcebooks) of getting books to readers in as many platforms as possible. I love my Kindle and read on it most days. But I write for the childrens' market. By and large, my readers don't have e-readers. Kids and teens buy their books by walking into a brick and mortar store, browsing, socializing, talking to the booksellers. Now there is one fewer place where this can be done. The books that might not end up on the one shelf of YA at Target, well, they're not going to be known or read. That word of mouth will be that much less. It is a tragedy and a problem. When I joined with the Roecker sisters for Indie support day, I asked readers to tell me about their favorite bookstore, indie or otherwise. I heard from reader after reader who don't have a single store close to them. Like I say, it's a problem. And I think it's more than just the economy and more than just a shift in how we bring books to readers. The loss of Borders is a problem and a tragedy because it has closed another avenue for reader choice.

Going to ponder this more, I know. Hope you will too.
Let me know what you think.

Tuesday talk

Began the huge office closet purge. Found the novel I started sophomore year in college. My ode to bad breakups and guys who just can't commit and the girls who fall for them. guys = the guy I'd broken up with. girls= nineteen year old me.

Nervously awaiting the edit letter on Again and Again. (which I hope I won't have to re-write again and again...)

Do you watch Covert Affairs? You must! Tonight Augie flashes back to the story of how he became blind. And takes his shirt off. Oh Augie.

Got sucked into season one of Real Housewives of NYC - it's like tv crack, I tell you. You start while you're cleaning the closet (see above) and find yourself no longer cleaning, just watching. And okay, I'll admit it - Andy Cohen and Watch What Happens Live? I love this. Mazel of the week, jackhole of the week... why do I find this so funny??

Shifting gears to other projects is hard once you've had your head in one book for so long. But shift I must.

Had to actually jog home from my walk because it began raining. Which is good because we are in this horrible drought. And my lawn is brown and crunchy. And it pisses me off to see people whose lawns are green and lush because we are on water restrictions. And the only people whose lawns look good are those who believe the rules are made for suckers like me.

Sarah Mlynowski's 10 Things We Did (And Probably Shouldn't Have) is absolutely brilliant. I love, love, love this book. I had no time to read but still I tore through it, unable to put it down.

I found the absolute best hideous 80% mark down purple prom dress to use for my malevolent Russian mermaid (aka - rusalka) costume for Austin Comic Con. It has one diagonal strap that is covered in huge purple 'gem' stones. I LOVE this dress for its tackiness. Now I need to rough it up some. Yay!

Must write.
Til next time...

Monday Musings and a Huge Thank You

Last Friday was my deadline for turning in book 3 of the Dreaming Anastasia trilogy - currently titled Again and Again. Been mostly chained to the laptop for the past few weeks. The end of any book always gets me to that crazy place - the one where all I want to do is write. You forget to eat (at least anything beyond green tea, coffee or chocolate). You are distracted and possibly snappish (not that you'lld admit it) when someone (your husband, your best friend, the AC guy who you called to your house) asks you something. You stay up until the wee hours and find yourself up again early to get at it. You find places back in chapter five that you hadn't revised when you did that last draft. The ones that still say things like "Ethan (dressed in something really hot and historically appropriate)..." And yes, that's what you have typed still - that stuff in the parentheses.

Did you like how I tried to distance myself from the crazy by using 'you' ? Uh huh. I'm just that clever.

In any case, I cleaned my work space yesterday and can actually see the desk surface. Amazing.
And I find myself very sentimental about these characters I've lived and breathed for so many years. Anne and Ethan popped into my head in the late fall of 2004/early 2005. An enormous amount of change has gone on in my life since then, much, but not all of it caused by the ripple of these two characters and the stories I've been lucky enough to get to weave around them. The more I wrote them, the more I fell in love with them and their world. I loved writing about this girl who had no idea she was destined to be a hero and the struggles and loss and love that would come from that destiny. And I adored writing about this guy who had lived a very, very long time but would come to realize that he knew very little about himself or love or destiny and that he was about to learn it from this brave girl who would steal his heart. It doesn't spoil book 3 to say that Anne and Ethan take a while coming to their love. Because the central conflicts of their stories are not about love as much as about life and choices and the things life throws at us that we can never ever expect. Love is just a surprising and glorious extra event that makes the loss and struggle bearable.

If you have read Dreaming Anastasia and/or Haunted - thank you! If you have bought a copy for a friend, thank you! If you have mentioned the books or reviewed the books, thank you! If you turned a copy face out at the book store, well thank you for that, too! If you haven't read yet but are reading this post, well thank you for that, too. Readers and book bloggers and librarians - you have rocked my world for a long time now, and your support has helped me be able to write this third and final installment because you spread the word about this little series. I can't thank you enough.

But right now, I'm telling you, people! It's hard to let go of these characters!! And I'm already excited about next spring when book 3 is actually out in the world.

So today's question: If you're a writer - is it hard to let go when you finish a book/series?
If you're a reader - what are books/characters that you found it hard to let go of? Are there characters who rattle around in your head still?

Later this week: a July giveaway of all sorts of cool books!!

And check out Lisa and Laura's(my Sourcebooks sisters) latest post on WriteOnCon - coming up next month!!
http://lisa-laura.blogspot.com/2011/07/do-you-want-to-win-1000.html

Thoughts about a Trilogy

Writing Again and Again (which might not ultimately be the title but is the name on the contract so it's all I've got right now) has taught me a lot.
In no particular order:

Third books are harder than they look. So many arcs to wrap up; so many choices as to where these characters will finally end up. I've known the general beats to this series for years, but then I get writing and well, things change. Characters evolve. Their motivations shift. It's tricky business. And absolutely crucial that I get it right. We'll see what Editor Leah thinks next week when she receives the manuscript! (I love you, Editor Leah)


Tess is still my favorite character to write. She's funny and brave and smarter than she looks. Other characters sometimes underestimate Tess. Ethan has been one of those. He assumes because she's a smart ass with a habit of rambling that he can dismiss her. But in book 3, he's realizing that Tess has Substance. Most of my readers love Tess as much as I do. Occasionally I hear from someone who doesn't. Usually they object to her quippiness. As someone who frequently uses to humor to offset tense or sad situations, I love that I've given Tess this habit. Really true example: Last year my mother in law passed away very suddenly after a short illness. It was a brutal couple of months; she went from being completely lucid and independent to, well, not. And then she died. We were all sort of reeling. This was unexpected. We were not prepared. Okay, you are never prepared. Husband is an only child. There was no one else but me to lean on. So there we are in the funeral home, and it's time to pick the coffin. If you have never had to do this, let me explain. This is one of those moments where the death experience becomes the sales experience. They take you into a coffin showroom. And they show you the cheapest one first. Then they try to step you up to the fancy one that has a pillow and colored silk lining. And then they leave you alone to decide. Let me interject here that my husband 'gets me.' This is why he married me. I'm decent in a crisis. But there he stands muttering "what color? what color?" Because the one we chose - middle of the road model - comes in like six different colors. No lie. And I'm thinking, does it matter? Really? Is someone going to stand up at the cemetery and say, "You know, if only the coffin was purple..."? So I quip. And tell him, "Get white. White doesn't show dirt." This is what people like Tess and me do in times of crisis. My husband now tells this story all the time. People are either highly amused or horrified. If you are horrified, then Tess probably won't be your cup of tea.

Allowing Anne and Ethan to grow into their love story - however it may turn out and I am not going to tell you; you will just have to wait until next year to find out - has been a good choice for me. I have worked hard to understand what is in their hearts and right for them. This is good for some readers; not so good for others. Actually, I just read a really wonderful review on B&N that addresses this. AVC75 says:

The boy/girl relationship is portrayed realistically - teenagers driven by their emotions and insecurities, not prone to calmly/rationally discuss how they honestly feel about each other or tell each other the full truth of what is really going on in their lives. Hence, a majority of the book may be painful for those who wanted to see an immediate "happily ever after" to Anne and Ethan's budding relationship in Dreaming Anastasia, but it is an important part of the character development - no cliched weakling women and superman men here.

Thank you for that! Especially because this review really gets it - Anne is the hero. And the hero has other things to do besides find her true love. Oh she wants to. I want her to. You want her to. Ethan would like it a lot, too! But she has other stuff to do. Heroic stuff. And so it's a balance.

Trying to write a third book while actively promoting the second and working a full time job and having a family life and oh yeah, a son who just got married.... a little much on the old plate, I'd say. I have always been the world's best multi-tasker. Piece of cake, I thought. I have graded papers and written scenes while sitting in a paper robe waiting for my yearly pap smear. I can do this. Turns out I couldn't. At least not like I thought. I found my limits. I was thrown over right after Spring Break, otherwise known as the week I graded research papers, went on the Bachelorette Cruise to Mexico, and then got in my rental KIA and book-toured LA once we hit shore. And two weeks later went to Salt Lake City to tour there. And in between kept teaching those six classes. (for the uninitiated - high school English classes in suburban Texas public schools contain somewhere between 25 and 35 students) You can do the math on your own. Some weeks I wrote for about 40 minutes. Not enough. This coming year, I will be writing full time/working part time. I'll let you know how it goes. Possibly we'll be so tired of the all ramen diet by the end of the year that I'll go back to crazy world. Possibly like my character Anne, I'll find my needed balance.

So what do you think? Any thoughts this morning on female protagonists in general? Tess and Anne? Romance in fanatasy books or books in general? The weird stuff people do in crisis situations? Third books of trilogies? Finding balance? Writing while still maintaining a job and a life? Whether or not I should go see Cowboys and Aliens at the end of the month? (just threw that last one in there to see if you were paying attention)

til next time...

Hanging out with Christina Mandelski

One of the awesomest (yes, it can be a word. Why? Cause I said so) things that happened in April when I went to TLA was getting to know Christina Mandelski. She writes! She loves cake! (We had a bakery in the family for years. My Aunt Dina and Uncle Leon - both skimming about 5 feet tall - ran it, and here is Chris writing about Sheridan Wells, queen of the cake decorators! ) She is funny and adorable! She actually lives not far from me! She is beffies with my breakfast buddy Crystal Allen. (who is also adorable and funny and smart and lives a little farther from me but really loves cake, too)

Speaking of cake - Rao's Bakery on Cypresswood in Spring, Texas makes kick butt cakes; we had Italian Cream and Red Velvet slices at critique group last night. I am still on a lovely sugar high. (And in case you think the northern Houston suburbs do not produce anything but cake and heat and fire ants - which is partially true - let me briefly digress to say that the Klein School District has also produced some phenomenal actors that you see regularly on tv. One them is the son of family friends. For his privacy, I will leave that a mystery. BR will appreciate it. Oops. Yes, it's true, Jim Parsons (Sheldon on Big Bang Theory), Ben Rappaport (who starred in the now defunct Outsourced and has also been on Broadway! And who looks exactly like his dad except w/out the beard), and Matt Bomer (the highly hot star of USA's summer series, White Collar) - all products of high schools in the Klein ISD right here in otherwise boring Spring, Texas. We are a happening place.

But back to Christina Mandelski - well, she's not quite from the rarefied atmosphere of Spring, actor capitol of the world - but she's pretty close and darn cool and she stopped by the blog today to chat.

Here's what Amazon has to say about The Sweetest Thing:

Product Description
A delicious confection for Sarah Dessen fans

In the world of Sheridan Wells, life is perfect when she's decorating a cake. Unfortunately, everything else is a complete mess: her mom ran off years ago, her dad is more interested in his restaurant, and the idea of a boyfriend is laughable.
But Sheridan is convinced finding her mom will solve all her problems—only her dad's about to get a cooking show in New York, which means her dream of a perfect family will be dashed.

Using just the right amount of romance, family drama, and cute boys, The Sweetest Thing will entice fans with its perfect mixture of girl-friendly ingredients.

And here's a few words from Chris herself:

When It Rains, It Pours

It's hot here in Houston, and dry. But the week before last, after something like 150 days, it finally rained. The morning started out dark, long rolls of thunder ambled across the wide Texas sky, and then the sky opened up. Facebook statuses rang out the news – "OMG, it's raining!", and "What's that stuff falling from the sky?".

It was only rain, but it felt a little bit like a miracle.

Ironically, not too long ago, I felt like my writing was in a drought of its own. My novel released on May 10th, I finished a manuscript and was revising, but my mind kept returning to the question, what's next?

It's a scary question for any writer, published or not. When will that next great idea come? Will it come? Or am I totally dried up?

I wasn't asking for a miracle. The idea didn't have to be a fully-formed (though that would have been nice), it didn't have to have a title, or even a main character. It just had to be something that got me excited, a brief squall, if you will. Just enough to dampen the old creative soil and allow something to sprout up.

But back in May, nada. Crickets. My creative reservoir was on empty and I saw no chance of precipitation in the forecast.

Until one day in New York (where I was attending BEA with my Class of 2k11 peeps), when I met with the head of my agency. He's a cool guy, who I thought would want to talk about my book, my career path, business stuff, you know? And he did, a bit, but more than that, he wanted to hear about my next idea (I had a few lame ones to share, which he proceeded to help me flesh out).

We covered a lot of ground, but I found, when the meeting was over, that my mind had camped on one particular phrase he'd used, comparing one of my ideas to Alfred Hitchcock's classic movie To Catch a Thief (one of my favorites). I hadn't thought of it like that, at all, but he was right.

Rumble, rumble, was that thunder I heard in the distance?

The rest of my time in New York, I couldn't get my mind off of that idea. It burrowed its way into my brain and began to grow – sitting in JFK airport, in the midst of awful delays (terrible storms in the northeast), I joyfully took notes on everything from plot points, to the main character's name (I'll call her Diana, because she's on the hunt to find out who framed her dad). I made some headway, and Monday morning, I was in my chair at home, writing with abandon.

In the course of a week, I'd gone from dust bowl to my cup runneth over. Not that it's the best idea ever, not that I won't completely gut it in revisions. It's too soon to think like that. For now, I'm just enjoying the relief of a dry spell that's ended.

Writing is weird that way, don't you think? If you're in a drought of your own at the moment, I urge you to keep your eyes and ears open, and don't get discouraged. Read a book, bounce ideas (no matter how lame you might think they are) off of writing friends, and wait. There's thunder in the distance, the rain is coming, and if you're lucky, it'll grow something beautiful.

Thanks so much Joy, for letting me commandeer the blog today!
Thanks back, Chris! Want to find out more about The Sweetest Thing (on shelves now from Egmont USA) and Christina Mandelski? Here's how:
http://www.christinamandelski.com/
http://www.willwrite4cake.blogspot.com/

Musing on Monday

Taking a little lunch break while dashing to the finish line on Again and Again. But as I've just crammed some salad in my mouth and the tea is about done brewing, this is going to be quick. Lunch lasts approximately five minutes when I'm on deadline. Although compared to meeting this deadline while teaching six classes, it's a piece of cake. Well sort of. Okay, I've got note cards everywhere and it's chaos here. But it's coming along. For you, gentle readers. All for you!

A peek into Joy's brain:


It is our anniversary on Friday. I need to get the hubs a gift. Other than my fabulous presence in his life.
I've watched bits and pieces of Falling Sky. I think it's growing on me.
It does not however, have the guilty pleasure pull of Covert Affairs. How much am I in love with Augie? When he took off his shirt last week and called Annie "Sugarplum." *dies in a good way*
The wedding we went to this weekend in the Texas Hill Country included at least five choices of pie.I also think I ate my weight in ridiculously tasty jalapeno poppers. Plus a gorgeous bride and groom. And boot stomping dancing. And mason jars and lots of long neck beer choices. And the prodigal son and the new wife were there with us. So cute.
I need to see Super 8. Really.
In November I will be at Austin Comic Con! More on that very soon.

Til next time...

and the winner of the autographed FORGIVEN is

Sylvia Sanchez!!

All of you had amazing answers to what place inspires you. But the contest hat has picked Sylvia, who responded with this:

Sylvia Sanchez said...
All life I always dreamed of moving as far away from home as I possibly could and when I graduated high school my dream came true. I left my home in NYC and went to a very small college in Florida called Saint Leo University. It was the first time in my life that I was truly happy and made me feel proud of myself. Everytime I feel depressed I just visit and it puts all my doubts about myself right out of my mind.

My most favorite place in the world and the place that inspires me is a beautiful lake behind my dorm at Saint Leo. To me its the most magical place. Living in the Bonx, I really never had a place to about nature but looking out at the lake made me realize how much more there is outside of new york waiting for me to find it.

My nephew Raymond came to visit me once while I was at Saint Leo and I took him to my lake so we can relax under the weeping willow trees and talk. Raymond is autistic and has never been to a "normal" school but confessed he dreamed of going to college but knew he had to go to a regular high school in order to do it. We talked for hours and while siting on the shore an alligator floated by (since this was florida no one thought to warn me of huge reptiles living in my backyard) and for some strange reason it inspired Raymond to try for high school saying "if the gator can live here and not eat me then I can go to school....it can happen"

That day on the lake was over 8 yrs ago but Raymond went to High school and graduated. he is attending community college.

Congrats Sylvia! Please email me with your mailing address and Janet will send you your book!

The Buffy Factor

I call it the Twilight effect. Happens to many of us who write YA with paranormal romance elements. A reviewer will comment that this character or that character or this plot development or that one is influenced by Twlight. Write a love triangle? You're just trying to cash in on the Team Edward/Team Jacob thing. Have a character who's immortal or invincible or some such, even if he's not a vampire? Edward. You're trying to make him be Edward. Yup. No doubt about it. Girl character torn between her normal life and the paranormal craziness that she's stumbled upon? Bella wannabe. You hack, you.

This is the power of Stephenie Meyer. Her readers often assume that there was nothing before her. And possibly nothing original that can come after. I get it. I really do. And I'm cool with it. I love the Twilight books, too, although Bella is sometimes too passive for my tastes. Now if she attacked her dad once she turned into a vamp? I'd be on board with that. It would put a little muscle into the journey toward that HEA.
The problem with this line of thinking is that books take years to get onto a shelf. A novel that hit the shelves this month or last year, or even the year before, most likely came from an idea developed four or five or more years before that. That is - pre-Twilight. Or at most, concurrent with the first book's release. Any similarity is just that whole "good ideas float through the air and a bunch of us catch them at the same time" theory.
Except - here is something that I have noticed. Many, many of us who have broken into the business in the past few years do have something in common. Buffy. As in BTVS. Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
For the uninitiated, here's the basic blueprint: One girl chosen to slay the vampires and save the world. Mentored by her Watcher, Rupert Giles. Supported by her Scooby Gang -brilliant, funny and loyal Willow, goofy guy pal Xander, Queen Bee cheerleader Cordelia (who is braver than she knows). And in a heart wrenching star-crossed lovers relationship with a 200 year old vampire with a soul named Angel. Add in some star quality baddies like Spike and Dru and creator Joss Whedon's unique and memorize-worthy dialogue and you've got the show that I lived and breathed for seven years. And so, it seems, did about every other author over 25 that I meet.
So here's the question: Does it resonate in our writing? I'd say a resounding yes. The campy movie came out in the earlier 90's but the show began on the fledgling WB Network in the spring of 1996. I found it during the episode in which Buffy was attempting to balance going on a date with a normal guy and perform her Slayer duties. All in one night. It was funny, scary and poignant all rolled into one. I was hooked. And over the years, it was like a tutorial of storytelling - of how to mix pathos and humor and horror, how to hit the right funny beats, how to arc a series and characters and make it all blend.
Not every episode worked. (The Zeppo was lost on me) But the two parter in season two where Buffy gives in to her passion and sleeps with Angel only to discover that this "moment of true happiness" has a loophole of causing him to lose his soul, return to his evil vamp ways and start killing all her friends - it's two of the best hours of television ever. When it came to Buffy, Joss Whedon was the master of giving the viewers what they wanted most - in this case for Buffy and Angel to seal the deal - and then ripping it away from us in the most emotionally horrific way possible. This was, after all, a show that for the first three seasons was a metaphor for high school as hell. The end of that same season topped that perfection: Willow returns Angel's soul to him, but Buffy has to kill him and send him to hell in order to save the world from the demon Acathala. "Close your eyes," she tells her poor bewildered re-souled lover. And then she stabs him with a sword.
So what do you think? Notice any Buffy parallels in current YA? Let me know what you think.
Grrr. Arrgh.

In Which I Interview Janet Fox about her new YA, Forgiven. Plus a Contest!

Janet Fox is not only an amazing writer, she is also an amazing friend. We buddied up during our Class of 2k9 debut author days and have stayed that way ever since. At that time, she lived in College Station, Texas, which was only about an hour or so from me. It was Janet who introduced me to the Austin writing crew, including Cynthia and Greg Leitich Smith and Varian Johnson, among many others. We've had many writer adventures together, Janet and I - appearing together at conferences, hiking the aisles at TLA, exploring the wilds of Oklahoma City and Disney World. (You have to love the NCTE folks for placing last year's conference in Orlando!) So it's my absolute pleasure to host her here with her newest book – Forgiven, which is a companion to Faithful and on shelves now!

AND PLEASE READ TO THE END. Janet is giving away a signed ARC of Forgiven. The contest is explained below.

Here's the Amazon product description of Forgiven:

Product Description
Kula Baker never expected to find herself on the streets of San Francisco, alone but for a letter of introduction. Though she has come to the city to save her father from a cruel fate, Kula soon finds herself swept up in a world of art and elegance - a world she hardly dared dream of back in Montana, where she was no more than the daughter of an outlaw. And then there is the handsome David Wong, whose smiling eyes and soft-spoken manner have an uncanny way of breaking through Kula's carefully crafted reserve. Yet when disaster strikes and the wreckage threatens all she holds dear, Kula realizes that only by unlocking her heart can she begin to carve a new future for herself.

And here's what Janet had to say when we sat down at our laptops to chat:

Joy: So tell us a little bit about why you decided to mine the character of Kula for a companion novel to Faithful. What was it about Kula and her story that kept speaking to you? Did you always know that you might write Forgiven?

Janet: I didn't know that I would write Forgiven until about six months before the novel was due. But Kula was a favorite character from the time she sprang out of my imagination. I loved her feisty spirit and her flaws – her bull-headed stubborn personality appealed to me. I could see through her superficial defensiveness to what I knew was an open heart. That's why I had to tell her story: I wanted to know what she'd do when I put her in a difficult situation.

Joy: Forgiven is set with the backdrop of the 1906 earthquake in San Francisco. Tell us what drew you to that setting and time period.

Janet: I have an MS in geology, and I'm fascinated by natural processes. When it came time to write Kula's story I wanted her to be in a place that was challenging, and what better challenge than suffering through a major natural disaster? The world has seen its fair share of natural disasters lately (although I obviously had no idea how resonant an earthquake would be). But I also knew a bit about the San Francisco earthquake and I admired how the people of the city rose up afterward and rebuilt her. I love that perseverance. And I love the rapid change of society of the early 20th century.

Joy: You definitely have a thing for strong women characters who have to learn to use their inner strength and find their path. Is this something you consciously think about?

Janet: Not consciously, but I do admire strong women (and thanks for that lovely compliment!) My own mother was a strong woman with a very lady-like veneer, and my grandmother, my father's mother, was a true pioneering spirit, so perhaps I inherited their willful natures. I do think it's important for me to write about strong girls, because I firmly believe that tween and teen readers today need to see strong female role models taking on challenges and not just letting the guy be the hero who solves the girl's problems for her.

Joy: As a writer, I'm always fascinated with the journey to publication. Has the second book journey been the same as the first? Any notable differences?

Janet: The biggest difference between Faithful and Forgiven was how quickly I had to write the second book (six months from start to finish.) I couldn't have done that if I had to start from scratch; I already knew Kula and the time period so I was able to pull it off. Now I'm writing a novel that requires a new load of research and this journey is very different – I have more time, and it's a very different story with a very different protagonist. But the primary difference for me is that these subsequent books were already bought by the publisher. I feel lucky because this gives me the courage to try new things, knowing that my editor will guide me, as long as I produce the best possible work.

Joy: I know the next novel you're working on is also historical fiction. What attracts you to this genre? What advice might you give prospective writers who are crafting a work of historical fiction?

Janet: First, I do love the research. It's so much fun to find interesting tidbits of history – to feel like I can "live" in another time. And second, I love making history relevant: finding those places where historical and contemporary issues collide and overlap, and helping teens/tweens see that there is truly something to be gained by understanding the past. For prospective writers of historical fiction I suggest that they read widely in the genre of historical fiction, and also once they decide on a period they'd like to write about, to read novels or pieces actually published in that period, which gives a great sense of the "voice" of that period.

Joy: Stuff you need when you write? (tea? a special chair? chocolate? music?)

Janet: I need silence. I love the "idea" of working to music, but in fact it drives me nuts. I can write anywhere, any time, as long as I have silence. And coffee in the morning. And the ability to walk around once every hour or so and talk out loud to myself.

Joy: You've recently moved to Montana. Is your writing different now that you're looking out the window at the mountains rather than the concrete of College Station, Texas?

Janet: Actually, no. I feel like I plunge down a rabbit hole when I write and I only rarely look out of it. Even when I'm wandering around talking to myself, my inner eye is focused on the scene I'm writing. Having said that, once the end of the day rolls around and I finally gaze out the window, I am deeply inspired by – in love with – the mountains and the big skies of Montana.


WANT TO WIN A SIGNED ADVANCED READING COPY OF FORGIVEN? HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO DO:

Comment on this post and answer the following question: Janet finds much inspiration in places in the West, especially Montana, where she now lives, not far from Yellowstone National Park. What place or places inspire you? How? Why?

We'll place the best answers in the contest hat and pick a winner for the ARC. Contest is open through Friday, June 24th.