Jessi Kirby and The Girlfriends’ Cyber Circuit!!!

I am insanely honored and excited because I’ve been invited to join the Girlfriends’ Cyber Circuit.  The GCC (everything’s better with an acronym) is an amazing group of YA authors who bring to life new YA releases and the authors behind them with unique, fun interviews… now including one here on this blog!

My first GCC visitor is Jessi Kirby, whose new book, In Honor, is now available.  I have some questions for Jessi (and I love her answers), but first, a little about her:

Jessi Kirby is the author of Moonglass, published in May 2011 by Simon and Schuster. She is also a wife, mom, English teacher and former librarian, beach bum, runner, and lover of Contemporary YA, strong coffee, and dark chocolate.

For more information, find her on Simon and Schuster’s Official Author Page, at www.jessikirby.com, and/or on Facebook and Twitter.

 

 

As for her latest book, In Honor, here’s the scoop:

Honor receives her brother’s last letter from Iraq three days after learning that he died, and opens it the day his fellow Marines lay the flag over his casket. Its contents are a complete shock: concert tickets to see Kyra Kelly, her favorite pop star and Finn’s celebrity crush. In his letter, he jokingly charged Honor with the task of telling Kyra Kelly that he was in love with her.

Grief-stricken and determined to grant Finn’s last request, she rushes to leave immediately. But she only gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen him in ages, thanks to a falling out between the two guys, but Rusty is much the same as Honor remembers him: arrogant, stubborn. . . and ruggedly good looking. Neither one is what the other would ever look for in a road trip partner, but the two of them set off together, on a voyage that makes sense only because it doesn’t. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn–but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?

It sounds pretty fantastic, right?

What’s also fantastic was getting to do this interview with Jessi, whom I’ve yet to meet in person, but already love because she’s a fellow runner and Californian, so of course I’m  trying to finagle ways to convince her to run a marathon with me.

Big thanks to Jessi for all her answers and for visiting the blog as part of the super-fab GCC!  Now without further ado…

ME: If you had no other responsibilities and could take off on a retreat to your dream place to write, where would that be, and what would your dream daily schedule be like?  (For example, would you write in several sessions, broken up for yoga and walks on the beach?  Would you work for a solid block in the afternoon, then party like a madwoman all night long?)

JESSI: Ooh, all of the above?  That sounds lovely! Hm, when I think of a peaceful writing place, I think of mountains AND the beach, and Big Sur has both, so that’s where I’d go! My day would start off with a run and a good breakfast, then I’d work for a few hours, take a break to soak up the scenery and the inspiration, then get back to it until dinner time.  I’m kind of past the partying like a madwoman, but I’d definitely finish the night off with a good glass of wine and hang out time with other writer friends.

ME: Is there a character you thought would be in the book, but who landed on the cutting room floor?  Conversely, is there a character you never expected to appear, but turned out to be intrinsic to the story?  If so, tell us about him/her.

JESSI: For IN HONOR, the answer to both of these is no.  But in MOONGLASS, there was one minor character who was a friend of Anna’s dad, who ended up being cut because he didn’t do much else besides sit around in scenes and play his guitar.  The funny thing about that is, he was based on a guy I know in real life, who does just that!  Luckily when I told him about it, he was quite entertained.

ME: Writing rituals: do you have any?  If so, what are they?  If you don’t follow them, do you find it harder to write?

JESSI: I don’t know if this would be a ritual, but I write best when I’ve gone for a run or done some sort of exercise first.  Besides getting moving, I listen to the playlist for whatever I’m working on, and it gets me in the frame of mind I need to be to write it.

ME: Ever gotten a piece of fan mail, or had an experience with a reader that really stands out in your mind?  Tell us about it!

JESSI: Definitely.  The most recent was a girl I met who came up to me after a signing, introduced herself, and told me that she really wanted to read IN HONOR because she had a brother who was killed overseas.  That moment got me because the story I wrote is fiction, but to her that experience was real, and all I could think was that I hoped I did it justice.

ME: Let’s reach back to school and describe your book in a single… HAIKU!  Three lines, five syllables-seven syllables-five syllables.   Ready?  Go!

JESSI:

Letter from brother

Road Trip in his Impala

With his ex best friend

 

Thanks again, Jessi!  So excited to read In Honor!  And, you know, to meet up for a marathon somewhere here in SoCal.  Half-marathon?  Just tossing it out there…