Guest Blogger Zillah Anderson stops in!

[image error] When I was a kid, I lived for summer vacation. It was the one time of year where I got to do (mostly) what I wanted. I could sleep late, lounge on the couch watching reruns all day, play outside with the neighbors until the sun went down, or whatever else I felt like doing. Summer movies and the mall beckoned, the community pool always welcomed, the library had new summer programs every year, and even family vacations felt like an adventure.
And then I became a teenager. Suddenly, my parents very strongly suggested that I fill my summers with volunteer work, summer school, summer jobs, and all sorts of things that are really a contradiction in terms. Combined with social anxieties, trying to keep my grades up from one year to the next, and trying to figure out the raging hormones coursing through my body, I couldn’t help but wonder why my parents were suddenly into merciless torture. Now, of course, I get it. We all have things we don’t want to do but have to do in order to get ahead or become better people. At the time, though, summer was the one time of year that was totally mine, and it was confusing and threatening to suddenly have that block of time scheduled within an inch of its life.
I recalled all of this in an instant a few years ago when I was driving home from work. A local DJ was on the radio asking for story entries for a contest all about summer camp experiences. While I didn’t enter, it did get me thinking. The one thing I’d never been forced to do was go to camp (I think my folks I’d end up accidentally drowning or being cannibalized by the popular kids on a wilderness hike or something). I had a lot of friends who had gone, though, so I had a lot of potential help in crafting a story about a girl who just wants to be herself, but is at the mercy of her parents’ good intentions.
So often, we assume that teenagers are self-absorbed and stuck in their own little microcosmic worlds. It’s true to a degree—they certainly don’t have to deal with everything adults always have to—but I think this devalues a whole age group to a point. I remember being concerned not only about my future at that point in life, but also trying to learn what people were talking about when it came to politics, gender roles, and religion. I’d been brought up with a set of beliefs, sure, but so much of what I loved and felt passionate about were often not embraced by other people in my church or social group. So what happens when you put an individual with big opinions and a questioning mind into a social circle that seems at odds with everything they are on the surface?
That was what propelled me to write Knocking Down Heaven’s Door. After a misunderstanding and a big assumption on her parents’ part, Layla finds herself shipped off to summer church camp. Not only is she opinionated about religion, she’s a huge classic rock geek, something most of her age bracket doesn’t understand. Through her experiences, she slowly starts to find ways to merge her faith with her passions, her opinions with her empathy for others. I was a little hesitant starting the title since it does deal with so many big themes, but at the end of the day I’m proud to have written it, and love its combination of soul-searching and humor.
And it makes me feel a little better about having a summer full of work, work, and more work. 
Blurb: Remember when everyone else thought they knew you? Remember when everyone else thought they knew better?
Layla’s a small-town teen trying to be herself and is misinterpreted at every turn. She’s not popular  because her dad’s a minister and her interests never seem to match those around her. She’s learned to keep to herself and her music – big mistake. When her love of classic rock makes her parents wonder if she’s “getting ideas” she finds herself shipped off to church camp. There she’s faced with horrible food and her day is planned out by the millisecond. To make matters worse her bunkmate is the cheery, tow-the-line sort and Donna, her nemesis, is at the same camp and is determined to make things hard for her. The only thing Layla has left to cling to is her music, but when her interests and character are challenged will her faith in herself and her shaky trust in something more be strong enough to see her through?
Buy Knocking Down Heaven’s Door at: NBP Store http://noboundariespressstore.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=65_66&products_id=223Amazon http://www.amazon.com/Knocking-Down-Heavens-Door-ebook/dp/B008HAIUNE/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1351135768&sr=8-3&keywords=zillah+anderson B&N http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/knocking-down-heavens-door-zillah-anderson/1111950310?ean=2940014657693
Bio Never one to run from uncomfortable or unusual subject matter, Zillah Anderson is an author of the speculative, the dark, and the sexy – and sometimes all three at once. She is the author of The Inheritance and the young adult title Knocking Down Heaven’s Doorwith No Boundaries Press, the erotic short Power Chord with Rebel Ink Press, and has also had her work included in the Wicked East Press Anthology Halloween Frights vol. III. She resides in the Midwest, loves all things crafty and nerdy, and writes while she bides her time for her true purpose: total world domination.
Find out more about Zillah at the following places: Blog – www.zillahanderson.wordpress.comFacebook – www.facebook.com/pages/Zillah-Anderson/126598154140694?ref=hlTwitter – www.twitter.com/ZillahAnderson