Book Review – The Great Gilly Hopkins

The Great Gilly Hopkins

Katherine Peterson

Hardback, 1978

Galadriel Hopkins is a foster child of the steryotypical foster child variety.  She’s a bully to her classmates, mean to her teachers, and downright awful to the people that she happens to be around.

So, this is another banned book, but since it’s by the same writer who did Bridge to Terabithia (also banned frequently, btw) I was actually sort of looking forward to it, even though I knew nothing about it.

Then I started reading.

If I had happened across this book, I wouldn’t have picked it up to begin with.  As it was now, I almost didn’t bother with it.

Here’s the thing.  I don’t know if it’s the character or the author’s writing, or both, but as the book started, there wasn’t a single character I cared about.  Gilly is a bitch, her teachers are weak, her case worker felt like a slimy used-car salesman…

There’s a mother totally out of the picture, but Gilly holds on hope she’ll come back for her, despite having never spoken to her.  The neighbor is “one of those” (ahem, black) and Gilly uses that as her excuse to justify stealing from him and treating him like crap. Her teacher is black so she leaves racist poetry tucked in the teacher’s math book. The one friend she manages to make, she’s only has because she wants to be abusive to the girl and the girl is too stupid to notice.  The foster brother is a little, uh, slow, and Gilly makes sure to exploit it.

Oh, and the foster mother, who is annoyingly southern, is also fat.  And I know she’s fat because the author has made sure that her being fat is her only memorable quality.  She sits and chairs sag and bedsprings squeak.  She falls and lands on top of Gilly, crushing her.

In other words, I’m sorry I read the book.  At the end, Gilly gets closer to what she wants, and that’s not good enough either.

So, The book is, I’m sure, banned because Gilly is a racist piece of crap.  I think that a better author or differently written book could have made it more “oh, look at the poor foster child” and less of that because a lot of the piece of crap part, at least, is her intentionally not getting close.  I wonder how differently this book would have been written if it had been done twenty years later – styles and approaches have changed, after all.

You, of course, all know my opinion – I don’t think any book should be banned.  But this one could be omitted from shelves because of its lack of quality just the same, and I wouldn’t mind.

Bottom Line – 2/5 pages.

Book Review- No Plot, No Problem!

Book: No Plot, No Problem!

Author: Chris Baty

Format: Paperback

Published: 2004

     National Novel Writing Month is the crazy, insane, and wonderful brainchild of Chris Baty, author of No Plot, No Problem. In this book, he outlines how this idea (affectionately dubbed NaNoWriMo) came to be, and ways to succeed in it, and in your noveling career, with your sanity mostly intact.

       Let me start by saying that this book is awesome! While it is geared mostly toward those who have no idea what NaNoWriMo is, or those who are novices at it, it is a really great inspiration for those of us who have been there, done that, and are stuck in just a bit of a rut. Not only did it give me ideas, but it also got me excited about writing again, something that I hadn’t felt in a long time. Chris’ use of humor, as well as his chilled out approach makes the book, overall, a pretty easy read. My only real complaint about the book is that it gets a little repetitive at times. Some of the chapters seem to go over the same subject again, and again, and again. It’s not enough to be a huge problem, but it does make a couple of the chapters seem a bit long and tedious. Overall I give this book a 5 page review. It is great for those wanting to participate in NaNo, those who need a bit of inspiration, or simply those who just want to write something, even if they just want to take their time with it.

Book Review – Monty Python’s Flying Circus

Monty Python’s Flying Circus – Complete and Annotated
Luke Dempsey
2012 doorstop… er I mean Hardback

Monty Python’s Flying Circus complete and annotated is the sidetable of all Monty Python books. And when I say sidetable, I mean sidetable. It’s wider, taller, and by far thicker than any book you’ve got sitting around you right now. (Easily half an inch taller and at least an inch wider than the hardback I have sitting here with it.) And how thick? Well, at about 900 pages of extra thick paper, it’s about three times as thick as a normal book as well.

But for mostly good reason.

Inside this book are complete scripts for all 45 episodes of the television show. Along the sides of the script are comments that are really awesome because they explain a lot of the references that you might miss if you’re not current on 1970s Great Brittan. (So, you know, it tells you that you might have missed half the jokes.)

There are lots of pictures and way more bright colors than you’d ever expect to see in a book.

But, there are issues, too. The book is *heavy* – like wicked heavy. So it’ s not one that you’re going to snuggle with and get all comfy. Also, script reading is boring, so after a while I found myself reading the side notes and not any of the script anymore unless I came up to a favorite skit (this parrot is no more!).

Also, as somebody who has written scripts before (disclaimer: I hated it! Also, they’re all unpublished.), I’m pretty familiar with script formatting, and I fully expected to see that here. They didn’t at all bother to format these like scripts, so there’s a weird mish-mash of lines and fonts and whatever else. It makes it pretty but I would much rather have seen the form.

There’s also no new content aside from those side comments, and very little content about those who were a part of this at all. Each of the Monty Python people have one page of bio info, and it’s all tucked away randomly inside somewhere.

The book is $50. If you’re a serious Monty Python fan – remember, TV show, not the movies – buy it, and keep it around for use as an end table, door stop (dude, you could block the doggie door with this thing), or weapon (providing you have the arm strength to throw this at somebody). But as far as reading goes, this isn’t one that you really get a lot of benefit from reading it all in one sitting.

Bottom line, buy it if you can recite the entire Blancmanges playing Tennis skit, but just let it be if you aren’t that into it. (3/5)

Book Reviews – What’s Happening to My Body

The What’s Happening To My Body Book For Girls

The What’s Happening To My Body Book For Boys

Lynda Madaras with Area Madaras

Illustrations by Simon Sullivan

Paperback 2007

 

Furthering the “let’s see why these books are banned” challenge, we have the What’s Happening to My Body? books.

These books are written by a woman (with the help of her daughter) who actually teaches sexual education classes for parents and children to attend together.  These are better than any school health book, better written and easier to understand, and just as thorough.  If not more so.

The only reason these books can possibly be banned is because parents are too stupid/closeted/religious/closed minded/whatever to let their children actually understand their own bodies.  Remember, this is basically an ENCYCLOPEDIA and it lists what homosexuality is and what masturbation is (and actually says “many people do and many people don’t – it’s up to you to decide what’s right for you” and lists religion as a reason to or not to…) and because of *that* these are some of the most banned books ever.  Seriously?

That aside…these are well written, thoroughly explained, and not at all uncomfortable and creepy like our elementary school health/science classes were.

I consider it a public school fail that I learned things from these books at my age (I’m 30!), and I will buy one for each of my future children because the information in these books is Important, and the addition of text blocks from questions and experiences brought up in her classes really add to the books.

 

As far as rating these books, I guess there’s a niche somewhere where you wouldn’t need to know about your body (maybe if you’re 80 and don’t know anything yet it’s too late?) but for everyone else, these are a must read, and for people going into puberty, a must have.  5/5

Book Review – The Light by Michael Grant

Title: The Light

Author:  Michael Grant

Format: Hardback

Written/Published: 2013

Way back at the beginning of this blog one of the first few books I reviewed was a book called Fear by Michael Grant.  It was the fifth book in the six book series and I found that it had put a very rotten taste in my mouth.  That rotten taste is still there with some of the dark and disturbing imagery impossible to remove or forget no matter how much I try to.  Yet, despite it all having been through that horridly difficult book I had to see the series to the end.  I had to know how the FAYZ ended and who walked out alive and who didn’t.  In some ways it is a compulsion, and so when I realized the book was out and in the library I picked it up.

With a deep breath I opened the book and started to read hoping I would not have to trudge through the same horrors that I did before.  I wasn’t worried about the formatting which was another issue I had with Fear I just didn’t want to be left with more gruesome imagery at least not more of the kind that actually gets to me. (Yes the book was gruesome filled with a lot of death and destruction but it didn’t get to me as much as what was contained in Fear).

When I started the book Fear I was annoyed right off as Michael seemed to be going for something new and wiring the perspective of two people in the same scene at once it was confusing and annoying as I was trying to read and re-read to figure out if the thoughts and words belonged to the character Gaia or Diana.  Then things went to ‘normal’ and the book read like all the other books read where I was turning the next page wanting to know what would happened next horrified at the death of some and hoping for the death of other character.  There were moments where I was disturbed by this book particularly when it came to the character Alex but it was fortunate that his parts were not long or prevalent like the disturbing moments in Fear were.

In all, the book was a quick read for me despite being a little over 400 pages long.  It was hard to put down as I wanted to know who lived and who died and a lot of people died I will tell you that!  I found myself caring for some of the characters again rather than being put off by them and the last character I thought I would ever find myself concerned over was the one I hated to see go the most.  So, despite my complaints, Michael Grant can be a decent author – I mean of his seven books I’ve read, only two can I say I loathed.  Those are some pretty good odds in my opinion!

Thus I will give this last and final book a three page rating.  Some of you may notice that this is the same rating I gave Fear which I loathed but I will admit at the time I was much more generous with my ratings and if I could go back and re-rate fear I would give it a solid two placing The Light clearly above it.

As to the series as a whole considering I mentioned how I recommended in the past to others, might still recommend it but caution people that it can get very dark and gruesome.  If I were to rate the whole story from the first book Gone to the last The Light I would give it a three page rating, it had the potential to be a four page series but Fear just really drags it down that much.

Book Review – 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child By Naomi Steiner and Susan L. Hayes

Title: 7 Steps to Raising a Bilingual Child
Authors: Naomi Steiner and Susan L. Hayes
Format: Paperback
Written & Published: 2009

A developmental-behavioural paediatrician, Naomi Steiner is herself multilingual and raising her children in a multilingual family. Between her professional qualifications and her life experience, she is superbly positioned to provide an in-depth program for all parents to raise bilingual children.

While there is some excellent scientific data in the book, which provides fascinating insights into language acquisition and child development, as a guide the book falls oddly flat. I kept expecting something slightly more detailed than the advice to set goals and provide children with language exposure. The book continually heads towards detailed information before veering off at the last moment.

Much of my frustration with the book came from its underlying assumptions. The text is only aimed at parents in the USA, and an inordinate amount of space is dedicated to validating and justifying a bilingual lifestyle. There is even a section debunking the myth that bilingualism will destroy the American way of life.

Ouch.

For those readers who are outside the USA, and potentially not living in an English speaking country at all, the assumption that parents are secretly threatened by the prospect of a bilingual family is frustrating. A lot of the content implies parents are often one step away from giving up and that English will become the only language. If you are a monolingual English parent ready to give up in a foreign country, don’t expect much support in this book.

The advice given is so basic that at times it reads like an extended article padded beyond recognisability. Some points are reiterated so often that the authors call attention to the reiteration. A significant proportion of the book could be reclassified as project management rather than parenting. The remaining content is simply common sense.

I would have found this book more useful if it had detail about developmental stages. There was brief discussion about the capacities of toddlers to learn, but little beyond this. How is the process different between a newborn, a 5 year old and a 15 year old? What can parents do to support each age group? After a certain age, the book almost advocates handing language acquisition over to the school system, but goes on at length to criticise the formal educational opportunities.

The primary method of instruction recommended is One Parent, One Language. With this method, the parent who is skilled in the second language will speak to the child exclusively in that language. This might be exciting for families where both parents speak a second language, but as the unskilled parent I am left feeling discouraged about my ability to contribute.

There is value in this book for anyone who wants to raise a bilingual child, but has given it absolutely no thought before. Monolingual parents who wish to raise bilingual children might also find something useful here. If you already have skills with a second language, or have thought about how you would learn one, there is probably little this book can contribute to your understanding. Due to the incredibly basic level of the book, I am giving it 2 out of 5 pages.

Book Review – Sex Changes by Christine Benvenuto

Sex Changes: A memoir of marriage, gender, and moving on
Christine Benvenuto
Hardback
2012

I’ve been reading more about transgender issues lately in an attempt to understand them better. I know a couple people that fall somewhere to the left of the male/female spectrum. When I found this book, I thought it would be an interesting take on the issue.
The author is a woman of some age (they never really told us, but I’m guessing about 40), who has three kids, Adam, Bibi and Lilly (not their real names), oh, and a husband, Tracy (not his real name), who is a woman trapped in a man’s body. The book picks up pretty much when he declares that to his wife.
Before I go any further with this review, a bit of a side note – I do believe firmly that I should refer to “Tracy” by whichever pronoun Tracy prefers, but since the book referred to Tracy as “he” the whole time, I’m going to as well, just to make the review all streamlined and stuff.
The book is done in three parts. Part one is called, originally, Part One. It deals with the author finding out what’s going on with her husband, and getting to the point where Tracy finally moves out. We find out that they’re Jewish, that they’ve spent much of their marriage living separately because of work and whatever, and that there are three kids. That’s about it.
And I have to say that I have never, ever, ever in my life read a memoir about a more unsympathetic twat in my life. I’m serious. I have no sympathy at any point in this book for this woman because of how she is. Keep in mind, this is how she’s telling her story, how she wants it known and (hopefully) how it really went down. And all I read in the first 120 pages or so was about a woman whose husband came to her with a statement (“I feel like I’m a woman trapped as a man”) and she said “no” and “don’t tell the kids.”
I’m not going to use this review to argue with how she should have handled the situation, one way or another, but before any of my readers get up in arms, remember that there’s a difference between playing along and having compassion, and I at least expected a little compassion. Yeah, I expected the “my marriage is over” part of things, and no, I never expected her to go dress shopping with Tracy (which she totally didn’t) but I did not, at any point prior to having the book in my hands, expect this to be the memoir of a woman who was all “I’m such a victim, feel bad for me!” about everything.
I read through to page 120, and all I could think was that I wanted to bean this chick with a baseball bat a few dozen times. And while I don’t at all agree with the way her husband went about being towards her during the transition, I can’t help but wonder if maybe a gram of compassion from Christine at any point could have softened the entire situation for all involved.
So I started trying to figure out why I hated this woman so much. Yes, a lot of it was her actions. “I couldn’t believe everyone was taking HIS side, but then again, we live in the Valley of the Politically Correct!” A lot of it was the fact that she had gone to the trouble of writing a memoir and had somehow managed to not put a detail about ANYTHING in this book. (No, I’m not asking for her street address, but I want some idea of what’s really going on other than her being Jewish in the Valley of the Politically Correct [her term] somewhere in, I think, New England, which is about as vague as saying you live “over yonder” and pointing while on vacation somewhere.)
Then there’s her style. Her style of speaking and doing and everything. At one point, the author is talking about her 8=year-old daughter. “I was in shock. I knew my little girl to be precociously verbal, but even so her words added shock to shock.” Wait. What? Or, another favorite. “Over the years, Lilly has become more articulate about her feelings. When she was six, she began to pontificate on the subject of having a dad who is a girl.”
It’s like the author was so busy telling us what her feelings should have been that she didn’t feel anything. There’s nothing at all comfortable about this woman. Nevermind the fact that she stripped out so much of anything, whatsoever that would have connected us with her…
We hear about the half-assed friendships she had (“it wasn’t until I lost these people that I realized I had never really been close to them”), how nobody cared about her because it wasn’t politically correct to do so, etc. I don’t know what she’s been doing in therapy all these years, but seriously, all she’s telling us is how much of a fucking victim she was through all of it, sad and alone and stuck with the kids. Nevermind the fact that she starts her damn story out by talking about how, because of work, she was often the only parent with the kids anyway.
Part 2 of the book is almost a totally different book the way its written. She finally gets to the part about how the kids are feeling, but again, we had to hear about her “precociously verbal” children and a load of other shit that just made me want to hit her.
At one point, she listed all the things she had to do in her day, starting with her 4:30 AM getting up to exercise while checking email and read the paper while listening to NPR. In this, she refers to the kids as Ms. 7 and Ms. 4 and Mr. 13 (o_O), talks about taking three kids to three schools in three cities, and even gives us about a third of a page on getting “Ms. 4” to the center of town to get the bus to the school that she’s teaching in that day. Now, I get it that lives get complicated the more people you’re responsible for. But your son is 13, which totally means he can get his own sorry ass up with an alarm clock, and if you’re so damn busy, why are you doing things like driving across town to get your kid to a bus to take her THE SAME PLACE YOU’RE GOING ANYWAY. Also, there’s a potty training incident, which makes me wonder why she doesn’t have a change of clothes and a box of wipes in the car for the kid (really, she had to take the kid home to wash her clothes?). Oh, and seriously, she put listening to the radio on this list, so…
Folks, life lesson. Don’t overcomplicate your life and then complain about it. Seriously. And this list was TWO PAGES LONG and barely covered her getting to work with just a sentence or so gloss over about her work day.
And again, it’s another example of the disconnect we get with this woman. She wrote her kids up as Ms. 7 and Mr 13. Who does that?

I marked page 192 because it’s the first time she really talks about dealing with Tracy on an emotional level and her acceptance/understanding/adjustment to the Trans issue. Up to this point, all she’d managed to do was tell him he couldn’t be a woman and have a few convos with the kids. It took almost 200 pages to get to a point where she talks about transgender issues as anything but a slight to her marriage.

So I’m giving this book a 2 for several reasons.
The first is that if I hadn’t been reviewing it and so hell-bent on getting to the end of this for some reason other than her victim mentality, I would have put it down before the second part. The fact is that if the entire memoir had had the feel of the 2nd part (and sort of the third, even though that’s sort of just summation), I would have like d it a whole lot more.
But the second reason is because of all the things this book is missing. I don’t care that she changed names (a fact that we had to read any time she named anybody – hello, make a note at the front) and that she wanted to protect herself (although the whole small town that she never moved out of knows what’s going on, so…), but you can’t strip everything and expect there to be anything left when you’ve finished. If she would have loosened up a bit and relaxed for a minute, we might have got something out of this that was helpful.
Really, don’t bother. Even if you’re in her situation, going it alone has got to be better than this.

Book Review – Where’s Waldo?

Where’s Waldo? – 25^th anniversary edition

Illustrated/written by: Martin Handford

Hardback 2012

 

Where’s Waldo is quite possibly the most well-known search and find book ever made.

Seekers look for Waldo, Wendy, Odlaw, the Wizard and Waldo’s dog on every picture, plus an assortment of Waldo look-alike followers each found once in the book, and a list of unique things for each spread.

I remember checking out these books from my local library when I was ‘just a kid’ and probably had more fun this time.  What I don’t remember from back then is bothering to look for anything but Waldo himself.  In fact, I recall a conversation with my father where he was telling me what I needed to look for and I was blowing him off to turn the page and find Waldo again.

So this time, I made sure to find Waldo, Wendy, Odlaw, the Wizard, and the dog, who appears tail only, on all the pages.  Also, I know why this is one of the most banned books in the 90s, and I made sure to go out of my way to find that illustration, too, even though they’ve changed it for the prudes out there.  She wasn’t hard to find, knowing what I was looking for.  [Note, in the original, there was a woman sunbathing on the beach, with her bikini top off – the woman was shown from the back, so you couldn’t see anything, but prudish Americans were, well, prudish.  Remember, this is a British book, and toplessness is a lot more acceptable pretty much anywhere but here…]

As for the book – the dog’s tail was oddly easy to find, despite being just a red and white striped tail (you never see the whole dog).  Odlaw, on the other hand, in his bumblebee-yellow and black striped getup was oddly difficult.  You’d think in this mostly red, white and blue book, an adult the scheme of a bumblebee would have been really easy to find, but notsomuch.

My biggest complaint about the book is the 25 people that only appear once at *some point* in the book.  Yeah, if I didn’t have a library version, I could have taken the cover off and had a handy guide, but since the library has theirs taped down, there was no easy way to seek them out, so I didn’t bother.

In all, it’s a good book to have fun with.  I might get the next one in the series for fun.  Sometimes it’s nice to re-visit one’s childhood.

 

4/5 pages

Book Review – Midnighters: Touching Darkness by Scott Westerfeld

Title: Midnighters: Touching Darkness

Author:  Scott Westerfeld

Format: Hardback

Written/Published: 2004

When asked who my favorite author is, my answer is always Scott Westerfeld.  To me he is my literary hero always crafting a brilliant story with a unique twist and fascinating characters that I always enjoy.  Of his entire published collection I’ve read all of them but the Midnighter series and his Steam Punk book.  A while ago I set out on a mission to rectify this problem considering that I do consider myself to be such a big fan of his work.  Thus I read and reviewed the first book in the Midnighter series and am now coming to you with the second.

Thinking about this book it is hard to come up with what to say about the book.  It took me three weeks to read the book.  This time frame doesn’t exist because it was a bad book or overly long, it was just a matter that I hadn’t been in the mood to read much and my head wasn’t there with the book.  It quite possibly would have taken me another week to finish the book if it weren’t for the fact that my library won’t let me renew it as there is a hold on the book.  So I blitzed my way to the end so I can return it fully read and not incur a late fee.

Over all it was a good book, it only spans the time of a week which in some ways is intense for what all happens in this book.  It starts out with Jessica Day the newest midnighter to Bixby Oklahoma finds that she has a stalker that seems to know about the midnight hour.  Why else would he be sitting outside her house poised with a camera taking pictures right at the stroke of midnight?  From this discovery things spiral out of control as there is a discovered group of people who work for the darklings in the day light hours and they want to kill Jessica and kidnap Rex to make a half human half darkling hybrid.  It’s bizarre and intense, yes but somehow this crazy talk for the plot actually works and translates well on the page, and this is why I think Scott is a master of his craft.

As to my opinion of the book I feel it is a bit of a classic middle book, it is good but I feel most of it was just as set up for the third book after we got the character introduction from the first book.  Still much like any middling story it has its merits and should not go readily amiss.  This is why I will give this book a four page rating, because it is good and if I had taken the time to read it properly rather than allow it to drag out it would have left a stronger impression with me.  If you are into weird science fiction, like Scott Westerfeld or looking for a good read then the second book is worth your time though I wouldn’t recommend starting with it.

Writer Wednesday – Rita Webb

 

 

Let’s start with the basics. Who are you?
Rita Webb, author of PLAYING HOOKY (the first book in the Paranormal Investigation series) and DAUGHTER OF THE GODDESS

Tell us (briefly) about you…
Wife to the sweetest man, mom of 3 extraordinary girls, adventurer, dancer, crazy lady.
I’m not a vampire (even if I am pale and allergic to the sun) or a werewolf (though I am married to one) or a faerie. I’m just a woman with an overactive imagination.

…and a bit about what you’ve written…
Loads of shorts stories (published in various anthologies), several unpublished novels, TEARS (my first novel, no longer in print), and the following novellas (currently available:

PLAYING HOOKY (Paranormal Investigations #1)
DAUGHTER OF THE GODDESS

…and what you’re working on right now.
My husband TJ and I are now writing together. We’re working on the sequels to PLAYING HOOKY:
BREAKING ANGELINA (Paranormal Investigations #1.5)
TAKING CHANCES (Paranormal Investigations #2)

What are your earliest book-related memories?
Visiting the library with my mom and picking out books:
The Lion and the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis
The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare

I loved them both and was forever addicted. Strange how both are on banned book lists, and I’m impressed that my very religious mother actually recommended them to me.

What are your three favorite books?
I hate this question. I have hundreds of favorites, different ones in each genre, plus my childhood favorites. Really my favorite book might be whatever I just finished reading.

But if I have to narrow it down, this is my list:
The Kate Daniels series by Ilona Andrews
The Mercedes Thompson series by Patricia Briggs
Dresden Files by Jim Butcher

OK, I cheated. I named 3 series instead of individual books, but if you think of them as never-ending books that are just so long, they had to be separated into smaller editions…

How many books to do you read at any given time?
Sometimes I have two or three books that I’m reading. One will be an audiobook, one will be a paperback, and another might be a book I’m reading with the kids or maybe another paperback.

What are you reading now?
I’m reading MAGIC RISES by Ilona Andrews!!! I’ve been waiting sooooo long for this book.

Finish this sentence; when I curl up with a book, I ___
…forget the rest of the world exists.

To re-read or not to re-read, that is the question.
Definitely love to re-read good books! I’m on my 5th read of the Kate Daniels series, and I’m sure I’ll read it again next year in preparation for the next release.

How likely are you to read a book that’s been recommended to you?
Very likely! Especially if the recommendation comes from someone I trust…

How likely are you to recommend a book (that isn’t yours)?
All the time! First off, I love promoting other authors. Second, I love books. I became a writer because I love to read.

What do you look for in a good book?
Lovable characters and good dialogue. Plots are important to keep the intensity of a book, but it’s not the plot I remember, it’s the people.

I discovered this when re-reading some of my favorites. The plot was a rediscovery as I couldn’t remember what was going to happen, who the bad guy was and why, but the scenes that burned into my mind were the ones related to the interactions between my favorite characters.

Why do you write?
Because I have to or I’ll burst into flames. Once I started on the road to writing, I couldn’t stop. I’ve tried. Many times.

If you couldn’t be a writer, what would you be?
Dancer, artist, musician… Writing has made me fall in love with the arts. I probably wouldn’t be any good at it, but I still have a day job. However, my day job is not ME.

Where do you draw your inspiration from?
My family, my friends, movies, books, art, music, a hike in the park. Writing, like all artistic endeavors, is best when it comes from the soul, and therefore, you must always keep your soul brimming with life.

What has writing taught you about yourself?
That I’m a dreamer. That I have determination. That I fight for my dreams and never give up. That I am officially insane.

How do the people in your life seem to view your writing career?
My husband TJ has supported me, believed in me even when I didn’t believe in myself, and helped me every step of the way. Now I’ve finally convinced him to write with me. We can live in insanity together.

My oldest daughter writes stories and creates characters now too, and she and I are writing picture books together. My other girls love to read what I write (when it is not too adult for them), and so I’m (slowly) working on a few Middle Grade books.

Are there any stereotypes about writers that you don’t think are true?
The stereotype of the absent-minded writer is absolutely… Oh, did you say something? I just had this epiphany about a character.

What do you see as the biggest challenge today for writers starting out?
The learning curve is steep. First, you have to learn all the techniques of writing (like how to craft interesting dialogue, how to pick strong verbs, how to show and not tell, how to intersperse description without bogging down the story), and then grammar is a whole other monster to tackle.

Then you have to learn how to lead a reader through a story. You have loads of threads to keep track of and characters that must be flushed out if you don’t want cardboard people walking like zombies through your stories.

Then you have to learn how to market those stories, whether to an agent, publisher, or directly to the reader. And if you decide to self-publish, you’ll have to learn about how to run a business.

Thankfully, in our day and age, there’s loads of information and resources to make things happen…if you have the determination to learn.

Have you made any writing mistakes that seem obvious in retrospect but weren’t at the time?
All the time! But that’s how we learn, by making mistakes, falling down, and getting back up. Your understanding is more complete when you know what fails.

Is there a particular project you would love to be involved with?
No, I have projects and ideas coming out my ears. I’ve scheduled my writing time for the next 3 or 4 years, and then I have another series I can’t wait to get started on.

How do you deal with your fan base?
I always try to answer emails and be available for conversation. You can often find me on Facebook.

Finish this sentence; my fans would be surprised to know ___ about me.
How shy I am. Sooooo glad I can do this interview by typing on my computer. 😛

And yet this year, I performed a monologue in front of 300+ people and danced 3 performances (hip hop, lyrical jazz, and musical theater) in front of 500+ people. I try my hardest to ignore my shyness.

Anything else we should know?
If you come across an Elvin wizard, don’t drink anything he gives you.

 

 

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Because this post was a wee bit late, I present you with a bit of bonus material – the first chapter of Rita’s novel!

 

 

EXCERPT FROM PLAYING HOOKY

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Chapter 1

~ EMMA ~

 

THE ALARM CLOCK hammers ice picks into my brain. My freshman year of college, I swore I’d never do another eight o’clock class, but here it is my junior year and I am torturing myself with English Lit after staying up until three in the morning to finish a paper.

I try to peel my eyes open, but they’re glued shut. I rub them and squint at the clock, trying to read the red numbers swimming in circles, but nothing makes sense.

Letting my eyes drift shut, groping for the right button with my hands, I punch snooze and roll over.

It’s Thursday. Valentine’s Day.

My twenty-first birthday.

And all I want is the pounding headache to go away.

It seems like no time at all before the alarm goes off again.

“Emma, either get up or turn it off.” My roommate Maggie—but we all call her Magpie—kicks the thin wall separating our rooms.

With a groan, I turn off the alarm, roll out of bed, and pad into our kitchen, still in my cotton panties and T-shirt. Sleepwalking, I fill the coffee pot with water, scoop one tablespoon of coffee grinds into the filter—no, two, because Mr. Linden likes to drone on about eighteenth-century poetry—and hit the start button.

Coffee. Breakfast of champions. And sleep-deprived college students.

A knock on our apartment door, and my sister trills a happy, “Good Morning, Emma,” and begins to sing me Happy Birthday, along with several embarrassing verses we wrote when she was five and I was seven. It includes something about monkeys slipping on banana peels.

“Someone shoot her.” Magpie grumbles from her doorway and slams her door shut.

Still in my skimpy sleep-clothes, I open the door to find my sister—long, blonde hair curled to perfection, not a strand out of place, red hair band matching her flouncy short skirt and the red hearts on her too-cute-for-words tights. Glimmering strands of silver lace peek through her pink sweater. As always, Angelina’s the image of vomit-inducing school-girl perfection.

And standing behind her—

Jason.

My best friend from childhood. The boy—er, man—who should be ten hours away in Kodiak, Alaska, rather than here in Anchorage.

The man staring at my naked legs.

And I’m standing here in my panties and baby-doll T, which clearly shows I’m not wearing a bra, especially as Alaska is cold in February and the door gapes wide open.

I cross my arms over my chest to hide my breasts and duck my bottom half behind the door. “Jason, what are you doing here?”

“To take you out for the day. It’s your twenty-first birthday. Did you think I’d let you celebrate without me?” He grins and slips into the room before I can stop him. His eyes travel up my bare legs (thank goodness I shaved last night) with the ugly wool knee-high socks, the black T with the pink Batman symbol, and ending with my short, blonde hair, sticking up in all directions on one side, matted on the other.

I glance out the door. A few girls, gawking at the man who is too handsome for his own good, stand out on the landing and whisper. I grab Angelina’s hand and drag her inside and slam the door.

“What about what’s-her-name? Sarah? Sally? Mandy? Whoever your latest thrall is. She really let you come out and play? I thought she’d have your Valentine’s Day booked.”

“I broke up with her right after Christmas.” He shrugs.

For the first time in about ten years, neither of us has a significant other. Once upon a time, when I was twelve, I decided Jason was the one for me, and I set about trying to get him to kiss me. He was clueless, and I settled for Mark Jameson, a boy down the road. Three years later, Mark moved to Ohio somewhere. Or was it Idaho? And I never heard from him again.

By then, Jason had a girlfriend, and though he never took her fishing with him or mountain biking (my role in his life), they went to homecoming together and then to the prom. And I went out with Troy Simmons up until the middle of our first year of college when I caught him in another girl’s dorm room where he’d sacked out for a week.

Troy was so pissed about the breakup—because I should just forgive and forget the cheating, since it was my fault because I refused to sleep with him—that he spread rumors about our supposed sexual escapades.

Whenever I tried to date since then, the guys I went out with only wanted me to put out, so I’ve been single ever since. Whenever I consider dating him now, I remind myself of all the ways we are incompatible. We would fight over everything as we’re both too stubborn for our own good.

Angelina tucks her hand through his arm and smiles up at him. “Isn’t he sweet? You have the best friends.”

Not even a note of jealousy in her voice, even though she’s had a crush on him ever since third grade when he put a band-aid on her skinned knee.

My sister Angelina is too perfect. Straight-A honor student. Mother’s sweetie pie. Father’s angel. Never snuck out of the house to go partying. Always kept her curfew. Never broke her leg jumping out of trees while trying to chase squirrels or ramping bikes on the homemade ramps. Always prissy and clean. Never leaves anything out of place.

Always the perfect lady in her cute little outfits.

I can’t hate her for it because she doesn’t even act superior about it. She’s never been the goody-goody. Never lectures me on my messy room, sloppy hair, torn jeans, or skipping classes.

Jason grins. “I’d never miss your birthday. Remember last year?”

“Ugh! I thought I’d never thaw out after we went skiing in a blizzard. We were stranded for three days in that cabin we found in the woods.”

“Aw, come on, you didn’t even get frostbite. I took care of you.”

“At least I didn’t end up with any broken limbs. That time.”

“I still can’t believe we went snow-boarding on East Pillar Mountain Loop. That’s a tough trail, and then you broke your arm slipping in the parking lot on the way to the truck.”

My muscles were exhausted, and carrying my board on my shoulder, I wasn’t watching where I was going. I didn’t see the patch of ice. “Remember when you took me spelunking?”

“I had no idea that bear was in there.”

“I can’t remember ever being that scared.”

“But it was fun! Come on. We can’t break tradition.”

“What are you planning this time?” Angelina smiles up at him with a glimmer of wistful longing.

“It’s a secret.” He extricates her hand from his arm and takes a step away from her, and her hand falls back to her side.

For a moment, her smile falters, but then she bounces from the room. “See you! Tell me all about it later. Emma, I’ll tell your professors and coach that you are sick today, and I’ll collect your notes and assignments.”

“Thanks, Angelina. You’re a sweetie.”

She gives me her smile, cheeks dimpling in the cute china-doll way she has, and blows us kisses. Sometimes I wish she could be a real human being for once—throw a royal temper tantrum, break a rule, or actually make a mess—but either she keeps all negativity bundled up deep inside or she really is incapable of baser emotions.

I’m left alone in the apartment’s tiny entryway with Jason.

“Emma,” he says, stepping closer, his head leaning down toward me. He is way too close, and I remember I’m not dressed.

Tall with wide shoulders, Jason is muscular from hard labor (construction and welding) and athletic adventures (kayaking and mountain biking). The perpetual scruff movie stars work hard to perfect shadows his jaw, and his tousled black hair kept short. He cuts it every week because it grows too fast, like at least a half inch a day. With the smoky blue eyes and the confident grin he usually wears, he’d make any girl swoon.

Well, any girl but me. I’d more likely hit him upside the head with a broom than swoon over him.

“Coffee’s in the kitchen. I need to get dressed and showered; then we can go for pastries at the bakery around the corner.” Just off campus, there’s a scrumptious little shop, but I never have time in the mornings. I turn back to my room but then stop. “Oh, how do I need to dress for the day?”

“Sure.” He runs his hands through his hair, but his eyes are too busy following my ass to pay attention to anything I said.

“Jason.” I snap my fingers. “Up here. What do I need to wear?”

His gaze shifts to my face, and he grins, not even having the decency to flush. “Dress warm.”

Good. So we’re going to have an adventure.