And the winners are:

Grand Prize winner:
Bissie


Four (4) First Prize winners :
DVE
Erin
Jen
Summer

Please e-mail me (Marlene) at marlene@marleneperez.com for details on how to collect your prize.

Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson Contest

We're having a contest!Please check out the video below and tell us one thing about Scarlett. You can also enter a second time by naming at least two other novels that Maureen Johnson has written. At the end of the week, posters will be chosen at random to receive the prizes!

One (1) Grand Prize winner will receive:
$50 Gift Card to PBteen®
Suite Scarlett paperback book


Four (4) First Prize winners will receive:
Suite Scarlett paperback book

Suite Scarlett Synopsis

When Scarlett Martin turns fifteen she is put in charge of the Empire Suite, one of the rooms in her family’s hotel. Enter Mrs. Amberson, an aging C-list starlet who decides to employ Scarlett. Soon, she is taking dictation, running around New York City, and getting caught up in Mrs. Amberson’s crazy adventures. In the midst of it all, Scarlett falls in love–or so she thinks–and it takes Mrs. Amberson to help her see the light. Now available in paperback!



Don't forget to leave your comments on the YA Authors Cafe blog in order to be eligible to win! And find out more about PBteen at www.pbteen.com and more about Maureen's books at www.thisispoint.com.

A Kiss in Time by Alex Flinn

Talia fell under a spell . . . . Jack broke the curse.

I was told to beware the accursed spindle, but it was so enchanting, so hypnotic. . . .

I was looking for a little adventure the day I ditched my tour group. But finding a comatose town, with a hot-looking chick asleep in it, was so not what I had in mind.

I awakened in the same place but in another time—to a stranger's soft kiss.

I couldn't help kissing her. Sometimes you just have to kiss someone. I didn't know this would happen.

Now I am in dire trouble because my father, the king, says I have brought ruin upon our country. I have no choice but to run away with this commoner!

Now I'm stuck with a bratty princess and a trunk full of her jewels. . . . The good news: My parents will freak!

Think you have dating issues? Try locking lips with a snoozing stunner who turns out to be 316 years old. Can a kiss transcend all—even time?

Alex Flinn brings a new twist to an old tale. Her novel Beastly is being made into a major motion picture starring Vanessa Hudgens. We're thrilled she stopped by the Cafe for a chat!

Melissa W: How gorgeous is that cover? Tell us about your book, A Kiss in Time.

Alex: Sleeping Beauty in South Beach. It's about Talia, who is almost 16 circa 1700, and who is not supposed to touch spindles . . . but she does and falls asleep, along with her entire kingdom. It's also about Jack, who is on an uber-boring European tour. He gets tired of visiting the Museum of Napoleon's Nose Hair and watching the tour guide walk backwards, so he ditches the tour and looks for the beach. Instead, he finds a sleeping kingdom and a really hot princess. His friend dares him to kiss her. She wakes . . . and that's when it gets hairy. Everyone's mad at Talia for touching the spindle and messing things up. They're also furious at Jack for kissing the princess. You're not supposed to do that. So they throw him in the dungeon. Talia, meanwhile, wants out, so she offers to spring him if he'll take him with her . . . to Miami.

Melissa W: What was your inspiration for this story?

Alex: It never seemed right to me that Sleeping Beauty is awakened by a prince she doesn't know, a hundred or so years later, and lives "happily ever after." How would you be happy, in a new century whose customs you don't know, and married to a stranger? The thought reminded me of Rip Van Winkle, or the musical, Brigadoon, and I was off, bringing Sleeping Beauty to my world.

Melissa W: Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Alex: The story came to me in a gush as I was trying to revise another book (I never did). I wrote the first 50 pages very quickly and was happy not to have to go back to that other novel that wasn't working. Virtually everything about those 50 pages is the same.

Melissa W: Was there any part that you struggled with or avoided writing?

Alex: The ending was tough. The hero of the story must face a challenge, but because of the modern setting, Jack couldn't face an actual dragon or other historical battle. And yet, because of the quasi-historical setting, a kidnapping at gunpoint didn't seem appropriate either. In the end, I thought of an appropriate magical climax that also reflected the humor of the novel.

Melissa W. What's on your nightstand right now?

Alex: Today, I finished reading Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. It's a historical novel set in a leper colony in the late 19th and early 20th century. Although it's not YA, it appealed to me as a young-adult reader because the main character is 6 when she contracts Hanson's disease and is ripped from her family and banished to the Hawaiian island of Moloka'i, and much of the novel takes place in her childhood and young-adult years. Because Rachel, the heroine, is taken to a group facility, it reminds me a lot of the British boarding school type of novels I've always liked, such as Jane Eyre, or Libba Bray's Gemma Doyle books.

Melissa W: If you could be anything else besides a writer, what would it be?

Alex: Probably a librarian. I've often thought I'd enjoy being a librarian or a school media specialist. I've come into contact with many good ones, and I think I'd enjoy working with teens and coming up with innovative programming ideas. I've often wished I'd come up with that prior to going to law school.

Melissa W: What are you working on now?

Alex: A story that is a melange of different fairy tales -- The Frog Prince, The Shoemaker and the Elves, The Six Swans, The Golden Bird, The Salad, The Magic Fish, and The Brave Little Tailor. It's about a shoe repair employee in a South Beach hotel, who is asked by a princess to complete a quest . . . for her brother, who has been turned into a frog and set loose in the Florida Keys.

I can't wait to see how you get all of that into one book! But for now, congratulations on A Kiss in Time and the Beastly movie!

~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Alex, please post them now.

The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

CAROL LYNCH WILLIAMS, a four-time winner of the Utah Original Writing Competition and winner of Nebraska’s Golden Sower Award, grew up in Florida but now lives in Utah with her husband and seven children. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults, and helped develop the conference on Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers at Brigham Young University.

The Chosen One, her newest book is about thirteen-year-old Kyra who has grown up in an isolated polygamous community without questioning her father’s three wives and her twenty brothers and sisters. Or at least without questioning them much—if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her. But when the Prophet decrees that Kyra must marry her 60-year-old uncle—who already has six wives—Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family.

Kirkus says The Chosen One is, “Intensely gripping and grippingly intense . . ."

and Booklist says it is “a heart pounder.”

Please join us in welcoming Carol Lynch Williams to the Café . . .


Mary: Tell us about your newest book The Chosen One

Carol: The Chosen One is about a 13-yr-old girl named Kyra Leigh Carlson. Kyra lives in a polygamist community that is stuck in the middle of nowhere. She has a loving father, three mothers and 20 brothers and sisters. Kyra has discovered the outside world by reading—something that is not allowed in her community. And she has also met someone that she cares about. But where Kyra lives the prophet chooses who you will marry, and the young women are saved for the old men of the community. When Kyra finds out that she has been chosen to marry someone else, she has to make some dangerous decisions.

Mary: What was your inspiration for this story?

Carol: Several years ago I heard about a girl who had run away from home several times. She ran because she was supposed to marry someone in her extended family. The girl was part of a small polygamist group. At that moment I knew, someday, that I would write something to do with polygamy.

Mary: Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Carol: The first words of the book are, “If I was going to kill the prophet, I’d do it in Africa.” I do remember coming up with the line, though I don’t remember what I was doing—not writing, that’s for sure. As soon as the words came to me, I knew I had the start of the novel.

My friend, Richard Peck, once spoke to a group of writers here in Utah. He said, “You are no greater than your first line.” For me, my first line was a strong one—one I hope Richard Peck would approve of. J And that beginning hasn’t changed.

Mary: What kind of research did you have to do for this story?

Carol: I did a lot of research. I read many articles about polygamy, watched several specials that were aired as I started writing, talked to people who practiced polygamy or came from a polygamist background, and spent a lot of time making sure the facts for my story were right for my story—if that makes sense. This is a piece of fiction. But a lot of what I talk about has happened. Abuse occurs in all religions—and in homes where there is no religion.

Mary: What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Carol: The hardest part of this book was knowing that much of what I wrote truly happened in some homes. I cannot abide the thought that any child might be in a dangerous situation. So I didn’t relish the dark scenes of the book. When I talk to people about writing I always say, “Someone is either dead or naked in all the books I write.” When I realized exactly what was going to happen in this book, I was not happy.

Mary: What one question do you wish an interviewer would ask you but never has?

Carol: How do I stay so young and beautiful—and all without surgery or smoke and mirrors.

Mary: Ha! Love it. I never get asked that question either. What are you working on now?

Carol: At this moment—and for maybe two more days, I am actually in between pieces. I just turned in my next novel for St. Martin’s Press, a young adult book called Lost in Peace. I’ll be working on rewrites as soon as I hear back from my editor. I’m thinking, though, that I need to write something lighthearted next. I’ve been in some icky places with my last few novels. Something funny would be nice.

That said, I do have a story that isn’t so happy that I’m about a third of the way finished with. So, we’ll see.

Mary: How did you become a writer?

Carol: I have always wanted to write. As a young girl I wrote as soon as I was capable of putting stories together. I wrote plays that my family performed. And when I was in ninth grade we actually had a creative writing section (about 9 weeks long) in English. During that time my regular teacher was gone, but we had a substitute and she read my story out loud in class. I was thrilled. Later, when I turned 16 or so, I began working on a collection of short stories. A few of those wound up in my first novel, Kelly and Me.

A hint for all the readers who want to be writers: writers write. So if you’re writing? You’re a writer.

Mary: Was there any part that you struggled with or avoided writing?

Carol: I struggled with the format of the book. In order to tell the story, I had to spend a lot of time with flashbacks, in Kyra’s past. You have to know Kyra’s life before to see why she does what she does at the end. And I couldn’t figure out how to do that. I went to bed every night for like two weeks wondering how to fix the novel. Slowly it came to me what to do, and like an experiment, I started rewriting. And it worked out.

The saddest part of the novel for me is the final scene between Kyra and her sister, Laura. That was painful to write.

Mary: What's on your nightstand right now?

Carol: Cynthia Leitich Smith’s Eternal, Ann Dee Ellis’ Everything is Fine, Jeanette Ingold’s Mountain Solo, the scriptures, and my journal. Also a stack of cooking magazines, a couple of notes from my girls, and a lamp. Dust. A cross-stitch chart. A tiny music box (broken). Vitamin E lotion. And a novel for adults that I will never read.

Mary: Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

My daughters. Reading. Dreaming about planting gardens and having a countertop in the kitchen that is solid surface granite. I love to watch movies—though I haven’t in a long time. I love watching American Idol—but right now our satellite is broken and I don’t know why. I love hanging out with my writer friends. I love to teach writing. But only children’s writing because that’s the only thing I can do. I love to sing and make people laugh.

Mary: If you could be anything else besides a writer, what would it be?

Carol: A Country and Western singer. Or a solid gold dancer, but I would have to be SOLID gold. Or I would like this job: Reading books for a living. But only books I loved. I wouldn’t read books that I didn’t love. Now that would be a darn good job.

Mary: I agree. Sign me up for that job. Thanks for all the insights, Carol, and congratulations on the publication of your newest book.

Okay, blog readers, now it's your turn. Throw confetti and cheers Carol's way, or ask her a question.


~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Carol, please post them now.

Today, the Cafe welcomes Jeannine Garsee, celebrating the publication of her second YA novel, Say the Word, published by Bloomsbury USA Childrens Books. She is also the author of Before, After and Somebody Inbetween.

The world expects perfection from seventeen-year-old Shawna Gallagher, and for the most part, that’s what they get. She dates the right boys, gets good grades, and follows her father’s every rule. But when her estranged lesbian mother dies, it’s more than perfect Shawna can take. Suddenly, anger from being abandoned ten years ago is resurfacing along with Shawna’s embarrassment over her mother’s other family. As she confronts family secrets and questions from the past, Shawna realizes there’s a difference between doing the perfect thing and doing the right thing.
Shawna’s honest and relatable voice will draw readers in and hold them until the last page in this coming-of-age story. Jeannine Garsee has delivered a compulsively readable second novel, perfect for fans of Sarah Dessen and Laurie Halse Anderson.

Melissa W.: What was your inspiration for this story?

Jeannine: The gay marriage issue received a lot of attention back in 2006, which started the wheels turning. I’d also done a paper in sociology class about the children of gay couples and what happens to these kids when the couples either break up, or one of the parents dies. I wanted to explore this subject, so I wrote the story.

Melissa W.: Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Jeannine: Yes, the first paragraph is very similar to the first words I word—unlike my first novel where the opening lines were changed many, many times before the book was published.

Melissa W.: What kind of research did you have to do for this story?

Jeannine I actually did quite a lot—most of it was reading, visiting websites, and familiarizing myself with firsthand accounts by straight children of gay parents, plus the research I’d done for my earlier paper. I also drew on my own experiences for certain aspects of the story.

Melissa W.: What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Jeannine: Finding the time to write, first of all. As for the writing process itself, I have a terrible time maintaining the timeline in the story. My first drafts are always all over the place.

Melissa W.: I hear you, sister. What are you working on now?

Jeannine: A YA paranormal that I am totally in love with!

Melissa W.: Oo! Love the sound of that. Tell us something about you that no one knows.

Jeannine: I can play Mary Had a Little Lamb by clicking my teeth with a fingernail.

Melissa W.: You are my new best friend! How did you become a writer?

Jeannine: I was born a storyteller. Then I learned how to write. It comes naturally to me. I’ve never taken a college level creative writing class. It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do, but it took a lot of years to discipline myself enough to actually write a book and see it through to publication.

Melissa W.: What is your favorite line, passage, chapter from this book?

Jeannine: I love the scene where, at a family dinner, Shawna’s father calls her “stupid” and she tells him off for the first time. I swear I cheered when I wrote it.

Melissa W.: What's on your nightstand right now?

Jeannine: A doggie chew, my alarm clock, and a pack of Nicorette gum.

Melissa W.: Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

Jeannine: I love reading, of course, and live theater.

Melissa W.: Have you ever wanted to quit writing? Why?

Jeannine: I’ve considered it because I’m often overwhelmed trying to balance writing with my regular job and family responsibilities. Although I don’t have any immediate plan to stop writing for publication, if I did I would still continue to write for pleasure.

Melissa W.: If you could be anything else besides a writer, what would it be?

Jeannine: Realistically, I’d like to teach creative writing or work with animals. In my dreams I’d be a star on Broadway!

Thanks so much, Jeannine! And congratulations on the publication of your fantastic new book. You can visit Jeannine at her website.

~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Jeannine, post them now! She'd love to hear from you!

Purge by Sarah Darer Littman

Janie Ryman hates throwing up. So why does she binge eat and then stick her fingers down her throat several times a day? That’s what the doctors and psychiatrists at Golden Slopes hope to help her discover.But first Janie must survive everyday conflicts between the Barfers and the Starvers, attempts by the head psychiatrist to fish painful memories out of her emotional waters, and shifting friendships and alliances among the kids in the ward. In order to get better, Janie must talk about things she's admitted to no one - not even herself.


Marlene: What was your inspiration for this story?

Sarah: My mother was scanning old photos from her albums and she sent me this one (below) from a family vacation when I was fourteen or fifteen.

Looking at it as a woman in my forties, I thought, "Wow, I had a nice figure back then." But it made me sad, because I still remembered how I felt at the time - how I was convinced that I was fat and ugly.

I've suffered from body image problems my entire life, and struggled with bulimia for many years as an adult. I wanted to write a book for the girl I was then, and for the girls - and guys - out there who feel the same way today.
















Marlene: Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Sarah: I wrote the first words in a writing workshop at Kindling Words, in response to a picture of Ellen Wittlinger's niece in a bridesmaid's dress, taken from the back. From that exercise emerged a character who was unhappy at a wedding, felt uncomfortable with herself and the
clothes she was wearing, and was generally angry at the world. None of those words are in the book, but they got me started, and certain elements of that exercise remain in the finished novel.

Marlene:What kind of research did you have to do for this story?

Sarah: Although I have suffered from bulimia myself, I did a lot of research about eating disorders. I also had an eating disorder professional read the manuscript for accuracy.

Scholastic was terrific about putting a resources section at the back of the book, and we listed the best of the books I read. One book I particularly recommend is The Body Project by Joan Jacobs Brumberg. Brumberg tracks the history of how as a society we've stopped emphasizing the importance of what girls DO and placed more focus on how they LOOK. As the mother of a daughter, this is something I try very hard to fight.

Marlene:What is your favorite line, passage, chapter from this book?

Sarah: I would have to say "The Cucumber Scene". You have to love an emotional breakthrough that revolves around a salad vegetable.


Marlene: Was there any part that you struggled with or avoided writing?

It was hard for me to write any of the scenes that involved the destructive behaviors, such as purging or cutting. Even though I'd been in recovery for five years at the time I was writing the novel, writing about those behaviors brought me back into some very dark and
painful places, and I had to really look after myself during the periods I was writing those scenes.


Marlene:What's on your nightstand right now?

Sarah: Alive and Well in Prague New York by Daphne Grab

Marlene:Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

Sarah: Chocolate! Don't the two always go together? I also love reading, traveling, watching movies, messing around in the garden & cooking. In my "grown up" life I write a political column, which generates lots of interesting hate mail.

Marlene: Have you ever wanted to quit writing? Why?

I wouldn't say I wanted to quit, but I felt extremely discouraged while suffering from an extended period of "second book blues." As idea after idea was turned down for my second book, I wondered if my first book was a fluke and if I would ever be published again. It wasn't until I reconciled myself with the thought that maybe I was just one of those authors who had to write the whole book before she could sell it that I was able to free myself up enough to write the
book I needed to write. Ironically, my agent was then able to sell my third and fourth books on proposal, but in my mind I was convinced that I was an author who might have to write the whole book first.

I can't imagine every wanting to give up writing - it took me so long to finally give myself the permission to do this thing I've wanted to do my whole life, I'm not about to give it up now!

~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Sarah, please post them now.

The King's Rose by Alisa Libby

Appointed to the queen’s household at the age of fourteen, Catherine Howard is not long at court before she catches the eye of King Henry VIII. The king is as enchanted with Catherine as he is disappointed with his newest wife — the German princess Anne of Cleves. Less than a year from her arrival at court, Catherine becomes the fifth wife of the overwhelmingly powerful, if aging, King of England.

Caught up in a dazzling whirl of elaborate celebrations, rich gowns and royal jewels, young Catherine is dizzied by the absolute power that the king wields over his subjects. But does becoming the king’s wife make her safe above all others, or put her in more danger? Catherine must navigate the conspiracies, the silent enemies, the king’s unpredictable rages, as well as contend with the ghosts of King Henry’s former wives: the abandoned Catherine of Aragon, the tragic Jane Seymour, and her own cousin, the beheaded Anne Boleyn. The more Catherine learns about court, the more she can see the circles of danger constricting around her, the threats ever more dire.

Melissa W: Tell us about your book, The King's Rose.

Alisa: The King’s Rose tells the story of Catherine Howard, a teenage girl who became the fifth wife of King Henry VIII.

Melissa W: What was your inspiration for this story?

Alisa: When I first read about Catherine Howard I was immediately intrigued. Here was a girl—young and fresh and new to the world of the Tudor court—chosen from a crowd of other ladies in waiting by King Henry himself. Henry showered her with lavish gifts, and they were married before Catherine had been at court for a year. It’s like a Tudor-era Cinderella story. But what does she do, after such a dramatic rise to royal favor? She was condemned for having an affair with a groom in the king’s chamber. So, assuming that she really did it, what in the world was she thinking? King Henry had already executed his second wife, Anne Boleyn, on similar charges – and Anne was Catherine’s own cousin. How could she have taken such a risk? Was she cruel to the king, terribly misguided, overwhelmed by passion, or simply incredibly naïve? I began writing to come up with a reason for her seemingly illogical actions.

Melissa W: I can see why you were so intrigued! Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?

Alisa: I do remember writing the first words: initially the first scene of the book was the scene of Catherine’s execution, and the rest of the story was told in the past tense. By eventually changing the story to the present tense, it gained more immediacy, making the urgency of Catherine’s story more palpable.

Melissa W: What kind of research did you have to do for this story?

Alisa: I read a variety of books about Catherine, Henry, and his other wives:
A Tudor Tragedy, the Life and Times of Catherine Howard by Lacey Baldwin SmithKatherine Howard by Joanna DennyThe Six Wives of Henry VIII by Alison WeirThe Wives of Henry VIII by Antonia Fraser
I also read about the history of England in that time period, the way of life, culture, customs, clothing, music, food:
Birth, Marriage, and Death: Ritual, Religion and the Life Cycle in Tudor and Stuart England by David CressyAll the King's Cooks: the Tudor Kitchens of King Henry VIII at Hampton Court Palace by Peter Brears
I pored over portraits of the time period and descriptions of their clothing, which was fascinating—so much detail and so many layers! Absolutely gorgeous, and so telling of the pomp and ceremony in which they lived their daily lives at court—particularly for royalty. I also listened to music composed by King Henry VIII.

My husband and I took a research trip to England, where we visited the different places where Catherine lived, the halls where she danced, the palace where she was arrested, and the Tower where she awaited her execution. We searched for her ghost at Hampton Court, where she supposedly haunts a particular gallery shrieking Henry’s name. I didn’t have any ghostly encounters (this is probably for the best, for both of us) but I did visit her grave at the Tower of London, which was a powerful experience. Anne Boleyn gets many visitors and many flowers; Catherine Howard does not. But we were there for her, and we like to feel that her spirit appreciated our efforts.

Melissa W: What is your favorite line, passage, chapter from this book?

Alisa: There are some scenes with Catherine and her grandmother, the Dowager Duchess of Norfolk, that immediately come to mind. The character of the Duchess (how I chose to portray her) is cold, manipulative, frightening. Add to that Catherine and her eagerness to please, her desire for familial connection and affection…it’s a dangerous combination.

Melissa W: Was there any part that you struggled with or avoided writing?

Alisa: I had a lot of difficulty figuring out where this story should begin. My first draft started in Catherine’s childhood and told the story of most of her life. That draft was also very long. It was well over 400 pages. My agent advised me—rightly so—to cut the first 190 pages and have the story begin when Catherine arrives at court. Still, I was stuck for a while: should I start the story when she first arrives at court, or when she suddenly is noticed by King Henry? Or should it start later, when she is already the king’s favorite? I ended up starting the story just before Catherine marries the king, as that is when the excitement truly begins. But it took quite a few false starts before I landed on the opening scene.

Melissa W: What's on your nightstand right now?

Alisa: The Apple that Astonished Paris by Billy Collins.

Melissa W: Besides writing, do you have any other passions?

Alisa: Reading, certainly! I also enjoy music, listening to NPR, and taking walks at pretty state parks—I especially like the paths that go right into the woods. I used to sew little dolls but I haven’t had much time for that lately; most recently my sewing projects include a stuffed pig, a giraffe and an elephant. I love visiting libraries, wandering around the collection, requesting random and obscure titles through interlibrary loan. I love talking with people who love books—I work at Simmons College Graduate School for Library and Information Science, so luckily I’m surrounded by book people.

Melissa W: Have you ever wanted to quit writing? Why?

Alisa: I’ve never wanted to quit writing, but there have been times when I worried that writing had quit me. My muse had thumbed a ride and gone backpacking without me; I couldn’t find her anywhere. It was a scary experience. Writing is so much a part of who I am. If I identify myself as a writer, then what am I when I’m not writing? I feel a bit off when I don’t have some project kicking around in my head.

That said, I’ve wondered (especially in moments of frustration) what it could be like to not have the constant compulsion to write. I wonder if I would be better able to live in the moment and not always be wondering about what project I should be working on. But it turns out that I’m simply not that person; even when the muse deserted me (she needed a vacation, apparently) the compulsion to write remained. And in spite of the frustrations involved in writing, it’s very much worth it.

Melissa W: I'm sure your readers feel much the same way!

~~~Cafe Note~~ As a regular part of our interviews, featured authors will pop back in for one week after their interview is posted to answer any other questions blog readers may leave for them. So if you have any questions or comments for Alisa, post them now! She'd love to hear from you!