The Comeback Season by Jennifer E. Smith

When Ryan Walsh cuts class to visit Wrigley Field on the fifth anniversary of her father's death, she meets Nick, the new kid from her school, who seems to love the Cubs nearly as much as she does. But Nick carries with him a secret that makes Ryan wonder if anyone can ever really escape their past, or believe in the promise of those reassuring words: "Wait till next year." Is it too much for Ryan to hope that this year, this season, might be her comeback season?

Join us in congratulating Jennifer E. Smith on the publication of her warm and poignant debut novel.


Melissa W.: Tell us about your newest book.

Jennifer: It’s a love story about two kids who meet at a Cubs game, and the way they teach each other to hope, even when the odds are against them.

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

Jennifer: Yes, actually the whole first chapter is almost exactly the same. I’d been watching the Cubs lose for what seemed like the millionth time, and when I turned off the game, the movie Fever Pitch happened to be on another channel. I have nothing against the Red Sox, but I remember thinking that the Cubs have just as many curses and an even longer losing streak, and that their fans have done their fair share of suffering too. I went straight to my computer without knowing what I was going to write, but almost as soon as I sat down, the character of Ryan just kind of appeared in my head, sitting there on the train on her way to Wrigley Field, the way she does at the opening of the book. It only took me about an hour to write the first chapter, and it’s hardly changed at all. It was one of those really rare and lucky moments, when something comes so naturally that it almost seems like you’ve been carrying the story around forever, without even knowing it.

Melissa W.: It's a great feeling when that happens. What kind of research did you have to do for this story?

Jennifer: I’ve been to a lot of Cubs games over the years. It was a very tedious research process!

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

Jennifer: It’s a story about hope, but it’s also about loss. A lot of people can’t bear to read sad stories, but I’ve always been really drawn to them, because they move you in a way that makes them really meaningful. My favorite books growing up were always the ones with a lot of heart, books like Where the Red Fern Grows and Bridge to Terabithia – the kinds of stories where you really feel like you’ve really been through something by the time you reach the end. Those are the ones that have stayed with me through the years, and I think there’s something to be said for that. So I guess I took inspiration from a lot of different places, but mostly I just wanted to write the kind of book I’d like to read.

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

Jennifer: Finding the time to do it. I work in publishing too, so I spend a lot of time focusing on other people’s books. It’s something I love to do, but both writing and editing take a lot of creative energy, so it’s sometimes hard to balance the two. Overall, I think it’s a good thing – I think I’ve become a better writer because of the time I’ve spent editing books, and a better editor for being a writer. But it would be helpful if there were more hours in a day to do both!

Melissa W.: If you can work on that more hours thing, I know plenty of writers who would be grateful! What are you working on now?

Jennifer: Another YA novel called You Are Here, about a boy and a girl who come from different backgrounds and seem like opposites, but who get thrown together on a sort of haphazard road trip, and find out they’re more similar than they thought. It’ll be out from Simon & Schuster in Summer 2009.

Melissa W.: Sounds fantastic! I love a road trip story. What’s on your nightstand right now?

Jennifer: War and Peace (partly as decoration, partly as wishful thinking), Love in the Time of Cholera, Alice in Wonderland, and a somewhat chewed up copy of Beagles for Dummies (I have a three month old puppy who likes to eat books almost as much as I like to read them).

Melissa W.: Congratulations on your first novel, Jennifer and good luck with that puppy!

~~~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 Jennifer, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

Something to Blog About by Shana Norris

Shana Norris is the author of SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT, which is about a fifteen-year-old girl, Libby, who starts a secret blog after she burns half her hair off thanks to a run-in with a Bunsen burner. She starts writing about her secrets and her friends' secrets, but then she gets into a bit of trouble when the blog is found out and posted all over her school. Please visit Shana at www.shananorris.com

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

Shana Norris: I do remember writing them! I save all of my old drafts, so I still have the very first one I wrote.The first words have changed since then. They used to be "Really, who gets a pimple on the bottom of their earlobe?" This was the first sentence of the very first blog entry I wrote for Libby.

Marlene Perez: What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Shana Norris: I know a lot of writers struggle with the first draft, but the hardest part for me is what comes after: revision. I usually write a first draft really quickly and don't worry too much about timelines or delving too deeply into subplots or consistency in names or personalities. During the first draft, I just want toget the main story down. So that means I have to do A LOT of cleaning up during revisions. I'm usually pulling out my hair while trying to make sense of my messy first draft!

Marlene Perez: What are you working on now?

Shana Norris: Right now, I'm working on my second book, which is a modern day retelling of a story from Greek mythology, set in high school. I don't want to say a lot about it right now since it's not done, but I'm really excited about it!

Marlene Perez: Tell us something about you that no one knows.

Shana Norris: I can recite all 50 United States in alphabetical order in less than 20 seconds. I was a bit odd as a kid and used to come up with things like that to challenge myself!

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

Shana Norris: There's a fight scene in the book. I won't spoil it for people who haven't read it yet, but that was my favorite scene to write. It's meant to be funny, so I really enjoyed writing it.

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

Shana Norris: Developing the character of Seth, the love interest, was the hardest part for me. At first, he was a little too detached and mysterious, so I had to really work at him to make him into someone that Libby would be attracted to.

Marlene Perez:What's on your nightstand right now?

Shana Norris: Right now, I'm about to start on I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME by Lisa Schroeder and THE ASSASSIN KING by Elizabeth Haydon.

Marlene Perez: What are your hobbies?

Shana Norris: I like to knit, sew, and scrapbook. I also dabble a little into photography from time to time.

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

Shana Norris: I have, several times. Before I wrote SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT, I wanted to be a fantasy writer. I wrote a huge fantasy trilogy and tried to get an agent for it. But all of my queries were rejected without any requests for partials or fulls, so I fell into a deep funk and considered giving up trying to be published all together. Even after I wrote SOMETHING TO BLOG ABOUT, I had moments of wanting to give up. I remember getting a rejection from an agent for STBA the same day that my dog died and that sent me into a three month period of not querying or writing at all. I think any creative field is a very hard career to get into because your work is so personal and rejections can feel like an attack on you as a person rather than just one person's opinion on this work in particular.

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

Shana Norris: An archaeologist. I've always loved history and I would love to go around digging up ancient cities!

~~~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 Shana, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME by Lisa Schroeder

Lisa Schroeder, a native Oregonian, received her bachelor's degree from Oregon State University. Her debut YA novel with Simon Pulse, I Heart You, You Haunt Me, is a novel-in-verse that gives new meaning to the words "undying love." She is also the author of the picture book Baby Can't Sleep (Sterling, 2005). Lisa, the officialdog-walker of the family, lives with her husband and two sons near Portland, Oregon. Visit her website at www.lisaschroederbooks.com for more information about her and her books

Please join me in welcoming Lisa to the Cafe.



MaryP: Tell us about I Heart You, You Haunt Me.

Lisa: It’s a novel-in-verse about a fifteen-year-old girl, Ava, whose boyfriend dies, and comes back to live in her house as a ghost. More than a ghost story, however, I believe it’s a story of love, loss, healing, and hope.

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

Lisa: I do remember writing the first words, because it was the morning after I had a dream about the characters. The first words initially were of Ava looking at her scribbles on a notebook from school, all of which included the words “Ava” and “Jackson” in one form or another.

That beginning is since gone, although the first words that are there now are ones I did write that first morning. During the revision process, I decided that although it was a sad place to start, starting the story at Jackson’s funeral made the most sense.


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

Lisa: It’s hard to pick, but one of my favorites is the following:

An excerpt from Beauty Everywhere

“The sun starts to set
and tangerine orange
turns to
cotton candy pink
and I wish
my man
Jackson was here
to give me some
cranberry red love.”


MaryP: What's on your nightstand right now?

Lisa: I received THE POSSIBILITY OF FIREFLIES by Dominque Paul for Christmas, and I’m enjoying that. Plus, being a member of the Class of 2k8 has its advantages, as I am currently reading an ARC of Debbie Reed Fischer’s BRALESS IN WONDERLAND, which is wonderful.

MaryP: What do you do to "unblock" writer's block?

Lisa: For me, writer’s block usually means I don’t have a clear idea of where the story is going. Or it may also be that I’ve chosen to go somewhere that isn’t working, and I need to backtrack and make some changes. I don’t do a detailed outline like some authors do, because so many wonderful things appear when I don’t have everything all planned out, but I do make notes on note cards about characters and plot. So, if I’m stuck, I pull out my notecards, look at what I already have, and write up some more and see if I can figure out what I’m missing to give myself more direction.

MaryP: Do you do other types of writing besides YA?

Lisa: I am one of those writers who likes to write whatever strikes a chord at the moment. My writing runs the full gamut – picture books, mid-grade novels, and YA. I have one picture book published – BABY CAN’T SLEEP, Sterling, 2005, and another one with Sterling under contract. Recently my agent and I have been trying to sell a mid-grade novel-in-verse, but we haven’t found the right editor. Yet.

MaryP: I am sure you will, Lisa! Thanks so much for joining us at the Cafe! We wish you much success with your new book!

~~~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 Lisa, send them now! She'd love to hear from you!

The Opposite of Invisible by Liz Gallagher

Liz Gallagher grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia and was an English major at Penn State. She worked on the editorial staff of Highlights for Children. She is a graduate of the University of Denver Publishing Institute and the Vermont College MFA program in writing for children and young adults. Her home in Seattle is within chomping distance of the Fremont Troll. This novel is her first, and her dream come true. Visit her online at www.lizgallagher.com

MaryP: Tell us about The Opposite of Invisible.

Liz: Sure! It's a story about a fifteen-year-old girl, Alice, who has been in a comfy cocoon (metaphorically speaking!) with her best friend, Jewel, a boy she grew up with. He's an outsider-artist type of guy, so she has that same reputation around school. But she's getting itchy to break out of their cocoon. She wants a date for the Halloween dance that's coming up at school,and that is totally not the type of event Jewel would attend, except as a joke. So when things start happening with a popular boy she has a crush on, she steps onto a new road. And Jewel starts spending time with uber-artist Vanessa, who has a bit of a rivalry with Alice. They live in Seattle, and one of the parts I like about the book is how the rainy setting works; it helps to heighten both cozy moods and uncomfortable ones.

MaryP: What was your inspiration for this story?

Liz: When I needed a piece for my first workshop in Vermont College's MFA program, I wanted to write about Halloween. I must've been walking to my old job at a school when I passed this junk shop in my neighborhood, and they had a Halloween display in the window. I don't think there was actually a witch dress in the window, but I loved the idea of buying the perfect costume at a junk shop like that. And then came the characters of Alice and Jewel, who shop at places like that and spend a lot of time walking around their neighborhood -- which is my neighborhood! I knew that Alice's dress would end up being an important catalyst for change. The first draft of this story opened with, "It all started because of this dress."

MaryP: It came out in Italy before it did here. Can you tell us about that?

Liz: Sure. One of the things that my agent, Rosemary Stimola, works toward is selling foreign publisher rights. With the help of her subsidiary rights agent, that happened for me with RCS Libri in Italy. I still can't believe that my words have been translated into Italian! The original publication schedule called for OPPOSITE to come out both in Italy and here in the states during September, 2007. When the American schedule changed (to January, 2008), RCS Libri decided to keep theirs the same. So the book, in Italian, did come out first over there!

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

Liz: Without a doubt, it's sticking to a schedule and pushing the rest of my responsibilities out of my head!

MaryP: Oh boy, I think that's every writer's lament, including mine. How did you become a writer?

Liz: My kindergarten teacher encouraged me to write. I think that always stuck with me, and was reinforced by other teachers all the way through college. Still, knowing I wanted to work in the book world, I thought I'd be an editor. I didn't think I'd actually be a novelist until I decided to go to Vermont College's MFA program. In the program, with the help of the amazing faculty and of my classmates, I proved to myself that I can actually do it. I wrote THE OPPOSITE OF INVISIBLE during the program, and started a few other things. Right before graduation, I signed on with my agent, Rosemary Stimola. And she talked to Wendy Lamb, and here we are!

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

Liz: Yes. The biggest struggle was how to take the character of Simon -- who is basically a popular jock -- out of the stereotype of a popular jock. For a lot of drafts, he was kind of mean and interested only in that proverbial One Thing. He was pretty flat as a character. I had to work hard to take him beyond that, and it was difficult. He went through lots of incarnations. He didn't just show up intact, like some of my characters do. In the end, though, I do think he is close to how I want him to be -- a kind, funny, interesting guy who just also happens to be popular at school and good at sports.

MaryP: What's on your nightstand right now?

Liz: My nightstand is home to my alarm clock and a pile of hair tie things that I pull out in my sleep. But I do have a BIG stack of books waiting to be read. The four on the top of the pile are advance reader's copies of books by some of my Class of 2k8 classmates! We're all first-time middle-grade or young adult novelists. I can't wait to read those books, and for the world to get to know these writers. Also near the top of the pile is Libba Bray's new one: THE SWEET FAR THING. So excited to read it, but sad for the trilogy to end. It was a door into the genre of not-quite-realistic fiction. I read magic-power books and vampire books as a kid, but not at all since then, until Libba's fabulous characters came around. The series also brought me back to historical fiction.

Thank you for the insights, Liz. We wish you and THE OPPOSITE OF INVISIBLE much success!

~~~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 Liz, post them in the comments. She'd love to hear from you!

A New Year of Great Books

Happy New Year! Here's to 2008 and another year of great reading!

Do you have a YA book that will be out in 2008? Or is there one you are looking forward to? Let's hear it! Give us the title, the pub date, and to make it fun (and challenging!) a ONE liner to describe it.

Uninvited by Amanda Marrone

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

Amanda Marrone: I do remember it. I was working on a middle grade and all of a sudden I got the idea for Uninvited. I opened a new file, and my fingers flew on the keyboard. Most of the first chapter is exactly the same as it was when I first wrote it. I get an idea and bang out a first chapter in a couple of hours. Then I take a month or so to figure out what happens next! The same thing happened with my second book, Revealers, due out next year. I wrote the first chapter, and then dwelled on it a bit to figure out what happens next.

Marlene P.: What is the hardest part of writing for you?

Amanda Marrone: Opening the file everyday. I have Inattentive ADD and I get easily sidetracked—the Internet has been very bad for my writing. Luckily deadlines are a huge motivator—give me one and I can sit and write.

Marlene P.: What are you working on now?

Amanda Marrone: I just sent Revealers to my editor a few days ago—the first chapter is in the back of Uninvited. It’s about five teen witches who hunt vamps, werewolves, and demons as sort of a public service—but they discover their coven in hiding a secret worse than any of the creatures they hunt. Next up I’m revising a middle grade for my agent, while working on a new paranormal YA and a picture book!

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

Amanda Marrone: I researched vampire facts—I was always a vampire lover, but I wanted to dig deeper. I found some fun things I didn’t know—you can kill a vampire by immersing it in water, or hire a Bulgarian sorcerer to do it for you!

Marlene P.: How did you become a writer?

Amanda Marrone: I always wanted to be a writer, but I didn’t actually start until I was 29 years old! I have a screwy pencil grip and writing was always painful, and tedious. Once I learned keyboarding I was set. I started out with picture books—I wrote and illustrated two, got some nice personal rejections, and the third picture book turned into a novel. I fell in love with writing longer stories, and I always said I’d never go back, so this new picture book idea that just popped up was a surprise.

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

Amanda Marrone: Probably the end of the first chapter—it shows how conflicted Jordan is about Michael.

But the leaves are falling and soon Michael will sit on bare branches. Moonlight will finally find its way to his face and I’ll see what I know is true: that Michael is a monster. I’m just afraid that one of these nights I might let him in.

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

Amanda Marrone: I struggled with chapter two! I avoided writing it for six months! That seems to be the way I work, but I’ve decided it’s because I need to think about where I’m going with a story after the first chapter was written in such a frenzy. I’m hoping to be a little speedier with my new YA and tackle chapter two in a more timely fashion!

Marlene P.:What’s on your nightstand right now?

Amanda Marrone: Jo Knowles’ Lesson from a Dead Girl. It’s a haunting story about abuse—beautifully written.

Marlene P.: What are your hobbies?

Amanda Marrone: I love to draw, read, study insects—I have hissing cockroaches, and I love to hike.

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

Amanda Marrone: I’ve never wanted to quit, but I have gotten discouraged in the past. Finding an editor seemed like such a needle in the haystack scenario—I actually only sent my story out to two editors I’d heard speak at conferences. Luckily, I got an agent and she took over with the matchmaking.

Marlene P.: What’s your favorite Halloween candy?

Amanda Marrone: Hershey’s special dark miniatures.

Marlene P.: What scares you?

Amanda Marrone: The basement after I’ve been watching something spooky like Supernatural, and mean girls.

~~~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 Amanda, post them in the comments. She'd love to hear from you!

Lessons From a Dead Girl by Jo Knowles

Jo Knowles received her M.A. in children's literature from Simmons College. She was the 2002 recipient of the SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant for a Young Adult Novel, and the 2005 winner of the PEN New England Children's Book Discovery Award. She lives in Vermont with her husband and son. Lessons From a Dead Girl is her first novel. Kirkus praises it saying, “Clearly and concisely written, Knowles's provoking exploration of children abusing children portrays the tense and finely crafted dynamics between the two girls. Lainey's character is extremely well-developed . . . . A razor-sharp examination of friendship, abuse and secrets.”

Please join us in welcoming her to the Café.


Mary: Tell us about Lessons from a Dead Girl. What was your inspiration for this story?
Jo: Lessons is a YA novel about an abusive friendship and one girl’s struggle to understand and forgive her friend, as well as herself. I got the idea from an article I read many years ago about kids abusing kids. I was working on a nonfiction piece about child abuse and the article just struck me in a really powerful way. I couldn’t stop thinking about it. I went home and started writing.

Mary: Do you remember writing the first words? Are they still the same?
Jo: I do remember! And I believe the words are the same: “Leah Greene is dead.” So much has changed since the writing of the first draft, but that opening scene, with Lainey waiting in her bedroom to hear the news she already knows, has survived.

Mary: What kind of research did you have to do for this story?
Jo: Well, the story itself was sparked by a news article, as I mentioned above. I then found several additional articles about kids abusing kids. But for the story, I did not do a lot of research. Lainey came right out of my heart. Her story was just there. Of course there were tons and tons of revisions and a lot of digging deeper, but she was always there with her story fully formed. Research confirmed the story but I don’t think it informed it very much.

Mary: What is the hardest part of writing for you?
Jo: Not giving up. I’m not the most self-confident person in the world and a lot of times I just think, Well, this stinks. You really should stop now and try something else. I have to force myself to get through the first draft, and sometimes even the second. I am so grateful for those moments when I’m writing and I just fall into the zone and see the story playing out in front of me. At those moments, I don’t hear my doubts, I only hear what’s happening in the scene I’m writing. If only every writing day could be like that!

Mary: Amen to that! What one question do you wish an interviewer would ask you but never has?
Jo: Can I treat you to dinner?

Mary: Well, heck, that’s an easy one. Let’s go! I know a great little Mexican place . . .

Tell us something about you that no one knows.
Jo: I’m still terrified of the dark and I still believe stuffed animals come to life when you leave the room.

Mary: Kind of like Chuckie, huh? A writer’s imagination can be very dangerous at times.

How did you become a writer?
Jo: You know, I’m not sure, really. I always liked writing poems and silly stories about my family and our pets when I was little. And when I was a teenager I wrote some really bad poetry about boys I loved and feeling all alone. When I started reading amazing books like The Chocolate War when I was in high school, I started thinking about the power of words. And then I think I was most inspired by my sister’s writing. She’d call me from her dorm room when she was in college and read me some of the short stories and things she was working on in class and I was just blown away. I think all my early writing in college reflects my sister’s style, which is funny because we went to the same school and had some of the same instructors. They never criticized me for it though. :-)

Mary: What is your favorite line, passage, chapter from this book?
Jo: I think my favorite chapter is when Laine goes to the park with Web and Jess, and she watches the two young girls playing among the trees. While it’s a really painful scene, it’s an important tipping point. Laine doesn’t fully see it yet, but that moment sparks the beginning of being able to leave her own childhood friendship behind and embracing her new friends who are there beside her.

Mary: Was there any part that you struggled with or avoided writing?
Jo: I think the hardest scene to write was the final confrontation between Laine and Leah. I can’t imagine how many times I rewrote that scene. Then I had this great phone conversation with Holly Black about it. And she said something, asked a question really, that made me face the parallel between Leah and Sam and Leah and Laine that I’d been hinting at all along, but hadn’t quite been able to put into words, exactly. Or else I guess I was just avoiding them. But after talking to Holly, I knew they had to be spoken aloud and acknowledged by both girls. I couldn’t just hope the reader figured it out. That was taking the safe way out. Leah and Laine had to speak them out loud to make it count. I think that made all the difference. Thanks Holly!

Mary: What's on your nightstand right now?
Jo: Some random pony-tail holders, one earring, a red wooden box that holds special memories, three framed photos of my son, an ugly lamp that really needs to be replaced, and several books:
The New Policeman
This Is What I Did
A Drowned Maiden’s Hair
The Plain Janes
The Princess and the Hound

Mary: Besides writing, do you have any other passions?
Jo: I volunteer at a women’s prison where I run a writing workshop, and I’m also teaching Writing For Children at Simmons College this semester in their MFA program. I absolutely LOVE running writing workshops. Oh shoot. Does that count as writing? Since it doesn’t involve me actually writing, I hope it’s OK.

Mary: What are you hobbies?
Jo: Oh my gosh, I don’t think I have any! Yikes. This is very sad. I tried to learn how to quilt but failed miserably. Ditto for knitting. I like to go on hikes but my son prefers to, in his words, “Observe nature though a window.” Can reading be a hobby? My favorite thing to do is sit on the deck with my son on a warm day and read to him for hours. We also play a lot of board games which I’m no good at. His latest obsession is Yu Gi Oh which I cannot for the life of me figure out the rules for.

Mary: Have you ever wanted to quit writing?
Jo: No, I don’t think so. I’ve thought of giving up on certain projects though, that’s for sure. I’ve learned that sometimes it really is important to let go of something that isn’t calling to you anymore, rather than try to force it. If it was meant to be, it will start whispering to you again.

Mary: If you could be anything else besides a writer, what would it be?
Jo: My son and I dream of opening a chocolate-dipped store, in which we sell all the treats we love dipped in chocolate.

Mary: What were you like as a teen?
Jo: I think I was fairly quiet. Very insecure. I wasn’t that popular but I did have friends and probably did many things that I wouldn’t want my own son doing when he reaches the teen years. I think that a lot of the things I did as a teen were a result of my insecurity (kind of like the partying Laine does, even when she’s not that into it).

Mary: Which books influenced you most when you were growing up?
Jo: Definitely Robert Cormier’s books, and J.D. Salinger’s. There was this one year in high school when we read all of these amazing books in my English class. The first day of school our teacher flipped through this hugely thick grammar book (see how I used bad grammar there?) and read the headings of each chapter, then quickly defined anything important we needed to know. Then he dumped the book in the wastebasket, went to the closet, and handed us worn-out paperback copies of The Chocolate War. We spent the whole year reading books like Catcher in the Rye, A Separate Peace, Lord of the Flies, etc. I became a true reader that year.

Mary: What do you do to "unblock" writer's block?
Jo: I ask my two writing partners to kick me. Seriously. They can be pretty tough. Usually they tell me to write 200 words. That’s all. And they tell me I can do it. I can almost feel them tapping their fingers as they wait. But it always works. I don’t think I get blocked so much as simultaneously really lazy and insecure. I’m lucky to have friends who believe in me and know that sometimes all I need is to be told I’m capable.

Mary: Do you do other types of writing besides YA?
Jo: I’m a freelance writer and do lots of nonfiction writing. But as far as fiction goes, so far I’ve stuck with YA.

Mary: Can you tell us what you are working on now?
Jo: I’m revising a new YA novel while I wait for notes from my editor on my second book that will be coming out with Candlewick probably in Spring ‘09, called Jumping Off Swings. The newer novel is a bit different from my first two, with a little more humor (I hope). I haven’t shared it with my editor yet, but hope to be able to soon.

Thanks for all the great questions, Mary! It was nice chatting with you. :-)

Mary: Thank you, Jo!

~~~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 Jo, post them in the comments. She'd love to hear from you! And don't forget to visit her website.