November was Just Contemporary!
My love affair with contemporary fiction started with a book I randomly found at the Leon County Public library. It was Fridays by Patricia Lee Gauch (which is, funnily enough, a Simon Pulse book; they are MY publisher too), and I think I read it fourteen times. I’ve always preferred “real” books about “real” girls: Ramona Quimby, Sally J. Friedman, Jessica and Elizabeth in Sweet Valley High . . . even Laura Ingalls Wilder was a real girl surviving real situations, even if they weren’t contemporary to me.
Now I WRITE contemporary fiction, and I still love reading it. Authors like Elizabeth Eulberg, Laurie Halse Anderson, Eileen Cook and Eireann Corrigan thrill and fascinate me with their ability to peg real thoughts and feelings and interactions in exactly the “real” way. (There are many, MANY other authors on this list too–just check out my “Talking with Other Authors” category over there on the right, and you’ll see how much I love them.)
Which is why I love what two bloggers, Ashley and Shanyn, have been doing ALL OF NOVEMBER: celebrating contemporary YA.
Here’s a glimpse of what Shanyn asked me in a fun thing called “Fun Five.” To read the rest (and lots and lots of other great interviews and reviews), go visit her blog RIGHT NOW! http://chickloveslit.com/
How many pieces of jewelry do you normally wear?
Seven or eight: earrings (just one in each), plus my watch and maybe a bracelet or two. (Two if sans watch.) On my left hand I always wear my wedding ring, my engagement ring, and a ring on my left thumb (from a friend). There’s also a ring on my right hand from a friend that I wear constantly. I also never take off a nickel on a chain, which my husband made and gave to me on our first Valentine’s Day together.
Songs In My Head Upon Waking in the Last Week:
“Numb,” by U2; “Rainbow Connection,” by Weezer & Hayley Williams; “Please Read the Letter,” by Robert Plant and Allison Krauss; “Suffer Well,” by Depeche Mode; “Coming Back to You,” by Martin Gore; Some Christmas song that goes “Sing Ye Old Jerusalem, Christ is Born in Bethlehem”; “Believe it Or Not,” by Joey Scarbury