Today is the last of our Q & A series with the featured authors, agents, and editors of the first YA A to Z Conference, the only conference in the country focused on the craft and business of writing for young adults. It’s coming next weekend- April 15 & 16! If you missed our other Q & As, check out the Scribe archives for March and April. And if you missed your chance to register for the YA A to Z Conference, you can still purchase a walk-up registration. Info about the conference can be found here.
We’ve had so much fun with these Q & As. See you on Friday for YA A to Z!
What are you reading right now?
Stolen by Lucy Christopher
When you’re not reading or writing, what do you like to do with your time?
Take my dogs for a walk, watch movies, get together with friends, listen to music, spend time with my family, travel to New York
What’s your favorite opening line of a book?
It takes less time for them to conquer the world that it takes for me to brush my teeth. That’s pretty disappointing. From Alien Invasion and Other Inconveniences by Brian Yansky
What life lesson did your last book or project teach you?
Mysteries are really, really hard to write.
What word do you love? What word do you detest?
Piss ant. Bee’s knees. (I guess those are two words apiece?)
What is a little known fact about yourself?
I love martial arts films. Kill Bill rules.
How do you deal with ups and downs of the publishing business?
I get together with my writer pals; we drink wine and whine.
How do you balance writing with work and family?
I tell my husband what I want for dinner.
What is your writing routine and where do you write?
I usually write when my husband’s at work and my daughter’s at school. I need solitude.
Do you outline or just start writing?
A little of both. Mostly I just write.
Do you have trusted readers you turn to as you write, and if so, who and what stage?
My husband Ed is my first reader, and I have a wonderful critique group.
When did you first know you wanted to be a writer?
When I was thirty-four and pregnant with my fourth child. I’m a late bloomer.
Cyndi’s Fast Five
1. What are three things in your office/writing space that would surprise someone who popped in?
Two highly rambunctious boxers sitting at my feet, an unmade bed (I write in my bedroom), and a bowl of potato chips.
2. What book first influenced you as a child?
The Changeling by Zilpha Keatly Snyder
3. What time of day do you write?
It varies. Mornings are best.
4. If you could have a beer or coffee with a writer living or dead, who would it be and why?
I guess I would choose Salinger since he was such a recluse and I like a challenge.
5. Beer or coffee?
With Salinger I’d need a beer.
