Author Spotlight Week - Interview with Cole Gibsen

I first had the pleasure of meeting Cole three years ago when I joined the brand new Querytracker site and found the forum. She is one of the most talented and all around awesome people I have ever had the opportunity to meet and I am very proud to call her a friend.

Cole recently had some very good news to share - her novel Katana will be published by Flux in early 2012! I have been privileged to read this book and cannot wait for it to hit the shelves!

To kick off our Author Spotlight Week, I asked Cole to answer a few questions for us about herself and her writing.

MM: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer? 

CG: Always. Unfortunately, I had a step-dad who was fond of telling me how stupid I was so I didn’t believe I could do it and never tried. Lucky for me, when the economy started to sour four years ago, my small business folded. I know that sounds like a bad thing, but being jobless gave me the opportunity to really think about what I wanted to do with my life. It was the kick in the pants I needed to pick the pen back up.

MM: What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books?

CG: How therapeutic it is! My husband says he can always tell when I haven’t written in a few days because I’m on edge. (That’s a nice way of saying I’m a Snarky Von Crankypants.) When this happens, he kicks me out of the house with my laptop and coffee money. (I’m a very lucky girl.)

MM: You recently sold your book, Katana, in a two-book deal with Flux. 
Congratulations!! Can you tell us a little about your book?

CG: Thank you so much. I’d love to! KATANA is the story of Rileigh, a seventeen year-old girl who, after surviving an attack in the mall parking lot, gets possessed by the spirit of a fifteenth century samurai warrior. When a lover from her past life appears along with a mysterious enemy, her problems only increase.

MM: Who is your favorite character in the book, and why?

CG: Oh wow. I don’t know that I have a favorite because I love them all. Even my villain holds a special place in my heart. If I have to choose, I guess I’d say Rileigh because she’s sarcastic, addicted to shoes, and can disarm an attacker wielding nunchaku with a window squeegee.

MM: LOL Sounds like my kind of girl :D What about you? Who is Cole Gibsen ? What do you love to do, besides writing?

CG: Uh, I don’t think there’s enough room on the internet. LOL. But seriously, I’m a hopeless nerd. James Marsters touched my hand at Dragon Con and I almost died. I can talk comics with the best of them and spot all the inaccuracies in any Marvel movie. I love to sew and quilt. And I’m a diehard Harry Potter fan. There’s a group of us that dress up as characters from the movies to attend the HP premiers. This year I’m working on Bellatrix’s dress. It. Will. Be. Epic.

MM: Okay, seriously, I wish I lived closer to you because I would so be right there with you! :D Tell us a little about finding your agent and your road to publication –

CG: I can tell you it was a lesson in patience. It took two novels, two years, and over a hundred rejections before I landed my agent, Chris Richman. From there it took another year and several revisions before we landed our deal with Flux. Totally worth the wait!

MM: What was the hardest part of this journey for you? The easiest, or most fun?

CG: The hardest part, but also the most gratifying, was overcoming my own self-doubt and proving to myself that I could write a novel and get it published.
The most fun has been meeting all these incredible writers online and at conferences. I’m very lucky to now have friends across the country and even around the world. Writers are amazing people and I’m blessed to have so many in my life.

MM: What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

CG: Hmmm…I guess I’m not too quirky in that department. I do, however, always wear my noise reduction headphones and if a caramel frappuccino is within arms-reach, that’s even better!

MM: Thanks so much for the interview and for being our Spotlight Author this week! And congratulations again on your sale!!

Cole will be with us all week, so come back tomorrow for a few words of Gibsen wisdom :D

Linkage!!! If you'd like more information on Cole, please check out her links.

Cole's Blog
Cole's Website
Cole on Facebook
Cole on Twitter
Awesome Cole Youtube Video

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Interview with Christine Fonseca

 To start off our Emotionally Intense week, I asked Christine if she'd do an interview so we could introduce the topic and get to know her a little better :)



MM: So, what exactly is emotional intensity?

CF: To Quote my upcoming book, Emotionally Intense, emotional intensity can be described as "strong and intense emotional reactions to various situations." This can range from being really happy, almost to to point of being manic, to being sad to the point of depression. More often it means vacilating between the two - feeling consistently off-balance because of the way in which you respond to the world around you. For the women reading this, it's like extreme PMS 24/7!

I'll talk more about this in my guest post on Wednesday, but that gives you a pretty good working definition.


MM: LOL Yep, "feeling consistently off balance" pretty much describes how I feel when it comes to writing, revising, querying, and just about everything else in my writing world :)

In your book, you discuss emotional intensity in regards to gifted children. I know in my experience, most of the “creative type” people I know are pretty emotionally intense. Are creativity and intensity related? In other words, are all emotionally intense people gifted?


CF: Great question (not to mention a great follow-up book - Hmm...think I need to write that!). I do believe all gifted people are emotionally intense. But I do not think all emotionally intense people are gifted.

Creative people are - I think it is related to the way in which emotionally intense (and creative people) interact with the world. A good friend, Danyelle, calls it "painting in bolds while the rest of the world is painting in pastels". On Wednesday, I'll share my favorite poem describing intensity...In both of these examples, creative people fit the mold as easily as gifted people do.

I read something in an interview with Leah Clifford last week that rang very true - and on-point with this topic. She said "It's not easy being friends with a writer..." - Man, that is an understatement! We are a very angsty lot. Or, in other terms, we are very emotionally intense!


MM: As you said, we’ll get a little further into how writing and intensity relate on Wednesday. For now, can you tell us a little about your book?

CF: Love to. Emotionally Intense: Learning to Cope With Your Gifted Child's Outbursts (Prufrock 2011) was written specifically to help parents navigate the often intense world of gifted children. More than a book of parenting theory, it has strategies to de-escalate kids and give them the greatest gift any parent can bestow - the ability to recognize, monitor, and adjust their OWN behavior. I wrote it in a conversational tone with the hopes that it would be the dog-eared, coffee-stained book parents turn to like they would an old friend - something to help them remember how to cope with their kid's outbursts.

MM: What about you? Besides being a very talented writer and one of the most incredible people I’ve ever met…who is Christine Fonseca?

CF: Holy Cow...kinda open-ended, yeah??? I guess I am an emotionally intense writer! Okay I am more than that too....I am the mom of 2 amazingly intense kids, with an equally amazing and intense husband. I work as a school psychologist by day, and spend most evenings writing. When I am not doing those things, I swim, run, surf, ski, hike, and otherwise try to suck the marrow out of life! I write YA to stay in touch with that part of my soul...and I LOVE it more than I can say!!!

MM: Tell us a little about finding your agent and your road to publication

CF: Well, I really owe you and Elana for that...I was never planning on finding an agent for my NF. The world of publication for books related to giftedness is SMALL (they don't call it a niche market for nothing). But the reality is, I didn't think I could do it all on my own, so I wanted to find an agent.

After querying for a relatively short amount of time, I found Krista Goering of the Krista Goering Literary Agency. I was impressed with her knowledge of the niche I was venturing into (she had done her homework before we spoke), as well as her ideas regarding the agent/writer relationship. We landed the book deal pretty quickly after signing. We have other projects in the works as well, so hopefully more books related to giftedness are in my future.

Now, my world of fiction is different all together. I write YA fiction and am currently seeking representation for my completed ms, A BEAUTIFUL MESS.

Thanks for the interview!

MM: Thanks so much for stopping by this week, Christine!

This topic really fascinates me, especially in how it relates to writers. The quote from Leah's interview is so true - it's NOT easy to be friends (or a significant other of) a writer LOL The term "emotionally intense" just hits the nail right on the head :)

Be sure to stop by the rest of the week for more with Christine Fonseca and Emotional Intensity!

LINKS!!

Christine's Blog
Growing Up Gifted Blog
Christine's Website

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Interivew with the Fabulous Leah Clifford

I first met Leah about three years ago on the then brand new Querytracker.net forum. There were only a few of us back then and we formed a tight-knit group that is still one of my main sources for support and inspiration. We were all just starting out on our querying journeys back then, but it has always been evident that Leah has what it takes to be a rock star :) It has been a pure joy and thrill to see Leah find her incredible agent, Rosemary Stimola, and, most recently, land an amazing three book deal.

Her first book, A Touch Mortal, will be coming in Winter 2011 from GreenWillow / HarperCollins. I asked her to stop by and answer a few questions about her writing and new book.



MM: When did you first realize you wanted to be a writer?

LC: I've known I wanted to be a writer pretty much forever. It sounds cliche, but my grandmother used to read to me when I was little, and as soon as I figured out the stories were made up by people, I knew that's what I wanted to do.

MM: How long did it take you to write your book?

LC: It took me about 8 months, with about 5 months of that lost to writer's block where I just couldn't figure out where the story was going. I ended up adding another POV and it changed the entire book and I was able to finish it rather quickly!

MM: I know some writers only like to write when the mood strikes them, and some have a set schedule. What is your work schedule like when you're writing?

LC: Well, I have a day job, so I work on the writing during pretty much all of my free time. I usually wake up early to get a few hundred words in, go to work and get a majority of my writing done after. My prime hours are at night from 11pm until 2 or 3 am. I'm a night owl.

MM: We writers can sometimes be a strange bunch :D What would you say is your interesting writing quirk?

LC: I *HAVE* to have a song for each scene. Until I find my song, I can't write the scene. Sometimes finding the song takes longer than the actual writing.

MM: What do you like to do when you're not writing?

LC: Wait...there's supposed to be downtime? Oops.

MM: LOL Well, I guess downtime can be optional for writers ;-D What was one of the most surprising things you learned in creating your books? 

LC: How a character can change your whole idea of what's supposed to happen. When I was writing A Touch Mortal, the characters just kind of took over and dragged me along with them. I've learned to just go with it. Fighting it was what led to my writer's block, and once I let go and let them tell the story, everything fell into place.

MM: You had several offers of representation – what made you choose your agent? 

LC: Ro (Rosemary Stimola) and I had very similar ideas of what an agent/client relationship should be like, which had me leaning toward her after our phone conversation. She just fit me best in so many ways.

MM: Can you tell us a bit about your book? 

LC: This is a mishmash of my query and the PM announcement...

Death isn't what Eden expected. Where the hell is her release? Her quiet ending? Not that Eden remembers the details of her final hours, but one thing is for sure--becoming a Sider, trapped between life and death, was definitely not part of the plan...

For Eden, nothing seems to be coming easy. Somehow, word's gotten around that her power can kill her own kind. With desperate Siders already camping out on her doorstep, the last thing Eden needs is the rumor to spread. Especially since it's true...

When her ability pulls her into a feud between Fallen and Bound Angels, she'll have to figure out who to trust and get to the truth behind her death, even if the answers will alter heaven, hell and everything in-between.

MM: Sounds like an amazing book! What can you tell us about your next project?

LC: The next project will be the second book in the series, which I'm working on in between edits.

MM: Thanks so much for stopping by, Leah. I have no doubt your series is going to be a huge success! 

For more information on Leah and her work, check out her website, and her awesome vlog group, The YA Rebels. You can also find her on her Facebook page and Twitter. 

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Interivew with the Fabulous Leah Clifford

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