It’s
All About the Author…
1) Please
tell us 5 interesting facts about yourself that readers might not know about
you …
In my spare time, I dance with a professional Polynesian
dance troupe.
My son and I do extra work for TV and the movies when we get
called.
My husband is a personal trainer, and I used to enter
fitness and strength competitions.
My favorite treats are sour candies or guacamole.
I’m extremely far-sighted, and while I can probably drive
without my glasses/contacts, there’s no way I could read—even with large print.
2) What do
you like to do in your spare time?
As above, I dance, teach dance, workout at the gym, and
homeschool my son. I also teach a fast-drafting writing class for homeschooled
kids.
3) Is
there one book that you love to read over and over again? If so, what is it and what is it that keeps
you coming back to it?
I read Anna and the
French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins about once per year. I love the voice and
the humor, plus the romance makes it a quick page-turner.
4) How did
you get started writing and have you always wanted to be an author?
I got into writing by accident. I blame it on hormones,
since I first started when I was pregnant with my son (he’s ten now). I started
by journaling, but because I’ve never been a journaler and I was afraid of
people reading what I wrote, I used character names. Soon the writing took on a
life of it’s own and was no longer about whatever I was going through
personally. I eventually found critique partners to help me make my writing
readable, and they eventually encouraged me to submit it to agents and
publishers.
5) If you
for some reason couldn’t be an author, what would your other choice be?
I think I’ll always write stories, whether I make money from
doing it or not. I also enjoy doing extra work for movies and TV shows, so if I
wasn’t writing, I may spend more time at that (though I’d probably still write
on set.)
6) Did you
like school? Were you a good student?
No, I hated school, and that is one of my main reasons for
homeschooling my son. Both my husband and I love learning now, and we hope
it’ll rub off on our son. I was not a very good student, and mostly just did
what I had to in order to pass.
7) When you write, is there a specific way you
have to write, ie: certain room, noise
or quiet, computer or paper etc…
I prefer to write at our kitchen table, on my computer, with
no one home, for no less than an hour at a time. In reality, I can write in
five minute bursts, surrounded by chaos, on my phone or scraps of paper if I
have to.
8) If you could write a collaboration with
another author, do you have one in mind and what would you write?
There are lots of authors I would LOVE to write a book with
in order to learn from them, but honestly, I would probably be constantly
intimidated and afraid my writing wouldn’t measure up. I’m always intrigued
when I see other authors collaborate, but I’ve never gotten to the stage that
I’ve actually wanted to pursue it for myself.
9) How do you come up with your story
ideas?
My
story ideas come from all over the place. Sometimes from personal experiences,
or from stories I hear from friends. Sometimes from the newspaper. With Foreign Exchange, the first spark of an
idea came when I was watching the movie Life
As We Know It. I was immediately interested in writing a responsible
character who had to team up with an untrustworthy (but sexy) playboy in order
to solve a problem.
10)
Do titles stump you or do they come easy? When do you pick a title, before the story is
written or when it’s done?
With my
first novel, the title Losing Faith
came quite easily, and both my agent and editor loved it. My second novel was
originally called Appetite for Beauty,
but during edits, the sales team at Simon Pulse felt it sounded too adult. I
brainstormed about a million ideas, but in the end, my editor came up with
another title I loved, Never Enough. Foreign Exchange has been through many
titles, including Cover Me and Dangerous Translation.
11)
Do you keep a notebook near you for when new
ideas pop into your head?
I take
notes on my phone almost constantly. I used to keep a notepad, but I’d find I’d
leave it somewhere and forget, and then start a new one. I still have half full
notebooks all around the house that I’ve never gone back to.
12)
How does your family feel about your writing?
My family has had to warm up to the idea of me writing.
Writing, publishing, and promoting all take a lot of time, and my family wasn’t
crazy about it when I skipped out on making dinner or doing laundry because I
was trying to write a novel in thirty days or some such goal. I’ve learned to
make my writing less of an inconvenience to others over the years and they’ve
learned to be more supportive.
Thanks
for sharing “you as an author” with us !
We hope you’ll come back and visit again soon!
*****
Foreign
Exchange
Denise
Jaden
Evernight
Teen Contemporary/Mystery
Jamie Monroe has always
played it safe. That is, until her live-for-the-moment best friend, Tristan,
jets off to Italy on a student exchange program. Left alone with her part-time
mother and her disabled brother, Jamie discovers that she is quite capable of
taking her own risks, starting with her best friend’s hotter-than-hot older
brother, Sawyer. Sawyer and Tristan have been neighbors for years, but as Jamie
grows closer to the family she thought she knew, she discovers some pretty big
secrets.
As she sinks deeper into their web of pretense, she suspects that
her best friend may not be on a safe exchange program at all. Jamie sets off to
Europe on a class trip with plans to meet up with Tristan, but when Tristan
stops all communication, suddenly no one seems trustworthy, least of all the
one person she was starting to trust—Sawyer.
Buy Links: Evernight
Teen Amazon
Trailer: http://youtu.be/-v1h14XD6G4
Excerpt:
Hi,” I say when I find Sawyer at his locker.
My face is beaming like someone plugged me into a wall socket.
“Jamie.” He smiles back, but his eyes are
rimmed with red like he's really tired. “Have you heard from my sister again?”
Not exactly the topic of conversation I'd
hoped for. I nod. “I got another email. She got to Milan fine and is settling
in.”
Sawyer pulls out his phone. He looks at me,
then at his phone, then back at me again.
“She's...everything's okay with the exchange
program?” he asks. His words are tentative.
“Tristan's fine, Sawyer. She says the
schoolwork is going to be harder than expected because of not speaking Italian,
but otherwise she's great. She loves Europe.” He looks at his phone again. I
put my hand out. “Here, you want me to show you the email?”
He hands me his phone. It takes me a minute to
figure out how to log in through his browser, but I hope I can put his mind at
rest. My email is coming up on the screen when the first bell rings. I have
English first class and my teacher's a real stickler about tardiness. I glance
down the hall toward my locker.
“You go,” Sawyer says, his palm open for his
phone. “I'll look it over and see you in class later. Okay?”
“I—” I’m not sure what to say. Tristan’s been
talking about finding my dad in her emails. It’s our big secret and she’d been
adamant about not sharing it with anybody. But I think I can trust Sawyer. And,
after all, it is my secret to keep.
If I’m making a mistake it’ll only hurt me. “Okay,” I say, finally, passing his
phone back to him. Our fingers brush against each other, but we don’t have time
to let them linger.
By the time I get to English, I'm thinking of
another problem. Tristan hadn't wanted me to tell anyone about her modeling
over there. I’ll have to tell Sawyer not to mention it.
When I dash into class later, Sawyer’s already
seated in his usual seat with his head down. He's flipping through something on
his phone, and again I think about signing him into my email earlier. Instead
of feeling nervous, after having some time to think about it, trusting him
makes me feel closer to him. Like we share our private emails with each other
all the time.
“Hey.” I sit down beside him.
He finishes typing something, and then shoves
his phone away before Mr. Echols catches sight of it. “Hey,” he says finally,
smiling over at me. He still looks really tired.
“Everything okay?” I ask.
He blinks a few times, looking down, and I
wonder if he isn't okay. Is something really wrong? “Do you...” he trails off
and seems to rethink what he's saying. “Do you think with the program... do you
think everything's okay about that? I don't know what's going on, but maybe...I
mean, I think maybe Tristan’s over there trying to model.”
I swallow hard. This is the moment of truth,
where I have to decide how much I can trust him.
But his pause is barely long enough for me to
open my mouth. “I need to get on that class trip, Jamie. I need to stop my
sister from doing anything stupid.”
A host of emotions rush through me. Fear,
anger, betrayal.
“Wait, what?” I ask him. “You're going to try
to get on the class trip so you can interfere with Tristan's dream?” Tristan’s
told me how jealous he can be. How he’s done this before.
Sawyer looks over at me with wide eyes, like
he can't believe I'm calling him out on it.
Mr. Echols interrupts us, starting class, but
I'm too upset to pay attention to a single word he's saying.
Sawyer passes me a note halfway through class.
I’m
seriously worried about my sister, Jamie. I have to tell you more about the
program. Just hear me out. Please?
I keep my eyes from Sawyer for the rest of
class. I'm sure he knows I'm angry, but he doesn't try to talk to me again, at
least for now. I'm even angry at myself for getting so caught up in my feelings
for him and not noticing all the things that Tristan's warned me about.
“Foreign Exchange is a
fresh contemporary YA that will keep readers compulsively turning pages until
the very end. Combining international intrigue with a steamy forbidden romance
makes for a can’t miss
read.”
- Eileen Cook Author of Year of Mistaken Discoveries.
“Great
contemporary/mystery combo!”
Shanyn Day, Book Blogger, Chickloveslit.com
“A
pitch perfect voice and delicious chemistry between the characters kept me
turning those pages!”
Tara Kelly, author of
Amplified and Encore
Foreign Exchange is heart pounding and
suspenseful...the teenage dream of escaping the boredom of suburbia
by travelling Europe and spending quality time with a hot guy shifts into
a dangerous nightmare.
D.R. Graham, author of Rank and the Noir
et Bleu MC series.
Author Denise Jaden
Her first non-fiction
book for writers, Writing with a Heavy
Heart: Using Grief and Loss to Stretch Your Fiction, includes a variety of
clear guidance and practical exercises to help writers get to the heart of
their stories. Her second non-fiction book, Fast
Fiction (New World Library) includes tips on constructing a story plan that
works, as well as daily inspiration to keep writers writing, regardless of when
the mood strikes.
Find out more about
Denise and her books at www.DeniseJaden.com or on Twitter @denisejaden.
Praise for Denise Jaden’s Wriing:
"In her sophomore
novel, Jaden (Losing Faith) offers an intimate and enlightened rendering of
anorexia and bulimia...Loann's fight against forces that might be beyond
her control is both harrowing and inspiring. While Jaden does not provide
simple answers for the problems presented, she dramatically illustrates the importance
of speaking out and reaching out."
- Publishers Weekly
- Publishers Weekly
“A poignant, important
book, Never Enough tackles self-esteem and body image issues while always
remaining true to its three-dimensional characters. Denise Jaden has created a cliché-free zone filled with
hurt, heart, and personal strength. Jaden's tender sympathy for her characters and dedication to honest
storytelling shine through every page.”
—C.K. Kelly Martin, author of I Know It’s Over
remaining true to its three-dimensional characters. Denise Jaden has created a cliché-free zone filled with
hurt, heart, and personal strength. Jaden's tender sympathy for her characters and dedication to honest
storytelling shine through every page.”
—C.K. Kelly Martin, author of I Know It’s Over
“This thoughtful first
novel explores early grief and shows how it can tear at the structure of a
family that
cannot mourn together…. [R]eaders are taken on a ride through a secret world of religious zeal gone
haywire….With pitch-perfect portrayals of high school social life and a nuanced view into a variety of Christian experiences of faith, this first novel gives readers much to think about.”
-School Library Journal
cannot mourn together…. [R]eaders are taken on a ride through a secret world of religious zeal gone
haywire….With pitch-perfect portrayals of high school social life and a nuanced view into a variety of Christian experiences of faith, this first novel gives readers much to think about.”
-School Library Journal
“Losing Faith is a
remarkable first novel.”
-CM Magazine
-CM Magazine
Giveaway: $25 Evernight Teen Gift Card
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I loved this interview! I love the "when & where do you write" answer...just like me, there's an ideal, and then there's reality, haha. Flexibility seems to be pretty important for writers! ;)
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