Right before I went to San Francisco for Tamara’s launch party, she told me that she would be in San Diego. I still decided to go up to SF. Fast forward to July and it was a lovely line up of my favorites.
Michelle and I met at Panera for pre-pre-game. We eventually made it over to our regular bakery pre-game for goodies.
We got back to the store around 6:30 and proceeded to be spoiled rotten in the back room.
The ladies got there around 7:20. Tamara came over to give me our standard launch party gift and we chatted for a bit before Maryelizabeth officially introduced them.
Each author talked about the synopsis of their book.
Robin talked about Emmy & Oliver and then told us: I decided to make her a surfer instead of a cross country runner like in the first draft because my mom and I took surf lessons.
Jessi talked about TWKBH and said: I didn’t know how it all worked and I found out that each side has the option to reach out, but it has to be anonymous. One of the things I learned that I loved is that the heart muscle is insensitive. You can poke it with a needle and it won’t feel anything. And it’s amazing because that’s where we put all of our emotion and important feelings.
Gretchen talked about how all of her books have teens killing each other and said: I took a lot from John Hughes and the first draft was so dark. I ended up watching pop-up Pretty in Pink. When I was a teenager, I thought it was a nice romantic movie. As an adult, I know there are a lot of important themes. There’s poverty, depression, her father is clearly an alcoholic. The issues in The Breakfast Club are still relevant. I get a lot of people telling me that they have loved seeing girls supporting each other.
Tamara talked about ELW and said: I’ve had a lot of people tell me that this book is a lot different from my first books and I don’t see that. They’re all about someone who feels like they don’t belong and meeting someone who makes them feel like they do. She also announced to everyone that Bennett was mine and it was fabulous.
What is next for you?
R: I took a full year off. I wrote a book a year for three years and it seems slow for YA. I was listening to a Florence + a Machine song and heard a specific lyric and knew what I wanted to write. I sent a very brief synopsis to my editor and she loved it, so that’s what I’m working on.
J: I’ve been having a summer and living life. I was supposed to be working all summer and my big plan was to have the first third done and I’ve gotten a few chapters done. It’s about a girl who is in an accident and has a near drowning experience. She comes back with retrograde amnesia.
G: A book a year is a tough pace. I have two books out next year. One is called Relic and is a horror. It’s about a group of teens in a mine who discover a creature killing people who know about it. It’s parasitic and is inhabiting one of the teens and no one knows who it is.
The second book is a contemporary. It’s the first book I’ve ever written without killing people. I had to figure out how to end the act of a book without a murder. It’s called I’m Not Your Manic Pixie Girl and it’s about a girl who loses her boyfriend to the new quirky girl and she tries to reinvent herself to get him back.
T: I can’t talk about my next project. I am working on something, but I can’t say anything. I did take a year and a half off between them. When I sold ELW, I wanted to make sure I could do some research.
Have you ever thought of writing a character based on your kids?
J: I think I’ve taken pieces of my daughter and turned it into someone I think she’ll be like.
T: I’ve woven parts of my kids into the books, but she doesn’t know it. I would like to write some middle grade that would deal with friendship issues, but I’m not sure how my community would take it.
Most recent book you’ve read?
R: The Royal We, which was perfect. Written in the Stars and it was the best.
J: The last YA I read All the Bright Places and it was amazing. {She also mentioned another book. Something about a guy getting an anti-malaria shot and that’s all I remember}
G: I blurbed Daughter unto Devils its essentially Little House on the Prairie with demons. It was fantastic. I was jealous and that’s the highest praise I can give. It’s coming out soon.
T: I just finished More Happy Than Not and I found myself hiding from my family to read.
Have you ever written a story that you didn’t tell anyone about?
G: Cannibalism. I sold it on sex and cannibalism. That sounds like a YA novel to me.
R: I’m not one of those people who get 12 ideas. I worry, but I don’t care. I worry about what my characters will do or say and that people won’t like it, but it won’t stop me.
T: This one has a sex scene and I was really wondering how it was going to go over. The first books don’t really have language and this sort of scared me.
G: The “clean book” thing is weird to me. Ten is considered a clean book and librarians love to push it. And there’s brutal murders and that’s okay.
R: I don’t have kids, but I’d rather have them say the F word than do the F word. I got a little push on it, but I think Oliver earned his right to say the F word.
After that, it was time for the signing. The line somehow ended up on the opposite side of where it normally is, so we ended up not being first {gasp! the horror!} While Michelle was talking to Tamara, I went over to Gretchen. She asked how many copies of the book I had and I told her that it was the only one I had.
Somehow we got started talking about how I was going to Disneyland to try and get the special pin for the 60th. Gretchen asked where Hubs was because it has been a while since she’s seen him. This conversation carried over to Robin and Jessi.
I told Robin that I loved all of her books, but Emmy & Oliver was my favorite. I also apologized for all of the interrupting that I did because there was a lot of commentary about their fabulous books and dramatic gasping. Jessi and Robin both laughed and said it wasn’t a big deal. Then we went back to Disneyland and then somehow, I started telling them about how Hubs was going all over the place at SDCC.
After Robin signed, I pretty much skipped out. I said goodbye to Rob and Maryelizabeth {who had just come from Disneyland} and then raced to get home.
These four ladies are all amazing on their own, but together, they are hilarious. Their books are some of my favorites and you should definitely be reading all of their words.
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