Okay, so I'm a little biased. Linds, as I call her, and I have followed each other across the internet for about five years now. Back in the day when we were both newbie writers, we joined our first critique group which later broke up. But I dragged Lindsay with me on my online quest for editorial feedback. For the past three years, Linds and I have been members of a killer critique group (killer for our editorial savagery) that I moderate. We fondly call it The Cudas (for barracudas). Linds is undeniably the "nice Cuda." But don't let that perky smile fool you. Behind that smile is a mind that churns out original and comic works of middle grade fiction faster than you can say cutie-pie.
Lindsay's middle-grade humorous novel, SCONES AND SENSIBILITY, comes out this December from Egmont. I can tell you, having witnessed it's nearly fully-formed birth—it is a hoot! So I'm going to turn the mike over to Linds and let her speak for herself.
Tell us about yourself.
Let’s see. I’m a thirty-year-old mother of four. I love to laugh, drink iced mochas, and sing really loud in my car. I don’t like brownies with nuts and I’m extremely sentimental and will probably keep this interview just because it’s been given to me by a dear writing friend!
You have a book coming out this December, the middle-grade novel Scones and Sensibility. Can you tell us about it?
Sure! Scones and Sensibility is about an overdramatic and overromantic twelve-year-old girl who, using her heroines Elizabeth Bennet and Anne Shirley as her guides, sets to match-making in her small beach town with disastrous and hilarious results.
You have a great sense of humor and a brand of wit all your own. What is your inspiration ?
Life! I grew up with laughter all around me. Listening at my Grandparents table to the roaring laughter and the pee-in-your-pants stories my parents, my grandparents, and my aunts and uncles told. And really, life is full of funny mishaps, hilarious witticisms, and knee-slapping adventures.
What advice can you give aspiring authors?
Write and read. And then read and write. A writer is first and foremost a reader…so read! And don’t ever, ever, ever give up! No writer would have gotten to where he or she was if they had given up after the first or even the twentieth rejection.
What books inspired you growing up?
Matilda by Roald Dahl
Bridge to Terebithia by Katherine Patterson
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
These were the books that first gave me the deep yearning to want to create stories that were filled with magic.
Tell us something surprising about yourself.
Let’s see…I hate the sound of someone eating a banana or stirring a bowl of macaroni and cheese…it’s extremely gross to me. I’m also probably one of the only women on earth that wishes her hair wouldn’t grow….yes, I like it short and I wish it would just stay like that.
Visit Lindsay at http://lindsayeland.com/
I loved reading this interview. (I like to keep my hair short too.) You're book sounds really fun! Congratulations on its release.
ReplyDeleteI'm so excited for this book, having had the privilege to read drafts in the early stages. I hope to one day be as funny and charming as Lindsay Eland :)! Congrats!!!!!
ReplyDeleteLindsay sounds amazing - 4 children and she still has a sense of humor. Can't wait to read her book. Thanks for the interview, Lisa!
ReplyDeleteI can assure you, Pippa. She is. And so funny you'd better not be sipping a beverage or you'll spray your screen with it. I have done that and learned my lesson. No drinking while reading Linds' work. Too risky!
ReplyDeleteWow, great interview!! I can't wait for this book. Thanks Lisa and Lindsay!
ReplyDeleteCountdown to Scones: 66 days (because Release Day isn't a "waiting day" anymore). Preordered mine, like, a month ago or something. But then I'm prejudiced, too: I *heart* Linds AND there's a girl on a bicycle on the cover. This book can't fail!
ReplyDeleteHa-ha! You girls had me laughing the whole way through, great job Lisa! I admire your interviewing techniques very much. :)
ReplyDelete