Day 5: A Talk with Trinity

We hope you've enjoyed meeting Terri Clark and learning more about her YA thriller, SLEEPLESS. Remember, the official release date is September 2, so if you don't see it on store shelves yet you will soon. Closing out her week, Terri interviews press shy teen Trinity Michaels.

Terri: Hi Trinity. I understand you don’t like to give interviews so I appreciate your willingness to speak with me.

Trinity: Yeah, well, ever since that newsreporter outed me as a psychic I’ve been hounded by every Tom, Dick and Nutcase. I hate the freakin’ nazi-razzi.


Terri: Yes, well, I’m certainly not a paparazzo, but I would like to ask you a little bit about your ability. You’ve been dubbed--

Trinity: Dream girl. How lame is that? If they’re going to give me a super hero moniker couldn’t they come up with something cooler?

Terri: Like what?

Trinity: Nevermind. I’m no super hero anyway. All this dream drama is too much.

Terri: Drama? That seems a bit of an understatement. Isn’t the killer, Rafe Stevens, after you?

Trinity: When I wake and when I sleep. Too bad I can’t purge this stupid “power.”

Terri: Why would you want to do that? Do you know how many people would love to peek into another person’s mind?

Trinity: A crapload, I’m sure. But they’d change their mind pretty dang quick if they saw the same twisted things I see. I don’t have normal dreams. People come to me in my sleep and confess their deepest, darkest secrets. I see the worst of humanity and I don’t want to take on the responsibility of other people’s problems.

Terri: Like your childhood friend, Timmy—

Trinity: How the heck do you know about him? Interview done!

Terri: Wait, wait, wait. I’m sorry. Touchy topic. Let me ask you one more thing.

Trinity: (silence)

Terri: You know that old wives tale? The one that says if you die in your dreams, you’ll die for real? Do you believe that?

Trinity: I didn’t use to, but why else would I be SLEEPLESS?

We're betting you might be interested in losing some sleep yourself now. To further entice you we're thrilled to debut Terri's book trailer of SLEEPLESS.

Day 4: Terri's Top Ten

Ask a teen librarian to name her top ten teen books and there's apt to be a long pause while she flips through her mental reading record, but eventually Terri gave us an answer. In no particular order, Terri's Top Ten....

1. Laura Wiess's SUCH A PRETTY GIRL left me breathless and shaken. With her dad in jail Meredith finally feels safe, then he gets out early and he wants to get "close" to her like he was before. You'll never forget this book.

2. In WHO'S YOUR DADDY? Lila, Meryl and Caressa are three boyfriend-less best friends. Hoping to change their luck they hold a "dumb supper" and get more than they ever imagined. No one writes relationships and humor like Lynda Sandoval.

3. Not only is John Green's LOOKING FOR ALASKA one of the best coming of age novels EVER, it's partly responsible for getting me my job as a teen librarian.

4. This is, without question, my favorite book to booktalk. I always get a great reaction from kids. I'll just give you the short and sweet: Teens between the ages of 13-17 can be retroactively aborted. Dubbed unwinds, they supposedly "live on" by having every last part of their body medically donated. Some of them aren't willing to accept that fate and go on the run, this is their story. UNWIND by Neal Schusterman is a must read for EVERYONE.

5. Gail Giles is one of my all time favorite authors. She writes raw, real and gritty stories. There's no happily-ever-afters, but her characterizations are incredible. SHATTERING GLASS is my favorite of her books. Check out this opening paragraph. "Simon Glass was easy to hate. I never knew exactly why, there was too much to pick from. I guess, really, we each hated him for a different reason, but we didn't realize it until the day we killed him." 'Nuff said.

6. I loved Gabrielle Zevin's ELSEWHERE because it was so unique. When Liz dies she finds herself on a ship to Elsewhere where she lives her life in reverse until she's reborn as a baby.

7. I adore Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. Think Harry Potter, but faster paced with more humor. Percy Jackson is the half-blood son of a Greek God and all along he just thought he was a troublemaker with ADD. Get hooked with book 1: THE LIGHTNING THIEF. 8. I LOVE Kelley Armstrong's Women of the Underworld series so when I learned she was crossing over to YA I was giddy. Her debut, THE SUMMONING, was not a disappointment--necromancers, wizards, werewolves and evil psychologists, oh my!

9. Meg Cabot's MEDIATOR and 1-800-WHERE-R-U paranormal series, originally written under the name Jenny Carroll, is the series that made me fall in love with YAs and got me started writing.

10. Scott Westerfeld rocks! While most people rave about his UGLIES series, I actually liked his MIDNIGHTERS series even better. Don't get me wrong, I love Tally, but I preferred the dark, dangerous tone and the superheroish powers the MIDNIGHTERS find in a secret, blue hour.

11--

Terri tried to keep her list going to include other books like--THE BOOK THIEF, ABSOLUTELY POSTIVELY NOT, SAINT IGGY, FREAK SHOW, the KISSING COFFINS series and LIFE AS WE KNEW IT, but we finally yanked the keyboard from her.

Tune back in tomorrow when we'll get to know Trinity Michaels, the teen psychic from SLEEPLESS a little better.

Day 3: Dream A Little Dream

Today Terri's going to psyche us out with a little dream interpretation. You may think twice next time you're ready to hit the sack.

In SLEEPLESS I explore the world of dreams. It’s a fascinating topic. Psychologists think our dreams are a way of rehashing a day’s events and sometimes problem solving. In other words, whatever is bugging us is apt to show up in our dreams in one form or another. Whole books and websites are dedicated to interpreting your dreams.

For instance, according to this cool online dream dictionary having your teeth fall out in your dream “forewarns that your health and/or business are in jeopardy. You may have uttered some false or foul words and those words are coming back to haunt you.”

And did you know that snakes symbolize fear, worry and sexuality? On the other hand, if you sneeze in your dreams that means a life of “ease and joy.”

When I was in high school I had this reoccurring dream where I was in this massive mall, riding up in an escalator with clear glass sides, but the escalator was filled with water up to the black rubber railing on the side. Hmm… a little research…let’s see…a mall means I was trying to make a favorable impression on someone, moving up an escalator means I was addressing emotional issues and clear water means I was in tune with my spirituality. Translation: I was trying desperately to overcome my shyness to get a boy’s attention. Wow! That really works.

Seriously though, dreams really are reflections of who we are and what we’re going through. If you think about it you’ll probably notice when you’re stressed or worried you have some kind of reoccurring dream or theme that shows up in your sleeping brain.

Want to know what terrorizes me in the night? What my reoccurring stress dream is lately? Numbers! (Confession: I hate math and numbers and calculations stress me out.) So what did the dream dictionary say? Numbers indicates unsettled or dissatisfied conditions in business. Hmm. Think that means I’m worried about my first book coming out? That’s certainly my interpretation.

When I asked my agent what her reoccurring stress dream was she said, “Going to my mother’s house.”

So, tell me, what do you dream about?

Tune back tomorrow when Terri shares her ten fave teen books.

Day 2: Getting to Know Terri

Today we're talking to Terri and learning a little more about SLEEPLESS.

2K8: Where do you do most of your writing, Terri?

TC: I write at home, usually in one of three places—my desk, the dining table or my bedroom. I have a pre-teen and teen in my house and both are computer hogs so I have to fight to get on either the desktop or laptop. My son and his friends are usually taking up two of the computers playing World of Warcraft. We finally buckled down this week and bought another desktop so the laptop could be mine, all mine!

2K8: How’d SLEEPLESS come to be? What inspired the idea?

TC: I’ve always been fascinated with dreams. I think they’re revealing and powerful. Sometimes they’re just nonsensical stories our brain makes up, but sometimes they’re much more. Then you add the old wives tale into the mix and things get really hairy. Will you die in real life if you die in your dreams? That’s a question I wanted to play with.

When I first started doing research for SLEEPLESS a series of articles ran in the Denver Post about dangerous criminals who pretended insanity so they could get locked up in a mental hospital instead of jail. I was horrified and found myself wondering what would happen if the bad guys got more than they bargained for in the hospital. Maybe it wasn’t Easy Street like they imagined. I researched inhumane mental health “cures” from history and that was just the twist I needed to give birth to my villain.

2K8: We hear your sale story is a little out of the ordinary. What happened?

TC: My agent, at the time, was shopping a paranormal series around for me. I’d written book one and a partial on book two. While we waited for feedback I started to write a new proposal for this gritty idea I had. I mentioned it in passing to my agent. It was a lot darker than the more comedic series we were sending out. She happened to hear that Harper was looking for edgy work and asked how fast I could finish the proposal. I ended up writing the synopsis at a conference and emailing it to her with the chapters. She loved it and sent it on. They asked for some rewrites, which I did right away and I ended up selling on proposal six days before Christmas.

2K8: Did anything surprise you or catch you off guard when you were writing this thriller?

TC: I discovered I’m really able to take an idea and run with it, but still keep it my own. I had a lot of editorial input on SLEEPLESS and I was proud of the way I could take their suggestions and strengthen the story without compromising my vision.

2K8: Imagine you have an offer from your dream press to publish your dream book, no matter how insane or unmarketable it might be (though of course it might not be). What story would you want to write and why?

TC: My big dream is to write a successful paranormal series. I’m a HUGE fan of series. I love revisiting characters, seeing them grow and sharing more time with them. I want my own series!

2K8: What question won't most people know to ask you? And what's your answer?

TC: Do you collect anything? Yes! I collect fairies. I love them. My two favorite artists are Amy Brown and Jasmine Becket-Griffith. I also love Tinkerbell, especially the Goth Tinkerbell. I have fairy prints hanging over my desk (see above), statues, pins, jewelry, stickers, shirts, basically anything I can find. I do believe in fairies. I do, I do.

Come back tomorrow when we'll take a closer look at dreams and what terrorizes Terri in the night when she's stressed out.

Please Welcome Terri Clark

Please help us welcome Terri Clark. Her para-romantic thriller, Sleepless, officially releases September 2, but rumors say it may show up on shelves as early as this week. Keep your eyes peeled for those pink PJs!

Eighteen-year-old Trinity Michaels has the ability to dream walk. It's a power she doesn't want, but it forever alters her life when she's unable to find an abducted teen before she's killed. While Trinity does help police capture the killer, Rafe Stevens, her involvement makes her his next target. Stevens pleads insanity and his convincing performance, aided by his despicable attorney, get him sentenced to a mental institute where a diabolical physician experiments on him. Now Rafe's escaped the sanitarium and he's after Trinity. Like her, he now has a special ability, one that allows him to stalk Trinity through her dreams. If he kills her in her sleep, she'll die for real. To survive she must find him first and the only person willing to help her is Dan Devlin, disillusioned son of the shady lawyer who knowingly aided Rafe in getting away with murder. Can she trust Dan with her safety, not to mention her heart?

"The action is just as fast-paced and heart-pounding as any adult thriller you will encounter. I hadn’t expected to have SLEEPLESS be such a pulse-pounding read, which was a really pleasant surprise... Now, I’m not sure I’ll be able to sleep easily tonight!" TeensReadToo

Terri Clark feels blessed to demonstrate her passion for young adult fiction as both a YA author and teen librarian. You can’t imagine how thrilled she is to see her own books at her branch. Even more exciting is having her first book, Sleepless, as one of the launch titles for HarperTeen’s scary beach read imprint. In addition, she had the honor and joy of being part of HoughtonMifflin’s successful anthology, Breaking Up Is Hard To Do, with Niki Burnham, Ellen Hopkins and Lynda Sandoval. Terri lives in Colorado with her husband, two children, and their adorkable dog, Domino. You can visit her online at: http://www.terriclarkbooks.com/

"A lot of people have compared SLEEPLESS to Lisa McMann's WAKE. I loved her book so I couldn't be happier, but really we just have the dream element in common. I think SLEEPLESS is darker and edgier."

Stayed tuned all week for more about Terri and the book that’s sure to make you Sleepless!

Shameless Saturday

Yep, it's time once again for a little 2k8 horn-tooting!!

If you have a few minutes, clickity-click on some of the linkety-links below and enjoy getting to know about some of our authors and titles.

The fabulous Little Willow sure has been busy!

Check out this interview she did with Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, author of AUTUMN WINIFRED OLIVER DOES THINGS DIFFERENT.

Next up, Little Willow reviewed Nancy Viau's book, SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD. "Samantha Hansen Has Rocks In Her Head by Nancy Viau is fun and funny. I'm sure young readers will dig Samantha, especially those who like the Clementine books by Sara Pennypacker."

She also talked to Nancy about the writing of the book and asked some very interesting questions in this interview.

I think Samantha Hansen might say, "You rock, Little Willow!"

For another review of SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD, you can read Book Review Maniac's review which includes this praise, "I ab-so-lutely enjoyed this book. It was well written and the plot was great. It had me thinking what Samantha was thinking and wondering what she was wondering. And I even got a little bit mad when she was."

The amazing Cynthia Leitich Smith interviewed Zu Vincent about her book, THE LUCKY PLACE. You already know Cynsations is THE place to get the scoop on must-read books!

Finally - we leave you with a fabulous contest! Terri Clark is giving away TWO early copies of her September 2 release, SLEEPLESS. If you'd like a chance to win a copy of this YA thriller and an official RWA tote bag visit her BLOG for details.

In the Book Reviewer Hot Seat: Miss Erin

She's one of the Postergirlz (along with Little Willow who kept the hot seat hot for us on Tuesday) . Sorry, Miss Erin, but there will be no cool down here. We will be offering a refreshing read though! Simply leave a comment and be entered to win Breaking Up Is Hard To Do the awesome anthology featuring our very own Terri Clark! Comment by June 29th, and watch for a winner on the 30th! Now, on with the questions...

What's your handle? Miss Erin

What kind of books do you review? Middle Grade and Young Adult, mostly fantasy or contemporary fiction

Approx # of books reviewed? A little over 100

Where can we find your reviews? http://www.misserinmarie.blogspot.com/

Reading turn-ons: Characters I care about. If I don't care, I don't want to keep reading.

Reading turn-offs: Overt preaching of "messages"

Class of 2K8 books reviewed:

A Curse Dark As Gold by Elizabeth C. Bunce

Bewitching Season by Marissa Doyle

Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains by Laurel Snyder

(There are several others I've read but haven't reviewed. I don't get around to reviewing everything I read.)

We love the crazy handles book reviewers come up with—tell us how you came up with yours! A little bit about how you got into book reviewing would be cool too.

Oh, Miss Erin has always been a nickname of mine. So when I started my blog and couldn't figure out what to call it, I just used that.

It's very sassy! Do people still say sassy? Um, yeah, moving on... how do you pick the books you review? Or are they picked for you? Do you ever read books that wouldn't normally interest you—and if so have you ever been surprised by what you've read?

I pretty much just read what interests me. I read and get recommendations from lots of other blogs, and friends, and then I put them on my (gigantic) to-read list. Sometimes, when I'm sent or given a book that I normally wouldn't have picked up on my own, I read it and am happily surprised. An example of that: recently I read The Patron Saint of Butterflies by Cecilia Galante. The topic - growing up in a religious commune - didn't pique my interest when I first heard about it, but when a friend raved about it over and over, I finally picked it up. I'm so glad I did; it was brilliant.

Some of the best reads are found through recommendations! What are the best ways to find new books? Any advice for authors about getting their book noticed by reviewers?

For finding what to read, look to the blogs! But not just any blogs; make sure you look them over first and see that you have similar tastes to the blogger and whose review styles you enjoy reading. Getting noticed . . . start a website, or a blog - both of those things will make you very accessible while helping to get your name out there. Email some bloggers who seem to review the type of books you write and ask if they'd like to take a look at your book.

Okay, so you get a book to review, but you just aren't feeling it—will you make the ultimate sacrifice and finish it for the sake of the review?

Never! I go by the 50 page rule - if I've gotten that far and don't want to keep reading, I toss it aside for another. There's too many books out there to spend time reading one that I'm not enjoying.

So true! Now, if you really love a book—will you read it again? If so—what are some of the books you just had to read more than once?

Oh yes. I've reread the Harry Potter series, Shannon Hale's books, my favorite of Roald Dahl's books (The Witches, The BFG...), among others. I have so many comfort reads. My mom bought me The Year of Secret Assignments by Jaclyn Moriarty when we were on a vacation once. Ever since, I've decided to make it my "trip read", and so I reread it every time I go on a trip.

That's awesome! But let's not talk about trips yet, back to the work of reviewing! Do you have a basic philosophy on what should be included in a review—or does it depend on the book itself?

I believe that a review should, above all, contain my personal thoughts on it. One or two sentences can be sufficient for giving a hint about the plot. I mostly like to say what my reactions to certain things were, why I liked or disliked parts, what exactly made me love it (rather than just the fact that I loved it). I view it as myself talking about a book. If I think to myself, "I'm writing a review" it's so much more intimidating than "I'm writing my thoughts".

Tell us about the last time your jaw dropped open, you laughed, or you cried while reading a book.

The last time I did all of those things in one book was in Rapunzel's Revenge by Shannon and Dean Hale.

Wow, all in one book! That's cool! Speaking of cool--is there any character in a book that you wish would come to life? Or any place you wish existed?

Place: Hogwarts, hands down. Or Narnia, or the Gallagher Academy.

Characters: I want Kiki Strike to be my friend!

LOL--Hogwarts is in high demand around here! Not surprising. What books do you find yourself recommending over and over and why?

Depends on who wants the recommendation (there's nothing like recommending a list of books to perfectly suit someone I know - love that), but I'd say Shannon Hale wins top position in the authors-who-I-rave-about-constantly (just ask my blog readers/friends!).

Being able to recommend the perfect book for someone is an art! Book reviews go a long way toward getting books into the hands of people who love them! Of course those are usually the good reviews... you know where I'm going don't you??? Yes! It is time for the Extra Scandalous Question! Really bad reviews—do you ever fear giving them? Ever had an author get upset with you? (It's okay—you can tell us, just don't name names!) And what advice do you have for authors who get a bad review?

I don't usually give negative reviews. If I have major quips with a book, I'll generally only review it if I have just as many good things to say. An instance when I will give a book a negative review is if it's a popular book - one that everyone seems to love. In that case, sometimes I feel like I need to give an opinion of someone who didn't like it, too.

That makes perfect sense! Thanks for all the great answers! One last question: if they aren't scared off by all that bad review talks and an author would like you to review her book, what should she do?

Email me: mimagirl(at)gmail(dot)com.

Well that's easy enough! And something else that is easy--entering to win Breaking Up Is Hard To Do an anthology about falling out of love that features out very own Terri Clark whose book Sleepless will be out September 1st. Simply leave a comment before June 29th to be entered. Winner will be announced June 30th!

Miss Erin has not reviewed Breaking Up, but here is what other fine reviewers have had to say:

"Breaking Up Is Hard To Do is the perfect short story collection to read about, well, breaking up...I definitely recommend getting this book as soon as it comes out. It's awesome." TeensReadToo.com

"The writing is straightforward and perceptive, from Clark's funny and fast paced style to Hopkins's beautiful and striking poems. This is one book that holds a powerful message between its two covers: heartbreak happens, and along with it is something better if you can let go and continue to move forward." The Compulsive Reader

"Terri's story is an extremely hilarious paranormal story that has a very awesome girl power message...A wonderful anthology from four unbelievably great authors, and one that everyone should read." Book Chic

(Click here for more great Hot Seat interviews)

Stick To It

Helen Keller said, "We can do anything we want as long as we stick to it long enough." Let's face it, the road to publication is often pebbled with rejection, criticism, self doubt and frustration. Those who continue the journey will eventually find success. Just ask Terri Clark.

I'd been writing for over 11 years when I finally got THE CALL. I’d begun by writing romance and for several years I kept hearing “You’re sooo close,” but I never quite got over that hump. Well, that’s not exactly true. I actually had a Harlequin editor tell me she wanted to buy my book after reading it when I finaled in the Golden Heart for the second time. Then she got fired and the book was never bought. Needless to say, my frustration was overwhelming. I just didn’t know what I could do differently. Then my best friend, Lynda Sandoval, suggested that my voice was really well suited to YA. She started me reading Meg Cabot’s 1-800 and Mediator series’ and I immediately fell in love and knew that’s what I was supposed to write. For a year I read nothing but teen book after teen book. Not only did the books inspire me to write YA fiction, they inspired me to pursue working with teens at my library. The first YA I wrote was never bought, but my agent at the time had heard that HarperCollins was looking for gritty stories and she knew I’d just started one. She asked me to get something to her ASAP and I did. On December 19, 2006, while I was walking into my daughter’s orthodontist appointment, I got the call. After five complete adult romances and one YA I ended up selling SLEEPLESS on proposal. The long, long wait finally led to everything I imagined and more. You might not know exactly when your dream is within reach, but if you give up you'll never get there.

Isn't that the truth? Guess we're learning two things writers must have are patience and persistence. (One may be easier to come by than the other.) Tommorow we're going to hear possibly one of the worst things ev-er. Imagine t his: you finally get that sale and pick up the phone to call everyone you know and no one is home! Could anything be worse?!?