Posts Tagged Independent Bookstores
SIBA Partners with Writers for the Red Cross
SIBA & WRITERS FOR THE RED CROSS
Booksellers & writers partner to raise awareness for the Red Cross
If there were one word to describe the Red Cross, it would be “community.” Each year, in communities large and small, victims of some 70,000 disasters turn to neighbors familiar and new—the more than half a million volunteers and 35,000 employees of the Red Cross. Through nearly 700 locally supported chapters, more than 15 million people gain the skills they need to prepare for and respond to emergencies in their homes, communities and world.
Independent bookstores share our commitment to community by bringing readers and writers together every day in hundreds of ways, large and small. And these communities continue to grow and be strengthened through online outreach, social media, partnerships with Google ebooks…and through partnerships with national organizations with a similar mission of community—national organizations like the Red Cross.
Booksellers: With your help, we can make a difference!
http://www.writersfortheredcross.org will go live in mid-February, with active fundraising beginning March 1-31. It is modeled on the highly successful “Do the Write Thing for Nashville” fundraiser, which raised $74K in ten days following last spring’s devastating floods.
This national, online event is intended to raise funds for, as well as awareness about, the Red Cross and its work in communities. Writers for the Red Cross (WRC) will be auctioning off publishing related items and services donated by authors, publicists, agents, and editors. They will also have daily guest posts from authors about “What the Red Cross Means to Me” and a daily countdown of “31 Things You Didn’t Know About the Red Cross.”
How can your store participate?
For $0:
Stores which have a website affiliate relationship with SIBA will automatically be included. Key titles on writersfortheredcross.org will be linked to SIBA affiliates for purchase, and SIBA will donate any commission earned for those sales back to the Red Cross on behalf of the bookseller.
If you are an IndieBound eCommerce store and don’t have your affiliate option turned on, there is still time to be included. Email nicki@sibaweb.com before February 15.
For $99
Writers for the Red Cross will include your store and a link on their bookstore “Appreciation Page.” Throughout the online event, SIBA and WRC will be doing call-outs to this page and urge visitors to explore the independent bookstores featured there.
For $199
In addition to a link on the “Appreciation Page,” Your store will be featured prominently as a “featured bookseller” on the home page of the event, along with an image of your choice linked to your store website or email. Your store and image will be featured for at least one day on the site, perhaps longer depending on how many stores choose to participate.
For all participation levels
SIBA and WRC will help get the word out of any event or promotion organized by individual stores in support of the Red Cross. The site will include an online calendar of all bookstore activities supporting the Red Cross (Blood Drives, author events, in-store sales, etc.)—as well as upbeat blog post mentions of bookseller efforts to help the Red Cross.
Ideas for Red Cross initiatives at the individual store level:
- Organize a Blood Drive
- Host an author reading
- Set out a donation jar at the check-out counter for “Writers for the Red Cross.”
- Do a 31-hour in-store or online sale, with a percentage of sales earmarked for the Red Cross. (Red Cross Month is 31 days.)
- Choose a specific book, books, or genre you’d like to promote in March (Red Cross Month), with a percentage of sales earmarked for the Red Cross
Send us news and pictures of your event! We’ll blog about it on our event website. We will also include your event on our on a “Red Cross at the Bookstore” collective calendar.
We will contact participating stores on April 1 with information on how to transfer the funds raised directly to the Red Cross. The Red Cross will also provide documentation of all gifts and donations for tax purposes.
FOR QUESTIONS OR TO PARTICIPATE, CONTACT:
Holly Tucker (holly.a.tucker@gmail.com)
Volunteer, Writers for the Red Cross event coordinator
Amy Kerr (kerra@nashvilleredcross.org)
Director, Major Gifts; American Red Cross
Not Quite 20 Questions with River Jordan
Posted by Wanda in Authors as Guest Bloggers on October 15, 2010
River Jordan, Saints in Limbo, SIBA Fiction Nominee: Author, Creative Conversator, Host of Clearstory Radio on WRFN Nashville 107.1 Has been known to tell stories standing up. In public.
What are you reading right now? The Angel’s Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon.
Why independent bookstores matter? It will take a passion for the written word to keep the flame of reading alive. Indie booksellers are the embodiment of that passion.
Favorite part of writing a book? Getting lost, absolutely, completely lost in the world 
between the pages.
Least favorite part of writing a book? The line edits. I used to look at authors like they were insane when they were saying I’m in line edits and rolling their eyes and having heart palpitations. Now, I get it.
Are you working on anything new? Yes. In the middle of final rewrites for Praying for Strangers and completing a very Southern Gothic novel I started ten years ago.
Do you have any superstitions, lucky charms, or rituals around your writing? My only superstition is talking about the story instead of writing it. Ritual is I want to be completely alone while writing.
Comment on the writing life. . . It’s the only thing I was ever meant to be. Well, maybe except for a gypsy trading potions in the night from a wagon with lots of bells tied to the side.
Hardest part of the creation to publication experience? For a new writer, getting an agent and finding the right publisher. Otherwise, the continued self-discipline to write another story. To isolate oneself at the keyboard.
Why do you write? To say what it is to be human, why we were here, and why that mattered.
When do you write? When I feel myself getting crazy. I mean that. When I’ve been away from the words too long I get all snappety-snap-snap.
When did you know you were a writer? Sixth grade. I look back now and realize I was weird at five and destined to be a writer but 6th grade is when I got called out by my teacher and identified as such.
What would make you a scintillating dinner guest? A rich, red Bordeaux.
Who is your favorite new author? That weird kid in the sixth grade somewhere who is writing words in a spiral notebook and dreaming of being a writer someday in spite of the fact that mean people say there is no future in it.
What is your drink of choice? AM = Strong Coffee. PM – Beer made by Monks or Wine made by Monks.
What is your favorite food? I’ve thought about this in relation to that one last great meal deal. Doggone if I don’t think I’d order a grilled hamburger and a huge order of steak fries. With a monk beer of course.
Not Quite 20 Questions, and more from Rhodi Hawk
Posted by Wanda in Authors as Guest Bloggers on October 12, 2010
Below find Rhodi Hawk’s #SIBA10 Twitter Answers but first enjoy some original content from this award winning thriller writer:
The year I was born, a hurricane tore through South Texas and carved a twelve-foot deep gulley into my grandparents’ land. I take perverse pride in that fact. Of course grandpa turned the (dry, after the storm) gully into a dump, because there wasn’t any garbage collection for our 76 acres out in the middle of nowhere. What we did have was cactus, weesatch, the family graveyard (no body collection out there, either, apparently), grass burrs, and deer, hog, and rabbits. From time to time, the well would poop out on us and give over to salt water. There was also a creek bed that ran for two weeks out of the year. My sister and I used to dam up a stretch of it and for fourteen glorious days during the rainy season, we’d have a swimming hole.
That time has been strong on my mind lately, probably because this year’s SIBA conference made me a bit nostalgic. Being around so many other southerners brought it all back, and I loved reading the other authors’ works (Kathryn Magendie’s Sweetie, and Ellen F. Brown’s story-behind-the-story about Margaret Mitchell). The best part of SIBA, by far, was the Feed an Author auction, which was an absolute hoot. My fellow authors are fraught with sass. I also enjoyed a wonderful dinner with Eagle Eye Bookshop where I learned a bit about growing up in Alabama.
I could have flown, but had decided to drive to SIBA because I can never resist a good road trip, and it allowed me to bring along my dog and my sweetheart (not necessarily in that order). I’d stopped along the way to let my dog frisk along the Ponce de Leon Springs, and I thought about that old creek from my childhood. My novel, A Twisted Ladder, is all about heritage—of the spooky sort. The title is a metaphor for DNA. Back in the day, my grandmother used to tell us the family ghost story: a mishap that occurred along that old dry creek and left it haunted. She was spooky, my grandma. She could sleep with one eye open, and she could heal our ailments with a wave of her hand.
Now I’m back home after SIBA, and three car washings later I’m still dealing with a constellation of bugs. But it was more than worth it. All that time spent laughing and scratching with new friends? So many fresh memories to add to the old ones.
Rhodi Hawk, A Twisted Ladder, SIBA Fiction nominee: won the International Thriller Writer’s Scholarship Award for her first novel, A Twisted Ladder, a gothic tale of old Louisiana.
Favorite book as a child? My sister and I shared an illustrated copy of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens. It had belonged to my father and aunts when they were children.
What are you reading right now? I’m reading a wonderful, very spooky book called The Sound of Building Coffins by Louis Maistros, also a southern author.
Share a favorite segment from your book… Honey if you say so, I’ll never work no mo,I’ll lay around yo shanty all the time, time, tim, I’ll lay around yo shanty all the time
Why that title? A Twisted Ladder is a term for DNA. The book explores whether clairvoyance and curses and such might be handed down through generations.
Why independent bookstores matter? In this digital age, paper novels feel more treasured than ever. Going to an independent bookseller makes it all the more personal.
Favorite part of writing a book? Finishing!
Least favorite part of writing a book? Having to color within the deadlines.
Are you working on anything new? Hard at work on the sequel to A Twisted Ladder. It’s called Framing the Bridge, and it’ll hit the shelves next fall.
Do you have any superstitions, lucky charms, or rituals around your writing? I keep a kind of writing journal / progress tracker to help me focus. I also like to have a candle burning when I write.
Comment on the writing life… Writing is for the brain what going to the gym feels like for the body. Sometimes it’s torture. Mostly it’s just a matter of showing up.
Hardest part of the creation to publication experience? Keeping up with the non-writing end. Sometimes I get so drenched in story that I forget to tend to the web site, interviews, and business matters.
Why do you write? Beats the funny farm! If I didn’t write I’d be telling tall tales to every store clerk, UPS driver, or flight attended who crossed my path.
When do you write? First thing in the morning after running the gully. I guess that makes it second thing. Wait, no, it’s third, because I also shower.
When did you know you were a writer? Before I could even read. Grandma used to read illustrated books to my sister and me. My sister became an artist, and I became a writer.
What, or Who, will you dish on, as in gossip about? Other writers, Wanda Jewell, Daytona beach bunnies, Marc Bernier, the cute shoes people wore to the auction, and airport security.
What would make you a scintillating dinner guest? I’ll tell my family’s own ghost story about Dead Man’s Holler. If that falls flat I can always play “Swanee River” on air-banjo.
Who is your favorite new author? Hank Schwaeble. Also a southerner.
What is your drink of choice? Wine!
What is your favorite food? Ice cream or Frito pie. Otherwise, anything that involves peanut butter, chocolate, or peanut butter and chocolate.
Not Quite 20 Questions with Maggie Stiefvater
Posted by Wanda in Authors as Guest Bloggers on October 11, 2010
Maggie Stiefvater, Shiver, SIBA YA Finalist writes books. Some about werewolves. Some about faeries. Some are bestsellers. She sometimes eats cookie dough at inappropriate times
Favorite book as a child? All books were my favorites as children. I was woefully indiscriminate. When you’re a kid, there are no good or bad books, just books.
What are you reading right now? Michael Scott. I’m clapping my hands in mythological fan girl glee every time a mythical hero or goddess from my childhood pops up.
Share a favorite segment from your book… …he found me sitting in the middle of a sea of splintered wood & snapped strings, like a boat carrying music had crashed on a rocky shore.
Why that title? Why SHIVER? Because ‘People Having Identity Crises And Kissing’ didn’t fit on the cover as well.
Why independent bookstores matter? Because when I walk into the store & shout GIVE ME SOMETHING NEW TO READ I want to be helped, not escorted from the premises.
Favorite part of writing a book? Killing characters. Or making them kiss. Or punching scenes. Basically, nothing has changed from my days of “Let’s Pretend.”
Least favorite part of writing a book? The parts in between killing characters, kissing scenes, and punching. Also, copy-edits. Copy edits are designed to break writers’ minds.
Are you working on anything new? Indeed. A YA paranormal standalone about beaches, kissing, and blood.
Do you have any superstitions, lucky charms, or rituals around your writing? I need caffeine and cookie dough. Also, music. As long as I have those three items without break, I’m good.
Comment on the writing life… Twelve months of insomnia and hearing voices, interrupted by brief periods of lucidity and royalty checks.
Hardest part of the creation to publication experience? Staying objective and patient. Learning my craft. I never found the publishing process hard – it was getting good enough to be published.
Why do you write? Because I love stories about people changing & other places & sometimes I can’t find the stories I want to read already on the shelf.
When do you write? When my editor tells me to. Also, when the voices inside my head tell me to. I’m pretty flexible.
When did you know you were a writer? I believe I was writing stories on my mother’s uterine walls. Sorry, Mom.
What, or Who, will you dish on, as in gossip about? Come now. As someone who makes up stuff for a living, I try to stick to the truth during social events.
What would make you a scintillating dinner guest? I will order everything on the menu, set fire to the table, & then get us thrown out. Actually, no, those were the old days.
Who is your favorite new author? Me. I’m quite good-looking, especially on the left side. Also, Leif Enger. I don’t know if he’s hot, but he sure can write.
What is your drink of choice? Sugar, with a little tea and milk in it.
What is your favorite food? Anything without preservatives. I’m allergic. I prefer round foods, but I’m negotiable.
Not Quite 20 Questions & Post-#SIBA10 Observations
Posted by Wanda in Authors as Guest Bloggers on October 10, 2010
Below you will find Batt’s answers to his Twitter Questions for the #SIBA10 Writers Block Auction. But here is some post-#SIBA10 observations from Batt Humphreys:
Writer’s Block SIBA 10
Daytona Beach. Damn.
I woke up in a city that never sleeps. Or perhaps it was just in room 140 next door where the things that go bump in the night, also grind.
It was the Writer’s Block invitation that brought me here, something of a Sadie Hawkins for hack writers who somehow rise to the level of a SIBA nomination.
My name is Batt Humphreys. I write historical fiction.
The evening promised a perfect storm of insecurities, adolescent fears of rejection meets with living adult fears of rejection for this art we attempt.
Wanda met us downstairs, ushered us into our seats then set us straight. She looked at us much like a border collie addresses a field of sheep, with intense eye and perhaps a hint of game. In a warm and supportive way, she drilled us on the events of the evening like a parochial school nun with a half pint of hooch in her and twelve inch piece of good measured hickory for reinforcement. By that to say, she was charming.
“You have a stack of cards in front of you. You wrote the answers, try to read them. By the way, the cards are in the order of the questions as I’ll ask them, do not mix the order.”
Nervous fingers fanned the stacks. One author dropped hers to the floor. A collective intake of breath, with no easy release.
“Let me explain how the dinner works.”
The explanation went on, at one point it began to take on the litany of a calculus class. She could see the collective consciousness escaping, eyes crossed at attempts at concentration.
“Do not try to do the math. You are writers.”
Those waiting exhaled.
“You may now order cocktails.”
We sat up like a Shih Tzu hound.
A short whiskey later we were led into a large room, paraded down a stage and on display like beauty queens without benefit of a push up bra. In front a table of women were looking, their eyes hungry.. yes, like a wolf. I was repulsed, but somehow strangely attracted.
Questions were asked. Questions were answered, mainly. There’s a reason for a script. Writers, write. If we were all blessed with the gift of ad lib, we’d be hosting ‘Dancing with the Stars’.
Sweat ran into my cowboy boots. I wear them to make me look taller because, in fact, I’m 5’2” and weigh just over 300lbs. My eyes were on the back of the room where the bidding was taking place. Offers, for our honor, shameless writers we.
Like a show horse on halter, we were led proudly through the crowd, to a dinner polite.
Back to the bar.
A single bartender facing a room of writers, she could have gone down like Custer but she never showed her fear. What she showed was barely cloaked by a top cut as low as the Grand Canyon, if ever it met the Grand Tetons.
She wore her sex like a Marine wears his tattoo, open and proud. She also wore enough metal to make Cortez march to Kansas. It gave her a gypsy look. Perhaps she stole hearts. But there wasn’t enough bourbon in the bar.
Batt Humphreys, Dead Weight, SIBA Fiction nominee escaped ex-journalist from New York back in the South still chasing headlines, now in Fiction. He’s looking for a little ‘inspiration’.
Favorite book as a child? A fond memory is my mother’s voice reading and doing the dialect from Uncle Remus. Perhaps not politically correct but if re-examined is a true Southern Aesop.
What are you reading right now? Mainly research on my next novel set in WW2. But for a bedside pickup there’s always Raymond Chandler.
Share a favorite segment from your book… In this light she was seductive, a little worn perhaps, a bit past her prime, but still radiating a tangible heat that made you want to fall into her arms.
Why that title? Dead Weight is rather intricate to the story. You see, it’s a particular form of execution used at the time and used on the main character.
Why independent bookstores matter? Without Indy’s I would not be here, as a guest, or an author. Without Indy’s there is no hope, no prayer for an emerging author.
Favorite part of writing a book? After a career in journalism, fiction. Creating characters, killing characters, romancing the characters. Being the god of a created universe.
Least favorite part of writing a book? Dang, sometimes it really feels like work.
Are you working on anything new? Yes. Exciting, based on true story, sexy spy thriller at start of WW2, begins in Charleston, moves to the South Pacific. It’s a huge true story missed by this generation.
Do you have any superstitions, lucky charms, or rituals around your writing? I write in my boxers and cowboy boots.
Comment on the writing life… Love your work, and love people, because sometimes writing is the easy part of the process. If you don’t like going out and really connecting with readers, try WalMart, or CBS.
Hardest part of the creation to publication experience? Ego. Put it in a box. Editors/Publishers-‘send lawyers, guns and money ‘cause the s**t will hit the fan.’
Why do you write? Of the things that I’ve been paid to do, it is the greatest thrill.
When do you write? When forced to. I don’t wake up in the morning with the joy to write, let’s face it, it’s work. My ‘sweet spot’ in the diurnal cycle, after midnight.
When did you know you were a writer? Never thought about it, until Dan Rather turned to me one day after my bon mots made him break-up on air and said, “Humphreys, you’re a damned fine writer.”
What, or Who, will you dish on, as in gossip about? Some fine network correspondents, and a lot of network nit-wits, a few road stories of ignominious authors.
What would make you a scintillating dinner guest? My boxer shorts and cowboy boots.
What is your drink of choice? A Chateau Lafite ’61.. please who can afford that, except Nick Sparks maybe. Bourbon, on the rocks for me please.
What is your favorite food? I like to cook and prefer what I grow (or shoot) at home in the lines of the slow food movement.
Not Quite 20 Questions with Hester Bass
Posted by Wanda in Authors as Guest Bloggers on October 5, 2010
Hester Bass, SIBA Book Award YA & Children’s 2010 Winner; Author of award-winner The Secret World of Walter Anderson, she will sing for her supper!
Favorite book as a child? The first books I owned: The Tale of the Pie and the Patty Pan by Beatrix Potter, Winnie The Pooh by A. A. Milne, and Grimm’s Fairy Tales.
What are you reading right now? The Everafter by Amy Huntley, Up Close: Harper Lee by Kerry Madden, and The Cracker Queen by Lauretta Hannon.
Share a favorite segment from your book … Walter Anderson painted to realize his secret world, to bring himself and nature into one thing called art.
Why that title? No one knew what he had in his Little Room. His creative process called realization is mysterious. Walter Anderson truly had a secret world.
Why independent bookstores matter? It’s passion for books and for community, the mind-to-mind, hand-to-hand connection with another human being over a story. That matters.
Favorite part of writing a book? It’s amazing when I’m not thinking about it & the solution to a story problem just bubbles up. Winning awards is awesome; thank you so much!
Least favorite part of writing a book? Printing out a draft that I think is finally there, re-reading it, and realizing that I haven’t actually said what I wanted to say.
Are you working on anything new? Yes! More picture book biographies because I love those, funny picture books, a supernatural YA, and an alternative-history middle grade.
Do you have any superstitions, lucky charms, or rituals around your writing? Mum’s the word until a project is sold, I keep my first-grade picture on my desk & to remind myself who I work for, I wear a kid’s watch.
Comment on the writing life… Invigorating, revealing, sometimes frustrating. I’ve been a singer, actress, radio announcer & game show contestant; writer is my favorite.
Hardest part of the creation-to-publication experience? Waiting! For the right word, to finish the ms, agent & editor response, illustrations, reviews, for the book to publish. Definitely waiting!
Why do you write? If I tried to hold the stories in, I think it would end up looking something like that scene in “Alien” – you know the one I mean!
When do you write? I’m best during early mornings and late evenings. It has to be quiet so I can hear the voices. (Insert sound effect: Oooh-whee-oooh!)
When did you know you were a writer? I’ve wanted to be a writer since 1st grade. I knew I was when a boy told me that my first book helped him learn to read. Cue the waterworks!
What, or Who, would you dish on – as in gossip about? Andy Warhol, Barbara Walters, Dick Clark, Johnny Mathis, the Millionaire Hot Seat, Meredith Vieira – and E.B. Lewis, but he’s a peach.
What would make you a scintillating dinner guest? I live life with a capital L! What happens here stays here unless it makes a good story. (I change names to protect the guilty.)
Who is your favorite new author? Me! (Just kidding!) I’m looking forward to new books by Sarah Frances Hardy, Kristin Tubb, & Leslie Muir. And I just love Lauretta Hannon.
What is your drink of choice? What I should say: Water with lemon. What I really want: hot chai, an amaretto sour, or the Table Wine of the South: Sweet Tea!
What is your favorite food? I love local specialties; Southern Classic meat-n-three especially turnip greens, fried okra & blackeyed peas; & I love salmon & asparagus.
Not Quite 20 Questions & more with Patti Callahan Henry
Posted by Wanda in Authors as Guest Bloggers on October 4, 2010
note from PCH in reference to #SIBA10: I know you will get a million wonderful notes, BUT I want to make sure I tell you what a fabulous weekend this was! I am grateful you include me and I”m honored to be part of the weekend.
My Gratitude. Patti Callahan Henry
Patti Callahan Henry, Driftwood Summer, SIBA Fiction Nominee is a NYT bestselling novelist of seven novels who doesn’t twitter because she can’t say anything in less than three hundred pages. She’s going to try though. Her latest book is a Fall Okra Pick.
Favorite book as a child?
The Narnia Chronicles with Nancy Drew coming in fast behind, and only because I was desperately in love with Ned Nickerson. Even his name is adorable.
What are you reading right now?
My children’s teacher updates and my Senior daughter’s college applications. Oh, you mean books? Emily Giffin’s Heart of the Matter
Share a favorite segment from your book:
Opening line to Driftwood Summer: Bookstore owner Riley Sheffield believed that even the most ordinary life was like a good novel, a tale to be told.
Why that title?
I titled this novel Driftwood Summer because the publishing house made me. Okay, not true. Well, sort of true, but no wholly true. I titled this book after the independent bookstore in the story called Driftwood Cottage.
Why independent bookstores matter?
Indies matter in the same way individuals matter: because if we take out the independent and individualistic soul of our writing and our book selling, we take out the heart. And how awful would that be? Very!
Favorite part of writing a book?
Asking “What if” and then letting it unfold into a story that will take me in wild directions. I get whiplash and wish I were an outliner. and then I discover magic and I’m in love with storytelling all over again.
Least favorite part of writing a book?
Editing; For me, editing is similar to taking a sharp object and poking it into my eyes while trying to read and concentrate jumping on one foot drunk.
Are you working on anything new?
Just finished a holiday novella, coming out October 12th. There’s nothing like writing during the month of July about garland, snow and angels . Sort of like wearing a parka to the pool; it feels wrong.
Do you have any superstitions, lucky charms, or rituals around your writing?
Music. Always music in the background.
Comment on the writing life…
The writing life is a charmed life full of magic and mystery I wouldn’t trade for any other life.
Hardest part of the creation to publication experience?
Marketing. I am not a natural business person; I live in the world of imagination and I like that world.
Why do you write?
Because I’m a ‘wonderer’, always and forever looking around asking, “I wonder what will happen next?” And because I was always a bit of a bookworm nerd.
When do you write?
Whenever I can. Mostly in the mornings when the three teenagers are asleep or at school.
When did you know you were a writer?
I knew when I was too young to remember my age, but I forgot what I knew and then came back to the innate write as a mother of three children.
What, or Who, will you dish on, as in gossip about?
Anything compatriots want to dish on. Well, almost anything.
What would make you a scintillating dinner guest?
I laugh at everyone’s jokes.
Who is your favorite new author?
Susan Rebecca White.
What is your drink of choice?
Depends on my mood. Chardonnay or Margarita — both on opposite sides of the mood spectrum.
What is your favorite food?
Spicy food. Something with a bit of fun in it.
A Shout Out from 2020 Vision USA
2020 Vision USA would like to thank all of our wonderful bookstore patrons for making SIBA a very successful show. The business from our independent bookstores has allowed the partnership between 2020 Vision USA and ABFFE to become a huge success. Thousands of bookstore customers are currently not only reading with less eye strain but supporting free speech! We thank you for your continued support. Looking forward to another successful year to come. Denise Foster 2020 Vision USA 214-769-2227 fax: 941-866-3542 www.2020visionusa.com Denise Foster Phil Meyer
Not Quite 20 Questions with Karen White
Posted by Wanda in Authors as Guest Bloggers on October 2, 2010
Karen White, The Girl on Legare Street, SIBA Fiction Nominee is the bestselling and sleep-deprived author of twelve “grit lit” novels and Southern ghost stories.
Favorite book as a child? Time at the Top by Edmund Ormondroyd
What are you reading right now? Sarah’s Key by Tatiana de Rosnay
Why that title? The book involves a house on Legare Street in Charleston and a female ghost so I didn’t have to think that hard…
Why independent bookstores matter? They are the sugar in my sweet tea. Knowledgeable, passionate, dedicated—and unparalleled!
Favorite part of writing a book? Typing “The End.”
Least favorite part of writing a book? The middle. That’s about the point in the book where I think to myself, “this sucks.”
Are you working on anything new? I’m currently working on THE BEACH TREES, set in Biloxi, Mississippi, which will be out in May, 2011.
Do you have any superstitions, lucky charms, or rituals around your writing? My dog, Quincy. He’s four years old and since he was a puppy he’s glued himself to my side while I’m writing.
Comment on the writing life… If it were easy, everybody would be doing it.
Hardest part of the creation to publication experience? The copy edits. When I type The End I, really don’t want to see it again.
Why do you write? Because I can’t imagine not writing. Because hearing from readers who have been touched by my writing is the icing on my cupcake.
When do you write? Whenever I can. I love writing early in the morning the best, though, and wake up super early 7 days a week to do that.
When did you know you were a writer? I’m still trying to convince myself… Seriously, until about my 12th book, I thought this whole “writing as a career” thing was a fluke!
15. What, or Who, will you dish on, as in gossip about, at dinner? Wanda Jewell. There is SO much material there. 
16. What will make you a scintillating dinner guest? I have the sense of humor of a 16-year-old boy so I’ll laugh at anything.
17. Who is your favorite new author? Kathryn Stockett.
18. What is your drink of choice? Diet Dr. Pepper. I’m addicted.
19. What is your favorite food? Anything chocolate or fried. Both would be preferable.
