Today, I'm pleased to introduce Lindsey Leavitt, author of Princess for Hire. Welcome to Bloggin' 'bout Books, Lindsey!



Me: You've said that you were a bit of a tomboy growing up, so what prompted you to write a princess book? It's an anti-princess book, but still ...


LL: Ha! I don’t really know why I’m the chick writing the princess books. Ideas just kind of come and you go with them. I fought it a bit, actually, because I didn’t think I could do it justice! Someone else with the same idea would have written a totally different story, but I do think my tomboy ways add a unique perspective.


Me: Since you were THAT girl in high school (the one who was popular and involved), how do you tap into the kind of insecurity/angst felt by kids like Desi, who are picked on and not part of the in crowd?


LL: Oh wow, maybe I should revise my website bio. Involved at my high school did not equal popularity. It just meant I really wanted to get into college and so spent more time padding my resume than my bra. So I still had plenty of insecurities, ESPECIALLY in junior high. I felt like everyone was watching me and that I never measured up in comparison. That was really easy to go back to because emotions at that age felt so BIG. And the more I talk to people about their adolescence, the more I find these feelings of alienation and invisibility are sadly universal.


Me: Why did you include the Old Hollywood themes in PRINCESS FOR HIRE? I'm in my 30s and I barely recognize the names Grace Kelly, Paul Newman, Ingrid Bergman, etc. Do you think modern kids will be able to connect with this old-time glamour?


LL: I didn’t want to date the story—if I would have included celebrities hot right now, they might not be hot next year. Old Hollywood has a timeless quality that more closely resembles the elegance we associate with royalty. AND I wanted Desi to be a little quirky, to have interests that don’t match her peers. Modern kids don’t have to know who Ingrid Berman is to appreciate that. (and to learn more, I’ll be featuring a different Old Hollywood screen siren every month on http://www.princessforhire.com/)


Me: How did you come by your love of Old Hollywood? What are your favorite classic movies?


LL: I used to watch them with my dad. I remember one time REAR WINDOW was on and he pointed to Grace Kelly and said, “You know, she left acting and became a real princess.” How cool is that? I was hooked.My favorite movie when I was younger was SABRINA with Audrey Hepburn, William Holden and Humphrey Bogart. Does the love triangle thing like no one’s business.


Me: Since we're talking favorites, who are the authors you like to read? Which writers have inspired/influenced you most?


LL: I seriously read all over the map. I’ve been reading lots of tenners books lately (debut authors in 2010) because I’ve made friendships with lots of these authors and am interested in their work. Some I’ve read recently from that group that I really enjoyed are PROPHECY OF DAYS by Christy Raedeke and TORTILLA SUN by Jennifer Cervantes. Oh, and another that won’t be out until fall is THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff. Chilling and delicious.


I grew up a reader, and my favorite writers inspired me to give writing a go—Roald Dahl, Judy Blume, Kurt Vonnegut, P. G. Wodehouse, Jane Austen... we could be here awhile.


Me: You've got several projects in the works. Tell me about them (I know you like to be cryptic, but we want DETAILS).


LL: Well, I have to be cryptic about the second book in the PRINCESS FOR HIRE series because I don’t want to spoil anything for people who haven’t read the first! Plus, I’m still tweaking it and thus don’t want to say there will be a zombie mermaid because zombie mermaid might not make final cut.


Another book I have coming out next March is called SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD and I’m so excited about it! It’s a little older than P4H and straight contemporary. Here’s a bit about it…After discovering her father’s big Multiple Sclerosis secret, Payton Gritas’s structured life crumbles. So begin her excruciating ‘chats’ with Ms Callahan, a school counselor aiming to save Payton from drowning in denial by encouraging her to write Focus Exercises on any random object. Payton chooses Sean Griswold, her alphabetical connection since kindergarten. More specifically, she chooses his somewhat over-sized head.As Payton’s research grows into something a little less scientific and a little more crush-like, it spawns more and more questions about Sean and his dome. Like what’s with the scar? And why is a fifteen year old training to be the next Lance Armstrong? Payton finds answers to these questions by getting inside Sean’s blond head, while Sean somehow finds a way into her guarded heart. But when Payton realizes her Sean obsession won’t ultimately mend her battered relationship with her dad, she must shift her focus to the one person who can find the way forward – herself.


Me: Okay, The Tiara Tour - how much fun did you have on your first book tour?


LL: You know, I was warned that tours aren’t all they’re cracked up to be. And it’s true, it’s pretty nerve-wracking walking into a store and not knowing if anyone is going to come. Still, it was a blast—blogged about it here http://lindsey-leavitt.livejournal.com/124255.html. It’s been so wonderful to meet readers and potential readers and booksellers and teachers and librarians. Writers spend so much time behind the computer, it was lovely to step out and talk with real life PEOPLE for awhile (but just awhile. Gotta get back to those fictional characters, after all).


Me: How has your life changed - or not - since you've become a real, live, published author?


LL: The main thing that's changed is I have a career now (It still feels funny using that word. Like when I first signed with my agent, I dropped her name All The Time). A career gives me legitimacy to family, friends, and anyone else I have to tell to leave me alone so I can hole up and write. I’ve also had to take on some more authorly roles (interviews, fan mail, book signings, ect) but the writing is the same. I still need to hammer out the next story.As far as day to day living goes, everything is really the same except now there’s a book on a shelf (and okay, maybe I go visit said book about three times a day).


Me: Lastly, I ask this of all the authors I interview, because I'm always amazed by the variety of answers I get. How do you write? Is there a certain time of the day when you prefer to work? Do you write every day or just wait for the mood to strike? Do you outline or just let the ideas come as you're writing? Is there anything - chocolate, perhaps? - that you have to have by your side in order to write?


LL: My best writing usually happens late at night, but lately, with three little kids, I’m finding I’m just too tired to go with the muse most evenings. Now, I write WHENEVER I CAN. As I type this, my baby is sleeping and my other two (6 and 3) are playing Play-Dough at the table with me. I find I can do businessy stuff when they’re around, but save real writing for when I’m alone. When I have a deadline, I hire sitters or hubby helps out. There isn’t a set schedule, I just kind of get by and do what I can when I can. I prefer to let my ideas take me where they may, but with a series, that can really turn into chaos. So I’m starting to outline more than I have in the past and I keep charts so I can keep track of details for continuity purposes. Chocolate is always readily available in this home. Always. That and a laptop and I’m good to go.


Me: Thanks so much, Lindsey!

Hi Ashley! Welcome to Bloggin' 'bout Books.

Me: If it's not too personal, can you tell me a little about your path to adoption? What made you decide to adopt?


AHB: After years of infertility and the heartache that goes along with that, I came to a cross-roads of either spending lots of money to do IVF procedures without a promise of it working, or giving up on the idea of having a child naturally and moving my focus toward adoption. After much prayer, I decided that it didn’t matter how my children get here, only THAT they get here. So we stopped trying to get pregnant and set our minds on adoption. Once I made that decision, I finally had hope. I could actually see light at the end of the tunnel for the first time and I was happy.


Me: You said you wrote ONCE UPON A TIME because you couldn't find "the perfect book" about adoption to read to your daughter. What does your book say that other books didn't? When you were writing the book, what ideas/themes were you most passionate about getting across to your readers?


AHB: I was looking for a book that helped my daughter (and all adopted children) to see that their adoption journey was orchestrated by a caring Heavenly Father who loved them. I was most passionate about giving adopted children a feeling of being wanted and loved by everyone involved. Birthmothers are not usually mentioned in adoption stories. How could there even be an adoption story without a birthmother? It was important to me to have my daughter know how hard it was for her birthmother to make an adoption plan.


Me: This is a similar question, but what do you think adopted children need to know about themselves? What do you think the general public needs to know about adoption?


AHB: Adopted children need to know that their journey is a spiritual one and that even though they didn’t grow in their mommy’s tummy, they are as much their real child as if they had been. I’m glad that adoption is no longer taboo around the community. My children actually feel sad for their friends that aren’t adopted because they feel pretty special.


Me: How have readers - especially those within the adoption community - responded to your book?


AHB: It has actually been received better than I expected. My favorite quote was from a grandchild of a reader. She said, “Grandma, will you read me this book because every time Mom reads it to me, she cries.” I actually hear stuff like that a lot. Not that I want my readers to cry, but it does mean that it must have brought back all the wonderful memories of their adoption story and that’s what I was hoping for. The original title for my book was Happy Tears: An Adoption Story, but I later found out that there was another book by that name already in print.


Me: Tell me a little about the art in ONCE UPON A TIME. You said illustrator Amy Hintze allowed you to "photograph my vision for each page" - how did that work exactly?


AHB: As I wrote this book, I had a vision of what each page would look like. I cannot draw at all so the idea of doing the art myself was out of the question. I spent days going through books looking at illustrations to see the style that I wanted. As soon as I came across I Chose You, which was illustrated by Amy Hintze, I knew I had found the illustrator for my book. Her artwork was so real and so beautiful. It took a few days to track her down, but when I did and she said she would love to work with me on my book, I was ecstatic. Wait, that wasn’t your question. =) Amy likes to use photos as models for her paintings and since she lives close enough to me, we decided to work together to create the pictures. Because this is my daughter’s story, I wanted her to be the main character. So we spent several days setting the scene for each page. Her paintings are amazing. Although she has never adopted, she captured the emotion of each person as if she had been there to feel it. I couldn’t be happier with the outcome.


Me: One of the most unique aspects of your book is its question-and-answer format. Why did you decide to write the story this way?


AHB: I didn’t actually set out to have it written that way. I knew what I wanted it to say and the message that I wanted to share. I just didn’t know the best way to do that (I’m not a writer by trade). After about three tries, I finally came up with this format. I was really happy with the dialog and the way it flowed. Plus, it is a conversation I have had with my daughter several times so it made it feel more real.


Me: Tell me about writing ONCE UPON A TIME. Did you outline the story or did the words just come to you? Did the story require a lot of revision? How did you decide which information to include and which to leave out?


AHB: I knew the basics of the story. That part was easy. The hard part was making it fun for children to read while still getting the message across. It was also hard staying in the word number/ page number guidelines of children’s picture books. I did have to revise it several times because it just didn’t “feel” right. 32 pages took me 4 years to write! That tells you how much a struggled with it. I wanted ALL of the information to be included and that was hard to do in only 32 pages. But once I started with the last draft, I knew it was right. It really just flowed at that point.


Me: You've said that you love children's literature. What are your favorite books to read to your children?


AHB: Wow, so many, but if I had to name my all-time favorites they would be: Goodnight Moon; Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day; There’s a Nightmare in my Closet; Ira Sleeps Over; Who’s Making That Smell?; Hop on Pop; If you see a Kitten; Where the Wild Things Are


Me: What are you working on right now?


AHB: Well, right now, my husband and I are about to adopt a 6-year-old boy from Taiwan. I hope to be traveling in the next few months to bring him home. I told myself while publishing Once Upon a Time: An Adoption Story that if it went well, I would write another book about an international adoption. I’ve been gathering information and taking notes about this journey that we’re on in the hopes of using it for my next book. We’ll just have to see what happens with the reception of this book first.


Me: If you could send one message about adoption out to the world, what would it be and why?


AHB: I’m sad when I hear people say that adopted children were “given away” or “given up” by their birthmothers. I have sat with a wonderful young girl on her last night with her new baby boy before placing that child into the arms of his adoptive mother. I have seen the pain that they feel in doing what they know is best for their child whom they love deeply. Their decision to place is a total sacrifice on their part. My message is that adoption is a loving choice and that the Lord helps build eternal families through loving birthmothers who are following the Spirit to do what is best for their unborn child.


Me: Thanks so much, Ashley!