Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Gossip? Mos Def


Happy Wednesday!

Featured Writer: Rose Cooper

Debuting her novel Gossip from the Girl's Room in January 2011

She just received her ARC's!!! Be sure to stop by after the interview to check it out!!!
Thank you so much for having me here!

6th grader Sofia “accidentally” overhears gossip in the girls’ room, but she has to overhear very carefully so that she doesn’t miss a word of what’s being said. She uses her super-secret notebook (the book) to jot down all the juiciness so her brain doesn’t forget any single important detail. Sofia juggles all the gossipy goodness and bathroom stakeouts along with her BFF Nona Bows, getting the attention of her forever crush and battling the super snooties and popular pretties of the school. But, there are twists involved too. There are illustrations on every page that add a “punch line” to the text. I cracked myself up just writing it!

1. So in school were you the one gossiping in the girl’s room, or the one who heard the gossiping? Care to dish on the dirt?

I was the one who heard the gossip—and it was usually about me! My mom worked at the school for most of my school years so that was hard because a lot of the girls gossiped about me when they got in trouble. They always thought I put my mom up to it, or told lies because of course they weren’t bad or anything *rolls eyes*. Then when we moved to a small town, I was the new girl so the gossip was all about me, all the time. And most of it was made up stuff like I slept in a coffin or talked to ghosts. Which you can understand why by reading the next question!

2. A little bird told me (okay I was blog stalking you…) that you are a step daughter to morticians, corpses and all. Have you ever used your experience or stories to create a novel surrounding it? Or are you terrified of corpses like me?

I love blog stalkers! Confession-I was freaked out when my mom married a mortician. I thought my life was over (this happened in the beginning of my teen years). I had so many embarrassing moments that led to all that gossip I mentioned (picked up from school in a hearse (with a dead body) to start with. At that time, it was traumatic and I was horrified by it all. But after awhile, I just got used to it. And yes, I wrote a book about it! It’s an MG novel called DEADIES DON’T GOSSIP (notice a theme here?) which is based on my experiences but I turned it from total drama into a humor story. Fingers crossed that it will be published someday. You know Jen, the best way to get over your fear of corpses is to be around them. Want to hang out in my old town?

3. Author and Illustrator… tough question but which do you love more? Do you create your own illustrations for your novel or does someone else?

Writing is my first love. I just recently got back into illustrating. Back in my teen years I loved drawing and writing, but I seemed to give up the drawing because I didn’t think it was good enough. I could never give up the writing though, it was something I always felt compelled to do. I absolutely love doing both right now. With my book series, Gossip from the Girls room (2011) and Rumors from the Boys Room (2012) I do all of the illustrations myself. I’m hoping to do illustrations with other books in the future outside of this series as well.

4. What do you find to be the hardest part of the writing process?

I would have to say the deadlines. And it’s not making the deadlines that are difficult, but it’s knowing you have a deadline. Before, I could write anytime I wanted about anything I wanted, whenever creativity struck. With deadlines, you have to make the creativity work by a certain date and that can be very difficult. I sometimes will hit a brick wall with my story and instead of taking a few days to figure it out, I have to really work that much harder every day because I know my deadline is right around the corner. Sometimes it feels like a deadline even stops my creativity flow, but I think it’s just a matter of remembering to keep that date pushed to the back of my mind and enjoy the writing or else it’s too stressful. It’s just one of the things you learn and try get used to during the process of publication.

5. If you were forced to live in a house with one of your characters who would you choose and why?

Oooh, that’s a tough one! It definitely wouldn’t be the character that lives with the corpses, been there done that! I would have to say Sofia from my debut book, Gossip from the Girls’ Room. Even though she’s a cartoon, I’ve spent more time with her than any character and I feel like I actually know her. And she is so hilarious. There would never be a dull moment living with her, and really, who wouldn’t want to live with someone who likes Zombie Cows and doesn’t mind getting into a little bit of trouble every now and then?

Fun and Random Questions

Pizza: All cheese with white garlic sauce topped with feta. Yum!
Ice Cream: chocolate with brownie chunks
Pirate or Spy: Spy!
Mountains or Beach: Definitely the beach.
Book: The Hunger Games
Book Series: Twilight (just finishing Break of Dawn) Love it! And yes, I know I’m behind.
TV Show: I’m a reality show junkie. Bring on the drama!

Be sure to check out Rose at her website/blog! She's awesome!

33 comments:

Diana Mieczan said...

Hahah....sounds really fun..We all love some trouble from time to time...:)

Kisses,sweetie

Ps: I will be hosting a really great GIVEAWAY this afternoon… so please join in !!!!

Karen Baldwin said...

Fantastic post today!

Christine Danek said...

Great interview. I love that cover. Sounds like a fun book!

Elena Solodow said...

That's awesome that she gets to draw and write for the book.

Emily White said...

Great interview!

Candyland said...

I swear you always have the best interview questions! And Rose that is SO cool about having a mortician in the fam!!!

Lenny Lee said...

hi miss jen and miss rose! im already a follower of miss rose and i love her blog cause its fun and she makes me laugh a lot. for sure im getting her new book. wow living with dead people is a little scary for sure. for me i dont have dead lines but i could hear how its hard to do if you get stuck. cant wait for that book and even more the next one from the boys room. yay for boys! ha ha
...hugs and smiles from lenny

Matthew MacNish said...

Rose rules. That is all. Oh actually it's not. Jen rules too!

Jennifer Shirk said...

That book sounds adorable!
What a fun interview!
I love how she used her family's moritican background for a book too!

Creepy Query Girl said...

what a great interview Jen, as always! thanks for sharing Rose- your books look like so much fun!

vic caswell said...

Rose is so unbelievably cool... sometimes i wonder if she is real... i mean, can anyone really, truly be THAT cool??
:)

Jaydee Morgan said...

Great interview - and loved learning more about Rose :)

Carrie Harris said...

Rose, I knew I adored you. I used to work in a pathology department, surrounded by brains in plastic containers. We need to hang out more. :)

Jillian said...

Thank you Jen!!! You gave me a great laugh. this sounds like such a fun book. Great interview... really, what an awesome way to start my wednesday!!!!!

Summer Ross said...

I love question number five, that's a great question. This is an amazing blogger/ author. thanks for posting

Amy Saia said...

Another great one here. I'm going to have to keep a spreadsheet of all these books and their incredibly charming authors. Thanks so much, Jen, for bringing Rose Cooper to us!

Meredith said...

Such a cute interview! This book sounds so fun, and I love that she wrote another book about being the stepdaughter of a mortician--that has to be a great story!

Angie said...

This sounds like such a cute book!! I will definitely get it for my daughter in a couple years and what an awesome interview. She sounds like so much fun!

BTW - come by my blog I have a contest going on!!

Laura Pauling said...

I could not imagine being in highschool and my mom marrying a mortician! Def. the stuff that books are made of!

Shelley Sly said...

Her book sounds awesome! I can't wait to read it! Thanks for the interview, Jen and Rose!

Ashley Stone said...

looks like a cute book! Great interview.

Rose Cooper said...

Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Jen! The interview was tons of fun :)

And thank you to everyone who left a comment!

Theresa Milstein said...

Great interview! It sounds like Rose has captured that time of life perfectly.

Bish Denham said...

Too funny! Sounds like a book I'd like to read.

Jolene Perry said...

Great Interview! Thanks!

Terry Stonecrop said...

This book sounds fun! Love all the gossip stories.

Jemi Fraser said...

I was a listener too. And I love the sound of that pizza! :)

Sounds like a great book!

Amie Borst said...

her book IS great :)

The Words Crafter said...

This was a fun and interesting interview to read, thanks for sharing! With being picked up in a hearse, I thought of the girl from BeetleJuice!

Anonymous said...

Your interviews are always perfect!
You are naturally awesome with words.





LOVE!

T.J. Carson said...

Wow I like these blog guests you have. Ha a mortician's daughter! There was a book I wanted to read... I think it was called the mortician's daughter, but I couldn't remember, and then I couldn't find it in the library again. But you just reminded me so I'm gonna google that baby! Anyways, congrats ROSE COOPER!!! Best of luck with sales and the deadlines! It is quit an accomplishment to be very proud of! :) And missed you and your blog Jen!!! Did you ever come up with a new game?? I'm so ready to play anything you have cooked up!

Anonymous said...

Love the new look Jen. I've been away too long! Great interviews. Thanks!

Amy Holder said...

This book sounds so super fun!!! I love that Rose both wrote and illustrated it -- very impressive! Can't wait to read it! And YAY for ARCs!

PS: I'm a total reality show junkie too. :)