Esther Ehrlich (Awesome Women)

I'm honoured today to have Esther Ehrlich, the author of Nest, on my blog answering some tough questions about women and fictional characters and role models.

Nest is one of the books that kicked off the new publishing imprint, Rock the Boat. I think Rock the Boat have a fantastic list so far and that Nest looks like a wonderful middle grade novel about friendship and adventure and birds and more difficult situations!  It was published in July, get your hands on a copy!

To find out more about Nest or Esther Ehrlich, please do visit the following websites:

Esther Ehrlich ... Esther on Twitter ... Esther on Facebook ... Esther on Goodreads

Can you tell me a little something about yourself?

I was born and raised in Boston, a place I love and miss. Now I live right on the edge of a huge regional park in the San Francisco Bay Area and wrote NEST at my desk that looks out into the trees branches. When we’re not having a drought, Wildcat Creek flows through our back yard. I live with my husband (and, yes, best friend) and our two teenagers.

Writing and publishing my first novel has been an amazing ride!

Did you have a role model growing up?

I had a teacher in 6th grade who made a huge impression on me. She spoke her mind, had very strong opinions, wore old-fashioned clothes, and introduced us to the concept of “sex role stereotyping.” And she loved, loved, loved books! She turned a corner of our classroom into a living room and used to read to us while we lounged around on pillows… She actually came to my launch party for NEST in my hometown. When we saw each other after so many years, we both burst into tears!

Who do you look up to now?

One person I’ve admired for a long time is Meryl Streep. She’s amazingly smart, capable, and creative. I think she has that rare gift of being able to imagine herself in someone else’s shoes. Empathy is a hugely important quality, I think, for actors and writers. And everyone else. Without it, we can’t make sense of each other or of the world; we can’t make change happen.

When you were little, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Hard to believe, but when I was really young, I said I wanted to be a “farmer’s wife.” I didn’t realize that I could just be the farmer! I liked the idea of raising animals and working outside and making jars of pickles and tomato sauce to put away for the winter.

Tell me something about the women in your life who have been an influence on you?

My mom grew up very poor and had a pretty rough childhood, but she was extremely curious, creative, and determined to find her way in the world. As a teenager, she studied on her own at a public library and won a nationwide contest that paid for her education at an elite college. She was a poet and a deeply loving, tender, flawed, strong woman.

Who is your favourite fictional character? And why?

One favourite! Oh no! I choose Charlotte. She was one inspired, kind, brave, creative woman (spider!)

Is there a fictional character that reminds you of you?  And if you could choose to be best friends with a fictional character, who would it be?

Chirp in NEST reminds me of me, in some ways. And I like her, which is a good sign.

I can’t land on just one character that I’d choose as a best friend. For me to love a book, I need to feel deeply connected to at least one character and I love a lot of books!

What were you like as a teenager and how did you cope with all the changes that occurred?

That’s a tough question. Thinking back, my teenage years are a bit of a blur. My mom was really ill and I think I felt pressure to not add to the stress in our family, so I actually was pretty tame.

Which book would you say that every teenager should read and why? 

I’d say every teenager should read whatever books grab hold of him/her and won’t let go. I wouldn’t try to force anything, including my version of a must-read book, on a teenager! Reading is such a subjective experience. Choosing a book is so personal.

If you had any advice for yourself as a teenager, what would you say? 

This is just the beginning of your big, wide, rambling life…

Of the issues and concerns that women are faced with today, what's the area you most like reading/writing  about?

Real relationships. Not the pre-packaged, prettied-up variety. Brave, strong connections that push against what we expect and what is expected of us.

Thanks very much for the chance to answer these engaging questions!

Interview with Laura Jarratt #YAShot

Hugely excited today to be taking part in the #YAShot blog and vlog tour again, this time with another of my favourite authors, Laura Jarratt!

Skin Deep really made me sit up and take notice of Laura Jarratt and since then I've always eagerly awaited anything else by her. I especially loved the exploration of identity in her first two novels. But here we are discussing YA Shot and libraries and getting published!

To find out more about Laura Jarratt and her books, do visit the following links:

Laura Jarratt ... Follow Laura Jarratt on Twitter ... Add Laura Jarratt's books on Goodreads

                      To find out more about YA Shot, check out yashot.co.uk

Hello and welcome to Fluttering Butterflies! Could you please introduce yourself and your books? 

Hi, and thank you for having me. I’m Laura and I write YA fiction – romance/thriller is probably the best way to describe my published books, although I’m not really bothered by labels. ‘Teen fiction’ is enough of a category for me.

I’m never very interested in authors’ personal lives but for those who are, I’m married with an eight-year-old stepson and a two-year-old daughter. We’ve got two RSPCA rescue cats, which belong to my daughter, Orlaith. My family is of Irish descent and my husband’s family are a mix of Welsh and English. After twenty years working in comprehensives, I recently moved into the special education sector and I’m now a Headteacher at a school for children with physical, medical and other complex needs. It’s a great job and I’m lucky to be in a position where I enjoy what I do.

You'll be chairing a panel at YAShot called 'Crime and Punishment: fictional wrongdoing and human rights' which sounds really intriguing. What can we expect from this panel and who do you think might find it interesting?

You’ve got a real range of writers on this panel, and a real mix of books in their catalogues. One question I will be asking is whether fictional wrongdoing should always be punished – I expect some interesting answers to that one! I haven’t met any of the others yet but my experience of these things is that we all tend to have very different personalities too, so that should make for a lively debate. My job is to make sure everyone gets to talk and throw some questions into the mix if we stall.

I think it should appeal to all lovers of YA fiction because the books we’ve written are so different that there’ll be something for all readers. Audience participation is always great so come with any questions you want answered.

What other panels or authors are you looking forward to seeing or meeting at YAShot?

I’m hoping we arrive in time to see Playing with Time: Historical fiction and historical settings. And I also want to catch Trigger Warning: Exploring sensitive issues in ethical ways. Which reminds me – I really must find time to ask my husband if there’s anything he’s particularly interested in. I’m dragging him along with me at it’s our anniversary the day after and we’re having some away time in the Cotswolds, so we’ve got to shoot off up there at 5pm. It means I don’t get time to hang out with the other writers afterwards but my family always comes first. Hopefully I’ll find some time to catch up with a few people and say hi to some of the bloggers

YAShot is an event celebrating libraries! What do libraries mean to you?

When I was a kid, we lived in a council house in a very deprived urban area. My mother was a single parent and worked really hard in her job to keep up a decent standard of living. She took me into Manchester city centre every week when I was small to buy me a book and she was the one who taught me to read. Until I was eight, there was no library within easy reach and I was a very fast reader. When a library finally opened near the shopping precinct, she enrolled me in their opening week. I got dropped off at the library on Saturday mornings while she did her shopping and I’d spend the morning browsing the books, fiction and non-fiction. Reading gave me a window into different worlds and the library expanded my horizons even further.

All kids need access to a library and the ones who need it most are the kids whose parents can’t afford books for them.

You've had 4 YA novels published so far, what were your biggest obstacles to overcome with each of these books? 

With Skin Deep, which was my favourite of all of them to write, it was getting used to working with an editor. One of the reasons I signed with Egmont was because I find Stella Paskins great to work with on shaping a book, but there is definitely a process to get used to in working with your editor and building the relationship is really important.

The hardest thing about By Any Other Name was actually meeting the deadline. I had real trouble getting through the word count because I was in a new relationship (I did marry him eventually so he was worth the disruption to my writing) and operating outside my normal writing routine. Structurally it was quite difficult to get the balance right too. We were aiming for a faster pace than with Skin Deep because the book leans much more towards ‘thriller’ and I find that really hard to judge – which is where Stella comes in.

Writing Louder Than Words was lovely because I was off on maternity leave but I did try to be too clever and it didn’t come off so I ended up having to do a monster edit to chop out sections where I’d had Rafi write from ActionX’s perspective. It seemed like a good idea at the time from the point of view of her wanting to be a writer but what I really ended up doing was killing the tension.

I thought I’d found my writing pattern after three books but In Another Life destroyed that view. I just could not write this book in sequence so I ended up writing the first quarter and then the last quarter, and then going back and filling in the middle. It’s because I don’t plot before I write and I hit a panic zone at 25k with this book, which was only dispelled by writing the end so I knew where I was going. I’m fairly pleased with how it came out in the end though, but it wasn’t at all what I thought it would be – I still have some pangs for the book I wanted to write in the first instance.

Can you tell us a little something about your experience in getting an agent and having your first book published?

I didn’t go the usual route and submit. Actually, technically, I did do that at first but with another book and I got nowhere. But while that was going on, I was writing my second unpublished book on a website called Authonomy. It’s where I first came across Stella Paskins because I won a review on my first 10k. While I had my work up there, my agent spotted it and contacted me. We didn’t go out to publishers with that book (Freefalling) as she thought it was too hard to sell commercially but I’d already had another fledgling idea, which became Skin Deep, and she signed me after seeing the first 20k of that. I finished it and she took it out to publishers. Ultimately I had two publishers offering and we went with Egmont. I was actually co-agented initially by Ariella Feiner and Simon Trewin while Ariella (who was then Simon’s assistant) was setting her own list up. Having his name behind us helped editors take us seriously  - he’s a lovely chap and gave me some really good advice about getting the final draft ready to go out for submission.

You are definitely one of my favourite UKYA authors. Who are your favourite UKYA authors or books at the moment?

That’s a really hard question. I don’t read nearly as much YA as I used to. Two reasons really: firstly I have a full time job and a two year old to look after, as well as writing, so my reading time is much more limited than it was; secondly, I’m more into adult fiction at the moment. I guess I’m looking for something amazing to sweep me off my feet in YA. I have high hopes for Jenny Downham’s third novel Unbecoming, but I don’t have time to do it justice at present so I’m waiting for a holiday to read it. At first I thought the pre-release information was uncomfortably like an adult book I’m working on so I was relieved to read more about it and find it’s very different.

In all honesty, I want to find a ‘To Kill a Mockingbird,’ in UKYA soon. I think we need to up our game and write more of the kind of books that stand the test of time and become classics, those books you still remember twenty years later. You don’t get many of them, of course, but I really feel they’re much too scarce at the moment.

What has been the best experience when interacting with your readers?

I rarely get out to do events because I work full time in term time and it’s not the kind of job where I can take time off so I don’t get to do book tours. My favourite events are school audiences outside of school buildings, like book awards or the Edinburgh book festival. I’m happiest talking to teens and I love doing Q&A sessions with them because they always ask something interesting I wasn’t expecting.  If pushed to declare a favourite, it would be the Portsmouth Book Award – it was a great set-up and I got to talk to fans and hear what they thought of the books.

And finally, can you give us any clues as to what you're working on at the moment?

I’m writing something for the adult market at the moment – a reading group-type novel about a woman investigating the decades-old death of a child who is haunting her.

The YA novel I’m writing next is moving away from thrillers. I want to do something with a bigger concept – a love story on a grander scale, that questions one of the great mysteries of life. There’s no guarantee I can pull it off but I’m giving it a go. I am concerned I’m not good enough to write it though!

Thank you so much, Laura!

Interview with Keren David #YAShot

You guys, YA Shot is almost here and I am super, super excited. It really is going to be the most epic day ever. 71 UKYA and UKMG authors all in one space, doing workshops and panels and signings and imagine all the flailing and the bookish conversations that will be had. YA Shot is a celebration of libraries and a year-long literacy programme that will include author visits and support for teenagers and young people who most need a little extra help. And for that reason, I'm more than happy to be involved with YA Shot, both on the day and with the Blog and Vlog tour.  I also have to give a big shout-out to Alexia Casale for doing an amazing job organising this whole thing. She's a superstar.

Today, on the YA Shot blog tour I am here with one of my favourite UKYA authors, Keren David. She's no stranger to Fluttering Butterflies and I've read and loved all of her books. Here is my review of her debut, When I Was Joe, and here is my review of her latest, This Is Not A Love Story. Check out my interview in which we talk writing essentials, fangirl-ing over authors, book recommendations and more.

To find out more about Keren David, do visit the following webites:

Keren David ... Follow Keren David on Twitter ... Add Keren David's books on Goodreads

To find out more about YA Shot, check out yashot.co.uk

Hello and welcome to Fluttering Butterflies, could you please introduce yourself and your books? 

Hello, thank you for hosting me on your lovely blog.  I took up writing YA books in 2008, after a long career in journalism, and my first book When I Was Joe, about a boy in witness protection, was published in 2010. That book became the first in a trilogy and I've also written three standalone books -  Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery, which I'm currently adapting into a musical, Salvage, about two siblings reunited after 12 years apart and my latest, This is Not a Love Story. 

At YA Shot, you'll be taking part in a panel entitled 'Crime and Punishment: Fictional wrongdoing and human rights' What can we expect from this panel and who do you think might be interested?

I am so intrigued by this panel, because I have absolutely no idea what it's going to be about, it'll all depend how our chair, Laura Jarratt decides to steer it. The other two writers on the panel are the awesomely talented Cat Clarke and Emma Haughton, and they both have crime novels out, but my latest book is more about the rules -  social, religious, cultural, legal - of love and relationships.  But then I have written a lot about crime in the past. So, it could be about anything, but most probably sex and violence, and I think that might interest just about anyone. 

Who are you most excited to meet at YAShot or are there any authors you'd fangirl over?

I am so excited about YAShot because so many author friends will be there, and usually we only meet on  Twitter or Facebook. I'll be fan-girling Tim Bowler, who I have wanted to meet forever,and also the amazing Alexia Casale for taking on the enormous task of organising YAShot, and creating such a brilliant event. 

What are your earliest or fondest reading or library memories?

My dad used to take me to the library at Campus West in Welwyn Garden City every week and I have very fond memories of browsing the shelves there -  often taking out books that were old favourites. Then at secondary school I managed to skip a lot of assemblies and RE lessons, because I was Jewish, so the library was a calm, quiet oasis in the school day. I'd read the newspaper while the rest of my class were singing hymns. 

What would you say you've learnt during or after the publication of each of your novels? (about any research done, the publishing industry, your writing process etc)

Book 1 (When I was Joe): I can write a book. It doesn't have to be autobiographical. 

Book 2 (Almost True): I can write another book. I can't do news editing at the same time though. 

Book 3 (Lia's Guide to Winning the Lottery): Sometimes you can do too much research. 

Book 4 (Another Life): You can write a trilogy without having planned it as a trilogy. 

Book 5 (Salvage): Don't forget to put dialogue in your book.

Book 6 (This is Not a Love Story): Sometimes writing about your own world is more difficult that imaging yourself into someone else's.

What are some of your writing essentials?

A power point -  my laptop battery has died. And the laptop is about to die too. 

Tea. Sometimes chocolate.

Silence. 

Ideally I need somewhere with no internet, or where I don't know the internet password.

I love that YAShot is filled with such an amazing array of UKYA/UKMG authors. Who are some of your favourite authors recently or what are some of your favourite books?

One by Sarah Crossan is extraordinarily good.  I'd never read a book in verse before, and I was blown away by it. 

When I Was Me by Hilary Freeman is a book which keeps you thinking long after you turn the last page.

I adored Susie Day's Pea books, and I was so happy to see the linked follow-up The Secrets of Sam and Sam. 

Helen Grant's Forbidden Spaces trilogy is fabulous, and I loved the final book, Urban Spaces, which came out earlier this year.

I could go on and on.....

And finally, can you tell us anything about your upcoming book, Cuckoo?! 

Cuckoo is due to come out August 2016, and it's about a boy called Jake who has a career as a  child actor, a brother who doesn't speak and a father who suffers from stress.  

Thank you so much, Keren! Hugely looking forward to your panel at YAShot AND reading your new book!  

Michelle from Tales of Yesterday (Celebrating British Bloggers)

My final Celebrating British Bloggers interview! I've really enjoyed hosting this feature but it has come to its end.  Thank you to everyone who has taken part or has read or commented or tweeted about the feature of any of the previous interviews.

And thank you to Michelle from Tales of Yesterday for being super lovely as well as being the final ever participant! Tales of Yesterday is one of my favourite new blogs and I love Chelley's passion and enthusiasm for both books and blogging. I'm sure you're already following her blog and on Twitter, but if you are not here are those links again:

Tales of Yesterday ... Chelley on Twitter

Firstly, can you tell me something about yourself and your blog?

Hi, I’m Chelle and I run a book blog - www.Talesofyesterday.co.uk.  I read lots of books and review them on my blog and also love to feature guest posts, Q&A’s amongst others things from authors as well as other bloggers.  I always feature anything I enjoy or find fun or want to know the answers to!

I am helpdesk / resource planner team leader for a service company by day and an avid book reader / book blogger / serial tweeter / twitter addict by night and on weekends!

I’m also a co-mod for the awesome book forum BookishPeeps.com and organiser of #DrinkYAMidlands and #PicnicYAMidlands where everyone is welcome to meet up for bookish chat and fun!  I also host a nostalgic #PointHorrorBookClub on the 13th of every month where we read and discuss a Point Horror book which were all the rage and loved by myself in the 90’s – do you remember them?

I am often known to be a little bit clumsy and possibly a little loopy! I am always laughing at something or another and have a bit of a chuckle laugh (one of my managers calls me chuckles).

I live with my husband, Kevin, who I have known since I was 4 and I have a 10 Year Old son, Corey, who is as much of a book lover as me! I also have 3 cats, Skittles, Patch and Louis who enjoy clawing at my curtains and 3 rabbits, Smudge, Caramel and Clover who pinch all my vegetables!

I am a book loving (obsessed), theatre loving, slasher horror film loving csi geek! I’m often seen on twitter embarrassing myself and tweeting about books a lot using @chelleytoy.

How did you begin being a book blogger? What is it about books that makes you excited to talk about books on your blog?

I have always loved books ever since I was a little girl when my mom used to take me to the library a lot (I talked about this for a Love Libraries Feature here but be warned it features pictures of younger Michelle!).  I have carried on with that love for books ever since, but I hit a stumbling block in my love for books when I lost my sight suddenly in 2013.  I wrote a guest post about it previously here, but upon keeping the sight in one eye I gradually got back into reading and discovered the wonderful world of YA and it reignited my love and passion for books.

Starting a book blog seemed to be a natural step for me and something I wish I had done years ago!  I LOVE talking about books and sharing my thoughts and experience of a book with people and sharing my thoughts through reviews on my blog.  Books in general excite me.  I love getting lost within the pages of a book.  Feeling what the characters are feeling or experiencing and going on a journey with them.  I also love being asked for recommendations especially by children and then being told how much they love the book…this makes me so happy.  I also love sharing books with my son and having reading time with him every night.

So yeah basically – Chelley loves books!

What would you like to have known about book blogging before you got started that you didn't know beforehand?

I would love to have known how wonderful and awesome the community is!  I have made some lovely friends through blogging and it genuinely brings a tear to my eye to think about it.  When I think back to a time in my life where I felt quite lonely and scared (I had my family of course) if I had known that book blogging would introduce me to genuine wonderful people I would have done it sooner.  I love the community so much.

When you're not reading or blogging, what do you do with yourself?

Oh wow!  Working!  Lol.  I work Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm and live about an hours motorway drive away from my job (I am the only driver in my family) so when I get home it is normally time to spend with my family, watching lots of Netflix’s, reading, blogging and I try to fit some writing in occasionally too.

I am often known to spend too much time talking to people on twitter too!

What type of things do you champion on your blog? What would you like your blog to be known for?

I do read a lot of YA books and a lot by British Authors as I like to champion #UKYA and celebrate our home grown talent.  I have been taking part in the British Books Challenge 2015 and am thoroughly enjoying it.  I also feel passionate about #WeNeedDiverseBooks so I like to champion this and get the word out there and read more diverse reads where I can.  I feel it is important for our children to grow up with access to diverse reads so the more we spread the word the better.

I think I would like my blog to be known as a place to get to know authors a little better or to discover a new book recommendation via my reviews.  A fun place where people can enjoy themselves.

What has been the best experience of being a book blogger so far?

The best experience of being a book blogger so far is getting to know new supportive people who love books and the community just as much as me.

I have also loved the chances I have had to meet authors or have authors appear on my blog and learn more about their lives, writing, books and the publishing industry.  I always feel truly honoured when an author agrees to appear on my blog.

On a personal note the most over whelming experience has been winning a UKYABA award in March for Champion Newcomer 2015 which in turn has given me the honour of speaking on a book blogging workshop / panel at YALC which is mind blowingly amazing and scary all rolled into one big ball of fun!

What is your biggest struggle as a book blogger?

My biggest struggle as a book blogger is time!  I need Hermione's Time Turner!  I want to spend ALL my time with my family and friends, read ALL the books, put more time into my blog and write that book that’s inside me, but time is restricted sometimes.  

You can do it, what is your absolute favourite book?

Okay my favourite ever book is Watership Down!  I adore this book!  A childhood favourite.  It is followed closely by a number of other books though.

What books or authors or series would you like more people to be aware of?

Ohhhhh this is a tough one!  I just want people to read ALL the books!  ☺

Have you discovered any books or authors through blogging that you might not have otherwise found?

Yes!  I’m always discovering new authors and books all the time especially through Bookish Brits videos, #UKYAChat and via Jim over at @YAYeahYeah amongst others.  For me twitter provides me with so many book recs that my TBR list grows to a staggering amount!

Name your top 5 UK book bloggers!

Just 5??!!  I don’t think I can through fear of missing off a blogger I adore!

*offers Cloverness a cake and bats eyelashes to let me off the question*

If you could meet your favourite author, who would it be?

I feel I have been very lucky to meet a lot of my favourite amazing authors already, but for me this would be John Green or James Patterson…..two authors I adore who I would be honoured to get a chance to meet in real life!

What would you like to see more or less of in the books you read?

I would like to see more friendships rather than love interests and more #LGBT that are just there rather than being the focus on the book if that makes any sense.  I would also like to see more disabled characters in books.

And finally, who is your ultimate book crush?

At the time of writing this I am reading a book called Black Iris (recommended to me by Jim over at @YAYeahYeah) and I have a serious SERIOUS crush on a character called Armin….he makes really bad (I say good) 80’S song reference jokes and I LOVE him (well so far…unless things turn in the book…now I’m worried).  

Ultimate book crush?!  I’m not sure I have one?  

*minds goes blank* I can’t think at all….however if you follow me on twitter I like a man with a beard and old!

TA-DAH!