Author: Janci

This post is part of an ongoing series I’m doing about trying to work from home with a child.  As always, I don’t think this information will work for you unless you are me, trying to parent my particular child at this particular time, but I could have used this information to give me hope of future productivity before I had kids, so I’m imparting it anyway.  Enjoy!

When my baby hit one year old, she became obsessed with my laptop.  She had to touch it.  She had to push the buttons.  And most importantly–very most importantly–it had to show her pictures of “baby!” constantly.  This was, naturally, its only function.

This hit at the same time that I hit a slump, and did not want to be writing.  Oh, the very last thing I wanted to be doing was writing.

So writing all but stopped.

Since I couldn’t have that, I made an appointment with myself that I had to write during nap time.  This was hard, because I wanted to do about a million other things while my daughter was asleep.  I wanted to clean the house and go to the store, and fiddle with the internet, and fold the laundry and generally not be interrupted.  Every day I would think of all the things I would rather do with nap time.  And then I would go write, because if I didn’t do it then, I wouldn’t do it at all.

I don’t have a picture of this.  I was too busy writing furiously, lest this be the day of the short nap.

I was sad, because up until this point, I’d been able to write while my baby was awake, and I wanted to continue doing that.  My experience has been that if I don’t like something about my child’s intersection with my life, I should just wait a month and it will change.  This habit took three months, but my daughter did finally stop crusading to touch the laptop every time it entered her sight.  She still likes it, but she will now play with other things while it’s around, again, and she will now sit sweetly on my lap without touching it while I work (sometimes), so this time is past.  I still think of these three months as a dark age in my writing time, but I lived and my daughter lived and, though less important, I still got work done.  So I’m going to call that a win.

Claire M. Caterer’s new middle grade novel, The Key & the Flame, came out yesterday. Congrats to Claire on her debut! I’m happy to have been able to ask her a few questions about, of course, her bounty hunting preferences.

First, what we’re all here for.  Tell us about the book.

Middle-grade fantasy: Three ordinary kids find their way to an extraordinary world where magic is outlawed and magical beings are
hunted by a ruthless king. It’s up to 11-year-old Holly Shepard to harness her own magic to save her brother and his friend and help restore magic to its rightful place in the kingdom. First of a five-part series. Book II coming summer 2014!

Yay.  I love middle grade.  Now for some adventure of your own–you’ve skipped bail, and a bounty hunter is looking for you.  What three things do you bring with you?

1. My laptop. Not only can I keep a journal of my travels—because I’m an obsessive journal writer—but I can use it to keep track of whoever’s tracking me. I might Tweet about the experience. 🙂

2. My Kindle, because I can carry a ton of books with me this way. If that’s cheating, then I’ll take a giant omnibus of writings by P.G. Wodehouse. He wrote the best ever British humor, and I’ll probably need a few laughs.

3. Some serious martial-arts skills. I don’t have them, but surely they can be purchased somewhere.

If you find said skills available for download, let me know.  I’d pick up a few myself.  So, you’re on the run with your devices and your skills.   Where does the bounty hunter find you?

I could be one of two places: squirreled away in an anonymous Paris apartment, because I adore that city; or hidden in an English cottage in the Cotswolds.

If your Paris apartment is in the Latin Quarter, I will join you, fugitive or no.  Let’s switch it up.  Say you’re the bounty hunter.  When three things do you bring with you while tracking your skip?

1. I really don’t like guns. Maybe a big frying pan to threaten him with? Or a stun gun.

2. Handcuffs—I mean, that’s a no-brainer. Maybe a person much stronger than myself.

3. I still want the Wodehouse omnibus.

Not to condone violence, but maybe you could combine them, and have a person much stronger than yourself brain the skip with the omnibus.  So now you’ve found your skip, right where you thought they would be.  Describe your location and approach.

I play the subtle, hi-just-getting-to-know-you game. If he’s holed up in a cave somewhere instead of hanging out at the local pub, that may be tricky.

You could always pretend to be a spelunker.  Either way, using your awesome interpersonal skills and your purchased martial arts, you’ve just caught a skip, and you’re surprised to find them attractive.  What three things make them irresistible to you?

1. He’s handsome in kind of a bookish, doesn’t-realize-it kind of way. Hair is mussed up.

2. He talks like Stephen Fry. Gosh, he might BE Stephen Fry, in a not-gay way. In other words, very smart, and a British accent doesn’t hurt, either.

3. He listens and empathizes really well. Oh, who am I kidding? I’m not turning this guy in.

Who would?  Anything else you’d like to tell us?

THE KEY & THE FLAME does include imprisonment and rescue—so it’s tangentially related to this topic! I truly hope I’m never a bounty hunter nor a skip, though I love reading about such adventures. However, if I ever were arrested and things looked bad, I’d skip in a heartbeat. The idea of being in prison is just about my worst nightmare.

If you’re ever up for bail, we’ll pretend we never heard that.  

Want to find out more about Claire and her new novel?  You can find her on facebook, twitter, goodreads, and at her website.  

Thanks, Claire!

 

 

Congratulations to Scott Blagden, whose YA novel, Dear Life, You Suck, is out today.   I was happy to be able to interview Scott about his bounty hunting preferences, on both sides of the hunt.

First, a synopsis of your book.  

“The shrinkadinks think I have a screw loose. Ain’t playing with a full deck. Whacked-out wiring. Missing marbles.” Irreverent,
foulmouthed seventeen-year-old Cricket is the oldest ward in a Catholic boys’ home in Maine—and his life sucks. With prospects for the future that range from professional fighter to professional drug dealer, he seems doomed to a life of “criminal rapscallinity.” In fact, things look so bleak that Cricket can’t help but wonder if his best option is one final cliff dive into the great unknown. But then Wynona Bidaban steps into his world, and Cricket slowly realizes that maybe, just maybe, life doesn’t totally suck.

I have to confess that I love books about foul-mouthed rapscallions.  Now, for the bounty hunting questions.  You’ve skipped bail, and a bounty hunter is looking for you.  What three things do you bring with you?

My pet earthworm Slippy, a periwinkle crayon, and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

I hope you’re not planning on eating the three of them together, which is exactly what my toddler would do.  So, where does the bounty hunter find you?

Sloppy Joe’s bar in Key West

Now you’re the bounty hunter.  When three things do you bring with you while tracking your skip?

Night vision goggles, the handcuffs from my nightstand, and two peanut
butter and jelly sandwiches.

Technically, that’s four things, but I’ll give you a pass.  I’m not going to ask about the handcuffs, though I’m beginning to suspect there’s a bit of rapscallion in you, too.   Now, you’ve found your skip, right where you thought they would be.  Describe your location and approach.

I’m in a tree outside her ex-husband’s apartment with my night vision
goggles, handcuffs, and one peanut and butter sandwich (I already ate
mine). I swing through a bedroom window on a rope from an old tire
swing. I’m wearing nothing but a leopard skin loin cloth.

Oh my.  Yes, rapscallion it is.  I’ve got you pegged.  You’ve just caught your lucky skip, (and how could you not, after the surprise of the tire swing and loin cloth?) and you’re surprised to find them attractive.  What three things make them irresistible to you?

1. She has a tattoo of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich on her forehead. 2. She has really big teeth. 3. We’re wearing matching loin cloths.

Don’t you just hate it when someone shows up wearing the same loin cloth as you?  Just pretend you planned it.  That way it’ll be less…awkward?  Thanks for the interview, Scott.  Before you go, is there anything else you’d like to tell us?

If my skip were in a more formal location, I’d be wearing leopard skin high heels and a matching bow tie.

Who wouldn’t.  

Want to hear more about Scott?  Find him at his website, or on twitter.  But don’t expect pictures of loin cloths.  Believe me, I already looked.

My buddy Bryce was one of ten winners of the Westchester Fiction Award.  If you haven’t read his book, Vodnik, you are missing out.

We’re also down to the last 60 hours of the Schlock Mercenary Challenge Coin Kickstarter, which is where many successful projects do 50% of their funding.This one is at 7203% of its goal so far, and it’s already starting to pick up.  Should be a blast to watch.