The multi-talented Lauren Baratz-Logsted is at it again, folks. And by that I mean she's out-written every writer on earth this year and it's barely mid-May. She has TWO books coming out this spring/summer, The Sisters Eight Book 5: Marcia's Madness, and her latest YA, The Education of Bet.
If you haven't read Lauren's adult fiction (The Thin Pink Line) or YA ( Crazy Beautiful) or middle grade fiction (The Sisters Eight series), you should. Not only is Lauren, in her own words, the only woman in the world who has ever both hosted a book signing party and washed the windows of the late best-selling novelist Robert Ludlum, she is prolific and a damn good writer. I know, my teenaged son and I nearly came to blows trying to share Crazy Beautiful between us. Words to the wiser-than-me: buy multiple copies.
So. Back to blog business. Lauren, or LBL as I call her (because it's what I call my YA novel, Little Black Lies, and I'm pretty certain that's why LB married L in the first place -- to steal my acronymical thunder) is here to answer ONE question. Why not TWO questions, you might be wondering, because of the TWO new books. Well, don't. I wondered the same thing had my virtual hand snapped at, mainly because she knows I'm on to her with the whole acronym thing. More on the fabulous books below. First my ONE question:
THE SISTERS EIGHT BOOK 5: MARCIA'S MADNESS, the fifth in the series for young
readers aged 6-10 that Lauren created with her novelist husband Greg Logsted and their
10-year-old daughter Jackie; pub date May 3, you can definitely pick it up on
Amazon or your local bookstore.
THE EDUCATION OF BET, Lauren's next YA, set in Victorian England, due
out July 12. Preorder on Amazon.
If you haven't read Lauren's adult fiction (The Thin Pink Line) or YA ( Crazy Beautiful) or middle grade fiction (The Sisters Eight series), you should. Not only is Lauren, in her own words, the only woman in the world who has ever both hosted a book signing party and washed the windows of the late best-selling novelist Robert Ludlum, she is prolific and a damn good writer. I know, my teenaged son and I nearly came to blows trying to share Crazy Beautiful between us. Words to the wiser-than-me: buy multiple copies.
So. Back to blog business. Lauren, or LBL as I call her (because it's what I call my YA novel, Little Black Lies, and I'm pretty certain that's why LB married L in the first place -- to steal my acronymical thunder) is here to answer ONE question. Why not TWO questions, you might be wondering, because of the TWO new books. Well, don't. I wondered the same thing had my virtual hand snapped at, mainly because she knows I'm on to her with the whole acronym thing. More on the fabulous books below. First my ONE question:
"What is the best and worst writing advice you've ever received and why?"
Best advice: "Always remember, the only person who can ever really take you
out of the game is you." It's the best because it's what I always say when
people ask for my advice and also because it happens to be true. Yes, this is a
tough business to break into. But lots of times the reason people don't make it
is because they give up too soon. Agents and editors can reject you but they
can't make you stop writing, they can't stop you from learning everything you
can to improve yourself as a writer. Only you have that power.
Worst advice: "Write what you know." I don't think anyone's ever said this
to me directly but I hate when I hear people say it. It's such pretentious
bollocks. No one knows what it means anyway, which is half the problem. "Write
what you know." If people listened to that literally, there'd be no fantasy,
science fiction, historical fiction - certainly there'd be no speculative
fiction. And of course that's the other half of the problem: some people hear
that and they do take it literally. "Write what you know." To me, that one's
right up there with "Show, don't tell." But that's another story.
You might have noticed I finagled TWO answers from of my ONE question. Yeah, I'm that good. Plus, I got the great LBL to say the word "bollocks" and that made me giggle.
You might have noticed I finagled TWO answers from of my ONE question. Yeah, I'm that good. Plus, I got the great LBL to say the word "bollocks" and that made me giggle.
THE SISTERS EIGHT BOOK 5: MARCIA'S MADNESS, the fifth in the series for young
readers aged 6-10 that Lauren created with her novelist husband Greg Logsted and their
10-year-old daughter Jackie; pub date May 3, you can definitely pick it up on
Amazon or your local bookstore.THE EDUCATION OF BET, Lauren's next YA, set in Victorian England, due
out July 12. Preorder on Amazon.
I've heard wonderful things about The Education of Bet-from those who were lucky enough to recieve an arc. I haven't read anything by Lauren, so I will defiantly have to do so. I loved the one question interview! I'm not too fond of the whole "write what you know" thing either. So I can relate too.