[I have a perfectly wretched head cold at the moment, so I'm running an interview rather than having to form an opinion about a book. My apologies. Scroll down to the bottom for the contest! I promise there are no spoilers under the cut; I just thought it might be too long without one. -S.]

Stephanie: To start, since I’m located in Cleveland, we are conducting our interview in the cafe at the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. (I’m in italics, he’s in plain text.)

JSS: Rock and roll! Excellent. We are definitely going to have to explore after the interview. Who are your favorite rock bands? I’m partial to Queen, Led Zepplin, and Styx.

I’m quite partial to Queen as well, and the Beatles and David Bowie. There are some awesome artifacts in the basement! Anyway, we’re on a higher level, inside the iconic I.M. Pei glass pyramid, like the one at the Louvre. If you look down, you can see the gift shop; if you look up, you can see the peak of the pyramid and outside, Cleveland’s friendly grayish skies. (Apparently we have more bad-weather days than anywhere else in the U.S.)

Really? So if Twilight hadn’t taken place in Forks, it could have taken place here. Wonder if that long-haired guy with the cool guitar is a bloodsucker.

He probably is . . . Have you ever been to Cleveland? I somehow assume not. If you do come someday, then I would definitely suggest the usual suspects: the zoo, the art museum, and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, if you like rock/pop music. For a book signing, I’d see if you can come to Joseph-Beth Books at Legacy Village, in Beachwood. It’s the biggest independent bookstore in the area, and always puts on a great show.

I have! Mostly for business. But now I need to come for pleasure too. Legacy Village will be first on my list.

Excellent! I hope you come while I’m still in town. So what got you started writing, and what drew you specifically to children’s fantasy, after the other books you’ve published? Was there a specific person/mentor involved (teacher, relative, other successful writer)?

There was a mentor that got me excited about writing back in high school. His name was Bill Sheehy and he was a great teacher. I didn’t choose to write fantasy though. It chose me. I started writing this book at 2:00 AM one morning to get rid of a story that wouldn’t leave my head. I knew I couldn’t write fantasy, and yet I kept seeing these characters and hearing their dialog. I figured if I rolled out of bed and proved to myself that I couldn’t write it, the story would go away. That has actually worked for other projects in the past. But this time I found myself still writing five hours and five thousand words later.

How wonderful to have stories that you can throw away! :) So was there something that specifically inspired this novel, or the series?

It’s hard to nail down one inspiration. It came to me over the course of a couple of years.

And I assume future volumes are going to be associated with the other four alchemical elements? (Earth, Fire, Air, Spirit)

There is a tie-in to the alchemical elements.

Excellent. I love alchemy. I have to admit, one of my favorite elements in the book was the talking barnyard animals telling Bennett Cerf-type riddles. Since your bio indicates that you have children, did you have any influence or help from them in coming up with these riddles? :)

Definitely!

That’s what children are for, right? So, what made you decide to go with Shadow Mountain Publishing? What do you like about them? Are they very different from your previous publishers?

I liked that they are a smaller publisher who really works with their authors to help them succeed. But they also have a national reach. Having hit the NY Times bestseller list before, they are quickly gaining clout.

Excellent! I hope they hit it again, with this volume. Can you describe what a typical writing day is like for you, if you would? (I assume you’re a full-time writer?)

Not yet. I’m hoping to reach fulltime status with this series. I typically start by rereading what I wrote the day before, editing as I go. Then I try to get in at least 1,000 to 5,000 words. I do most of my writing in the evening and on weekends.

Huh. I’ve written like that, but I usually get so caught up in revisions that I never add anything new. I’m glad it works for you. In addition to that, do you work from an outline, or notes, or from your head? Do you do extensive drafting, or does the work spring from your head, fully formed, like Athena from Zeus?

Just in my head. But I do have some very detailed plans for each book. I won’t start writing until the story feels full grown in my head. It’s important to write a book knowing you are setting things up for down the road.

Very true. What’s your number-one piece of advice for people who want to write? Considering that you’ve taught writing, I assume this will be a blindingly brilliant insight. :)

Does write a lot count as blindingly brilliant? No. How about this? Know why you are writing in the first place. It’s funny how many people take their first stab at writing a book with the sole intent of selling it for millions of dollars. Does anyone ever pick up a paint brush for the first time and think, “Think I’ll just whip out a Mona Lisa here. Got a mortgage payment to make and all?” Write because you enjoy writing.

That’s a surprisingly simple and yet complex point. I’ve got one last question for you, though: Did you ever find out how many fish are in your pond, now that it’s presumably unfrozen? (Are they koi? I love koi ponds. I have a 55-gallon fish tank, and, well, it just isn’t the same, as much as I love my tetra collection.)

That’s actually kind of a sad story. It was a particularly hard winter. But the good news is, we started off the year with a really nice fish fry. (I know that’s just yucky. We actually gave them a very nice burial.) Yes, they were Koi.

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[Back to Stephanie.]

Anyway, despite the demise of the koi, I’ve got a contest, the first ever for Someone’s Read it Already (well, we’re only eight months old here)! Leave a comment on this entry before Friday, Aug. 22, at 12 midnight EDT (Cleveland time), and you’ll be entered in a random drawing to win a copy of Farworld: Water Keep! Please leave a good email address in your comments, or send an email to steph AT readalready DOT com if you’re uncomfortable doing that. The publisher (Shadow Mountain Publishing) will be mailing the copy to the winner. One entry per person will be counted. YAY! FREE BOOKS!