Housecleaning & Girlfriends Cyber Circuit Presents: Melissa Walker!

Pardon me for totally sucking at blogging this week. The cold got to me and now I am in a mad house-cleaning phase in an attempt to have my house looking decent for a Labor Day BBQ and also so I'm set to start writing next week with no distractions. I did blog today over at Teen Fiction Cafe (a short one, for once!) about how my mom has grown to be one of my best friends. So go check that out.

Also one last reminder that the tour contest ends on Monday, so please go enter!!!

Today one of my favorite writers is visiting for her Girlfriends Cyber Circuit tour: Melissa Walker! The latest book in her "Violet" series about an unlikely teen fashion model just came out and here is what it's all about:

Is there life off the runway?
VIOLET IN PRIVATE is the third novel in the series by former magazine editor Melissa Walker about Violet— the wallflower who blooms into an international modeling star—until she realizes there may be more to life than the runway…

Everyone knows her as Violet Greenfield, the supposedly cultured and worldly nineteen-year-old with sky-high confidence because she’s done fashion weeks internationally. But the truth is, modeling has done little for Violet’s self-esteem. And now that she’s finally headed to college, she’s terrified that she’ll turn back into that girl who blended into the walls all throughout high school…

Violet’s friends in fashion are only a two-hour train ride away in New York City, and they all think she’s crazy to stop modeling. But her best friend Roger hopes she’ll go back to being the girl next door. Of course, things have been weird between them ever since they kissed—and now he’s got a girlfriend. So the question is: if she’s not “Violet on the Runway” anymore, who exactly is she?

Melissa Walker has created a character that teens as well as adults can embrace and relate to. Readers have followed Violet through her highest highs and lowest lows in the modeling industry, and are eager to see how she fares as a regular teenager in college. This wonderful series is a fresh take on the real voice of one girl in the designer spotlight.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
As a former editor at ELLEgirl and Seventeen magazines, Melissa Walker knows first-hand the ins and outs of the fashion world. She hails from Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and currently resides in Brooklyn, New York. Visit her at melissacwalker.com, or at myspace.com/melissacwalker.



Now for my usual GCC interview with Melissa!

Q: Please list five songs that would be on the soundtrack to your book and explain how they relate to your story or characters.

Melissa: I'm going to pick five that might be on the series soundtrack--hope that's ok. I like it to span all three books since I think of it as one long story.

a. Ziggy Stardust-David Bowie. This song is bizarre and gorgeous, like the fashion world, I think.

b. Our Song-Taylor Swift. At heart, Violet is a country girl from Carolina, and sometimes her best friends have to remind her of what home means to her. This song celebrates simple pleasures in a really fun way.

c. You're So Vain-Carly Simon. Violet uses this song as the ringtone for her agent, and it's certainly representative of a few of the more intense fashion world types.

d. Please Let Me Get What I Want-The Smiths. Violet is prone to a wallow every now and then, and this song is the king of melancholy as far as I'm concerned (in a good way!).



e. Bizarre Love Triangle-New Order. With her true love dating another girl in Violet in Private, our heroine is certainly caught in one of these.


Q: Name some of your main character's favorite musicians or bands.

Melissa: She loves Rihanna, Pinback, Charlotte Sometimes, Tim McGraw, The Broken West, Kanye West, The Bravery, Clap Your Hands Say Yeah, The Shins, plus all the artists named in songs above.

Q: Who are some of your favorite musicians or bands?

Melissa: Uh, see above. Write what you know, right?

Q: Even though music plays in so heavily into my storytelling, I rarely can actually listen to it while I'm writing. Can you? How does music fit into your writing process?

Melissa: I actually use it when I want to get into a more emotional scene. Music really can affect my mood a LOT, so if I am preparing to write a happy or sad or angsty or tough scene, I'll listen to a song that I know will set the mood. Sometimes I let it play while I'm writing, but if I find myself getting distracted, I shut it off. I can listen to a song like 20 times on repeat. I kind of love doing that, but other people don't appreciate it, so I try to keep that habit for alone times.

Q: While music is my muse, I know other writers find their muse in theater, sports, art, the great outdoors, etc. What is your main muse?

Melissa: I'm a huge fan of passionate people. Whenever I meet someone who really loves something--be it fashion, music, running or physics--I'm completely inspired by their enthusiasm. So I go out a lot, and concentrate on meeting people and finding out about what they love most.