GCC Presents: Lauren Strasnick

Yes, I know, I have been a very very bad blogger lately. It will get better though possibly not until the end of this month. I've been writing in fits and starts and when the writing is flowing, I don't want to stop and blog, and when the writing is not going, I feel far too bummed to blog.

However, I have some fabulous interviews lined up to fill the void and I promise to get back as soon as I can. In the meantime, here is one of my author buddies from the Girlfriends Cyber Circuit to inspire and entertain you: Lauren Strasnick, whose newly release second novel, HER & ME & YOU sounds seriously intriguing and like it would be right up the alley of most of my readers. I have a Borders card burning a hole in my pocket so I think I'll be buying it. I think you will be too after you check out this description:

HER & ME & YOU:

First love, broken friendships, and heartache all play a part in this evocative, voice-
driven novel about Alex, a girl whose world is ripped apart when her father’s affair splits
her family in two.

Alex moves with her mess of a mother to a new town, where she is befriended by
hot, enigmatic Fred–and alternately flirted with and cold-shouldered by Fred’s twin
sister, Adina. Others warn Alex to steer clear of the twins, whose sibling relationship
is considered abnormal at best, but there’s just something about Fred–and something
about Adina–that draws Alex to them and makes her want to be part of their crazy world,
no matter the consequences.

“Strasnick’s slim second offering packs a lot into its short chapters: divorce, broken
friendships, crushes, the lines between love and sex and more. Characterization,
scenes, dialogue and setting are seamlessly distilled into so few sharp, image-rich
phrases that the novel reads almost as if it were written in verse. Less is definitely more
here, and readers are plunged into Alex’s physical and emotional world within three
to four words. Although the plot moves swiftly, the author’s ability to capture Alex’s
inner world in so few words give the novel depth and balance. Complex and thought-
provoking.” –Kirkus

Now let's meet Lauren and get the scoop about the book and her writing process straight from her:

Q: Please tell us what your new book is about.

Lauren: H&M&Y is about Alex, a girl whose parents have just split up. Alex moves with her broken mother to her dead grandmother’s place in Connecticut. There she meets Fred and Adina Bishop. They’re twins. They’re weird. The three of them hang out incessantly. It all gets very messy.

Q: If there was a soundtrack for your book what are five songs that would be on it and how do they relate the story?

Lauren: This is so strange – because I am a huge music person and have had very distinct
playlists in my head for both, my first and third book – but H&M&Y (book 2!) was a (suspiciously) music-free writing process!

Q: Who were some of your inspirations to become a writer or the inspirations that keep you writing? Feel free to include other authors, teachers, parents, or people in other creative fields, whoever is an inspiration to you!

Lauren: So much inspires me – other books, great TV, old movies, music – and I am absolutely
inspired by people – but if I’m honest, I have to say I was most inspired to succeed by those who didn’t think I could. Ugh, awful, but true!

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?

Lauren: Exactly, yes! I make playlists and replay certain songs over and over again to lull myself into the right writing mood, but I can’t listen while I work. I wish I could. I need absolute silence if I’m going to be productive.

Q: What is next for you? What are you working on now?

Lauren: I’m working on another book for Simon Pulse, DAKOTA WEBB IS MISSING, due
out spring 2012. It’s about an LA band girl who disappears. It’s a mysterious, messy
relationship book – really it’s a story about obsession, jealousy and identity. And I have
my massive playlist all cued up.

Well, I must say that book sounds right up my alley as does HER & ME & YOU, and I think Lauren and I are spiritual writing twins what with the role playlists play in our writing and the need to prove to those who didn't think we could succeed that we could.

Now I'm off to try to succeed at finishing my third book. If you need something to read in the meantime, check out Lauren's books!