Lots of questions pouring in. A lot of them are PLOT-related as in, asking what will happen to Sky and Jack, Sky and Ollie, Mimi and Jack, Bliss and Jordan, etc. I will not be answering those kinds of questions. But feel free to keep sending them! I like knowing what you guys are curious about. But I won’t answer them here. You can find answers to those questions by reading the book.
Okay…to the questions!
Kate asks: “Would you ever consider writing something like the Au Pairs series again? I loved those books and I love that style but there doesn’t seem to any books for the older teen range, they are more pre-teen and adults, not even many young adult books. Are there any you would recommend to read?”
I am writing a series very much like Au Pairs called Girl Stays in the Picture. It is about three girls and their summer in the South of France. There’s a lot of gossiping, a lot of shopping and lots of cute boys! If you liked the AU PAIRS, you will love GIRL STAYS IN THE PICTURE. You can order it now from Amazon or B&N! Other books of that style: have you tried Elizabeth Scott’s books? I really love the love stories in them. Especially Perfect You. I loved Perfect You. What about Secrets of my Hollywood Life by Jen Calonita, Alyson Noel’s books (Kiss & Blog, Cruel Summer), Hailey Abbot’s (Summer Boys series) and Aimee Friedman (South Beach, French Kiss). Try those! They’re all really fun and sweet.
Mai asks “What inspired you to write Blue Bloods? How did you start your writing career? Did you ever write a fanfic about any of your favorite characters? How did you deal with harsh criticism?”
I was inspired to write Blue Bloods because one day I was procrastinating on the computer and I found this website that listed all these famous and rich and influential Americans who could all trace their ancestry back to the Mayflower, and I thought, what if the reason all these people are so famous and rich is because…they are vampires??? And Blue Bloods was born.
I started my writing career by writing incendiary essays for the New York Press, I wrote about the Barneys Warehouse sale, strippers who were in Mensa with genius IQs, and many other fun and weird things as well as angry essays about being Asian in America. I was a freelance writer for a long time and then I wrote my first novel Cat’s Meow, which was published in 2001, and then I began to write for a lot of women’s magazines: Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Cosmopolitan, etc. Then I published a non-fiction book with my good friend and now creatix of Purple Lab, Karen Robinovitz, called How to become Famous in Two Weeks or Less (and the Fashionista Files). While we were on book tour for “Famous”, I wrote the proposal for what would become The Au Pairs, as well as Fresh off the Boat. My YA writing career took off then.
I never wrote a book-related fan fiction. I wrote fan fiction starring the members of Duran Duran in Dynasty-style soap opera adventures. There were always tragic rich people in my stories. Oh! There still are. LOL.
How do I deal with harsh criticism? I was blessed with very wise parents, who told me that if anyone did not like me, it was THEIR problem and not mine. Shrug it off, and don’t let it affect you too much. I don’t. I mean: it still stings when I read a bad review, it’s hard not to take it personally. But my dad always told me, everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and my mom’s response to people who did not like her children or the work of her children is “TSEH!” Try it. “Oh, you don’t like my book? Tseh!” Hopefully you get some spit in their eye too. Hehe. I guess “Tseh!” is like sticking your tongue out at them. Sticks and stones as they say. I was recently at a party where someone I had met several times was very dismissive of me. I was appalled at their bad manners (and honestly, I used to work at Conde Nast! I worked in fashion – I know all about the eye roll and the one-second convo!) But I had not been prepared for the diss, and was a little taken aback by it. But now, all I can say is “TSEH!”
Jessica asks “Can I get an excerpt from Van Alen Legacy?”
Yes you can my dear. We are sending out Chapter One to the newsletter list and to everyone who has ever emailed me, or requested we send it to them, at the end of the month. It’s going to take a while to get everything up and running, combining lists and all that jazz. But you will have it sooner than later and before the paperback copy of Revelations comes out – which includes a sneak peek at Chapter One. But it’s not the final version of the chapter. It’s an earlier version.
Marian asks “You said that you are going to do a spin off series of Blue Blood called Wolf Pact. My questions is, are you introducing werewolves into the series?”
Yes but the werewolves will have their own series. They won’t be in Blue Bloods much. You’ll see. Van Alen Legacy will make this clearer.
Jaimin asks “My friend’s birthday is coming up soon and I want to get her an autographed copy of Revelations. How would I obtain an autographed copy of your book? Would you sign it if i sent the book to you?”
The best way to get my autograph on a book is to email your snail mail address to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) with BOOKPLATE REQUEST in the subject matter. My assistants will then mail you a bookplate – which is a sticker with my signature on it that you can stick into your books.
Our bookplate department is a bit on the slow side—but should pick up around July when my assistant comes back from vacation.
Happy Wednesday!
xoxo
Mel