LAURA RESAU INTERVIEW AND THE LIGHTNING QUEEN GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday Everyone! Hope you had a fantastic Halloween.

Today I’m thrilled to have Laura Resau here to share about her new MG multicultural THE LIGHTNING QUEEN. It’s set in 1950’s Mexico and sounds really good.

Here’s a blurb from Goodreads:

Nothing exciting happens on the Hill of Dust, in the remote mountains of Mexico in the 1950s. There's no electricity, no plumbing, no cars, just day after day of pasturing goats. And now, without his sister and mother, eleven-year-old Teo's life feels even more barren. And then one day, the mysterious young Esma, who calls herself the Gypsy Queen of Lightning, rolls into town like a fresh burst of color. Against all odds, her caravan's Mistress of Destiny predicts that Teo and Esma will be longtime friends. Suddenly, life brims with possibility. With the help of a rescued duck, a three-legged skunk, a blind goat, and other allies, Teo and Esma must overcome obstacles-even death-to fulfill their impossible destiny. Inspired by true stories derived from rural Mexico, The Lightning Queen offers a glimpse of the encounter between two fascinating but marginalized cultures--the Rom and the Mixtec Indians--while telling the heart-warming story of an unlikely friendship that spans generations. 

Hi Laura! Thanks so much for joining us.

1. Tell us about yourself and how you became a writer.

I was born and raised in Maryland, and then spent a decade traveling and living in Europe and Latin America, and around North America. My travel adventures inspire my writing, and I keep detailed notebook journals of my experiences and stories people share. I’ve been avidly creative-writing since I was in second grade, but it wasn’t until I moved to Mexico that I started writing my first novel that would eventually be published. (WHAT THE MOON SAW.) Now I live with my husband, young son, and beagle in Colorado, where we like riding bikes, wandering by the river, playing guitar and ukulele, and camping in our little vintage trailer. And we all love to travel!

2. That's great you've had the experience of travelling widely to draw on. Where did you get the idea for THE LIGHTNING QUEEN?

While living and doing anthropology research in rural Oaxaca, Mexico, I became friends with a 96-year-old indigenous Mixtec healer. On the first day we met, she gave me a limpia (spiritual cleaning) and told me about the gitanos (Gypsies/Romani) who used to visit her village decades earlier. She said I reminded her of the Gypsy women, and recounted how they would come in caravans to tell fortunes and show outdoor movies. It was an incredibly exciting event for her village-- she and her community loved the gitanos. However, in other, more urban, areas of Mexico, and around the world, the Romani have been persecuted and disparaged. I was interested in exploring the relationship between these two marginalized cultures (the Romani and the Mixteco) within Mexico. And I was enchanted by the mystical tales my healer friend told me about her encounters with the gitanos. I wove these stories and social justice issues into my novel, along with bits of oral history from other Mixtec friends.

3. What an awesome inspiration for your book. THE LIGHTNING QUEEN is set in 1950’s Mexico. I know you lived in Mexico for a time. How did living in Mexico help you in writing this story? And what advice do you have for other authors who want to write multicultural stories, but can’t visit or live in the country they’re writing about?

Living in rural Oaxaca, Mexico, enabled me to become fluent in Spanish, and to form meaningful friendships with indigenous people of all ages who had fascinating stories to tell and important experiences to share. Immersing myself in the smells and tastes and sounds of a culture help me bring it to life for my readers.

If you’re an author who wants to write multicultural stories, but can’t visit or live in the country

you’re writing about, I’d recommend you find some people in your community who are part of that culture. For example, you could volunteer at your local ESL classes and connect with people from that culture. Maybe you could offer to help them with their English if they help you with the cultural aspects of your story. I think that mutually beneficial and meaningful cross-cultural friendships are a great place to start.

Even though I’ve spent a lot of time in Mexico, I still have “cultural-insider” friends check my details. One of my closest friends, Gloria Garcia Diaz, is a talented and dedicated native-Spanish-speaking and Mexican-born writer who lives in my town. She reviews my manuscripts, and in return, I mentor her in her own writing and help her navigate her journey in the world of publishing. We both highly value the role we play in each other’s writing life. I’d encourage all authors writing about other cultures to form these kinds of collaborative and mutually supportive relationships.

4. That's great advice. Share a bit about the stories from rural Mexico that you used in developing your story.

The true tale my healer friend recounted that inspired the book was this: When she was six years old, a gitana fortune-teller told her family that she would live a very long life. But then, shortly afterward, she caught a grave illness and died…. or so they thought. They were in the midst of mourning her body with prayers and candles, when a drop of candle wax fell onto her skin and she woke up! She told me her healing powers came from her time in the other realm. This story absolutely captivated me, and I reworked it a bit for the THE LIGHTNING QUEEN.

5. Wow! That's an amazing story about your friend. This is a middle grade story. You’ve also written picture books and a YA series. How is writing MG different from writing YA? Do you have any preference in what age group you write for?

I think that in my YA books, romance/love relationships are more central to the story, whereas with my middle-grade books, there’s more of an emphasis on friendship. I love writing for both age groups. I don’t necessarily set out to write a book for a particular audience. I just get an idea and start writing and trusting the voice that’s emerging. It soon becomes clear whether the book will be more YA or MG.

6. You’ve had a number of books published and even co-authored a book. Tell us about your road to publication and how you’ve been able to continue to sell so many books.

After about 11 rejections from agents and editors, I read in my SCBWI Bulletin that a new editor at Delacorte (Random House) was looking for manuscripts that seemed similar to the one I’d been shopping around (WHAT THE MOON SAW.) She loved the story and made me an offer, which I accepted. After that, a published author friend of mine referred me to her agent, who passed on it, but referred me to the amazingly wonderful woman who is now my agent, Erin Murphy. She artfully negotiated the eight book deals that followed over the past decade.

As far as how I sell books, that’s hard to say! I love writing. I don’t feel fully alive unless I’m involved in a creative project. I write from my heart. I approach writing with a sacred yet playful attitude. I make sure I’m prioritizing writing so that I continue to create more books. I’m very careful not to let social media suck me in too much-- that would be fatal to my personal creative process. Yet I do value the role that social media plays in helping me connect with readers. I’m just always trying to find the right balance!

7. Erin sounds like a fantastic agent. I met her at a conference once. Marketing is usually one of the least popular parts of an author’s job. Share what you’ve learned about marketing from promoting your books over the years.

As I mentioned, prioritize the actual creative writing. Use your freshest, most vital energy for writing your book. As far as promotion, I’ve been fortunate that a lot of schools read my books in the classroom, so I’ve been invited to do school visits all over the country. That’s been a great way to expand my audience and to meet my readers. I recommend connecting with other children’s and YA authors, librarians, teachers, book clubs, booksellers, and students, and forming supportive relationships with them. It’s always most meaningful to make in-person connections at conferences and events, but I’ve developed some really supportive online friendships as well. Word-of-mouth goes a long way…

8. What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Most importantly, prioritize writing in your life. Set goals for yourself and plan steps to reach your goals. Post your goals somewhere you see them several times a day, and reflect on how you’re spending your time at any given moment. Is whatever you’re doing bringing you closer to reaching your goals?

9. What are you working on now?

I’m in the middle of another MG manuscript for Scholastic. It’s the second book in my two-book deal, but it’s a completely new story and cast of characters. Research for this one has been adventurous and delicious…. it’s involved a trip to the remote Amazon and a tour of a local chocolate shop.

Thanks for sharing all your advice, Laura. You can find Laura at http://www.LauraResau.com .

Laura's publisher Scholastic generously offered an ARC of THE LIGHTNING QUEEN for a giveaway.  To enter, all you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through November 14th. If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter either contest.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. This is for U.S.

Here's what's coming up:

On Monday I have a guest post by debut author Ryan Dalton and a giveaway of his YA science fiction mystery THE YEAR OF LIGHTENING.

The following Monday I have a guest post by author Laura Wolfe and a giveaway of her YA ghost story TRAIL OF SECRETS.

Hope to see you on Monday!