Dia Calhoun will present on the panel Readergirlz: Making Literacy Hip and Relevant for Today's Teens! See her with Lorie Ann Grover and Justina Chen Headley on Thursday, April 2, 2-2:50 p.m.
1. Have you attended TLA before? If so, what advice do you have for new authors?
I have not attended TLA before. So it's going to be a wonderful new experience!
2. What is your preferred method of writing and why -- laptop, longhand, typewriter?
Laptop! Laptop! Laptop! I always loved writing on the computer—rough drafts, notes, revisions—everthing! All that fluidity that comes with word processing programs spurs my writing to greater heights. But I missed the freedom of pencil and paper—the freedom to write in any setting. I felt so stuck in my office. THEN, a miracle called the laptop came along and now I have all the benefits of mobility and freedom that a writer has with a pencil. Every summer I spend every other week at my husband’s family 40 acre orchard in Eastern Washington. I sit out on the deck with my laptop and write while the deer wander by. Paradise!
3. Favorite books of the past year
I loved the ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary Pearson. All those delicious questions about what makes us human. I also loved Justina Chen Headley’s NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL.
Another book filled with haunting questions.
4. Favorite books from your YA years
THE WIZARD OF EARTH SEA, THE KEEPING DAYS, UP A ROAD SLOWLY, BALLET SHOES, THE HUNDRED DRESSES.
5. Finish this sentence. The perfect vacation is...me in a hammock by a sunny river with a good book and a fly fishing rod nearby.
6. MySpace or Facebook? Facebook
7. BBQ or Tex-Mex? Tex-Mex!
8. Finish this sentence. Libraries are ... cathedrals of other worlds.
9. Do you have a blog, website, or other online presence that you would like to share with us?
