Adventures in Debsland: Saundra Mitchell

Know how I mentioned in this post about how I was plotting a feature similar to someone else's? Well, I'm going to start posting the feature things I already have. I know they're similar to Steph's pub stories, but I want to post all these anyway because the people took the time to answer. So without further ado, here how Saundra Mitchell, author of Shadowed Summer, got here:

Did you always want to be a writer?

Things I Wanted to Be When I Grew Up (In Sequential Order): An archaeologist, an Egyptologist, a bass guitarist in a rock band, an Air Force pilot, an actor, a linguist. Notice how writer isn't on that list? But the weird thing was, while I was planning all these other careers, I wrote. I wrote stories about being an archaeologist, a bass guitarist in a rock band, an Air Force pilot, an actor- and I sold stories, too. I sold essays; I sold scripts. I sold world modules for role playing games; I did technical writing, I did business writing, I wrote fanfic, I wrote gaming modules for personal use... it wasn't until I had been working as a full-time screenwriter for a couple of years that I realized- what I love doing is writing. I can be anyone and anything when I'm a writer- and when I get tired of being a flight surgeon or a vampire or whatever? I write something else. It's kind of perfect.

What was the most difficult part about writing Shadowed Summer?

The lead character was difficult- Iris required a crowbar and a liberal application of force to pry out of my head, but that was more annoying than anything. The hardest part was being honest with the characters- I mean, sometimes Iris is annoying. Adults don't just spill their guts to teenagers because the teenagers decided to ask a question or two. Some mysteries you simply can't solve. And some stories don't have the ending we'd like- I hope that Shadowed Summer is honest, though, and it was hard giving it the ending it deserved. You know, I want to give into the incurable romantic happy ever after moment, but sometimes it's just not true.

What is something that helped in you actually finish writing your story?

I'm very methodical when I work on long pieces like novels. I schedule myself 1000 words a day, no less, but if I write more, great! But every day, no matter how much I wrote the day before, I owe my book another 1000 words in the morning. I don't take days off, and I always start work by reading through what I wrote the day before, to freshen it in my head. Being very, very strict with my schedule allows my brain to be completely chaotic, and that's the best environment for my stories to grow. (Or just lots and lots of caffeine and insomnia. I don't recommend that, though.)

Did you also want to write for young adults, or did you just get lucky it turned out that way? ;)

I got lucky! When I wrote this book, I actually intended it to be adult general fiction. It was 75someoddthousand words long, and had a totally different ending. One of my beta readers said, "You know this is YA, right?" And when I re-read it with her eyes, I realized she was right.

Can you describe your road to getting agent and publication?

I've been a screenwriter for more than fifteen years now- and that's still my day job. But in 2003, I felt a little burned out. Screenwriting involves a lot of writing other people's ideas, instead of your own. And then seeing them changed completely from page to screen! Even though I still loved screenwriting, I took a break to write my first novel. I wanted to create something that was mine.

So I did- I wrote a novel called THE WESTON BOYS, and I queried the heck out of it. While querying for that, I wrote my second novel, just to see if I could- and when THE WESTON BOYS came back with 80 rejections, I felt a little demoralized. But I told myself- I had to query the new novel before I could give up on it. I owed it a chance. And my second novel was the first draft of SHADOWED SUMMER- which sold with my second agent.

Writing for publication, for production- you have to have the stone in your heart to persevere, because sometimes it takes 80 rejections, a new book, and a second agent to accomplish your goals!

What was your reaction when you first heard you got an agent/publisher?

Shock and delight and awe and amazement and tears. Lots of tears. I called my mother, and she asked, panicked, "What's wrong!?" I called my best friend, and SHE asked, panicked, "What's wrong!?" Apparently I don't do happy tears well. :)

How has the blogging community and fellow authors helped you in your journey?

Okay, so February 2009- Lisa McMann's new novel Cynthia Leitich Smith's ETERNAL, Beth Fantasky's hugely buzzed JESSICA'S GUIDE TO DATING ON THE DARK SIDE- all awesome books and awesome authors, making February an incredibly tough month for my debut. And I was lucky, and honored enough that fellow authors from Debut 2009 (www.feastofawesome.com) hosted me in their blogs on a monthlong tour; I was humbled by how many book bloggers opened their websites to my book, for reviews and interviews and guest blogs. My book is doing really well- better than any of us expected- and the credit goes to every single author and blogger for offering me a place to share my book with their readers, friends and families. I'm so grateful to the online YA community, and amazed at the way it gets bigger, and better every day.

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Thanks so much, Saundra! :D

You can check out Saundra's website, or buy Shadowed Summer on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Borders, or IndieBound.

Here's a description of the book, straight from B&N:

Iris is ready for another hot, routine summer in her small Louisiana town, hanging around the Red Stripe grocery with her best friend, Collette, and traipsing through the cemetery telling each other spooky stories and pretending to cast spells. Except this summer, Iris doesn’t have to make up a story. This summer, one falls right in her lap.

Years ago, before Iris was born, a local boy named Elijah Landry disappeared. All that remained of him were whispers and hushed gossip in the church pews. Until this summer. A ghost begins to haunt Iris, and she’s certain it’s the ghost of Elijah. What really happened to him? And why, of all people, has he chosen Iris to come back to?