Author Interview and Giveaway with Mindy Hardwick

Today I have Mindy Hardwick!

A little bit about Mindy Hardwick:

Mindy Hardwick’s tween novel, Stained Glass Summer, published December 2011, and her young adult romance, Weaving Magic, published in April 2012. She also writes contemporary, sweet romance including: Love’s Storm and forthcoming, Love’s Bid. When Mindy is not writing, she facilitates a poetry workshop with teens at Denney Youth Juvenile Justice Center. The youth’s poems can be seen at www.denneypoetry.com. Mindy is a frequent school and library presenter and included on the Washington State Arts Commission Teaching Artist Roster. You can learn more about her at www.mindyhardwick.com, follow her on Twitter @mindyhardwick or read her blog: www.mindyhardwick.wordpress.com

Mindy loves to hear from readers at Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/weavingmagic

or on Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13509406-weaving-magic

When did you first realize you wanted to be an author?

I first realized I wanted to be an author when I was a seventh grade teacher. I took a group of my students to a young author’s conference. When I heard the authors talk, I felt something deep inside that spoke to me. I’d always loved to read young adult and middle grade books, and I’d been making up stories since I was a child. After that conference, I tentatively dipped my toes into the water by attending SCBWI meetings in Seattle and taking a Writing the Picture Book Class. A few years later, I earned my MFA in Writing for Children and Teens from Vermont College, and launched my career as a children’s writer. 

 

What was one of the most surprising things you learned while creating your books?

It’s a long, long process! Both of my books, STAINED GLASS SUMMER and WEAVING MAGIC, took ten years from the day I sat down to write to the day I saw them published. I wasn’t working on them the entire ten years. I also write short stories and articles, but I was working on them a lot of that time. Some of what took so long is it can take a long time for a story to find the right publisher. After I would receive a handful of rejections, I would go back to the drawing board and revise one more time. Eventually, both novels found great homes! (STAINED GLASS SUMMER is with Musa Publishing, and WEAVING MAGIC is with MuseItup Publishing. Both are small, royalty paying digital first publishers). 

Who is your favorite author and what is it that really strikes you about their work?

Tough question! My favorite author as a teen was Cynthia Voigt. I loved Dicey’s Song and Homecoming. Dicey is a strong, girl character who is a survivor. When I wrote my first book, STAINED GLASS SUMMER, I modeled my main character, Jasmine, to be a lot like Dicey!

Are you currently working on anything?

I am working on a contemporary romance short story trilogy. The first one, Love’s Storm published in February. The second one, Love’s Bid, is in edits, and I’m drafting the third one, Love’s Gift which will be a holiday story.  When I wrote WEAVING MAGIC, I began attending the Romance Writer’s Conference in Seattle. I discovered that I really enjoyed writing sweet, contemporary adult romance stories as well as the YA romance. Love’s Storm is available as an ebook at Barnes and Noble and Amazon. 

 

Have you ever suffered from writer's block? If so do you have some advice for getting past it?

I have a hard time with the first draft. I get really excited about a story idea, start writing, and then get stuck in the middle.  I’ve learned to do some outlining before I start a book. The outline gives me a map to follow, so when I get to the middle, I’m not quite as panicked. The technique I’ve been using lately is Blake Snyder’s Beat Sheet. You can find more information about it on my blog here:

http://mindyhardwick.wordpress.com/2012/08/20/plotting-with-beat-sheets/

What are the two best parts about being an author? 

1. Talking to young writers and teens about writing and reading!
2. The challenge—each story is different and challenges me to learn something new. I get bored easily, but I am never bored as an author.

Giveaway
I'm giving away an ebook of Weaving Magic. This giveaway is open to anyone! US and International. To enter please fill out the form below!

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May the odds be ever in your favor!