Three Times A Charm With Kimberly Sabatini

Three Times a Charm is a weekly feature that spotlights authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the publishing industry.

This week we are joined by Kimberly Sabatini. Kim is a never ending bottle of bubble solution. Whether you are blowing the bubbles or chasing them, you are having TONS OF FUN! Kim, tell us about yourself.

I’m a former Special Education Teacher who is now a stay-at-home mom and a part-time dance instructor for 3, 4 and 5 year olds. After my dad passed away in 2005, I used writing as a way to make sense of the experience and discovered that I’m full of questions that need to be answered. I live in New York’s Hudson Valley with my husband and three boys and write Young Adult fiction.  I’m represented by Michelle Wolfson of Wolfson Literary Agency and I’m thrilled to be part of the "Wolf Pack." TOUCHING THE SURFACE is my debut novel.  (Simon Pulse - Simon & Schuster, Fall 2012)

What a great title! Tell us more about TOUCHING THE SURFACE.

Life-altering mistakes are meant to alter lives.

At seventeen, Elliot Turner feels like she’s a failure in life and in the afterlife. She’s died for the third time and until she can remember her past and figure out the growth plan for her soul, she’s stuck at the Obmil Center for Progression. Elliot’s not surprised that her third stay in limbo guarantees her a rocky road to enlightenment, but she never expected her best friend, Julia to be mad at her. Things get even worse when Elliot meets Oliver and Trevor.  One guy is as radiant as the sun and the other is dark and snarky and seems to hate her for no reason at all. It doesn’t take long for Elliot to realize that the deeper she delves into her past, the more complicated it gets--she’s only touched the surface.

Now, for the Threes. Share with us your top 3’s to help us know you a little better.

  • Top 3 pieces of advice for people just starting in your business.

#1-Write what is important to you.  This does not mean that you shouldn’t be smart and learn how to be a really good writer.  It doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be aware of what is current in the write-o-sphere.  But you have to take those tools with you on your own journey. 

#2 – Find the joy in each stage of what you are doing.  It’s very easy to get discouraged by the constant rejection, instead focus on things like the wonderful friends you meet, lessons learned from failure, your own growth as a writer and a person and most importantly how you feel when you are writing. 

#3 – Be a friend.  In a world of social media, it’s very easy to get on your own little soap box feeling like a Who down in Whoville trying to get noticed.  The very best way to be noticed is to be a friend to someone else.  If you do that, you will rarely have to ask for a favor in return.  Your friends will be there for you.

(Don’t you LOVE this woman?!)

  • Top 3 leisure activities. 

The top three things I do that are not writing related, but never stop making my writing better:

#1 – I’m a runner.  I’ve been doing it for just over a year and I LOVE it.  I like the solitude, the exercise and the chance to just let my mind wander. 

#2 – I’m also a dancer.  I’ve danced since I was 3 years old and I continue to take classes that challenge me, but I’m also a dance instructor to 3,4 and 5 year olds.  I water the seeds that grow a love for dance.  It’s a pretty awesome “job.” 

#3 – I know it’s not “exciting” but I’m a reader.  It is one of my favorite things to do and I do it as often as I possibly can.  I even listen to audio books in the shower.  LOL!  My favorite time of day is reading out loud with 3 boys snuggled up against me.  It doesn’t get much better than that. 

  • Top 3 authors. 

Here are the three author’s that have had an amazing influence on my journey as a writer. 

Laurie Halse Anderson:  She was the keynote speaker at the very first SCBWI conference I attended.  Everything about her inspired me and I was blown away by her ability to make a personal connection with every single person she came into contact with.  She looked me in the eye and asked me what I write--I felt like a real writer for the first time.   

K.L. Going:  Kelly was also at my very first conference and I was so impressed with her that I signed up for a local workshop she was presenting.  In addition to the class, she was doing critiques and I started to write TOUCHING THE SURFACE to have something for her to look at.  Her advice and support over the years has helped me to stretch and grow as a writer. 
Lois Lowry:  I can clearly remember reading THE GIVER for the very first time.  I hadn’t known that someone else in the world thought about the same kind of strange things that I did.  I hadn’t known that it was possible to take those thoughts and craft them into a story.  Reading that book changed me.  It created the first crack that allowed me to eventually find my own voice.  I was in awe meeting her in person at this year’s NY SCBWI Conference.

Kim and Lois Lowry January 2011
Kim makes me want to be a better person, have more fun, be an inspiration!

Where can our readers learn more about you or find more of your bubbles solution inspiration?

My blog: Jess Free Falcon - http://kimberlysabatini.blogspot.com/
Livejournal: Jess Free Falcon - http://kimmiepoppins.livejournal.com/
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4667368.Kimberly_Sabatini
Facebook Author Page: https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kimberly-Sabatini/159269477461554?sk=wall
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/kimmiepoppins
The Apocalypsies: 2012 Debut Authors - http://apocalypsies.blogspot.com/


Kim, thank you so much for stopping in to Strands of Thought! I have a feeling this is the beginning of a long and beautiful career for you and I’m happy to say “I knew her when.”

Thanks so much for letting me stop by.

Kim

I’m always looking to people involved in children’s publishing to feature in Three Times A Charm. If you have project, service, book, blog or agency to promote, contact me directly through my email: kaistrand at yahoo dot com.

Comments

  1. Kimberly SabatiniJune 22, 2011 at 8:43 AM

    Thanks so much-this is my very first interview as a debut author and I'm grinning from ear to ear. (((hugs)))

    ReplyDelete
  2. Kai Strand, AuthorJune 22, 2011 at 2:26 PM

    Yippee! I'll always rank up there with your first love, then huh? Awesome!!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Susan Kaye Quinn, Author of Open Minds, Presents:

Image
Finding Time to Write the Sequel by Susan Kaye Quinn, author of Open Minds (Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy) Even before I decided to self-publish my new paranormal/SF novel Open Minds (Book One of the Mindjack Trilogy) , I knew it would be a trilogy. But once I had made the decision to publish, the need to get busy on the sequel(s) kicked into high gear. Except that I was also publishing a book. Most writers find it difficult to balance writing with all the other demands in life. Even people who are lucky enough to write full time (which I am, since I write while my kids are at school), there’s still a tug between writing time and all the other things that need to be done. Once you’re published, this all changes, and not for the better. Now, not only do you need to write and get the kids to school and get the laundry done, but you also need to market your book, which can mean everything from actually getting it published (edits, covers, websites, blogs)...
Read more

Robot Writing - What It Is & How to Avoid It

Image
Many beginner writers fall into the habit of what I like to refer to as “robot writing.” It’s when you basically write your scenes like a grocery list. Ex: Marcy stood and walked across the room. Then she picked up the candle stick to inspect it. She blinked when she noticed the spot of dried blood. Marcy dropped the candlestick and ran from the room. I call it robot writing because when I'm reading it I tend to fall into a robotic pattern and start to sound like the robot from the old Lost In Space series. "Danger. Danger. Will Robinson." You may as well put numbers in front of each sentence: First Marcy stood and walked across the room. Second she picked up the candlestick to inspect it. Third she blinked when she noticed the spot of dried blood. Fourth she dropped the candlestick and ran from the room. Don’t get me wrong, robot writing is absolutely acceptable in your first draft, no matter your writing experience. Your first p...
Read more

Don't Be Closed Minded. Read a Banned Book. #Giveaway

Image
On this list , compiled by the ALA, of the top 100 challenged books of the decades 1990-1999 and 2000-2009, I've read: The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian Adventure of Huckleberry Finn The Adventures of Tom Sawyer Blubber Crank The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time The Dead Zone The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things Fat Kid Rules the World The Giver Harry Potter (series) The Hunger Games (series) The Kite Runner The Lovely Bones Olive's Ocean Speak Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes That Was Then, This Is Now Thirteen Reasons Why Twilight (series) A Wrinkle In Time I would recommend any of them, but especially the titles I've linked. The thing with me and banned books is that I don't get it. The banning thing. Why would you ever feel the right to keep a book out of the hands of other readers? Why would you feel you have the authority to say what some can and cannot read? Do you have the right to voice your o...
Read more