Three Times A Charm with Lia London
Welcome to Three Times A Charm. I love meeting new
authors, illustrators, bloggers, agents, editors or promoters from the
children’s publishing industry and sharing their careers with my readers.
Today’s guest is author, Lia London. Welcome to Strands
of Thought, Lia. Tell us a little about you, please.
In grade school, I started writing skits for school
assemblies, and quickly gained a reputation for writing on-demand scripts. By my freshman year in college, I was
commissioned to write a musical for Children’s Educational Theatre in Salem,
Oregon. I kept writing for others for
20 more years and grew up to be an English teacher. Then I finally wrote a novel for myself. While starting a blog to advertise it, I
realized I’d rather keep writing stories—but I had too many ideas and not
enough time if I was going to keep the blog posts coming. So I decided to write stories with my readers and created
Collaborative Fiction. The last two
(and most of the future ideas) have been geared for Young Adult and Middle
Grade readers. It’s been a blast, and
many of the participants are teens and tweens!
Oh my gosh, that is so cool! What a great idea. What kind
of collaborative writing do you do? Like what’s the most recent story?
Our latest project, due out some time later this summer, is
a science-fiction adventure novel for middle graders and teens. It’s called Gypsy Pearl and tells of a girl
who lived on a space station in a solar system with three planets. All her life she wanted to go to the
Surface, but when she finally got the chance it was because she was being sent
to a reformatory for trouble-makers.
Along the way, she meets some gypsies and their strange
creature/pet. Through a series of
misadventures, she discovers that she has an important connection to the
gypsies and the creature, and that she is destined to become a leader of
worlds—if she can only learn to believe in herself.
Now, for the Threes. Share with us your top 3’s to help
us know you a little better.
Top 3 books you recommend reading and why you recommend
them.
- Magian High (by me and the collaborative fiction participants) because it’s an exciting adventure and it shows what people can do when they work together (a theme in the book as well as how the book came about).
- The whole Alvin Ho series by Lenore Look because it’s hilarious and has a lot of personality. It’s written for grade schoolers, but even my tween and I literally laugh out loud when we read it.
- The Princess Tales (a series) by Gail Carson Levine because she takes well-known fairy tales and flips them upside down so that they’re really funny.
Top 3 tools of the trade you couldn’t live without.
1. My
netbook (like a small lap top) because I can take it anywhere to write and
access the internet wherever I am if there’s a wifi connection.
2. My
Kindle. I didn’t think I’d like it, but
it lets me get more books for less money, and I can read many books by
independent authors that normally wouldn’t be available.
3. Kids
of my own! Yes, if I didn’t have
children to watch and learn from (and test my stories out on), I would do it
all wrong.
Top 3 pieces of advice for kids these days.
1. Learn
how to work hard for the things that matter most to you.
2. Remember
that showing respect and kindness go a long way towards building trusting
relationships with friends and adults.
3. Show
integrity to the good values you are taught because a good character is your
most valuable asset.
Where can our tech-savvy readers go to keep up with you
and your writing?
http://lialondon.net
(website)
www.facebook.com/lia.london.92
(facebook)
http://twitter.com/LiaLondon1
(Twitter)
Thanks for charming
us on this week’s Three Times A Charm, Lia. Best of luck to you and your collaborative
writing partners.
THANKS!
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