Meet Your Saturday Posters & Win a Book!

DJ and Wendy will rock your weekends with alternating posts every Saturday...
because they're awesome. :-)

DJ DeSmyter

1. DJ, when did you start writing? Why?

I began writing poems in middle school and it wasn't until a few years ago that I began novel-writing. My first official story was a novella that will never see the light of day, but I am so proud of it because it was my first, you know? As a reader, I become invested in the books I read and I often find myself thinking about a book's world and characters days after finishing it. I want to have that kind of impact on readers. But I also hope I can inspire someone to start writing, just like Stephenie Meyer did for me.

2. What do you love the most and hate the most about being a writer?

I love the friendships I have made being a writer/blogger. I've never had many friends who shared the same enthusiasm I have for books and the characters in them, so being part of this community has been wonderful! I can geek out about fictional people all I want and not get "You're crazy" looks! What I hate is writer's block. I'm a firm believer in this and whenever it hits me, I sink into this funk that usually takes a week or two to climb out of.

3. Tell us a little bit about how you came to be with Pendrell Publishing.

I took kind of an unconventional route to getting a book deal. Most writers try and get an agent in order to submit to the bigger houses, but that wasn't the first step for me. Having read Lani Woodland's Intrinsical and loving it, and looking into Pendrell Publishing, I found out they accept unsolicited manuscript submissions. I had planned on submitting to them to kind of warm myself up to the submitting process, but then decided not to. The thing was that my crit. partner did a lot of work on Hunted, so at 2 in the morning, a couple of hours before Pendrell's deadline, I submitted. And, well, you know the rest. I couldn't have asked for a better home for my book. :-)

Wendy Higgins:

1. Wendy, what genre do you write and why?

You know, it’s funny. I was always a lighthearted chic-lit kind of girl. I wrote general fiction, using humor to tackle underlying serious issues. But when I was finally hit with major inspiration to write a complete novel, it was paranormal romance! And much darker than I ever thought myself capable. So I suppose I could go either way. I don’t know if my next book will be paranormal, too. Who knows?

2. What are some things people may not know about you?

I’ve had nearly every customer service job under the sun – waitress, department store associate, banker/loan officer, Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party girl (even dressed as Chuck-E a few times), English teacher, and flight attendant – to name a few. These experiences of working with the public have given me a plethora of writing ideas, especially characterizations! 

3. Tell us a little bit about how you got a literary agent.

I didn't go about finding an agent in the traditional way. I'd been querying a few months with no luck because of my weak first chapter (too much telling, not enough showing). I joined inkpop.com so that I could get some feedback and ideas about how to strengthen the intro - the critiquing there was very helpful. During that time a woman read my whole story on the website and fell in love with it. She was represented by Neil Salkind and she asked if she could put me in touch with him... uh, yes please! I sent him an official query and he called me that same week with an offer. He usually reps nonfiction, so this has been quite an adventure for both of us. We've got some promising stuff cooking up right now. Fingers crossed!

Giveaway!

Wendy is giving away a new, hardback copy of Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare! Just become a follower and post a comment to win. This giveaway is opened internationally. Please leave an email or way to contact you. We look forward to hearing your comments!
The winner will be drawn at random and announced on Monday, January 10th.