Bio:
I dove headfirst into my writing pursuits after receiving my MA in English from Missouri (that’s pronounced Ma-zur-AH, for those of you not in the know) State University. After wearing out a mere half dozen keyboards (I’m completely serious) drafting enough manuscripts to form a pile that literally stretches from the floor to the ceiling of my office, I was ecstatic to release my debut novel, A Blue So Dark, with Flux. Playing Hurt, my first romance, released March 8, 2011.
…Of course, as a writer, I’m going to be shouting from the rooftops about impending publications…but I’m also a hard-core literature junkie, and look forward to get book recommendations from fellow readers…
Also, as an author, I think it’s my job to dig out the best of each book—I become a better writer by identifying other writers’ strengths! That’s what you can expect to find in my reviews: an honest appreciation for what I perceive to be the most admirable quality in each new author I discover…
I can be found online at hollyschindler.com, and at my blog, Novel Anecdotes (hollyschindler.blogspot.com)
Please tell us in one sentence only why we should read your book.
You will experience true love—either for the first time, or all over again…
What inspired you to want to become a writer?
I’ve always wanted to write—ever since I was a little girl! I was incredibly shy when I was little, and sometimes, I think I started writing as a way to give me a “voice.”
If you could jump into a book, and live in that world…which would it be?
ELSEWHERE, by Gabrielle Zevin. (Don’t we all truly think it’d be heaven to age backward?)
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I’m a lifelong Ozarker, and really do think it’s beautiful here…But if I could live ANYWHERE? Wouldn’t every writer want to live in New York?
If a movie was made about your life, who would you want to play the lead role and why?
Hilary Swank. She plays meaty roles—and doesn’t everybody hope that “meaty” would be an adjective that would be applied to their life, when it’s all said and done?
If you could have any superpower what would you choose?
To erase negativity. Really. Why spend your life focusing on the bad? Robert Louis Stevenson said it best in A CHILD’S GARDEN OF VERSES: “The world is so full of a number of things, I’m sure we should all be as happy as kings.”
If you could travel in a Time Machine, would go back to the past or into the future?
Past. Definitely. (Isn’t there just a sense of peace, of calm, that comes when you crack the cover of a Jane Austen novel?)
What is your favorite thing to eat for breakfast?
I’m a pretty big eater. If I’m going to indulge? French toast, eggs over easy, bacon. Coffee.
What’s one piece of advice you would give aspiring authors?
Sink your nails into your dream and don’t let go. There will be so many stumbling blocks and disappointments along the way…so many heartbreaks. Just know that every author on the shelves on bookstores has felt the same way. And the only authors WHO NEVER get there are the ones who give up.
Any other books in the works? Goals for writing projects?
My debut middle grade will be released in 2012 by Dial. I have a (literally) floor-to-ceiling stack of manuscripts I’m in the midst of revising and getting into publishable form…Projects in several different genres…and new ideas are popping all the time…
Star basketball player Chelsea "Nitro" Keyes had the promise of a full ride to college—and everyone's admiration back home. Then she took a horrible fall during senior year. Now a metal plate holds her together and she feels like a stranger in her own family.
That summer, Chelsea's dad hires Clint, a nineteen-year-old ex-hockey player and "boot camp" trainer, to work with her at a northern Minnesota lake resort. As they grow close, Chelsea finds that Clint's haunted by his own tragedy. Will their romance end up hurting them all over again—or finally heal their heartbreak?
