Interview with Joanne Fritz

Hi Joanne, thank you for being on my blog today to discuss your debut MG novel in verse, Everywhere Blue. How excited are you for people to read your book?

I’m very excited! I’ve waited a long time for this book. In fact, I’ve been writing for many years, many decades. I really hope people like it. 

Can you tell us a little bit about Everywhere Blue?

Everywhere Blue is a novel in verse for middle grade readers. I didn’t write it specifically as a mystery, but it certainly contains a mystery!

Twelve-year-old Maddie plays the oboe in her school orchestra. She also has an undiagnosed anxiety disorder. Maddie loves music, math, and everything in its place. Her carefully ordered world falls apart when her beloved older brother vanishes from his college campus. Meanwhile, Maddie’s sixteen-year-old sister reacts by staying out late, and their parents are always distracted by the search for Strum. Drowning in grief and confusion, the family’s musical household falls silent. Can Maddie figure out where Strum has gone? Does it have anything to do with his passion for the environment? 

What inspired you to write the book?

So many things! I started with one poem back in 2013, about playing the oboe in my school concert band. Yes, I played the oboe. But it didn’t occur to me then that one poem could lead to an entire novel! At the time, I’d gotten frustrated about trying to get an agent and a publisher, so I’d been writing poetry and submitting to literary journals. I managed to get 14 or 15 publication credits that way. I didn’t submit the oboe poem anywhere, because I was working on something else at the time. Then in 2014, my husband and I were lucky enough to go on vacation to the Caribbean, to the island of St. Martin/St. Maarten, where we visited the Butterfly Farm and saw blue morpho butterflies. I knew since then that I wanted to put those butterflies in a book! I’ve also suffered from mild anxiety most of my life (I spent years on Lexapro) and felt it was time to write about a protagonist with anxiety. In addition, I’ve always been concerned about the climate crisis, but had never found a way to put it in a book before this. 

How hard was it writing this book in verse?

Surprisingly, not as hard as I thought it would be. And at the same time, a few parts of it were harder than anything else I’ve ever done (the villanelle, for instance, called Leaving, and the poem titled Outnumbered, which was emotionally wrenching to write). This is not the first novel I’ve written. It’s actually the fifth. But it is the first novel in verse that I’ve written. Once I started writing it in verse, it seemed to flow beautifully, and I knew I’d found the proper format.

When coming up with new book ideas, what comes to you first plot or the characters?

The characters always come to me first. Or the main character, anyway. If I don’t know who the main character is, I can’t start writing the story. Plot has always been more of a struggle for me. I’m a pantser (who wishes she was a plotter). This means I have no outline when I start writing a new book, but I always have a character, a setting, and a story idea.

Was this the first book you ever wrote?

Oh, no, not at all! I wrote dozens of picture books (starting when my two sons were little — they’re now in their 30s!) and four other novels before EVERYWHERE BLUE.

Did you always know you wanted to be a writer?

From an early age, yes! I loved reading and losing myself in a book, and I think I knew by the time I was 8 or 9 that I wanted to be a writer. It just took me a really long time to get to where I am now!

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Never give up! If you want badly enough to get published, keep writing. Keep working on your craft. Take workshops and classes, find a critique group. And keep writing!

Add Everywhere Blue on Goodreads and buy signed copies here

Guest Post by Casie Bazay

I am delighted to have Casie Bazay author of Not Our Summer on my blog today with an awesome guest post!

Why Everyone Needs a Bucket List

My debut young adult novel, Not Our Summer, released on May 11th, and it was definitely a magical day. I was overwhelmed with social media notifications and almost in tears to see so many people who were supportive and excited about my book! My family and I visited our local Barnes & Noble to see NOS on the shelf (such a thrill!), and then we went to lunch at one of my favorite restaurants. That evening, I had a virtual launch event with my local indie, Magic City Books, based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and I went to bed that night knowing that it had been a day I’ll never forget as long as I live.

But back to the book! To give a brief summary, Not Our Summer is the story of two estranged cousins, K.J. and Becka, who, after the death of their grandfather, must travel on a series of vacation trips together in order to fulfill his bucket list—if they want their inheritance, that is. Since Grandpa Eli had agoraphobia, every task on his list was something he wanted to do but simply couldn’t, and once his health had begun to rapidly decline, he arranged for his only two granddaughters to visit these places instead.

This wouldn’t be so bad if K.J. and Becka were at least friendly with one another, but due to a longstanding and rather nasty feud between their mothers, it’s actually quite the opposite. Oh, and there’s also a catch . . . Grandpa Eli has a bit of a hidden agenda which is revealed to both readers, as well as the main characters, a little over halfway through the book.

When I came up with the idea to write Not Our Summer, I wanted to explore this difficult family dynamic against the backdrop of a variety beautiful locations around the U.S., and since those places are stated early on in the book, I’ll go ahead and share four of them with you here: the Grand Canyon, Yellowstone National Park, the Chattooga River on the border between South Carolina and Georgia, and Key West, Florida. I’ve been to all of these places except one, so I based many of the descriptions off of my own personal experiences.

After writing Not Our Summer, however, it occurred to me just how important bucket lists are and why we all should have one. I know not everyone can afford to go on faraway trips or do expensive things, but that doesn’t mean you can’t come up with a list of things you’d like to do or achieve before you leave this world. For example, it could be something as simple as eating homemade ice cream with your best friend while watching the sun set. Or visiting a nearby place in order to relive a childhood memory.

No matter what’s on your bucket list though, I advise writing it down and keeping that list posted somewhere visible. After all, when we write our goals and dreams down, this is often the first step to manifesting them in our lives. We tend to do what we continually think about.

And since I’m suggesting you come up with your own bucket list, I thought I would share mine. Here are the top 10 things I would LOVE to do or achieve:

1.) Travel to Paris to eat gluten free pastries, speak bad French, and drink a little wine.

2.) Travel to Maine to enjoy the scenery, eat blueberries, and see exactly how different northeastern and Okie accents are.

3.) Publish another young adult novel (and then another and another . . .)

4.) Inspire a reader to get a tattoo based on one of said novels.

5.) Make the NYT bestseller list (because what author doesn’t have this dream, right?!?)

6.) Rent a convertible and drive up the coast of California to the northwestern tip of Washington state (one of my favorite places ever).

7.) Adopt a rescue horse.

8.) Relive one of my favorite teenage memories: going on a weekend trail ride at Robber’s Cave State Park in southeastern Oklahoma.

9.) Have one of my books adapted into a movie or TV series.

10.) Inspire other writers to achieve their dreams.

So there it is—my bucket list. What’s yours?

If you’d like to check out my bucket list/summer road trip book, Not Our Summer, you can find it on Bookshop, as well as nearly any other online retailer. It’s also currently available at your local Barnes & Noble.

Casie Bazay is former middle school teacher who now works as a freelance writer and editor. In her spare time, Casie enjoys exploring the great outdoors, spending time at the barn with her horses and goats, reading, and watching movies (especially young adult novel adaptations). She lives on a hay farm in northeastern Oklahoma with her husband and two children but loves traveling to new and exciting destinations whenever she can. Not Our Summer is her first published novel.

BLOG TOUR: The Secret Bridesmaid by Katy Birchall

I was hooked from the moment I heard Sophie’s job was to be a professional bridesmaid. That combined with the marketing as a funny British romcom made it sound right up my street and it did not disappoint. 

Sophie is a wedding expert whose job is to become part of the bridal party and do whatever the family needs, from small errands to full-blown wedding planning. Her most important task is to manage crises that occur during or before the wedding, such as a drunk groom or missing “luxury” port-a-potties. When she is hired to become a bridesmaid for the difficult daughter of a Marchioness, Sophie encounters her biggest challenge yet, and possibly a romance.

As you can probably tell Sophie Breeze has going on, but she always makes time for the people closest to her. Then she gets a wedding invite to her ex’s wedding and everything falls apart. Her ex whose still part of her friendship group is ignorant of Sophie’s feelings and belittles her. This causes Sophie to want to grow out of her comfort zone and become more spontaneous which she does thanks to her friend Cordelia who we love. 

Katy’s writing is intriguing and funny some of my favourite moments were Sophie’s emails with her clients they were so funny and sometimes cringy. I loved reading about all the weddings Sophie had to deal with such as the bride who was having a Star Wars themed wedding and asked if Sophie would be comfortable dressing as Chewbacca! I also loved how this book was mainly about friendship, yes it had romance, but this book had the perfect blend of it to make it great.  

The Secret Bridesmaid is perfect for fans of romantic comedies, friendships, and weddings. This book will have you laughing out loud.

I also did a podcast episode with Katy Birchall a few months ago which you can find on all good podcasting platforms.