PJ
is the author of the AmazonUS best-selling VIOLET YORKE, GILDED GIRL:
GHOSTS IN THE CLOSET (April 2022, Darkstroke Books), her debut
middle-grade supernatural historical mystery adventure about a sassy
poor little rich girl/Titanic survivor who sees ghosts in 1912
Manhattan.
PJ’s
debut picture book LITTLE LENA AND
THE BIG TABLE (May 2019, Big Belly
Book Co.), with illustrations by Leila Nabih, is about a determined
little girl tired of eating with her annoying cousins at the kid’s
table, only to discover that the grown-up big table isn’t much
better. Her second published picture book, DRAGON
ROAR (October 2021,
MacLaren-Cochrane Publishing), illustrations by Logan Rogers), is
about a lonely, sick dragon who has lost his mighty roar and the
brave village girl who helps him find it again. PJ is also under
contract with Oghma Creative Media for a series of Creature Feature
picture books (2023-2024) and with Orange Blossom Books for her debut
Young Adult alternate history adventure THE CONUNDRUM OF CHARLEMAGNE
CROSSE set in Victorian London (Fall 2023).
PJ
is also a co-host and founding member of #PBPitch, the premiere
Twitter pitch party for picture book creators.
PJ
has been published in numerous outlets including The New York Times
and Newsday. PJ also does features and interviews for The Children’s
Book Insider newsletter.
Also,
PJ’s critically acclaimed Showtime original family movie MY
HORRIBLE YEAR with Mimi Rogers, Karen Allen, and Eric Stoltz, was
nominated for a Daytime Emmy.
PJ
lives in Eastern Long Island with her family along with Luna, an
extremely spoiled French Bulldog, and Sasha the Psycho Cat.
Website
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GUEST POST
What
book do you think everyone should read?
To
Kill A Mockingbird.
How
long have you been writing?
Too
long and not long enough.
Do
the characters all come to you at the same time or do some of them
come to you as you write?
It
depends. Some rush at me like a tornado, some are born in the heat of
writing, and others reveal themselves slowly.
What
kind of research do you do before you begin writing a book?
It
depends on the book. With Violet Yorke, I did extensive research into
the Gilded Age, the culture of the time, politics, poor little rich
girls, Manhattan, the Four Hundred, Titanic, etc. Other books, very
little.
Do
you see writing as a career?
It
is my life, not my career. A career I can quit at any time and not
look back, and I’ve done that. I could no more give up writing than
cut off my arm.
What
do you think about the current publishing market?
Slow
as molasses, and just as sticky.
Do
you read yourself and if so what is your favorite genre?
I
read, but not as much as I used to. Honestly, the time I spend
reading books is time I could spend on my own writing. It’s a tough
balance.
Do
you prefer to write in silence or with noise? Why?
I’ve
learned to write with kids screaming around me, so I can write with
noise and without.
Do
you write one book at a time or do you have several going at a time?
I
have multiple books going at any time, but I do like to finish one
project at a time. For example, right now I have three different
adult thrillers as works in progress--an opening chapter, a synopsis,
or even just a few pages--but I concentrate on one until I finish the
first draft. That method works best for me.
If
you could have been the author of any book ever written, which book
would you choose?
Stranger
in a Strange Land. It was way above my pay grade, but I loved it.
Pen
or type writer or computer?
Computer,
baby.
Tell
us about a favorite character from a book.
Hmmm…Trixie
Belden! She was my favorite teen detective. I don’t think she got
as near enough acclaim as Nancy Drew.
What
made you want to become an author and do you feel it was the right
decision?
I
don’t smoke, drink or do drugs…so yes, it was the right decision
for me. Has it been easy? No. But no one said it would be.
A
day in the life of the author?
Writing,
procrastination, heartache…one day you’re high as a kite, the
next day you’re a slug. High and lows punctuated by long stretches
of silence. Things can come all at one and then not at all.
Do
you have any advice to offer for new authors?
Patience,
grasshopper. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
Describe
your writing style.
What
style? It’s much easier writing when I’m in the “zone”. By
this, I mean when the words are flowing like lava; it’s writing on
auto-pilot. I wish I could be in the zone all the time, but the
reality is, most of the time it’s wading through a bog. I persist
even when I’m ready to junk it all.
What
makes a good story?
If
I knew that, I’d be Stephen King. But at its core, for me, a good
story is a story that rings true to me and that I’m the only one
who can tell it.
What
is your writing process? For instance do you do an outline first? Do
you do the chapters first?
Nope.
I’m a panster all the way. Now I may write down a quick synopsis or
a brief paragraph of the basic story, but outlines inhibit me.
Everything is in my head. Little wonder I don’t have room for
anything else!
What
are common traps for aspiring writers?
Comparing
yourself to other writers. Or trying to write to the market. Write
for yourself and keep your expectations low. Everyone wants to write
a best seller out of the starting gate. The reality is, that the
overnight success was years in the making.
What
is your writing Kryptonite?
The
movie Prometheus. My family knows that if they put that movie on, I
come running.
Do
you try more to be original or to deliver to readers what they want?
You
have to do both, but do it in your own spin that makes readers want
it too even if it wasn’t what they thought they wanted to begin
with.
If
you could tell your younger writing self anything, what would it be?
That
I should’ve returned to writing novels sooner than I did rather
than sticking to one genre for too long.
How
long on average does it take you to write a book?
That
depends on the book. My adult thriller suspense noir took me two
months to bang out, 92,000 words. I burned my brain on that one.
Violet Yorke took me roughly a year or so.
Do
you believe in writer’s block?
Not
for me! When I hit an impasse, I take a break and do something else.
I let my subconscious do the heavy lifting.
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