Another YA debut by a GCC member is shaking up the lit scene. Jeri Smith-Ready’s newly released novel SHADE has just received a starred review in Publisher’s Weekly. How fabulous that Jeri is spreading her celebrated brand of paranormal romance from adult fiction to a YA. The book’s spooky premise about “the shift” has caught my attention (read below synopsis and squeal). And it doesn’t hurt to have top critics vouching for it, too–as PW states, “Smith-Ready changes the world completely by simply changing our ability to see.” Talk about a shift in perception!
About SHADE:
Love ties them together. Death can’t tear them apart.
Like everyone born after the Shift, Aura can see and hear ghosts. This mysterious ability has always been annoying, and Aura had wanted nothing more than to figure out why the Shift happened so she can undo it. But not with Logan’s violet-hued spirit still hanging around. Because dead Logan is almost as real as ever. Almost.
It doesn’t help that Aura’s new friend Zachary is so understanding—and so very alive. His support means more to Aura than she cares to admit.
As Aura’s relationships with the dead and the living grow ever complicated, so do her feelings for Logan and Zachary. Each holds a piece of Aura’s heart…and clues to the secret of the Shift.
It was so cool of Jeri to take time out of her book tour to answer my author Q’s. Hope you enjoy!
DR: What’s your favorite stage of your work process: researching, writing or editing?
JSR: I love rewriting and revising (which are two different stages for me—rewriting is where I do the major story overhaul, and revising is where I polish and check for
inconsistencies). But first drafts are like sculpting air, and really difficult for me.
So I try to get through them as quickly as possible, like pulling off a Band-Aid. Then I
go on to revise and turn what is usually garbage (with a few gems) into something
resembling a real story.
DR: How do you get over a major bout of writer’s block?
JSR: I’m not sure I’ve ever had what I would define as writer’s block, that serious,
psychological inability to write anything at all. I’ve definitely struggled with each
book—there’s always at least one point where I’m convinced that this is the worst thing
I’ve ever written, and that even though I’ve said that about every book, this time it’s
true! My weakness is occasionally letting other things that are demanding my attention steal it from writing. When that happens, I find that it helps if I go cold turkey on the
internet for a couple days and really immerse myself in the work. There’s a software
program called Write or Die, where you have to keep typing at a certain speed or it will
punish you. It might make an unpleasant noise, or turn the screen red, or in kamikaze
mode, it’ll start deleting what you’ve already written. But I put it in gentle mode,
where it just pops up a dialogue box that says, “You’ve stopped writing!” So for me it’s
not so much Write or Die as it is Write or be Gently Chided.
DR: What bad habit are you desperately trying to break out of?
JSR: The tendency to start a new task before I’ve finished the old one. Not just work stuff, but also simple things like putting away dishes—in the middle of it I’ll get distracted by a piece of mail, and next thing I know, it’s half an hour later and half the dishes are still in the dishwasher. They say that multitasking is actually a really inefficient way to work, that it’s better to focus on one thing until it’s done, then move on to something else. I need to learn to do that.
DR: What’s the craziest or coolest thing you’ve done in the name of research?
JSR: I’m a bit afraid of heights—Ferris wheels scare me to death (though I love roller
coasters—go figure). But in Toronto, we went up in the CN Tower, which is one of the
tallest buildings in the world. They have a level near the top where part of the floor
is glass, so you can walk out and look down below your feet at the sidewalk. I was
terrified, but I was writing a manuscript in which two characters had gone to this place, and one of them convinced the other (who was terrified of heights) to walk on the glass
floor. So I had to experience it for myself. I not only walked out onto the transparent floor, but I lay face down (I wasn’t the only one—lots of people were doing this) to look
through the glass. It was scary, but so exhilarating, and best of all I was able to
describe it in my manuscript. But I’m never setting a scene on a Ferris wheel. Gotta draw the line somewhere. Maybe.
DR: Think back to your sophomore year in high school. What were you like at age 15?
JSR: Gullible and romantic, which is a deadly combination when your boyfriend is a few years older and quite the jerk. But I learned my lesson, and have only dated nice guys since then.
DR: What’s your favorite spot to cozy up with a book?
JSR: Our living room sofa, but it’s been killing my back lately, so I’m dying to get a big
comfy reading chair. Hmm, maybe for my birthday…
DR: These days, everyone and their pet pooch is a multi-hyphenate. What talents or professional titles would you include your multi-hyphenate profile?
JSR: Author/pet chauffeur/amateur philosopher.
Thanks for interviewing me, Debbie!
The pleasure was mine, Jeri! Best of luck to you, and here’s to many more starred reviews.
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