I am so excited today! This is the day that Beth Revis made it over to tell us a little about her and her amazing writing escapades. Unless you have been unplugged for the last couple of week, you know that Beth just signed an amazing book deal (and if you didn’t know that, you can read all about it right here). Well, in honor of that deal, and because I just think she is beyond awesome, I asked her to tell us a bit about herself and her books.
So, here you go…the amazing Beth Revis ( and yeah – she is really the nicest, most humble person I have met in a long time!):
CF: Tell me a bit about your writing process: How long did the first draft of the story take? What about revisions?
BR: As a teacher, I do my writing around the school calendar. I wrote the rough draft from Christmas to summer break, and revised during the entire summer break. I started subbing to agents when school started again.
CF: I know this wasn’t your first novel. What made this one different from the others?
BR: I think the biggest thing that made this one different is that I had the practice of my other novels behind me. I don’t regret the stacks of unpublished works I’ve accumulated. I look at each one like practice. I wouldn’t expect to paint a masterpiece the first time I touched brush to canvas–looking back, it feels a little foolish to feel that my first book would be a bestseller. I didn’t know it at the time, but each rejection and trunk novel was just more practice.
CF: What is the hardest part aspect of being a writer?
BR: REVISING. I hate it. Can’t stand it. I rely heavily on critique partners to push me to make the changes I need to make. (I can so relate to this!)
CF: How do you manage to balance writing with other real-life things (like relationships, etc)?
BR: I just don’t do housework and live in squalor. …OK that’s not (entirely) true. I think it helps that I tend to do one thing and focus entirely on the one thing. I may not write for two weeks, but when I do, I may lay down 5,000 words. I may not clean every day, but when I do, the house is spotless. And through it all, I’ve got a very understanding husband who puts up with my crazy, and a dog who could care less as long as I let him sleep on the bed.
CF: Where do you find your inspiration? What inspired ACROSS THE UNIVERSE?
BR: This is really a book’s book. It was the beauty of other books already written that made me push myself harder to make a fun, hang-on-the-edge-of-your seat story with what I hope is lyrical prose.
CF: Are any of the characters in that story like you?
BR: I think the main female character, Amy, is like me in a lot of ways. I wrote her with my feelings of leaving for college in mind. In the story, Amy wakes up early from cryogenic freezing–but her parents don’t. So she has to learn to live without them. College was like that for me. I was young–I started college when I was 17 years old, and I moved from a tiny country neighborhood into a huge city where the school’s population was larger than my entire home county. And I was 200 miles away from my parents. Trying to hold it together, be an adult because I had to, even if I felt I wasn’t ready–that’s the kind of emotion I tried to inject in Amy.
CF: What can you share about some of your future projects?
BR: Right now, I’m working on books 2 and 3 of the series!
CF: I know social networking and marketing is definitely an important part of the business these days. What are your plans for this?
BR: I have lots of plans! And the biggest one…is a secret. But I’ll say this: visit my blog in the first week of April, and you’ll see what I’ve been working on for a month!
CF: Quick fire randomness –
Favorite food? A southern breakfast: eggs, grits, and biscuits with gravy.
Intense Life Coaching 
Wonderful interview, I can’t wait to read the book. Congratulations Beth!!!
GREAT INTERVIEW. Yeah, those trunk novels…
I like you questions towards the end too–gives a little more insight!
Fantabulous interview. I’m SO excited for Beth!
Great interview. Can’t wait to see what your sekrit marking plans are, Beth!!!
Yay! Great interview! I’ve been keen to find out more about Across the Universe, and of course, its author. Loved hearing about your comparison back to going to college. I also write like that, Beth, off for a while, then full-on writing.
Question for Beth, how did you get your awesome crit partners?
Woo-hoo! Congrats, Beth!
Great interview, ladies! 🙂
Great insight to use the feelings you had as a new college student to inform Amy’s character. And I’ve never heard anyone say their favorite color is gray. Interesting!
Hey guys – thanks for coming by and commenting. Beth really is amazing!
To get a three-book deal is so exciting. How many manuscripts did you write before this one?
Great interview! I’m so happy for Beth. Celebrate those trunk novels 🙂
Great interview! So psyched for the book to come out…
Why is Aerin your favorite female character?
Congrats to Beth, and what a great interview! I’m wondering how in the world Beth manages to stop time to get everything done that she accomplishes. I need that magic fairy wand. 😀
@Michelle: Thank you very much!
@write-brained: Oh, soooo many trunk novels 🙂 Great handle, btw.
@Bish: Thanks! I’m excited, too!
@Casey: I actually have two I am *really* excited about, one of which involved NINJA.
@Terry: I got my crit partners through a variety of ways. One, Robyn, became my partner because she lives nearby. I advertised in my state’s SCBWI, looking for a group in my area, and she was the only responder. Let’s see…one partner I “stole” from another online group. We were both in the same group, and that group wasn’t working well, but I liked working with HER–so we left together to start our own group. Two of them were people who I found through my blog–we connected in the comments and started swapping mss. One of them was introduced to me through that connection. I had to go through a lot of “duds” to get to the people I work with now–people I trust and can work with productively.
@Ibdiamond: Thanks!
@Shannon: I love gray! I also like silver 🙂
@Christine: I keep telling you, YOU are amazing!
@Theresa: *sigh* You’re going to make me confess, aren’t you? 🙂 OK, truth be told…I have TEN trunk novels. TEN. Across the Universe is my eleventh manuscript. Hey, eleven time’s the charm, right?
@Sherrie: I do celebrate…MOST of the ten. There’s only one in the lot I *hate*
@Lydia K: Yay! Me, too!
@Heather: Aerin’s my favorite because she’s one of the few characters who seems to have really grown from immaturity to maturity, who really progressed. I love how weak she was in the beginning–and how weak she became again, after injured. But most of all, I love how she has to make a very tough decision and does.
@Elana: HA! Like you have room to talk–you are the superstar time manager!!! Mostly, it’s just because I do one thing 100% at a time. I dedicate total focus to cleaning the house, for example, for an hour and am done for the week.
So nice to have you come by!!! And yeah, that 100% singular focus is so key, isn’t it!
Such a fun interview. Can’t WAIT for the book (s) to come out.
Great interview. I’m so excited for you Beth.
Great interview! I love it when an author announces that her first published book wasn’t the first book she’s written. And I’m not counting the one she wrote when she was five. It gives the rest of us hope.