Today I'm featuring the author of Legacy of the Clockwork Key, Kristin Bailey! Check out my interview with her and get a chance to win a copy of her book and a swag pack!
1. What do you feel about the number '13'?
Usually I'm okay with it and I don't think too much about it. It is neither here nor there for me, for the most part. I was always proud that I knew that triskaidekaphobia was the formal name for the fear of the number thirteen, but I never understood why a building would not name the thirteenth floor properly. It was still the thirteenth from the ground. Call it what you want, a rose is still a rose. I will admit to being mildly interested in Friday the 13ths. I do know that if a month begins on a Sunday you're guaranteed one.
2. What's the best thing that happened after your book was published?
I took some of my earnings and I adopted a mustang, as in a wild horse not the car, from the government. She's awesome and I'm having a lot of fun with her. She's a very cool horse.
3. How did you celebrate the publishing of your book?
When the book first came out, it came with a fair share of anxiety as well. I did celebrate by having a signing and a party at a coffee shop that was a favorite hang-out of mine.
4. Do you read reviews of your book?
It depends. Sometimes I do, and sometimes I don't, depending on how confident I feel in my career. I do like to read the really good ones and I always appreciate when a reviewer sends me a link through social media to a glowing review. Sometimes I glean bad reviews for what I might be able to change in the future, but more often than not, bad reviews just didn't respond favorably to something I did with intention, like writing my books for the lower age range of the YA market, for example, so there isn't really anything I can change. Not everyone likes a book for myriads of reasons that are valid reasons, so there's no use getting myself upset over that. I try to roll with the punches when they come, but I do admit that great reviews are wonderful, and I wish there was an easier way to be able to seek them out so I can read them. I also wish it were easier to be able to have discussions about reviews with fans. Sometimes I feel like as an author I'm not welcome in a discussion about my book at all, like I'm intruding or watching over readers shoulders. I don't want to do that, but feeling left out of the discussion makes me sad.
5. What is your best or most unforgettable moment with a fan?
I received a fantastic letter from a young girl that thanked me profusely for not putting any of that "icky sex" stuff in my books. I loved that letter. It made me smile for days, mostly because I have nothing against "icky sex", I just happen to write about Victorian teens and so it would feel unrealistic to me if they weren't very careful with their sense of sexuality.
6. Was there any book/s from other debut author of 2013 that you loved?
I really loved Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan and also The Madman's Daughter by Megan Shepard.
7. Are you interested in writing in a different genre or for a different audience?
I'm hoping to try my hand at a YA epic fantasy with a gritty and realistic feel next. It will be different than anything I've tried before. It will have more of a message and a much different structure and dynamic than my Secret Order books. It will also hopefully have a male protagonist and no romance. I'm hoping for it to be a sibling drama instead.
8. Share us one embarrassing moment you've had.
I was a foreign exchange student in Germany, and I was visiting a friend in Dresden. His father was a financial minister and a really important politician. My host brother ticked me off, and so I went into the stairwell to sulk. It was fairly late at night and this German politician came down the stairs in his underwear. He shot back up the stairs so quickly, but I think both of us were completely traumatized.
9. Favorite color?
Purple
Favorite movie?
The Lord of the Rings
Favorite ice cream flavor?
Homemade cranberry and grapefruit sorbet
Favorite song?
All I Want is You by U2, and also Wicked Game by Chris Issak.
Ultimate celebrity crush (dead or alive)?
I've got a little thing for Orlando Bloom, only because he's soooooo pretty. I had a crush on Legolas when I was twelve, so I'm sure that didn't help. I've got some association issues cooking, I think, but when he came up out of the water as captain of the Flying Dutchman in Pirates of the Caribbean, I nearly fell out of my seat. That is a pretty, pretty man.
10. What's next for you?
I'm planning on playing the Sims for about a month to let my brain rest after coming off of deadline, then I'm going to prepare that fantasy proposal for Simon & Schuster and also prepare an extension to The Secret Order series if Simon & Schuster wants something along those lines. I'm also brushing up on my German because I'd like to go back for a visit in the next couple of months. Other than that, I'm working on training my horse, and preparing for the release of RISE OF THE ARCANE FIRE. I'll also be starting a video series about writing where people can send me writing questions and I'll answer them. I'm hoping teachers will find them useful.
Thank you for inviting me on the blog. LEGACY OF THE CLOCKWORK KEY is out in stores now, and will be out in paperback on February 4th along with the release of RISE OF THE ARCANE FIRE. You can learn more at http://www.kristinbailey.com, or you can like my Facebook page, https://www.facebook.com/pages/Kristin-Bailey/156140894509386, or follow me on Twitter @KBaileyBooks
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More about Kristin!
Kristin Bailey grew up in the middle of the San Joaquin Valley in California. As a kid she enjoyed visiting the beach, camping and skiing with her two brothers.
Now she is a military wife and mother of two young children. She is also terrible about spoiling her pets. She has one fluffy mutt, two cats who think they own the world, and a fish tank with some really plump little fish and a pair of snails who are secretly ninja assassins.
In the course of her adventures, she has worked as a zookeeper, balloon artist, and substitute teacher. Now she enjoys writing books for teens who enjoy mystery and adventure as much as she does.
Sneak a peak on Kristin's debut novel!
Legacy of the Clockwork Key
(The Secret Order #1)
by Kristin Bailey
Published March 2013 by Simon Pulse
Blurb (Goodreads):
When a fire consumes Meg’s home, killing her parents and destroying both her fortune and her future, all she has left is the tarnished pocket watch she rescued from the ashes. But this is no ordinary timepiece. The clock turns out to be a mechanical key—a key that only Meg can use—that unlocks a series of deadly secrets and intricate clues that Meg is compelled to follow.
Together with the handsome stable hand she barely knows but hopes she can trust, Meg is swept into a hidden world of deception, betrayal, and revenge, uncovering evidence of an elite secret society and a dangerous invention that some will stop at nothing to protect.
Head over to Oops! I Read A Book Again for debut author Christina Mercer!
Yesterday: Nichole Giles (Descendant) and Romily Bernard (Find Me)
Tomorrow: Claire M. Caterer (The Key and the Flame) Louise D. Gornall (In Stone)
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GIVEAWAY!
I like books that are epic and this one feels super epic!
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