Wahoo for Writer Wednesday!
Today we’ve got Virginia Romance Writers member Linda Budzinski, author of Young Adult romances, popping in for quick interview. (Her favorite food is chocolate, so I love her already.)
Young love is perfect for spring, don’t you think? (Heck, any kind of love is perfect for spring…) So read on to find out more about Linda and her books!
What inspires you to write?
Reading great books! There’s something magical about getting lost in a world someone else has created and growing to love (or not!) their characters. Romance novels especially, with their hopeful, happily ever after endings, often leave *me* feeling hopeful and happy. That a bunch of words on a page can do that is so powerful and so amazing to me. I write romances for teens, and I believe today’s teens especially need to find stories that give them hope and show them different perspectives on life and love.
Name one interesting thing you learned in researching/writing your last book.
EM & EM is about a girl who is in Witness Protection, so I did a fair amount of research on how the program works and how it affects the witnesses’ lives. One thing that surprised me is how quickly a family “disappears” once they are assigned to the program. The U.S. Marshals can show up at their house, give them a few minutes to pack some bags, and they’re off. Imagine how that would turn a teen-age girl’s life upside down. Especially one who just had a huge fight with her boyfriend and now realizes she may never see him again!
What one piece of advice do you wish you’d had when first starting out?
Celebrate every victory, no matter how small. Writing and publishing is full of heartache and heartbreak, so it’s important to take some time to appreciate the positives along the way. You met your word count goal for the month? Congratulations! You finished that novella? Wrote the perfect kissing scene? Sent out ten query letters this week? Awesome! You met your goals, so give yourself a bonus. Do something fun. Treat yourself to a manicure or a new pair of shoes or a nice lunch out. Don’t focus so much on the end goals of publication and sales that you forget to enjoy the journey.
And now, a bit on EM & EM:
Ember O’Malley has been relocated from the Jersey Shore to a small town in the Midwest through Witness Protection. She has a new name, a new look, and a brand-sparkling new reputation … and she’s falling for a boy who loves her for who he thinks she is. Em is living a lie, and it’s only a matter of time before her secrets catch up with her. Will she let the mistakes of her past define and destroy her, or can she reinvent herself from the outside in?
Find Em & Em on Amazon!
A Bit on Linda:
Linda Budzinski’s young adult novels, Em & Em (2015) and The Funeral Singer (2013), were both published by Swoon Romance YA. Her upcoming novel, The Boyfriend Whisperer, scheduled for publication in fall of 2016 by Swoon, received the Romance Writers of America Young Adult Chapter’s 2015 Rosemary Award and the Virginia Chapter’s 2015 Fool for Love Award. When she’s not writing, she works in nonprofit management. You can find her at www.lindabudzinski.com.
Want to connect with Linda? Find her here:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Linda-Budzinski-Author-188747034633426/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LindaBudz
Thanks so much for giving us some of your Wednesday, Linda! It was a pleasure to have you.
Thank you for having me! And for the fun graphics (I especially love the Witness Protection one, lol!)
Hey Linda – Thanks for being here! Yes, I found that (and the others) on dollarphotoclub, and thought it was perfect!