Interview with fellow blogger and amazing writer, Jorydyn Turney

Jordyn Turney is 19. She is a college student. She is currently working on her book and Lolsi. She has an essay in 'Red: Teenage Girls In America Write On What Fires Up Their Lives Today' Edited By Amy Goldwasser. She likes the original Get Smart show and Pushing Dasies. She is also a YA blogger at Ten Cent Notes. She also Tweets here, be warned, she tweets like crazy.

1. Can you tell us about your book(s)?
Well, I'm still in that hoping-to-get-an-agent stage, so I don't have any published books out yet, but I do have an essay in Red, an anthology of personal essays edited by Amy Goldwasser. I wrote about my mom and made her cry, which is not exactly an accomplishment. However, the book I'm currently working on is about a teenage girl living with an alcoholic mother.

2. What is the hardest part of writing for you?
I always always always think what I write is complete and utter crap, even if logically I know it's pretty good, so for me the hardest part is getting past that. Also, writer's block, which is deadly.

3. Where did you get the idea for Love Or Something Like It?
Haha. Okay, the honest story is that I'd bought this baby name book (Cool Names for Babies) with all kinds of amazing and quirky names that I immediately wanted to use. I was already writing the novel, so I pulled about nine of the names from the book and started writing, just for fun, a story told through 21st century methods like Facebook, Twitter, and text messages. I love books that are written in "techy" ways when they're done well and I thought it was really the only way to incorporate so many characters into the same story. I wound up asking a few friends to read the first couple chapters and tell me what they thought and then it kind of just exploded from there. Now I have twenty-something people reading it as I go, which is incredible. (Oh, and LOLSI readers - I haven't forgotten about it, I promise! I'm just trying to finish the novel is all.)

4. What is a normal day for you?
I don't have normal days. I don't know. The only things I do every day (or try to do every day) are:
eat,
Bible reading,
write.
But nothing is ever normal.

5. What do you like about being a YA book blogger?
Um, so much! I like getting to interact and get to know authors, as well as fellow bloggers. That's big. I feel like I'm in the "in crowd" of YA lit, which is super awesome. Another thing I really love about book blogging is writing reviews - it sounds selfish, but I use my crazy in-depth review system to help myself analyze books and writing to see what works and what doesn't so I can improve in my own writing.

6. What place would you like to visit the most?
Epcot. I know, I know, that's cheating. But it's kind of a way to visit everywhere all at once - the Disney version!

7. Is there anything that you would like to add?
Everyone should watch Pushing Daisies, if you haven't read The Geek Girl's Guide to Cheerleading yet you really should, and Starbucks is awesome. The end.