BOOKS

Author Crush Friday: Michelle Painchaud

Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our  weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.

BODY-IMAGE-FOR-AUTHOR-CRUSH-FRIDAYS

We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to Michelle Painchaud, author of Pretending to be Erica (July 21, 2015; Viking Books for Young Readers).  Thank you for talking to us today, Michelle! We’re honored!

Pretending to be Erica cover

 

 GLITTER: Tell us five random facts about yourself. 

MICHELLE: 1. I love to bake!! Éclairs are my favorite.

2. Cats are my entire life. I’m an old grandma already, pretty much.

3. Slytherin for life. 😉

4. My favorite video game is Mother 3/Final Fantasy 9.

5. As of now, I’ve written twelve books, and only one of them is published.

 

GLITTER: Tell us about your journey to becoming a writer. 

MICHELLE: This sort of ties in to the last random fact, but my journey was fairly lengthy. I started writing at fourteen, started taking it seriously at 18, and didn’t write anything of note until I was 21. That’s eight years! Eight years of sore fingers and crying and also constant learning. Fabulous, but overall 3/10 would not repeat again.

 

GLITTER: In Pretending to be Erica, what was your favorite chapter/scene to write and why?

MICHELLE:  I really enjoyed writing all the scenes with Taylor in them – she’s just a great refreshing foil to Erica’s uncertainty and careful plotting. Taylor just says what’s on her mind instead of agonizing over it like Erica does. I’d love to write a book with a main character like her someday.

 

GLITTER: What one thought sparked the book, Pretending to be Erica?

MICHELLE: Mostly it was,”What if a girl wasn’t who she said she was?” Then it spiraled from there.

 

GLITTER: What genre do you prefer writing?

MICHELLE: I think I’m good at contemporary, maybe, but I love fantasy the most. I read mostly fantasy, so of course I love writing it, too. But I’m not quite good enough, yet.

 

GLITTER: Who inspires you?

MICHELLE: Terry Prachett is a huge and recent inspiration for me. I also love anything by Laurie Halse Anderson – her works constantly remind me to be more honest and true in my own writing.

 

GLITTER: What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment?

MICHELLE: The toughest crit was one I heard from my writer friend recently – “You don’t finish anything you start!” I’m working harder on that. The best compliment is always hearing someone cried while reading my book. I think that’s the highest form of emotional connection to get from a book!

 

GLITTER: What are you working on now?

MICHELLE: A YA/Fantasy about a girl who’s body is slowly turning to crystal.

 

Michelle Painchaud
Michelle Painchaud was born in Seattle, but grew up gate-crashing parties in sugar cane fields in Hawaii. Cats and anime take up what little part of her brain isn’t harassed by stories of teenagers kicking ass. This is her first novel. She lives in San Diego, California and you can find her at http://michellepainchaud.tumblr.com and on Twitter: @michelleiswordy

CLICK THE LOGO BELOW TO GET INSTANTLY
ON NOOK OR SUBSCRIBE OR BUY A SINGLE COPY

images

GLITTER-SHOP
logo-barnes-noble__120821132934index

index

Or find your national STATE NEWSSTAND!