Author Crush Friday: Kate McGovern
Glitter girls, you have pressing questions for your favorite authors and we have their answers. Welcome to our weekly segment, Author Crush Fridays.
We love asking questions and we love the answers from some of our favorite authors. Today we’re talking to Kate McGovern, author of Rules for 50/50 Chances (November 24, 2015; Farrar Straus and Giroux Books for Young Readers). Thank you for talking to us today, Kate! We’re honored!
GLITTER: Tell us five random facts about yourself.
KATE: Okay, here we go:
- Three of my four front teeth are fake. I used to be able to pop them out and shock people. Now they’re permanent.
- I have recurring dreams about seals.
- I love bright colors and patterns on all things–clothes, home decor, nail polish, etc.
- I’ve met Prince Charles.
- I live in the same city as my parents, brothers, sisters-in-law, niece and nephews, cousins, and aunt and uncle. It’s a family affair around here.
GLITTER: For those who haven’t read your book yet, how would you describe Rules for 50/50 Chances?
KATE: Rules for 50/50 Chances is the story of Rose, who at 17 is trying to decide if she wants to know if she carries the genetic mutation for Huntington’s disease, the condition that’s slowly killing her mother. It’s about tough choices, about taking risks, about how to live with uncertainty. And it’s a love story–first love, friend love, family love. I hope so, anyway.
GLITTER: Who was your favorite character to write in Rules for 50/50 Chances?
KATE: I love them all in their own ways. Lena was particularly fun to write, because she has so many pieces of my own close girlfriends in her. And while Rose’s parents, especially her mom, weren’t easy to write, it was important to me that they were well-rounded people. I think the relationship between Rose and her mother is really the heart of the book.
GLITTER: Is this based on a real-life experience and did your degree in anthropology help with research for this book?
KATE: The book is not based on my own experience, but it is inspired by a news article I read many years ago, and I did a lot of research before I wrote it and while I was writing and revising. I suppose my degree in anthropology helps with all my writing in some respects, because almost everything I write is sparked by something real that I’m observing in the world around me or reading in the news.
GLITTER: Did you always want to be an author? Did you ever feel like giving up? Did you receive rejection letters in the beginning? How did you get over them?
KATE: My earliest rejection letters were back when I was writing plays and submitting them to theatres for development workshops or productions. Back then, most rejection letters came via snail mail, so I had actual hard copies of these things, and I saved them all and made a huge collage of them on my bulletin board over my desk. They were reminders to keep working. Rejection’s never fun, but it’s so much a part of every writer’s life. And I must say, a rejection letter that makes an effort to say something nice or constructive is the best thing in the world (well, after an acceptance letter, of course!).
GLITTER: What are your favorite words to use?
KATE: Ooh, tough one. I particularly enjoy the sound of words starting with ir-, like irreverent, irrevocable, irreparable. I also have a favorite punctuation mark: the em-dash. It does wonderful things to sentences, but it’s easy to over-use, so I have to police myself. I also love the semi-colon.
GLITTER: What book are you currently reading?
KATE: I just started The Thing About Jellyfish, by my agent-sib Ali Benjamin. I’m loving it so far.
GLITTER: We know that you also love trains. What’s the longest train ride that you’ve ever been on?
KATE: It’s a tie between the California Zephyr, from Chicago to San Francisco (the train Rose rides in the book) and the Southwest Chief, Chicago to Los Angeles. Each takes around 50 hours. The Southwest Chief is longer in miles, but the Zephyr goes slower through the mountains. They’re both stunning trips, but if you have to choose one in a lifetime, it has to be the Zephyr.
GLITTER: What are you currently working on?
KATE: I’m working on another YA contemporary. It’s a love story at its core, but it also tackles race and violence in some tough, complicated ways.
ABOUT KATE MCGOVERN:
Kate McGovern has taught theatre and language arts to middle schoolers in Boston, New York, and London. A graduate of Yale and Oxford, she currently lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where she was born and raised.Rules for 50/50 Chances is her first novel.
WHERE TO FIND HER:
Website: http://www.kate-mcgovern.com/#hello-there
pre-order book: http://www.portersquarebooks.com/book/9780374301583
Twitter: https://twitter.com/mskatemcg
Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/katemcgovernauthor?ref=aymt_homepage_panel
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/23310748-rules-for-50-50-chances
Instagram: https://instagram.com/mskatemcg/
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