Interview with Holly Schindler (Playing Hurt blog tour day 2)

Today, as stop number 2 on the Canadian Playing Hurt blog tour, I have the privilege of interviewing Holly! We wanted to do a fun, different interview, so the first 5 questions are wacky and wonderful! The last 3 questions are more normal, but they are all awesome! Remember, at the end of the tour there will be a giveaway, so follow the schedule at the bottom of the post!

Check out my review of Playing Hurt! Also, check out Holly's blog and website! She's also on Twitter: @holly_schindler!!!

Thanks so much for the fantastic interview, Holly!

 <--- That's Holly! Hi, Holly!
Question
H - Holly
C - me

1) How many hats do you have in your home?

H: I couldn’t even begin to count…I’ve been a hat person ever since junior high.  Not just stocking caps in the winter, either…Cloches, bowlers, berets…Every once in a while, when my tastes change, I get rid of a slew of them and start compiling all over again…

C: I am also a huge hat collector! I especially love animal hats :)

2) What do you often eat for breakfast?

H: Usually cereal with yogurt instead of milk.  Sounds impressively healthy, doesn’t it?  It’s really not, considering that I break for donuts at ten—on the DOT.

C: I sometimes have cereal with chocolate milk, and I also love shaving chocolate over my cereal/oatmeal.  I know, SO unhealthy! Mmm, donuts....

3). If you were a god, what would you do to the world?

H: I’d lift us all out of these horrifically rough economic times…

C: This is very generous and unselfish :)

4) How would you react if you were transformed into a fish?

H: Considering that both of my published books have strong water elements to them, I’d apparently be just ecstatic…(As long as I could still write…)

C: I sure hope you could still write! If not we couldn't read your amazing books...

5) What would be your first thought if you found out you won the lottery?

H: It’s. About. Time.  I play the lottery every week.  Honestly.  Powerball, Lotto…I know a guy who won a wad of money on one of those scratch-off tickets—enough to buy a truck. I figure, though, that by the time I win, I’ll have spent so much on losing tickets that my million-dollar jackpot means I’ll just break even…

C: Ha! Well, I hope you win!

6. Do you own a finished a copy of your book(s)?  Do you ever read it, and just think…wow!  This is super awesome, and guess who wrote it?!  ME!

H: I do own copies of both of my books.  As soon as they’re available on Amazon, I pre-order them for luck…I also downloaded A BLUE SO DARK the moment it became available on the Kindle, for the same reason.

I don’t ever have WOW moments with my own work—just with work I read by fellow writers.  (I’m still every bit as big of a fan as I was when I was younger…more so, in some ways, now!)

C: That's cool that you buy your books, but also very humble that you have WOW moments not with yourself, but other writers. I'm sure your fellow writers love you!

7) Who was the hardest / easiest character to write in Playing Hurt?

H: PLAYING HURT was drafted several years ago…around ’04 or’05.  The original book was told entirely from Chelsea’s POV.  I always felt like I had a pretty good sense of who she was from the start. 

After selling A BLUE SO DARK to Flux, I reread PLAYING HURT (which had a different title at the time), trying to figure out what was missing…An enormous part of what was missing, I discovered, was Clint!  I knew I wanted to write chapters that alternated between their points of view…to write brand-new chapters from Clint’s POV was actually like writing an entirely new novel!

C: I love the alternating POV. I think it keeps it interesting and fresh!

8) Do you have a favorite character from your books?

H: I have a what-if sort of brain…I’m always imagining new possibilities for stories.  The characters who continue to intrigue me, even after the books are written, are the secondary characters that I never really get a chance to explore that much…Angela Frieson from A BLUE SO DARK, for example, or Greg and Todd in PLAYING HURT…

C: I have a completely what-if brain. In my review of Playing Hurt, I talk about the importance of Kenzie and Gabe. Not as secondary as Greg or Todd, but I still think they are secondary and very interesting!

Once again, thanks Holly!! I love your answers!

And here is the tour schedule, so be sure to follow along!

Schedule:
March 31 @ YA BOOKLOVER BLOG
April 1@ YA BOOKLOVER BLOG
*April 15 @ MOONLIGHT GLEAM'S BOOKSHELF
*April 16 @ MOONLIGHT GLEAM'S BOOKSHELF
*April 25 @ EMILIE'S BOOK WORLD
*April 26 @ EMILIE'S BOOK WORLD
* May 6 @ READERS UNITE
*May 7 @ READERS UNITE (giveaway!)