Let's all give a warm welcome to the lovely Ashley Pérez, who is here with us today to talk about herself, her writing, and, of course, her new book What Can't Wait!
_________________________________________________________________
Random Q&A:
What is your favorite word and why?
This is a toss-up between “yes” and “hope.” Both are important to my worldview, which is very much about gratitude as well as living in the now while working for tomorrow. But I guess “hope” wins out because it’s my middle name and helped me get a full scholarship to college. The scholarship coordinator loved that my email address was “highhope84,” and I think she went to bat for me even though there were other students whose résumés were more impressive.
We all have our weaknesses. What is your addiction/obsession/guilty-pleasure?
Ashley’s Obsession = baking. Seriously, when I was in high school in college, I baked almost every night and then gave the cookies away. (The result was the unfortunate nickname, “Cookie Girl.”)
This is a problem because I am constantly striving to make food choices that will ensure that I’ll be around for many years, and cookies are not exactly a longevity-inducing food. Also, I don’t want my son to be obsessed with sweets like I am. So I try to keep it in check.
How does your everyday environment influence who you are?
I try to surround myself with things that remind me of who I want to be. For example, I have a personal mission statement (Be patient. Be peaceful. Be persistent.) up over my desk. [Read my blog post on my mission statement here: http://www.ashleyperez.com/blog/item/48-personal-mission-statement-be-peaceful-be-patient-be-persistent]
Also, weather has a big impact on me. I love the long summer days in Indiana because I feel like I can get so much done and have tons of energy. Winter is a long slog where I keep myself going with lots of tea and dreams of sitting out under the tree in our backyard with our little boy, Liam Miguel.
What is the strangest thing you have ever done? (Please keep this appropriate!)
This takes us back to question one. I got a tattoo with the word “Yes.” This is on my hip so that I can slap it as needed to remind myself to live in the present and be grateful for every single minute of this one life I’ve got.
If you had a t-shirt that could say anything (as in printed on it, sorry, no talking clothes here!), what would it say?
“Buy What Can’t Wait.” And—because this is all make-believe anyway—the t-shirt would also have super powers of influence so that, like the pied piper, I would lead hordes of people to my local bookstore to fulfill their mission. (Cue evil laughter here.)
_________________________________________________________________
the guest blog:
Audience is key to my writing. In fact, I got started writing YA because there was an audience that I cared about—my high school students in Houston. I wanted to see more books that would matter to them on the shelves. (I wrote about diversity on the shelves in a guest post for Diversity in YA here: http://www.diversityinya.com/2011/03/ashley-perez-on-what-cant-wait/)
My students told me about the book they wanted to read; I tried to write it.
But the power of audience goes deeper than just motivating me to begin or even determining the world my characters move in. Ages ago one of my favorite professors, John Trimble, told me to imagine a sympathetic reader, a reader who’d really care about my ideas, and to write for him or her. That advice has paid off big time, and I continue to cling to it. I’ve modified it for myself, though, and I often imagine my job as giving a teen reader a reason to care and to want to read.
As I was writing (and rewriting and rewriting) What Can’t Wait, I did so with specific human beings in mind. Often, these were the students who were hardest to hook into reading. I’d ask myself, “What would make Jonathan Guevara turn the page here? What would get Anthony Michel to stick with me? What would Diana Alvarez think of this scene? How would that last line hit her?”
Imagining the responses of real readers helps me to make decisions. This is a blessing because I am a supremely indecisive person. It also helps me to shut up the critical voices in my head. When my internal editor says things like, “Nobody’s going to want to read this,” I answer back, “Yeah-huh! Alejandra Quijada sooo wants to read it.”
I wrote my second novel, The Knife and the Butterfly (out in 2012), for a group of summer school students who were captivated by a series of articles about a deadly gang fight in Houston. My current project is still top-secret, but I will say that I think about it as the historical novel my Houston students would want to read.
A final word about my audience: I write for teens because of the teens that changed my life—my students. I respect them, so I figure my best writing ought to be for them. I wish for every writer to find an audience as awesome as mine.
P.S. I write with my Houston students in mind, but that doesn’t mean that they’re the only readers who matter to me! I love all my readers—far and near, young and old, Latino or otherwise. It just helps me to visualize a concrete audience. Because I can’t please everybody, I focus on what “my” kids would connect to. So far it seems that What Can’t Wait is finding new audiences for itself.
_________________________________________________________________
Thanks so much Ashley for taking the time to grace us with your presence! I, for one, certainly enjoyed having you here at The Book Muncher.
And don't forget to visit Ashley online at: http://www.ashleyperez.com/.
A lot of people wonder about what it’s like to die, but few actually know. Pierce is one of the people who know because she’s died before. And ever since then, nothing has ever been the same. It seems that mischief and accidents follow Pierce everywhere, and whenever she’s in trouble, he’s there too, John Hayden. Pierce would love more than anything to leave the past behind and even moves away to the isolated Isla Huesos, but whenever John appears, forgetting is close to impossible. Pierce doesn’t know what John wants from her, if he wants anything at all, but there has to be a reason why they keep running into each other when Pierce least expects it but most needs it. Pierce thinks that she just wants to know the truth, but the truth will plunge her into a dangerous world she can never escape from.
Cassel Sharpe’s entire world has been changed now that he knows the truth. After being lied to by his own family and manipulated by the mob, Cassel finally knows who he is—a transformation worker, the most powerful of them all. But what good is all this power when everything else in his life is going awry? Lila, his childhood friend and crush, has been cursed to love him, one of his brothers has been murdered, and the Feds and the mob are each trying to get him to join their side. Between juggling loyalties, the law, and the truth, this may just be the most dangerous game Cassel has ever played. The only question is, will he make it out alive?
Jane, Victoria, and Natalya have been best friends for as long as they can remember. They have their own table at Ga Ga Noodle, matching necklaces, and even a motto: may you always do what you’re afraid of doing. But when the girls start their freshman year at three different high schools around New York City, facing their fears may not be as easy now that each is on her own. The Darlings are finding it hard enough to find the time to get together amidst all of Natalya’s homework, Victoria’s father’s political campaign, and Jane’s drama rehearsals. With so much time apart and feeling alone in scary new settings, the wonderful friendship these girls share starts to fray at the seams. Can Jane, Victoria, and Natalya find out what being a Darling really means and come together again before it’s too late?
Summer is everything for the McGill family. They spend every summer at the beach with the Hathaways, another family, next door. It’s their tradition. But this tradition, no matter how long-lived or strong, may not be enough to keep the family together when there are so many thing that are tearing them apart from the inside out. Even the seemingly silliest things like hair color and girl-next-door Melinda seem to present imaginary dividing lines. They can rarely agree on anything, like what’s best for Gideon, whose deafness presents a myriad of problems, and whether Noah will be home for Chase’s birthday. Four summers can change everything. The only question is what will still remain. 
In a bleak futuristic world, the ambitions of science to create genetically perfect people have caused successive generations to have drastically reduced life spans. Men can’t expect to live past the age of twenty five, and women don’t survive past twenty. In order to ensure the survival of the human race, Gatherers kidnap young girls and sell them to wealthy men. Sixteen-year-old Rhine Ellery is barely making ends meet living with her twin brother, but they’re making do. But against her will, she is taken and forced into a polygamous marriage. Despite the new luxuries lavished upon her, Rhine does not love her husband and can only think of escape, back to her brother and the life she once had. But Rhine’s plans are complicated as she comes to understand her husband and her sister wives and develops a dangerous relationship with a servant. There is too much at stake, but Rhine is willing to risk anything to be free again before she dies here. 
