I have the first TBF Author Interview of the year! No surprise that the first author I interviewed was the one and only Terry Trueman.
A little side note before I get to the interview. My first time coming to TBF, the author who really stuck out was Terry Trueman. He was hilarious and sarcastic. When I met him at the autographing session, I won't lie, I was extremely nervous but Terry was one of the sweetest authors. He definitely reminds me a lot like a cuddly teddy bear.
Miranda Reads: For people who are coming to TBF for the first time, author or fan, what advice would you give him, TBF mascot?
Terry Trueman: I’d advice them NOT to become a TBF author mascot, as a 195 lb, 6’ tall man looks BAD in a tutu, even if it IS a black tutu!
(Honestly, Terry, you rocked that tutu. Don't you guys agree?)
MR: What motivates you to keep on writing?
TT: I generally love to write. I’ve been lucky and blessed enough to get to write only about the things I want to write about. I love it. Motivation is never the problem, the problem is balancing the time I want to spend writing with the time I have to give to what lesser mortals call “a life”.
MR: Out of all the books you wrote, which one was the hardest to write? Which one was the easiest? Why?
TT: Hmmm, good question. HURRICANE required both some research as it was based on a real event in Central American (Hurricane Mitch in Oct 1998) and also it had been so many years since I’d been in Honduras, so I had to go back to old memories--but I wouldn't say it was ‘hard’ just a bit harder than the others. Easiest? Impossible to say but probably LIFE HAPPENS NEXT because I’d had so many years to think about what might happen next in the life of Shawn McDaniel, protagonist of STUCK IN NEUTRAL my first novel.
MR: Let's pretend you're performing in your high school talent show. What's your talent?
TT: Comedy, definitely a comedy routine. I’m pretty funny, at least to myself.
MR: Which author are you most looking forward to meeting at the 10th Annual Greater Rochester Teen Book Festival?
TT: I haven’t looked at the line-up yet but I hear that Amy King (A.S. King) will be back again with her husband Topher and I absolutely adore both of them--I have been at EVERY TBF and have met so many great authors and made so many pals. I tend to gravitate initially towards pretty women and funny guys but I try to never dismiss anyone. I’ve found that most authors, given half a chance will admit to how lucky and blessed we feel and once we start sharing that, the rest comes easily. TBF is great because it gives authors plenty of time to really hang-out together and every Y.A. author wants to be invited and invited back so all of us are on our best behavior--even though James Kennedy’s best behavior is worse than most everyone else’s worst behavior (Hmmm, thinking about that, it’s probably true for me too!) LOL
Thanks Terry! We can't wait to see you in May!
Be sure to check out Terry's books (which you all should have read by now, otherwise Terry will be very disappointed) on his website and follow him on Twitter. Seriously, readers, follow Terry on Twitter.
That's it for today. Here on the TBF blog, we all wish you a Happy Thanksgiving!
Miranda
