#TSOLG Paperback Palooza: Five Random Questions with Kat Yeh

Kat, letting go in the sun! 

To celebrate the paperback release of THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO on March 31st, I'm super excited to announce that I am hosting a reading and writing (!!) Author Palooza at the Huntington Public Library on April 19th, 2015.

Several other amazing kidlit, MG and young adult authors will be joining me for the fun and hands-on writers workshop, and I thought it would be nice to get to know them -- and me -- a little in the weeks leading up to the event. 

You may read all about the event HERE on the facebook event page, and even if you can't come to the event live, please join the event page and follow along in the fun.


So, on to the getting-to-know-them part of the festivities... 

I've asked the guest authors to share their favorite piece of writing advice (or quotes that have helped or inspired them) as well as to answer five random questions from a big list I provided. Many of their answers are quite entertaining! You'll see! 

So, over the next several weeks, I will share their answers (and may even chime in with my own answer to the occasional question in pink ...)

Adorable Kat. 

Up today, guest author Kat Yeh, author of the brand spanking new THE TRUTH ABOUT TWINKIE PIE which Kirkus Reviews called ". . . stuffed with charm."

You can read all about Kat HERE. 

I asked Kat to share her favorite piece of writing advice and she said,

"Write the book only You can write. I can't remember who said that - maybe a lot of people have, but it makes such complete sense. Why would you ever want to write as someone else? Only you can say and write and express that which is completely and utterly You."

Now on to Five Random Questions with Kat Yeh...

1. What did you want to be when you grew up? 

Why a writer of course. And an artist. I think as long as I'm using creative energy, I'm happy.

  

 (so, then, apparently, I'm one of the few who didn't know I wanted to BE a writer from an early age. I mean, I loved to write, always, but never dreamed I could be a writer... some of the other realistic and unrealistic things *I wanted to be when I grew up in likely order of appearance: an olympic gymnast [silver medalist not gold, not because i was realistic, but because i preferred the look of silver jewelry over gold...]; a broadway actress ["it's a hard knock life..."]; a medical examiner ["I'm Quincy, dammit!"]; an entertainment manager, and a lawyer... which i went with. )

2. What's the grossest thing you ever ate?
  
Sea Cucumber. I was very young and I thought it was going to be some sort of underwater vegetable (makes sense right?) - and NOT a sea slug whose defense in the underwater world is to turn itself inside out, revealing its innards, and making itself so repulsive that no creature would consider eating it. Except of course, humans.

3. Worst job you ever had?

During my freelance writing days, a friend hired me to write copy on a consumer pamphlet. It turned out to be for Lysol and on How To Clean A Toilet. For someone deeply wanting to connect and express myself creatively, it was a definite low. 

4. Which one book do you wish YOU wrote?

The Folk Keeper by Franny Billingsley

5. Besides writing, what's one superpower you wish you had? 

Obviously, the ability to spread peace and kindness and empathy.

So, there you have it. . . some advice and a few random things about Kat Yeh. Hope you'll check out all her books, and if you're anywhere local, you'll join us at the Huntington Public Library on April 19th for the reading, book signing and, if you're a tween or teen writer, the hands-on writers workshop with all these fabulous authors! Registration begins April 6th! And don't forget to preorder a paperback copy of THE SUMMER OF LETTING GO. 

Just a bunch of authors waiting for Summer.

xox gae