Meet Jodi

If you could be any item on Mexican restaurant menu, what would you be and why?

Chicken Quesadilla – Because it’s my favorite, and it’s important to like yourself.

If you were an item of clothing what would you be and why?

A gorgeous pashmina, because it can make a humdrum outfit sublime – plus it can keep your shoulders warm in a pinch.

When's your birthday?

June 10

What quote inspires you most?

There is nothing to writing, all you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed. – Ernest Hemingway

What's a pet peeve you have?

I make a fierce point not to cultivate “pet” peeves (as if being peevish warranted encouragement) for as soon as I pick a particular action to condemn in someone else, it is the nature of the universe that I find myself guilty of the selfsame sin only moments afterward.

Something about you that no one would know just by looking at you?

I was born an old soul, and like Benjamin Button, am intent on aging it in reverse. My children are going to be VERY embarrassed by me; I can't wait. 

Who's your favorite princess and why?

Princess Kate, of course. She’s beautiful, young, and hasn’t had enough time in the public eye to fall down to mere human status yet.

Why do you want to write within the YA genre?

The honesty, the expectation, the quest for experience, the intensity of feeling – what’s not to love?

Which YA book character are you most like? Explain.

Flip from “And Both Were Young” by Madeleine L’Engle. Flip suffers most because of her own insularity. Growing up for her is largely defined by letting other people – flawed as they might be – into her world. I wish I’d had someone to guide me through the maze of young adulthood as she did.

Plotter or Panster?

I really want to be a plotter. I think you wind up with a stronger story that way. But I also believe you should listen to the character. I do NOT believe you can force a story to happen the way you think it should.

What do you like to do when you get stuck while writing to help work through it?

I take a break. Do something mindless and let my subconscious help out. But man…do I love Twitter. I’m gonna need a 12 step program soon.

Was there a specific book you read that inspired you to start writing?

To Kill A Mockingbird. Every wannabe writer in the entire state of Alabama has, at some point, wanted to be Harper Lee.

What is your single most favorite thing (feel free to be as vague as you like) about you're current WIP?

I love, love, love my flawed Main Character. I want things to work out for her!

What book from childhood do you most wish you had written? What book from the past year?

Where the Sidewalk Ends because I really admire poetry with mass appeal.

There are SO many good ones to choose from but probably Lola and the Boy Next door by Stephanie Perkins or Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols.

Two truths and one lie about yourself.

I am a crochet/knitting savant.

I am the baby of my family and have the self-centeredness to prove it.

I re-started my nanowrimobook on Nov. 18 but am going to win by the end of Nov.