Debut Author Interviews

Judy Gregerson is the author of Bad Girls Club (Blooming Tree Press, Spring 2007)

• Judy Gregerson on...First Novels
• Judy Gregerson on...Other Careers
• Judy Gregerson on...After-Sale Revisions
• Judy Gregerson on...Promotion
• Judy Gregerson on...Training
• Judy Gregerson on...Why Kids?
• Judy Gregerson on...Ideal Reader
• Judy Gregerson on...Character and Self
• Judy Gregerson on...Impact on Readers
• Judy Gregerson on...Why Write?
• Judy Gregerson on...Favorite Teacher
• Judy Gregerson on...Book Memory
• Judy Gregerson on...Website
• Judy Gregerson on...Cover Art
• Judy Gregerson on...Character's Conflict
• Judy Gregerson on...Actor for Character
• Judy Gregerson on...Family Appreciation
• Judy Gregerson on...Completion

Was this the first full-length novel you wrote, or rather the first that you sold?

My novel, BAD GIRLS CLUB is probably my third or fourth novel. My first one was really bad and I don’t think it will ever see the light of day. The second one is equally bad, but does have some ideas in it that I’d like to explore in the future. I published a nonfiction book before I sold my novel, so publishing isn’t new to me.

What career would you pursue if you weren’t a writer?

I have always worked in some form of sales and marketing and I really enjoy it. I don’t write full time anymore because I like being out and about and especially like working with the public. If I could combine my knowledge of the publishing business with my sales and marketing experience, my dream job would be as a book publicist.

How much revision did you do AFTER you sold your book to your publisher?

My editor didn’t give me a huge revision but she did want some changes on the beginning and some on the end. And there were some things that I wanted to change, so I threw that into the revision. I worked on the book for about four months and was pretty sick of it when I was done.

What is your plan to get the word out to the public about your book?

There’s so much to do to promote my book. But I’ll start with this:

1. I have a website.
2. I have a myspace.
3. I’m working with a publicist on a marketing strategy.
4. I’ll contact local media, libraries, bookstores, etc and then work out to a larger and larger area.
5. I’m going to work on getting speaking engagements at conferences.
6. Mailings, mailing, mailings!!
7. Bribe all family and friends to buy my book.
8. Bribe others to talk it up.

What writing training have you had?

Boy, I had a lot of writing training but I don’t know that any of it applied to fiction. I was once a newspaper copy editor. I wrote brochures and direct mail to promote concerts at Carnegie Hall. I worked at an advertising agency and wrote copy for my clients. There was also a mail order catalog that I worked for and I did national and local copy for those. At one point in my life, I wrote a lot of promotional pieces. And in college I took feature writing.

I think that all of that helps you develop a style, but writing fiction requires so much more. So, I learned by doing it and by writing a lot of bad books before I hit on one that really worked.

Why write for children and teens?

Seventeen was a very magical year for me. It was the year that I realized that I wasn’t a kid anymore. It’s the year I realized that I had a dream for my life. And it was the year that I first felt fully human and free.

When I write anything serious, I always find myself writing about an almost seventeen-year-old girl who is about to embark on that journey of discovering herself. No matter how I try, I can’t escape this age and I am brought back to it again and again.

I’m stuck at seventeen and I don’t know that I’ll ever get past it!

If you had an ideal reader, who would that be and why?

My ideal reader is someone who thinks and feels deeply, has survived some kind of loss (whether large or small), and knows what it means to fight against all odds and win. Even if what he won wasn’t tangible to anyone but himself. My reader also questions authority, believes s/he’s an individual, and questions the universe about why certain things happen.

Is your main character like yourself?

My main character has many of the same qualities I had as a teen. She’s perceptive, has a love of the truth, and feels very deeply. I think that writers often draw from what they know, but building a well-rounded character to fit into your story requires a lot of creative thinking! And that’s the real fun in story writing.

What should readers get from your book?

I want my readers to come away from my book with the understanding that they have great worth. I know there are many teens out there who face extreme family circumstances, like my main character. They feel like their lives are hanging in the balance every day and they don’t know how they’re going to get through. I want teens to know that if they develop a love for the truth and are willing to cultivate hope, they can get through anything, no matter how hard.

I also want them to think about considering the cost before they sacrifice themselves by denying what they know is true.

Why do you write?

I write because I have something to say that I think others need to hear. The problem with that is that when I don’t have something to say, I don’t write. I often wish that I was like a lot of writers I know who can just sit down and write a story because they like to write stories. I’d probably be more prolific if I saw writing as something other than a way to tell the world something I believe they need to hear.

Describe your favorite teacher when you were your protagonist’s age.

I had this goofy looking Current Events teacher my senior year. He was a short, bald guy with a little beard. He made us read the NY Times weekly news roundup and he taught us about the Vietnam War. I think I liked him because he knew how to laugh.

What is your earliest book memory?

Two books stand out to me. My third grade teacher read a chapter of Charlotte’s Web every week and I remember sitting at my desk and taking in every word as if they were the most precious commodities on earth. I was captured, enthralled and sold on the idea that one day I would write stories like that. When I was ten, I found a book in the public library by Carl Sandburg on Abraham Lincoln. I remember that the librarian picked it out for me and I enjoyed it more than any book I’d read in a very long time.

As a young child, my mother read to me from Brer Rabbit and when my sister was old enough to read, we’d sit down and go through the book together and laugh like crazy about Brer Rabbit and the Tar Baby.

Do you have a website for your book? How did you handle setting it up?

I have a website that is hosted by the Authors Guild. I looked around at a few places and I didn’t want to code it myself or use a html editor, so the AG was a good choice for me. It is easy to navigate, easy to make changes, and looks really good.

www.judygregerson.com

Did the art director read your entire book to get inspiration for the cover?

Yes, the art director did read my book. When she was done, she contacted me and we talked about ideas. I had a concept that I liked a lot and she agreed that it would be very compelling. She went to work on it, came up with a couple of versions, and we all (editor, publisher, art director, and me) decided on the final cover. And it’s my original concept.

The nice thing about a small press is that you can have that kind of input. I’m thrilled with my cover and what makes it even MORE fun is that both my kids are on it!

What drew you to the conflict you created for your main character?

My story is about a girl who has given up everything to save her mentally ill and abusive mother and her little sister. But she makes the mistake of giving up her soul and losing her perspective on the value of her life and believing the lie that she’s a “bad girl”. I really relate to that issue because I think there are so many kids who are told they’re “bad” and they’re really not. They’re just suffering because of problems at home like abuse, alcoholism, drug use, or abandonment, etc.

I wanted to be able to speak to those kids and to those who know them by saying, “Look, here’s a kid who goes through this horrible time. She makes some bad choices. But she makes them for the right reason, even though they’re the worst possible things she could do.”

Mostly, I wanted to give a voice to the kids who hide what goes on in some homes (their own) because I was one of those kids and it would have helped me to know that I wasn’t alone.

Who would play your book character in a movie?

I haven’t spent much time thinking about that, so I have no idea. What I did think about was music for a movie score and I really, really like David Gray’s stuff, so I spent most of my time imagining his songs as background music for my book.

Now that you’re under contract, does your family better appreciate your writing?

Well, my husband used to call me “Back of the Head” because that’s all he saw of me when I was writing. Although I loved the name, I don’t keep those long writing hours anymore and I’m back to my real name. My kids hardly remember a time when I didn’t write and they think it’s kind of cool to have a mom who’s a writer. I don’t know that any of my family have a greater appreciation of me or my work, but I know that they’re very proud of me and they have a lot of faith in my book. Both of my daughters are writers, so maybe they’ll follow in my footsteps. Right now, though, it’s not hip to do what mom does. As to the rest of my extended family—they just want free copies of my book!

How did you know you were “done” with your book and ready to submit it?

I knew I was finally, forever done with my book when I was so sick of it that I wanted to throw up. I actually begged my publisher not to ask for any more changes because I was sure I’d become sick and die if I had to rework another sentence.