Friday Fifteen: Gwendolyn Zepeda

It’s the Friday Fifteen! Today’s guest is blogger extraordinaire and author Gwendolyn Zepeda. I found out about Gwen’s new kids’ book on her web site, Gwen’s Petty, Judgmental, Evil Thoughts – caution, the site is really not for kids.

Now onto the Fifteen:

1. Where are you now?

I can’t say, because I’m not supposed to be doing this here.

2. What were your favorite books as a kid?

A Wrinkle in Time, the whole Dark is Rising series, Julie of the Wolves, and all the other Newberry Award stuff our teachers gave us. Both Alice in Wonderland books. Peter Pan. Little Women.

3. What are you reading now?

Love in the Time of Cholera, and a million billion magazines about redecorating one’s home for cheap.

4. Do you have kids?

I have three gigantic sons, ages 15, 13, and 10.

5. What projects are you working on now?

I’m about to start writing my second novel for Grand Central Publishing. It’s due in eleven months, so that’ll take up most of my writing time this year. If I can, though, I’d like to squeeze in another kids’ book this year, too.

6. What is your biggest writing or illustrating luxury?

Time alone! Time alone, for me, is like salt to the Romans back in the old days. It’s worth the same as gold, and it’s really hard to come by.

7. Coffee or tea?

Green tea is good; lattes are better.

8. Name five artists on your iPod (or mp3 player).

How about I tell you the last five artists I played in my minivan? James Holden, Bebel Gilberto, the Bravery, Adam and the Ants, and Sasha.

9. What would I be surprised to know about you?

That I’m not afraid of doing readings or signings, but I dread going to receptions and networking functions, almost to the point of physical illness.

10. What college did you attend (in what subject)?

I went to the University of Texas, in Austin, for three and a half years and my major was English for most of that time.

11. If you weren’t working with kids’ books, what would your dream job be?

Lead singer for a rock band that’s big in Japan.

12. What’s the best thing on TV right now?

Battlestar Galactica. Or it will be, if Season 4 ever begins.

13. How did you get your “big break” into the field?

Children’s book writing? I had already published my first grown-up book, a short fiction collection for Arte Publico Press. My publisher asked me to speak at an academic conference. When I showed up for it, I paid for parking, paid the conference fee, then found that they’d changed the time of my reading without telling me. So I’d missed my own reading and was out $85.

I decided to stick around for a while and talk with Arte Publico’s Assistant Director. We got onto the subject of their children’s book imprint, and I confided in her that my secret ambition was writing kids’ books, but that I knew there was a lot of competition in the field, so I planned to use my adult fiction as a foot in the door, eventually.

She said, “Do you have a children’s story written? Because we could really use something good right now. Why don’t you submit yours?”

So I went home and wrote the book I’d been carrying around in my head. I submitted it, they accepted it, and now I write fiction for kids. I always say that was the best $85 I ever spent.

14. Which celeb would you want most to meet?

I know everyone else says Oprah, so I’ll tell you my second choice: Anthony Bourdain, the chef, author and star of Travel Channel’s No Reservations. He seems like a really cool guy because he has this caustic wit, and yet he’s always open to new experiences and exploring different cultures. If we met in Houston, I’d take him to one of my favorite restaurants. If we anywhere else on Earth, he could take me to one of his.

15. Who is the best book character EVER?

The good thing about books is that there’s a different best character for everyone in the world. When I was a kid, the best one for me was Jo March, of Little Women. She was the first person in fiction to show me that I could continue being headstrong, outspoken, and unladylike, and still have a shot at happiness and success.

Thanks, Gwen! You can find out more about Gwen at her web site and be sure to check out her new book, Growing Up with Tamales, out May 2008 and available to pre-order from Amazon.com.