Interview: YA Author Elizabeth Eulberg

Interview with Elizabeth Eulberg

YA Author

Elizabeth Eulberg is a sweet and FUN (I've had the honor of hanging with her a couple times) YA Contemporary author. I first contacted her when her first novel came out and we soon discovered we shared a mutual love of music! (*cough* More specifically Snow Patrol/Gary Lightbody.) I highly recommend Elizabeth's smart and funny novels. 

Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality, 

Elizabeth's 4th novel, releases Friday March 1st 

and I can't wait to get my hands on it!

Read on to see how music influences Elizabeth's life and writing.


1. For those who don't know, what category and genre do you write? What are the titles of your published novels?

I write contemporary fiction for teens: The Lonely Hearts Club, Prom & Prejudice, Take a Bow, and my latest book is Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality.

2. Do you listen to music *while* you write or do you need it silent? What musicians/bands/tracks inspired your novels? Do you have playlists for your individual books? Will you share some tunes or part of your playlists?

I have to listen to music while I write. I generally listen to more quieter and familiar music so it doesn't distract me too much: Arcade Fire, Bon Iver, Ed Sheeran, Snow Patrol, Ingrid Michaelson, Death Cab for Cutie, Of Monsters and Men, Blind Pilot, etc. If I need to write a really aggressive or silly scene, I'll pump up with Matt & Kim, Kelly Clarkson, or some good 80s tunes.

The only books that I have a playlist for is my first novel, The Lonely Hearts Club. That book was heavily inspired by the Beatles so I only listened to the Beatles while writing that (and won't listen to them if I'm writing anything else as I connect them so much to that main character's voice). These songs really mirror the book a lot:
Yesterday
Get Back
Two of Us
We Can Work It Out
Come Together
Getting Better
Do You Want to Know a Secret?
Revolution
If I Fell
Don't Bother Me
You've Got to Hide Your Love Away
I'm So Tired
You Can't Do That
I'll Be Back
Help!
With a Little Help From My Friends
Things We Said Today
From Me to You
Here Comes the Sun

3. When do you listen to music? Does your taste in music change depending on the activity?

I listen to music all the time. Even if I'm walking two blocks, i need to have my headphones on. I generally listen to more indie rock bands, but if I'm working out I'm all about pop: Kelly Clarkson, Rihanna, Taylor Swift, Pink...I go to sleep to the radio, I have music on during my work day. The only time I don't listen to music is when I'm reading it distract me too much.

4. Do you have a musical background? Are you currently involved with something musical? Do you attend concerts or other musical events?

I started playing the piano when I was five, clarinet when I was ten, drums in high school, and guitar a few years ago. I love music. I wish I was in a band, but instead I go to a ton of concerts (40 last year alone). I'm really lucky I live in NYC and have so many bands come near me.

5. We may be able to tell all ready, but who are some your favorite musicians/bands? Have you met any musicians/bands?

Snow Patrol, fun., Kelly Clarkson, Phoenix, Death Cab for Cutie, The Swell Season, Ingrid Michaelson, Mumfort and Sons, Of Monsters and Mend, Ed Sheeran, and so many more! I've been really lucky and got to meet Snow Patrol a few times, Kelly Clarkson, New Kids on the Block, and am friends with Market Irglova of The Swell Season. I have so much respect for musicians, it's not an easy job and takes a lot of work and dedication (just like writing).

6. What tracks/bands own your iPod right now?

I've been listening to Of Monsters and Men and fun.'s albums on repeat constantly. Also when I'm walking around I've been into Taylor Swift's Red album. I usually am listening to whatever band I'm seeing next in concert which is Tegan and Sara.

7. Can you tell us about your newest novel?

Yes! Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality is coming out March 1st and is about a girl whose younger sister is in the beauty pageant world. So Lexi is seen as the "smart" and "clever" sister while Mackenzie is the "pretty" one - so Lexi decides to take matters into her own hands. I wrote the majority of this book in 2011 so I listened to a lot of Death Cab, Blind Pilot, Boxer Rebellion, Adele, The Decemberists, etc. This was my first book that didn't have a music focus so I don't remember specific songs or artists that hugely inspired the story. 

Elizabeth Eulberg was born and raised in Wisconsin before heading off to college at Syracuse University and making a career in the New York City book biz. Now a full-time writer, she is the author of The Lonely Hearts Club, Prom & Prejudice, Take aBow, and Revenge of the Girl with the Great Personality. She loves outside of Manhattan with her three guitars, two keyboards, and one drumstick. 


A HUGE thank you to Elizabeth for making time for this interview! xoxo
                                                                                             Tonya
           PS I'm beyond jealous that Elizabeth's met Gary Lightbody - more than once!

Interview: Jennifer A. Nielsen

With author Jennifer A. Nielsen's second book in The Ascendance Trilogy, "The Runaway King",  hitting the shelves this Friday, I thought it would be a perfect time to chat with her about the role of music in her life, and how it has impacted her writing.

1. What is your favorite band/artist and why?
That’s so hard to answer! I’m listening to a lot of Mumford and Sons right now. I’m not super loyal to any one group though. I might like one song and play it nearly on a loop, but not connect to any of the band’s other songs.

2. If we were to peek at your iPod, what bands/artists would we see the most of?

I actually just did peek at it and decided my tastes are pretty diverse. I have four main playlists: soundtracks, musicals, writing music, and listening music. Of the latter, I’m all over the map for music choices. My top ten listens include Coldplay, Mumford and Sons, Eddie Vedder, U2, Snow Patrol, Simon and Garfunkel, and Linkin Park.

3.  Do you own any vinyl?

No, but I have great memories of huddling around a record player as a child and listening to my mom’s albums. As clean as the sound can be for music these days, nothing replaces the memories I associate with the needle on vinyl.

4.  Do you listen to music when you write?

I mentioned having a playlist just for writing. It’s pretty inconspicuous music, no lyrics, so it can just meld into the scenes as I work on them. T.J. Morgan is my current favorite artist to write to, but I also write to the soundtracks for Last of the Mohicans and Chronicles of Narnia. In my mind, when the new king is crowned in the end scene of The False Prince, music is playing from The Chronicles of Narnia.

5. What is your special connection to Eddie Vedder from Pearl Jam? 

My husband actually introduced me to Eddie Vedder’s solo album for Into the Wild. I was immediately hooked on the music, but one song on that album became life changing. Guaranteed has a line in it that says, “I knew all the rules, but the rules did not know me, guaranteed.” At the time, I was working on a story idea but couldn’t quite pull it together. I felt the attitude of the song’s narrator was exactly the type of character my story needed. That story became THE FALSE PRINCE. Another song on that same album, Rise, had a big impact on the book’s sequel, THE RUNAWAY KING. Those who read the book and listen to the lyrics of that song should have no problem seeing the connection. Rise is actually my ringtone right now.

6.  Do your musical interests have a direct impact on your writing?

Very much so, I think. There are certain songs that hit me so strong I know they’re going to form a story one day (Run by Snow Patrol, for example), or that almost turn into movie trailers for me where I can close my eyes as I listen and see certain scenes from the book play out visually (Clocks by Coldplay). Music, in fact, probably has a stronger external influence on what enters my writing than anything else I might be exposed to.

7.  What did you listen to while you wrote the sequel to The False Prince, The Runaway King? 

The strongest musical influences for THE RUNAWAY KING probably came from Eddie Vedder’s Rise, What I’ve Done by Linkin Park, Chasing Cars by Snow Patrol, and Roll Away Your Stone by Mumford and Sons. For the latter, there is one verse in particular that stuck with me throughout the writing:

It seems that all my bridges have been burnt,

But you say that’s exactly how this grace thing works.

It’s not the long walk home that will change this heart,

But the welcome I receive with the restart.

8. Is there a concert you will never forget?

This is my horrifying confession – I have actually never been to a concert. (Long pause while your readers pick themselves up off the floor.) I have no excuse for it – it’s just something I’ve never done.

9.  Is there a band/artist you wish you could have seen?

Which makes this a perfect follow-up question. Someone recently told me about having been at an Eddie Vedder concert where he played some of his Into the Wild songs and they said it was an unreal experience. Maybe if he does another tour, I think his would be the place where I would love to repent for Question #8.

10. Have you ever found a song you just couldn’t stop listening to?

All the time! And if I love a song, I won’t quit listening until I’ve memorized the lyrics because then I can replay it in my head even when I can’t hear the music. That current most obsessive song for me is Carry On by Fun.

11. Do you like listening to mixes of various artists, or full albums?

For rock music, I rarely listen to a full album, and if I do, that is true love. But I almost always do full albums for soundtracks and new age stuff. But there are a few albums I really enjoy – for example, even though it’s been around for a while, I don’t think there’s a single song on U2’s Joshua Tree album that I don’t like, and several that are all-time favorite songs.

12. Is there a songwriter you wish you could write with?

Ooh, what a cool question! Yeah, in a perfect world, I would love to write something with Muse. Their stuff is so different from most of what’s out there, and there’s so much depth in their lyrics, I think even if they only let me sit in a corner and watch their process, it would be a fascinating experience.

13.  Are there any bands/artists that you would like to recommend to everyone? 

I think Grouplove has put out some interesting and unique songs recently. Their Colours is so different, it’s worth hearing just to see how it’s put together. I’ve also just discovered Agnes Obel and she’s quickly rising as a favorite singer when I want something more ethereal to listen to.

14.  Is there a band/artist today you think Sage, your MC in The Ascendance Trilogy, would enjoy? 

Hmmm. I think a modern day Sage would be a music guy. I don’t know about specific groups, but he likes to dance and I think he’d prefer music he can move to. Also, having created him, I’m going to endow him with an innate love for REM. Just because I can.

15. Do you have a favorite album cover?

I love the self-titled album cover from The Airborne Toxic Event (2009). It’s spare, beautiful, and tells a story in itself.

THE GIVEAWAY!
This week, Jennifer has graciously offered all of our readers a chance to win a SIGNED, I repeat, SIGNED hardcover copy of "The Runaway King", the sequel to one of my favorite reads of 2012 "The False Prince". If you aren't the lucky one to win, or just can't wait, "The Runaway King" hits store shelves this Friday and can be purchased at any local indie-book store, or through Amazon, or Barnes & Noble. If you want to connect with Jennifer about the Trilogy or her previous books, you can visit her on her website, Twitter, or on Facebook . 

Jay Spencer is a MG/YA writer, Visual Art teacher, music blogger, an extremely tall husband, and father to two amazing kids. If not at the rink or on the court with his young kids, he would gladly talk to you about any genre or decade of music, and anything Marvel or Star Wars.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Now we know Jennifer chose Muse as someone she would love to collaborate with, what about you? Leave a comment below, we'd love to know. 

Influences: Let's Be Honest

What is the deal with people and influences anyway?  None of us are very honest about who and what has influenced us.  I mean, come on, think about the last time someone asked you who your influences are.  What did you come up with?  Let me guess, you didn't include your addiction to celebrity gossip magazines?  Did you mention that you read that blog about kittens?  No, of course you didn't.  You went on and on and on about how moved you were the first time you read Tolstoy.  You've read "As I Lay Dying" by Faulkner too many times to count and are still blown away by his experimentation with point-of-view.  Baloney.  Okay, a few of you might actually pass the test and do count every single important work of fiction as the backbone of your own writing process.  Great.  I commend you for your efforts.  The rest of us are lying.  Wait, I don't want to cause a fight.  You aren't liars.  Basically, when I say that all the most significant themes in my writing can be traced back to Keats, I'm lying.

We do the same thing with music.  If someone were to sit down and ask me about my influences you can bet the farm that I'm not going to say Hanna-Barbera's live-action costume show "The Banana Splits".  Still, if I think back on how UNBELIEVABLY AWESOME I used to think the musical performances on that show were when I was but a wee lad, they have to be considered an influence.  It also must be considered that I spent much of my youth apparently on acid or sugar-stoned on Cap'n Crunch:

So, do I ever tell anyone (other than you...because you're just that special) that The Banana Splits were a huge musical influence in my life?  No.  Instead, I will, of course, protect my pride and say that I was influenced by the Sex Pistols, The Smiths, Prince, REM, The Doors, Radiohead, the Arcade Fire, etc.  Don't get me wrong.  I love those bands and they have all shaped who I am.  They can certainly claim to be my musical influences.  But where then do I put Slade or the Butthole Surfers?  On the book front, I can do the same.  I love Faulkner to death.  I am, actually, quite blown away by his experimentation with point-of-view in As I Lay Dying even if I mocked people for doing so...oh...about two paragraphs ago.  It's groundbreaking.  But, if I'm going to be honest, my greatest influences came from the dog-eared pages of comic books and Mad Magazine.  So, I thought that I might travel back through time and match up my influences based on what I can remember from different time periods in my life.  This is not to be an exercise in cool though.  I certainly wasn't listening to the Sex Pistols when they formed back in 1975.  I was four-years-old and I had no way of minding or neverminding the bollocks even if I wanted to.  So, I think that I'll narrow it down to the decades of my life.  I'll try to be truthful even when my music-ego starts to get a little uneasy.  It's about honesty.  Right?  Let's go.

The 1970s

My first real musical influences, beyond that of the musical guests on the Muppet Show, were the result of my father's purchase of a new car.  It was an Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme and it had, of all things, a cassette tape player.  Our family's first car was a little Honda hatchback and it only had an AM radio and I grew up listening to what rural AM radio had to offer.  I, for example, did not know at the time what an "Afternoon Delight" was and the Captain and Tennille were regular favorites of mine (I said I was going to be honest.  Yes?).  Once my dad made the car upgrade, he also started purchasing tapes on a regular basis.  He had a little brown faux-leather tape case and it was filled with cassettes.  He had the Doobie Brothers in there.  Chuck Mangione.  He had some Donna Summer.  But, one duo stands out:  Hall and Oates.  I have grown to love Hall and Oates.  Their songs remind me of what my life was like before my parents got divorced.  I sometimes wish it had stayed that way.  Oh, mom and dad, say it isn't so (it isn't so...so...so):

As to books from the 70s, I'm going to have to go with the first book I ever remember picking out at a bookstore, paying for with my own money, and bringing home to read.  I'm sure I bought other books.  I remember my room being nearly filled to over-flowing with books.  But, this one stands out for some reason.  I give you:

The 1980s

So, before I get started on the 80s, you have to understand that this is a pretty massive developmental time-period for me.  I began the 80s as a wide-eyed nine-year-old.  I ended it as a a young-man about to head off to college.  Still, on the book front, my strongest influence was an easy one.  There has, nor may there ever be, a book that has had a greater influence on my life than this one:

Honestly, this book made me write my first serious short-stories in fifth grade.  I became a Dungeons and Dragons nut because of this book.  I drew dragons and elves and dwarves and goblins within the margins of my notebooks from middle-school, up through high-school, into college, and, if I'm honest, into staff meetings here in the present.  Let me sum things up with a confession:  I cried during the movie-version of Return of the King when the Riders of Rohan came up over the crest and charged down into the Orc army's flank.  I literally wept during that scene.  That's an influence.

As to music, I guess it is time for some honesty.  It'd be cooler to say The Clash or Jane's Addiction or The Smiths or The Pogues or some other suitably acceptable band for the serious music fan.  Hell, I could earn some serious street-cred by telling you that I was an early-adopter of rap music (which I was). I'd be lying though if I claimed any of them as my most significant influence.  I never would have discovered those bands above if I hadn't discovered someone else first.  I can remember the moment quite clearly.  It was the early 80s and my local cable provider expanded their channel offering from ten channels to twenty.  One of those channels was MTV and it made my mind blow up in a way that can only happen when a small-town boy is exposed in a single moment to the rest of the world.  It was because of MTV that this happened:

Sadly (and so very un-metal), you can't watch one of their videos here on our blog.  You can, however, run off to YouTube and watch it there.  Just promise that you'll come back.

Oh, sweet hair metal, you don't know how much I owe you.  Let me just explain one thing first, I freaking LOVED Motley Crue.  I wrote their name on my backpack.  I drew pentagrams on my school notebooks.  I wanted to be Nikki Sixx.  I wore their t-shirts.  I wanted to go home-sweet-home just like EVERYONE else in the 80s did.  Today, I wouldn't come within ten feet of so much hairspray.  But, why might they then be one of my greatest influences?  Even if they were responsible for lesser hair-metal bands?  (I'm talking to you White Lion!)  Well, let's put it like this:  Motley Crue helped me to discover The Cult who beget Jane's Addiction who beget Nirvana who beget Pearl Jam...you get the idea.  If I hadn't discovered Motley Crue, I would probably have ended up listening to, excuse me while I throw up a little, Loverboy or Foreigner or Air Supply or even (gulp) Styx for the majority of my middle and high-school years.  Domo arigato, Mr. Roboto indeed!  Oh my, I don't even want to think about it.  I probably would have bought a Richard Marx album, too.  Oh, the humanity.  Also, being that honesty was what I promised, I still love Motley Crue.  Shout at the devil, baby.

The 1990s

Okay, finally, I've made it to the years when I became really, really cool when it came to music.  The 90s also happen to be when I became really serious about reading.  I don't want to give the wrong impression.  I wasn't reading a lot.  Okay.  I was reading a lot but not as much as I should have been.  I was reading serious books and I mean for that to sound just as arrogant as it does.  I was in college studying literature and writing.  I was reading Ulysses and Mrs. Dalloway.  One of my professors got me hooked on the short-stories of Anton Chekov.  I spent my weekends with my nose buried in Isben.  Yeah, I was that guy.  I wasn't really cool with popular fiction at the time.  Looking back, I was a tool.  Okay, I shouldn't be so harsh on myself.  I was only being a tool because my professors were insisting that, if I were going to be a serious writer, that I had to be reading that stuff.  I've come to understand that they were wrong.  I hold them personally responsible for how long it took me to pick up the first Harry Potter book.  I did though have comics to fall back on.  Graphic novels became my thing.  I was all over them.  One series of comics really stood out for me and I still hold the author in ridiculously high-esteem:

Now, so far as music goes, the 1990s were my moment to shine.  I was a deejay at my college radio station and I had access to tons and tons and tons of new music.  It became a matter of pride to discover new bands and expose my peers to them.  I relished it and I still take great joy in doing so today.  I could go on for days about the bands that influenced me during that decade.  Nirvana.  Radiohead. Alice in Chains. Soundgarden. The Screaming Trees. Smashing Pumpkins. Nine Inch Nails.  Rage Against the Machine. Beck.  PJ Harvey. Still, only one band took the throne.  Pearl Jam.  I know that their albums are sometimes hit-or-miss.  The war they waged against Ticketmaster didn't exactly make them easy to see live.  But, from the first moment I saw the grainy video for "Alive" and I watched Eddie Vedder climb up into the balcony and dive down into the waiting arms of an enamored audience, I was theirs.  I've come to grow into the realization that Pearl Jam have become something more than a band for me.  They represent my own movement through time. They grow with me.  They've had children and started families.  I've done that, too.  It's a little fanboy of me but I sincerely feel like we share something together.  We have a relationship together.  Their frontman could put out an album of ukulele songs and I'd be right there with them.  Oh, wait....right.  Anyway, you can forget Phish.  The greatest touring band on Earth are Pearl Jam.  Honestly, does anyone do it better?

The 2000s

The first decade of the new century.  Musically, this one is really, really, really easy.  In trying to think of a band that has really meant something to me, it was very clear.  I considered briefly going with My Morning Jacket.  I love them.  I've seen them live more than any other band including Mr. Vedder and his gang of ruffians.  Still, while MMJ soar and ride around on these massive spectacles of grandiose southern-fried experimentation (I do consider them America's only real challenger to Radiohead), they didn't give me, in the past decade, what I got from Arcade Fire.  Maybe I discovered My Morning Jacket too late.  My first contact with them came from the album "Z".  In the meantime, Arcade Fire had me from the very first moments of The Funeral and they haven't let me go since.  I have never felt more exhilarated by the promise of a live performance than I did the first time I drove up to Montreal to see them live.  I was giddy.  Finally, with Pearl Jam and the Arcade Fire, we've reached the place where who I believe I am musically lines up with who I really am.

When it comes to books, my influences shift their focus.  I've tried to become very deliberate with how I live my life.  I spend my money on the people and products that have proven they stand for the same things I do. I have never had a more direct correlation between a book that I read and the changes I made in my own life than I did after reading Eric Schlosser's Fast Food Nation.  I remember the night very clearly when I finished that book.  I was lying in bed and I turned to my wife and said "I'm never eating fast food again."  I haven't.  It was over.  I later read Michael Pollan's Ominivore's Dilemma which only solidified the choices I had made.  But it all started with Eric Schlosser and, being that Big Macs used to be one of my most-guilty of pleasures, I have to say that's quite an influence.

I'm not sure what is coming next.  We never do.  I wonder though if any of the bands that I'm currently in love with will go the distance and be considered an influence in-and-of-themselves.  I currently love the music being put out by Fleet Foxes, The Lumineers, Japandroids, and the Black Keys (to name only a few). When this decade is over, will I look back on them or will they be surpassed by a band that hasn't even cut an album yet?  I don't know.  But it will certainly be fun to find out.

As far as book-related influences go, I feel like my greatest influences come from my amazing CPs and a band of beta readers that I've been lucky enough to join forces with.  Honestly, is there anything more influential than knowing that you aren't in this thing alone?  Is Jonathan Franzen reminding me on Twitter to keep moving forward with my re-write?  No.  Does Suzanne Collins send me emails that push me to be more demanding on my own work?  To move my writing from okay to great?  No.  Did JK Rowling just tell me to keep my chin-up after one more rejection?  Not that I noticed.  How can I call them influences then?

So, don't leave me hanging people.  We're all friends here.  Give it to me straight, who are your influences (especially the ones you don't want to admit...somebody had to buy all those Milli Vanilli albums)?

Paul Adams spends his time in the wilds of Vermont fighting bears to protect his wife and two kids.  He teaches high school English, writes MG/YA stories, embarrasses his family on a regular basis, and lets his geek-flag fly proudly.  He dreams of being a member of the Pixies.