Meet Author Elle Strauss

Today, I have another author represented by Natalie Fischer.

*Drum roll please.* ELLE STRAUSS!

So please welcome her to my little blog by leaving comments below and say hi.

I met Elle through my blog. She was kind enough to stop by and say hi, then she won my Barnes & Noble gift card. It is so funny how you end up meeting people.

So here is my regular little spiel--stop by blogs, enter contests, and connect with people. Most don't bite. I've met such interesting people through contests and blogs. Such as the Elle.

As I said, Elle is a newly discovered talent represented by Natalie Fischer of the Sandra Dijkstra Literary Agency. She currently has two novels, CLOCKWISE and PLAYING WITH MATCHES, on submission to publishers.

I haven't had the opportunity to read either of these books as of yet. Um...hint, hint, hint.

Let's meet Elle now....

Tell me a little about yourself.....

Well, let’s see, besides being a writer of YA fiction, I’m a wife, mother of four, daughter, friend….I also like to read (obviously), bike, float on the lake and travel—especially Europe.

When did you first discover your love for reading books?

I guess I’ve always loved reading, but unfortunately I didn’t come from family of readers and wasn’t introduced to all the childhood favourites many people have. When it comes to writing and discovering great books, I’m a late bloomer.

When you were a child, what was your favorite book?

I remember liking Clifford, The Big Red Dog.

What's your favorite book now?

Hmmm, that a hard one. I’m going to go with the classic, Pride and Prejudice.

So we know you write, when did this passion bloom?

Like I said, I started writing later in life. I sort of jumped from one creative venture to another, landing for a while on water colour painting. That didn’t work out so well when my kids were little, with them getting into my supplies, etc, so I turned to writing. I started out with attempting to write children’s books under the common misbelief that they are easy to write. Then I attempted middle grade, young adult, women’s fiction until finally settling back into young adult.

I’ll add that I read every book in the library on the craft of writing and every issue of Writer’s Digest up to that point.

Can you tell us about the first novel you wrote? Did you query it? What do you think about it now?

The first novel was a middle grade called Angel Train. No, I never queried it. I barely remember it to be honest, and I’m sure it’s better that way. :D

Can you give us a teaser about the two books on submission now?

This is from the blurb found on my blog profile (www.ellestraussbooks.blogspot.com).

I am the author of CLOCKWISE, a YA chicklit about a teenage time traveler who accidentally takes the cutest boy in the school back in time, and of PLAYING WITH MATCHES, a YA historical about a boy who grows up in Hitler Youth.

Quick but oh so satisfying:

Vanilla or Chocolate? Chocolate (duh)

Cookies or Cupcakes? Cookies

Angels or Zombies? Definitely Angels

Edward or Lestat? Who?

Orlando Bloom or Gerard Butler? Happily married, but if pressed, Orlando Bloom.

Wine or Whiskey? Red wine all the way.

Okay, now to what unpublished writers want to know....

How many revisions did you do on your query letter?

A zillion. I suck at writing queries.

I'm not sure about most people, but I hate writing a synopsis. What's your feeling about them?

I’d choose a synopsis over a query any day.

Apparently your query was a winner, how many requests did you receive?

Four

What made you choose Ms. Fischer to query?

I knew that I had a better shot with a new agent and I capitalized on the correct assumption that a lot of people wouldn’t bother with a snail mail query. I got in early and, yeah, she liked it.

How did you know she was a perfect match?

I didn’t really know that at the beginning. It’s like dating. We had something in common (we both liked my manuscript), and an initial attraction (I liked that she was an agent, she liked that I was a writer). The more time we spent working on projects together and the more I got to know her (her on-line presence has grown rapidly since then) the more I was convinced that she was the absolute right agent for me.

You got an agent--now what?

Well, now these babies are out on submission to editors.

Can you tell us how many revisions you had to do before your books were ready for submission?

I would say at least three or four rounds of revisions with Natalie on each before they were ready.

I know from personal experience how anxious I am to check my email everyday just from having an agent request my manuscript. Since you have an agent, what does it feel like having your books on submission to publishers?

At first I’d wake up every day and wonder, is this the day? Is this the day I find out that an editor has made an offer on one of my books? Many months have passed and with summer being traditionally S L O W well, I don’t do that anymore. This business is really random. It can happen quickly, it can happen slowly, it can happen NOT at all.

I can let you on a little sekret. I have a new book that’s going to be making the rounds soon. *squee*

Any advice you'd like to share?

Keep working on your craft but don’t lose the joy.

And there you have, right from an agented author.

Thank you so very much for visiting my little blog, Elle. I hope you'll let me interview you again when your books hit the shelf.

Absolutely!