| Interview with Paula Chase |
First off, thanks so much for joining us for an up-close and personal interview for TeensReadToo.com! My
name is Jen, and I'll be your server toda...oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule--which I'm sure is busy!--and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let's get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
When I realized I could get paid for working in Capri leggings and fuzzy slippers. The money I save on
clothes for work is mind boggling. Nah, honestly I don't recall ever "wanting" to be a writer. I just was.
Sounds so cliché, but I've been creating stories since I was old enough to write.
The realization that writing could actually be a career path was something I didn't think about until four
years ago.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I was doing the PR Chick thing with a tech company that was in the fast lane to creating the "next big
thing." The commute was about an hour each way and I hated it. I decided that I wanted to freelance,
because it was something I could do on the side. I figured I'd snag enough gigs to leave the tech world, at
some point. So I began writing music reviews for Upscale magazine and then was offered a position with
Liquid Soul Radio as their Entertainment Editor.
It was very cool meeting artists like Brian McKnight, Jaheim and Vivian Green.
But since I've always worked with teens and enjoyed discussing issues close to them, I started submitting
to teen mags and eventually started doing some regular work with Girls Life and Sweet 16.
Well, the tech company went bust, I was laid off and I spent an entire year freelancing and writing the first
two books in my Del Rio Bay Clique series. Outside of that whole "how am I going to pay the bills" panic
thing, the lay off was honestly the best thing that ever happened to me.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
My debut novel, So Not The Drama, is the first in my series. It's about Mina Mooney, a bright-eyed optimist
entering her freshman year. She ends up in this sociology class that for good, better or ugly basically turns
her life upside down.
Ahhh, you're asking for the ol' elevator speech. Okay, well, So Not The Drama is like MTV's Two-A-Days.
It's all drama! I am obsessed with that show, because it sucks you into it. Ya' know? And that's how my
books are. They're for people who claim they're above drama but yet always find themselves in the middle
of it.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
My high school clique was my inspiration for the DRB Clique series. For the record -- it's not
autobiographical! But, I had a great high school experience. We were so oblivious to the "real" world
because we were 100% self-involved. And the characters in my book are like that.
The only world that exists for them is their own.
Let's hear about your family, who I'm sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
There's the hubster who, by the way, hates to be called Mr. Chase. 'Cause, well that's not his last name.
My website uses my full name. But I decided to use only my maiden name on the book because I'm an only
child and the only person left to keep the Chase name alive and kicking. Plus, I earned mucho brownie
points from the parents for doing so.
Then there are my Princesses. Or as I like to call them, Mommy's living/breathing focus group and
research team. My oldest is 12 and my youngest 2, so these two will keep me cocooned in teen culture
until I'm too old to remember my own storylines.
Now for some fun facts. What's your greatest comfort food?
Mmmm...baked macaroni and cheese. No wait, lasagna...no, pizza. Can I list more than one? I'm a
complete Carb Queen!
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Work out (abs, butt and a few minutess of cardio--I'm losing inches like mad but no LBs)
Brush my teeth
Check email, the Blue Board and the Class of 2K7 Forum
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what's the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
My ridiculous amount of shoes. They're literally pushing the hubsters' clothes out of the closet. I can't stop
buying 'em. It's a disease, but one I'm reluctant to seek help for.
Everyone asks the question about "if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?" so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Oooh, orange. It's my favorite color. I look good in orange and it's so vibrant and alive.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
I'm going old-school for both of these.
Tom, from Tom and Jerry. He never speaks and yet I'm rolling through the whole episode.
Probably, the cartoon character most like me is Speedy Gonzalez. He moves so fast and is always on the
go. That's definitely me.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world ("Beam me up, Scotty!"), during any time in history,
where and when would it be--and why?
Wow, I love that question! I'd have to say it would be the time before America was "discovered." I would
have loved to live in the U.S., still in Maryland where I am now, but when American Indians were the primary
population. I'm a nature chick. So I really dig the thought of wide open spaces (no buildings, no artificial
lighting at night), fresh running water in streams and brooks and only sounds of nature at night. I would
love that.
Dances with Wolves and Legends of the Fall are two of my favorite movies because of the time period. I'm
in awe of how the Indians lived off the land without disrupting the natural balance.
So what's your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you're writing?
Here's where I can't give a straight answer. I'm driven by mood. I love all types of music. My iPod is full of
hip hop, pop, R&B and jazz and contemporary gospel is peppered in there too. I'm talking Nickelback to
Nirvana, Run DMC to Jay-Z and Chris Brown to Luther Vandross.
So it depends on my mood. And because I like so many types of music, I don't have any one favorite artist.
The person I say today won't be my fave tomorrow.
But, yes, I listen to music when I'm writing. Not every time. But most times. It definitely loosens up my
creative juices.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
Again, all about my mood. I'm a die-hard Pop culture fanatic. So things like TV, movies and music are my
hobbies.
Right now some of my favorites are Cold Case, Two-A-Days, Project Runway and Man vs. Wild. Several
movies I could watch over and over: Dances with Wolves, Legends of the Fall, The Five Heartbeats.
Now, don't laugh. But I don't think I've seen a movie in a theater since the last Lord of the Rings. I could be
wrong, but I get nothing when I try to remember anything more recent. I don't go out to the movies a lot
because they come out on DVD so quickly. I do however have a whole slew of movies I WANT to go see in
theaters but probably won't and they include Dreamgirls, Stomp the Yard and we're supposed to be taking
Princess Bea to see Happy Feet.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Look at books as a window into a new world. A world you don't mind getting lost in for a few hours. Find
books that suck you in so deep you don't want to put it down. When you've gotten your fill, expand and try
reading something different--even if it's in the same genre.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
In the immediate future, the second book in the series, Don't Get It Twisted, comes out in December. But,
long-term, I hope that the Del Rio Bay Clique series will get picked up beyond the first two, so that I can
explore the lives of Mina and her friends. They're only freshman so there's a lot that can happen.
I have an older YA in the wings. It's cool, because the DRB Clique series is my sweet, innocent side and
this new project is more sassy and mature. I love having an outlet for both sides of my writing persona.
Writing YA is a lot of fun and I plan on focusing on it for while if the readers will have me. Thanks for
inviting me to kick it with the TRT readers.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
name is Jen, and I'll be your server toda...oh, wait, wrong job! Anyway, thanks so much for taking time out
of your writing schedule--which I'm sure is busy!--and answering a few questions for your readers and fans.
Let's get some of the typical interview questions out of the way first. When did you first know that you
wanted to be a writer?
When I realized I could get paid for working in Capri leggings and fuzzy slippers. The money I save on
clothes for work is mind boggling. Nah, honestly I don't recall ever "wanting" to be a writer. I just was.
Sounds so cliché, but I've been creating stories since I was old enough to write.
The realization that writing could actually be a career path was something I didn't think about until four
years ago.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
I was doing the PR Chick thing with a tech company that was in the fast lane to creating the "next big
thing." The commute was about an hour each way and I hated it. I decided that I wanted to freelance,
because it was something I could do on the side. I figured I'd snag enough gigs to leave the tech world, at
some point. So I began writing music reviews for Upscale magazine and then was offered a position with
Liquid Soul Radio as their Entertainment Editor.
It was very cool meeting artists like Brian McKnight, Jaheim and Vivian Green.
But since I've always worked with teens and enjoyed discussing issues close to them, I started submitting
to teen mags and eventually started doing some regular work with Girls Life and Sweet 16.
Well, the tech company went bust, I was laid off and I spent an entire year freelancing and writing the first
two books in my Del Rio Bay Clique series. Outside of that whole "how am I going to pay the bills" panic
thing, the lay off was honestly the best thing that ever happened to me.
Tell us a little bit about either your latest or upcoming release. If you could only tell your readers one thing
about the story that had to convince us to buy the book, what would it be?
My debut novel, So Not The Drama, is the first in my series. It's about Mina Mooney, a bright-eyed optimist
entering her freshman year. She ends up in this sociology class that for good, better or ugly basically turns
her life upside down.
Ahhh, you're asking for the ol' elevator speech. Okay, well, So Not The Drama is like MTV's Two-A-Days.
It's all drama! I am obsessed with that show, because it sucks you into it. Ya' know? And that's how my
books are. They're for people who claim they're above drama but yet always find themselves in the middle
of it.
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
My high school clique was my inspiration for the DRB Clique series. For the record -- it's not
autobiographical! But, I had a great high school experience. We were so oblivious to the "real" world
because we were 100% self-involved. And the characters in my book are like that.
The only world that exists for them is their own.
Let's hear about your family, who I'm sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
There's the hubster who, by the way, hates to be called Mr. Chase. 'Cause, well that's not his last name.
My website uses my full name. But I decided to use only my maiden name on the book because I'm an only
child and the only person left to keep the Chase name alive and kicking. Plus, I earned mucho brownie
points from the parents for doing so.
Then there are my Princesses. Or as I like to call them, Mommy's living/breathing focus group and
research team. My oldest is 12 and my youngest 2, so these two will keep me cocooned in teen culture
until I'm too old to remember my own storylines.
Now for some fun facts. What's your greatest comfort food?
Mmmm...baked macaroni and cheese. No wait, lasagna...no, pizza. Can I list more than one? I'm a
complete Carb Queen!
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Work out (abs, butt and a few minutess of cardio--I'm losing inches like mad but no LBs)
Brush my teeth
Check email, the Blue Board and the Class of 2K7 Forum
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what's the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
My ridiculous amount of shoes. They're literally pushing the hubsters' clothes out of the closet. I can't stop
buying 'em. It's a disease, but one I'm reluctant to seek help for.
Everyone asks the question about "if you could be a tree, which tree would you be?" so I want to know: If
you could be a color, which color would it be, and why?
Oooh, orange. It's my favorite color. I look good in orange and it's so vibrant and alive.
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
I'm going old-school for both of these.
Tom, from Tom and Jerry. He never speaks and yet I'm rolling through the whole episode.
Probably, the cartoon character most like me is Speedy Gonzalez. He moves so fast and is always on the
go. That's definitely me.
If you could beam yourself to anywhere in the world ("Beam me up, Scotty!"), during any time in history,
where and when would it be--and why?
Wow, I love that question! I'd have to say it would be the time before America was "discovered." I would
have loved to live in the U.S., still in Maryland where I am now, but when American Indians were the primary
population. I'm a nature chick. So I really dig the thought of wide open spaces (no buildings, no artificial
lighting at night), fresh running water in streams and brooks and only sounds of nature at night. I would
love that.
Dances with Wolves and Legends of the Fall are two of my favorite movies because of the time period. I'm
in awe of how the Indians lived off the land without disrupting the natural balance.
So what's your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you're writing?
Here's where I can't give a straight answer. I'm driven by mood. I love all types of music. My iPod is full of
hip hop, pop, R&B and jazz and contemporary gospel is peppered in there too. I'm talking Nickelback to
Nirvana, Run DMC to Jay-Z and Chris Brown to Luther Vandross.
So it depends on my mood. And because I like so many types of music, I don't have any one favorite artist.
The person I say today won't be my fave tomorrow.
But, yes, I listen to music when I'm writing. Not every time. But most times. It definitely loosens up my
creative juices.
Do you have any favorite T.V. shows? Movies you watch over and over again? What was the last movie
you saw at the theater?
Again, all about my mood. I'm a die-hard Pop culture fanatic. So things like TV, movies and music are my
hobbies.
Right now some of my favorites are Cold Case, Two-A-Days, Project Runway and Man vs. Wild. Several
movies I could watch over and over: Dances with Wolves, Legends of the Fall, The Five Heartbeats.
Now, don't laugh. But I don't think I've seen a movie in a theater since the last Lord of the Rings. I could be
wrong, but I get nothing when I try to remember anything more recent. I don't go out to the movies a lot
because they come out on DVD so quickly. I do however have a whole slew of movies I WANT to go see in
theaters but probably won't and they include Dreamgirls, Stomp the Yard and we're supposed to be taking
Princess Bea to see Happy Feet.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Look at books as a window into a new world. A world you don't mind getting lost in for a few hours. Find
books that suck you in so deep you don't want to put it down. When you've gotten your fill, expand and try
reading something different--even if it's in the same genre.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
In the immediate future, the second book in the series, Don't Get It Twisted, comes out in December. But,
long-term, I hope that the Del Rio Bay Clique series will get picked up beyond the first two, so that I can
explore the lives of Mina and her friends. They're only freshman so there's a lot that can happen.
I have an older YA in the wings. It's cool, because the DRB Clique series is my sweet, innocent side and
this new project is more sassy and mature. I love having an outlet for both sides of my writing persona.
Writing YA is a lot of fun and I plan on focusing on it for while if the readers will have me. Thanks for
inviting me to kick it with the TRT readers.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
