| Interview with Yvonne Collins |
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 today…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?
Although I’ve always been creative, I never thought I wanted to be a writer until Sandy and I tackled our first
book.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
Back in 1999, I had a 15-year-old niece and three teenage step-nieces who were full of questions for their
Aunt Yvonne. Tired of the endless phone calls, I hit the local bookstores hoping to find something that
provided helpful advice in a fun and entertaining way. When I couldn’t find a book fitting that description, I
suggested to my friend Sandy—already a professional writer—that we write one together. That’s how
Totally Me: The Teenage Girl’s Survival Guide was born.
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?
How about three things? For The New and Improved Vivien Leigh Reid: Diva in Control, that means:
glamour, guys and glory. In the third part of this series, Leigh Reid returns to Hollywood for a weekend and
ends up staying for months. She discovers that reviving her ailing acting career isn’t easy—especially while
stuck in an unflattering costume. Her co-star—six feet plus of male perfection—hates her. And her newly
engaged mother appears to be unraveling, one wedding plan at a time.
We also have a book coming out in May called The Black Sheep. Three words to convince you to buy that
are: lights, camera and action! A New York teen participates in a reality show and ends up living with a
family of hippies in California. Constantly in the spotlight, 15-year-old Kendra Bishop has cameras trained
on her 24/7, yet she still manages to find some unexpected action with her 18-year-old TV “brother.”
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
I get the greatest inspiration from my job as a camera assistant on film sets. Every year, I work with literally
hundreds of different people. It’s a strange brew of artists and money managers and technicians. For 15
hours a day or more, ordinary Joes, famous divas, and even some ex-criminals come together to tell a
single story. With such an extreme mix of personalities, it’s not surprising that I’m always finding stories of
my own to share.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
Thanks to my mother, many senior citizens in the Toronto are the proud owners of the entire Collins-
Rideout Teen Library. My husband also pushes our books in his company’s newsletter. A couple of other
family members have forced our books on their local book clubs. That’s the kind of shameless promotion
Sandy and I endorse!
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Warm toast with peanut butter honey and banana, accompanied by a cuppa tea.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Apart from hitting the snooze button three times, the routine varies depending on my life. If I’m not working
on a movie, I walk the dog, hit the shower, and down a pot of tea while checking my email. If I am working on
a movie, I curse the early hour, thank my sleeping husband for taking dog duty and call the film lab to make
sure there were no problems with the work we sent in the night before.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
You might wonder about the two boxes labeled “smashed china”. In the past, I have made mirrors from
broken pottery. I haven’t ventured to do that in over ten years, but still, the supplies are standing by, should
inspiration strike.
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?
“Chocolate” brown. Need I say more?
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
It’s a tie for favorite between Fred Flintstone and Foghorn Leghorn. As for the character most like me, I
think I’m a cross between Winnie the Pooh (I, too, have an unnatural preoccupation with food), and the
Road Runner (I’m happiest when I’m on the move. A quiet beach vacation is not this girl’s idea of a good
time).
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?
Beam me back to the early 1900’s and drop me in Montparnasse France. I’d love to be a part of that
thriving art scene and shake hands with some of the most influential photographers, artists, writers and
thinkers of the 20th century!
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I need the room to be silent when I’m writing, but when I’m not, I listen to just about every kind of music, with
the exception of “screamo.” My favorite play list would include some world music (Manu Chao), some lounge
(Buddah bar, Café del Mar), a little bit of country (Johnny Cash and Lucinda Williams), a sprinkling of 80’s
(Clash, Pogues, Waterboys) and funk (Earth Wind and Fire, Sly and the Family Stone), and a good dose of
contemporary artists like Katie Melua, Interpol, Keane, the Killers, and Radiohead.
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?
There’s only one T.V. series that I watch religiously and that’s the British soap, Coronation Street. That
said, I have recently become a big Grey’s Anatomy fan, and I also enjoy catching Ugly Betty and the new
Canadian sit-com, Little Mosque on the Prairie. As for movies, I never get tired of watching Born Yesterday,
The Shawshank Redemption, The Odd Couple, Chicago (which I had the pleasure of working on) and
Brighton Beach Memoirs. The last movie I saw in a theatre was Miss Potter.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Don’t be afraid to step out of your safety zone and push yourself to try new things. Sometimes the things
we think we’d hate the most in life are the things that eventually give us the most joy.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
Be sure to look for The Black Sheep in May. And in 2008, Word for Word will be released.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
name is Jen, and I’ll be your server today…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?
Although I’ve always been creative, I never thought I wanted to be a writer until Sandy and I tackled our first
book.
Can you tell us a little bit about your road to publishing?
Back in 1999, I had a 15-year-old niece and three teenage step-nieces who were full of questions for their
Aunt Yvonne. Tired of the endless phone calls, I hit the local bookstores hoping to find something that
provided helpful advice in a fun and entertaining way. When I couldn’t find a book fitting that description, I
suggested to my friend Sandy—already a professional writer—that we write one together. That’s how
Totally Me: The Teenage Girl’s Survival Guide was born.
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?
How about three things? For The New and Improved Vivien Leigh Reid: Diva in Control, that means:
glamour, guys and glory. In the third part of this series, Leigh Reid returns to Hollywood for a weekend and
ends up staying for months. She discovers that reviving her ailing acting career isn’t easy—especially while
stuck in an unflattering costume. Her co-star—six feet plus of male perfection—hates her. And her newly
engaged mother appears to be unraveling, one wedding plan at a time.
We also have a book coming out in May called The Black Sheep. Three words to convince you to buy that
are: lights, camera and action! A New York teen participates in a reality show and ends up living with a
family of hippies in California. Constantly in the spotlight, 15-year-old Kendra Bishop has cameras trained
on her 24/7, yet she still manages to find some unexpected action with her 18-year-old TV “brother.”
What, or who, has been the greatest inspiration for your stories?
I get the greatest inspiration from my job as a camera assistant on film sets. Every year, I work with literally
hundreds of different people. It’s a strange brew of artists and money managers and technicians. For 15
hours a day or more, ordinary Joes, famous divas, and even some ex-criminals come together to tell a
single story. With such an extreme mix of personalities, it’s not surprising that I’m always finding stories of
my own to share.
Let’s hear about your family, who I’m sure are thrilled to have a published author among them!
Thanks to my mother, many senior citizens in the Toronto are the proud owners of the entire Collins-
Rideout Teen Library. My husband also pushes our books in his company’s newsletter. A couple of other
family members have forced our books on their local book clubs. That’s the kind of shameless promotion
Sandy and I endorse!
Now for some fun facts. What’s your greatest comfort food?
Warm toast with peanut butter honey and banana, accompanied by a cuppa tea.
What are the first three things you do when you wake up in the morning?
Apart from hitting the snooze button three times, the routine varies depending on my life. If I’m not working
on a movie, I walk the dog, hit the shower, and down a pot of tea while checking my email. If I am working on
a movie, I curse the early hour, thank my sleeping husband for taking dog duty and call the film lab to make
sure there were no problems with the work we sent in the night before.
If I came to your house and looked in your closet/attic/basement, what’s the one thing that would surprise
me the most?
You might wonder about the two boxes labeled “smashed china”. In the past, I have made mirrors from
broken pottery. I haven’t ventured to do that in over ten years, but still, the supplies are standing by, should
inspiration strike.
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?
“Chocolate” brown. Need I say more?
Who is your favorite cartoon character? Which cartoon character is most like you?
It’s a tie for favorite between Fred Flintstone and Foghorn Leghorn. As for the character most like me, I
think I’m a cross between Winnie the Pooh (I, too, have an unnatural preoccupation with food), and the
Road Runner (I’m happiest when I’m on the move. A quiet beach vacation is not this girl’s idea of a good
time).
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?
Beam me back to the early 1900’s and drop me in Montparnasse France. I’d love to be a part of that
thriving art scene and shake hands with some of the most influential photographers, artists, writers and
thinkers of the 20th century!
So what’s your favorite type of music to listen to? Favorite musical artists? Do you listen to music while
you’re writing?
I need the room to be silent when I’m writing, but when I’m not, I listen to just about every kind of music, with
the exception of “screamo.” My favorite play list would include some world music (Manu Chao), some lounge
(Buddah bar, Café del Mar), a little bit of country (Johnny Cash and Lucinda Williams), a sprinkling of 80’s
(Clash, Pogues, Waterboys) and funk (Earth Wind and Fire, Sly and the Family Stone), and a good dose of
contemporary artists like Katie Melua, Interpol, Keane, the Killers, and Radiohead.
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?
There’s only one T.V. series that I watch religiously and that’s the British soap, Coronation Street. That
said, I have recently become a big Grey’s Anatomy fan, and I also enjoy catching Ugly Betty and the new
Canadian sit-com, Little Mosque on the Prairie. As for movies, I never get tired of watching Born Yesterday,
The Shawshank Redemption, The Odd Couple, Chicago (which I had the pleasure of working on) and
Brighton Beach Memoirs. The last movie I saw in a theatre was Miss Potter.
You have the chance to give one piece of advice to your teen readers. What would it be?
Don’t be afraid to step out of your safety zone and push yourself to try new things. Sometimes the things
we think we’d hate the most in life are the things that eventually give us the most joy.
One last question. What stories can we look forward to from you in the future?
Be sure to look for The Black Sheep in May. And in 2008, Word for Word will be released.
Again, thanks so much for joining us at TeensReadToo.com!
