Summer Reading with Katie Cotugno

Summer Reading Extravaganza with Katie Cotugno

In case you don't know already,  Katie is the author of How to Love (which I have personally read and enjoyed) and 99 Days (which I have not read yet). 

 

Today I have an awesome interview with Katie!

 

-Did you participate in library summer reading programs?

I did, every summer when I was a kid! And then when I was in high school and college I worked in a library and helped run them. 

 

-Did you write any of your books over the summer?

 I wrote 99 DAYS in 99 days, as a matter of fact! But it was summer into fall. 

 

-Top 5 book recommendations for summer?

Barbara Kingsolver's Prodigal Summer, Sarah Dessen's The Truth About Forever, Nina LaCour's Everything Leads to You, Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, Ann Brashares's Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.

 

-Why do you write YA contemporary and not fantasy/paranormal/adult?

I do write some adult, actually! But the draw of realistic contemporary has always been that I'm interested in exploring problems or issues I've bumped up against in my own life, or that my readers bump up against in theirs. 

 

 

 

About Katie:

Katie Cotugno went to Catholic school for thirteen years which makes her, as an adult, both extremely superstitious and prone to crushes on boys wearing blazers. She routinely finds herself talking about the romantic endeavors of characters on TV shows as if they actually exist in the world.
Katie is a Pushcart Prize nominee whose work has appeared in The Iowa Review, The Broadkill Review, The Apalachee Review, and Argestes, as well as on Nerve.com. Her first novel, HOW TO LOVE, is out now from Balzer + Bray/HarperCollins. 99 DAYS will follow next spring.
The great loves of Katie's life include child's pose, her little sister, and mozzarella and honey sandwiches. She lives in Boston with her husband, Tom

 

Katie's Social Media Links:

 

Goodreads  Website  Twitter

 

 

Katie's Books:

 

 

Summer Reading with Jodi Meadows

Summer Reading with Jodi Meadows

I have only read The Orphan Queen from Jodi Meadows, however, hopefully I will change that this summer as her Incarnate series is on my to-read list! The Orphan Queen is now one of my favorite fantasy books, and I am super excited to read The Mirror King coming next year!

Below you can read a post done by Jodi herself on how she came up with the names and titles in The Orphan Queen.

 

Naming Things

By Jodi Meadows

 

For me, naming things is a huge challenge. Unless something

comes with a name right away (and sometimes that happens!), it

can take days or weeks or months of searching for just the right

thing.

The Indigo Kingdom named itself. I was lucky there. So did Aecor. I

didn't really have to fight my brain for either of them, or Liadia and

Laurel­by­the­Sea (two other kingdoms in the world). (Though

Laurel­by­the­Sea was definitely named after my editor.)

Which brings me to . . . stealing names. Friends, family, and

strangers on the internet: no one is safe. Sometimes I ask if I'm

going to name a villain after a friend, but often they're pretty

surprised to find themselves there later. You'll find lots of friends on

the map in THE ORPHAN QUEEN. Hand River? Ashton River?

Bow River? Cynthia, Brodi, and Erin (Bowman) respectively. There

are tons of others hiding in the stories!

But I don't just steal from people. I also steal from places. The map

probably looks suspiciously like Virginia. (Shocking!) I pulled

several names from the Shenandoah National Park, like

Greenstone (a type of stone found there), Thornton, Hawksbill. . . .

I had Blackrock, but apparently I had a lot of things that were black

(Black Knife, Black Flag, and more . . .) and it was suggested that I

branch out to different colors.

Even naming the Ospreys was kind of stealing. I researched birds

of prey for that area, found ospreys, and declared it the national

bird of Aecor right then and there. And thus, the rag­tag gang of

orphaned nobles had a name.

Finally, there's the hard way. Flipping through baby name sites.

Writing lists of words that fit with the themes and symbols I'm trying

to show. General stressing. Harassing friends to name things for

me. Crying. Eating chocolate. Usually, when I'm really desperate

and thinking this thing shall remain nameless for the rest of its days

­­ that's when my brain provides something.

Brains can be so cruel.

Out Now:

 

 

Coming Soon:

 

 

About Jodi:

Jodi Meadows lives and writes in the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia, with her husband, a Kippy*, and an alarming number of ferrets. She is a confessed book addict, and has wanted to be a writer ever since she decided against becoming an astronaut. She is the author of the INCARNATE Trilogy and the forthcoming ORPHAN QUEEN Duology (HarperCollins/Katherine Tegen). Visit her at www.jodimeadows.com

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Social Media Links:

 

Goodreads  Website  Twitter