FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

I have a great stylist. I think it makes a difference if you do it on your own versus hiring a professional to do it for you.

First, my stylist carefully separates out my streaks and re-bleaches the roots with professional grade (slightly more gentle) bleach. Then she washes them out and dyes them blue, and then she cuts it. The whole process takes three and a half hours, and it's expensive. Not for the faint of heart!

As far as upkeep, I wash my hair in cool water, which helps the dye last longer, and I only wash it two or three times a week. I also use a deep conditioner, and I try to go as long as possible between salon visits, because the bleaching is so hard on my hair. But usually by the end of three months, my hair looks REALLY skuzzy, and I'm forced to make an appointment!

In other words, to have colorful hair for an extended period of time, patience is required.

Please see this page.

I'm honored you asked, but I don't have the time. Try forming a critique group! I think three or four people is a good number — any more and the work becomes overwhelming, any less and you'll miss out on multiple responses/input. You can find other writers through message boards like Verla Kay's or NaNoWriMo, through writing-specific blogs, by posting a notice at your local independent bookstore or library, or by taking a creative writing workshop and finding classmates with similar tastes.

It's a long, untraditional, not-helpful-to-you story! I recommend that you go about it the normal way. Read agent blogs for the best advice. I recommend my agent's blog Ask Daphne! and Nathan Bransford's blog. Subscribe to them both. Read their entire archives. Write practice queries (a query is the letter you submit to an agent explaining why they should respresent you) via their wise guidance. If you're brave, submit a test query to Evil Editor. And do TONS of agent research before you start querying. Don't query an agent who isn't interested in the type of book you wrote!

Also, yes. I recommend finding an agent before approaching a publisher. An agent will get you a better deal, a better editor, a better everything. They are also amazing cheerleaders.

My pal Manning Krull. You should hire him. He's awesome.

When I was a teenager, I read adult novels with some middle grade thrown in. I wasn't really aware of young adult literature. I thought it was all Sweet Valley High — which are great, don't get me wrong, but I'd already been there and done that. Things changed in college when a friend convinced me to watch Disney's The Princess Diaries. I loved it. It spurred me to buy a copy of Meg Cabot's first Princess Diaries book, which, of course, I found infinitely more delightful. I couldn't put it down, and I couldn't remember the last time I'd had so much fun reading. After that, the ONLY thing I wanted to read was teen literature. It was natural that once I became serious about writing, it was what I gravitated to.

Also, because of this, I often refer to Meg Cabot as The Queen. Because she is. (I love you, Meg!)

It depends on the day, but I do own several copies of Pride and Prejudice. I even have a tiny copy stashed in the glove compartment of my car! Francesca Lia Block's Weetzie Bat is another contender. For more of my favorites, check out this page.

Hot British Man/Men, something I am particularly fond of.

My Celebrity Boyfriends are celebrities. Who happen to be my boyfriends. You can read a breakdown of them about halfway through this blog post.

I have no idea what you're talking about.

It's about true love in the City of Light.

(Check out this page for a synopsis.)

December 2, 2010.

Not exactly, though I did rent an apartment there for the entire month of January 2010. It was heaven. I still ache for the pâtisseries (cake shops), boulangeries (bakeries), and les BD (bandes dessinées, comic books).

Oh goodness, no. Writing this novel required an insane amount of research (of the language, the city, the culture) and endless help from people who ARE fluent. It's embarrassing, but I still can't pronounce half the French words in my own novel! I have since enrolled in a French class, but I am far from proficient.

Because I could! The idea arrived in a dream — a beautiful boy sitting on the steps of the Panthéon — and it was impossible to resist. Or, more accurately, the boy was impossible to resist.

Étienne is pronounced Eh-t-yen. Think of the upward sound the "é" makes in "café."

St. Clair can be pronounced several ways.

American: Saint Claire
French: Saun Clai (you can make a slight throaty French "r" sound or drop it completely)
English: I've heard it pronouced both ways PLUS "Sinclair" and "Sink-lur"

I prounounce it somewhere between the American way and the French way. The characters in the book most likely pronounce it the French way. But, really, any of these are okay!

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ABOUT LOLA AND THE BOY NEXT DOOR:

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