Blogfest 2009 » Fitzpatrick Becca

Becca Fitzpatrick on “Is it difficult to get a book published?”

Fitzpatrick Becca — Sat, 03 Oct 2009 16:00:18 +0000

It was for me! It took five years of submitting HUSH, HUSH before I could finally announce to the world that I had a real, live book deal. I wanted to quit so many times along the way, but if there’s one thing harder than getting a book published, it’s walking away from a dream. I just couldn’t do it. So I kept rewriting, resubmitting, rewriting, resubmitting…

I think luck plays a part in getting published, too. Or, if you don’t like the word luck, you could say timing is important. Getting a book published often requires the right book, the right agent, the right editor, the right publisher, the right marketing team, the right audience…the list could probably go on a bit longer. Fortunately, I feel incredibly lucky that while it took me forever to write the right book, everything seemed to fall into place quickly after that. A week after my agent submitted HUSH, HUSH to editors, I accepted a two-book deal, which was the start of what has been one of the most exciting years of my life. I think snagging a book deal is often viewed as crossing the finish line of a long, uphill race, but in reality, it’s just the beginning. Of course, it’s much easier to keep running once you know you have an entire publishing team cheering you on!

Becca Fitzpatrick on “What hobbies do you have?”

Fitzpatrick Becca — Sat, 26 Sep 2009 14:00:37 +0000

I <3 running. I won’t last more than ten minutes indoors on a treadmill, but running outside on a warm summer morning, I can easily go six or seven miles. There’s something about running that makes me feel like I’ve cleaned out the cobwebs in my mind, and I can get on with my day.

Other hobbies include gardening (fresh fruit, yum), shopping for shoes, and sprint triathlons. I’m also on a mission to try every flavor of ice cream under the sun. I’m a total ice creamaholic! Some of my favorite flavors are Ben & Jerry’s Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch, and Coldstone Creamery’s Peanut Butter Cup Perfection and The Pie Who Loved Me.

Becca Fitzpatrick on “If you could have any super power, what would it be?”

Fitzpatrick Becca — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 19:00:28 +0000

Invisibility, hands down! I went through this period in my life where I wanted to be a spy, and can you imagine how invisibility would come in handy to a spy? Eavesdropping, making a quick escape, avoiding rabid salespeople at the mall…It’s like the ultimate camouflage.

Becca Fitzpatrick on “What made you start writing?”

Fitzpatrick Becca — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:00:45 +0000

I had a lot of stories floating around in my head when I was growing up, but the first time I remember writing one of them down was in the third grade. I wrote a play about Santa Claus, and my teacher was good-humored and supportive enough to let me hold auditions and rehearsals during recess, and then my classmates and I performed the play for the rest of the class.

Apparently third grade was a magical year for me, because it was also the year that I watched the movie Romancing the Stone for the first time. The heroine of the story is a romance novelist, and after finishing the movie, I enthusiastically announced to my mom that I was going to grow up to be a romance writer, too. By the time I got to college, I’d long since forgotten my dream of becoming a writer, and I majored in health and zoology (I wanted to be a marine biologist or a spy). A few years after graduation, my husband registered me for an online writing class for my twenty-fourth birthday. He’d debated between the writing class and Japanese cooking lessons, but on a whim went with the writing class. Fate, I tell you! It was in that class that I started writing what would eventually become HUSH, HUSH.