The Booktopia Book Guru asks
Meg Cabot
author of The Bride Wore Size 12
Ten Terrifying Questions
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1. To begin with why don’t you tell us a little bit about yourself – where were you born? Raised? Schooled?
I was born, raised, and educated in Bloomington, Indiana, known world wide as the “Gateway to Scenic Southern Indiana.”
2. What did you want to be when you were twelve, eighteen and thirty? And why?
A police sketch artist, so I could use my artistic skills to help catch wanted criminals. Obviously this dream hasn’t worked out, since I’m a writer, not an illustrator, but it could still happen!
3. What strongly held belief did you have at eighteen that you do not have now?
That to live “happily ever after” by the age I am now, I would have to have children. I don’t have kids, and I’m totally okay with it. My 18 year old self would be shocked!
4. What were three works of art – book or painting or piece of music, etc – you can now say, had a great effect on you and influenced your own development as a writer?
Star Wars, A New Hope by George Lucas. A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett. 101 Dalmatians by Dodie Smith. All three storylines feature characters who overcome insurmountable odds – and their enemies – to succeed. This is basically the plot of every one of my books.
5. Considering the innumerable artistic avenues open to you, why did you choose to write a novel?
Because you can do it on your own time at home in your pajamas.
6. Please tell us about your novel.
In The Bride Wore Size 12 – the 5th in my Heather Wells mystery series – Heather is planning her wedding to sexy private eye Cooper Cartwright…until murder gets in the way!
Publisher’s blurb:
Why can’t things in Heather’s work life and her personal life both run smoothly at the same time? Well, maybe because even though, on the advice of her new boss (#4), Lisa, Heather’s hired a wedding planner for her upcoming nuptials to P.I. Cooper Cartwright and that wedding planner has disappeared.
On top of that a pretty freshman, whose only mistake was being at the wrong party at the wrong time, turns up dead after an all-nighter.
Heather is confident this is one mystery the NYPD can handle. And thank goodness, since her personal life has gotten even more complicated: An out-of-town guest has shown up one month early for Heather’s wedding: her long-lost mother, who fled to Argentina years earlier not only with all of Heather’s money, but with her manager, as well.
But soon it appears the police cannot handle it. Heather isn’t going to forget that at the center of it all is an innocent victim-and doesn’t intend to allow anyone else to forget it, either. She’s going to find the victim’s murderer, and bring him or her to justice if it’s the last thing she does … and this time, it just might be…
7. What do you hope people take away with them after reading your work?
A feeling of warmth and happiness.
8. Whom do you most admire in the realm of writing and why?
Well, it varies, but right now, mystery writer John D MacDonald. His award-winning Travis McGee series, written between 1964 and 1984, contains some of the most thoughtful, suspenseful, and humorous books I’ve ever read. A good one to start with is Bright Orange for the Shroud.
9. Many artists set themselves very ambitious goals. What are yours?
I’m happy if I write one page a day. Anything more than that is frosting on the cake.
10. What advice do you give aspiring writers?
Don’t be too hard on yourself, and don’t take rejection personally. Like my grandma always said, you aren’t a hundred dollar bill…not everyone is going to like you…or your writing.
Meg, thank you for playing
Pick up a copy of The Bride Wore Size 12 here
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