Author Interview: Tera Lynn Childs

Ladies & Gentlemen, let's give a warm round of applause to:
TERA LYNN CHILDS!

Hi Tera! Thanks so much for stopping by TCM!

I was going through your site, and ended up in the section that talked about you. There it said that you’re a goddess wannabe. Can you tell me which goddess you’d choose to be?

I’m not allowed to choose. I have to write about all of their descendants in my books, and if I played favorites…. Well, let’s just say that the last time Hera, Athena and Aphrodite duked it out they started the Trojan War. I’m not taking any chances. (But, shhh, when I took the quiz I got Athena. And I’m good with that.)

Your upcoming book is called Forgive my Fins, and it’s about a half-mermaid, half-human girl. Mermaids happen to be my favourite mythological creature (Therefore, I can’t wait to read this!). If tomorrow you were turned into one, would you choose to stay that way, travel through the oceans, meet new places and people; or go back to being human right away?

I’m a water baby, all the way. Since as far back as I can remember I’ve loved swimming and water and marine life and beaches and ocean. When I lived in California my cousin and I were in love with the movie Splash. We used to try splashing water on ourselves to see if we were secretly mermaids. I think we finally decided that it had to be saltwater, and if we could just get to the ocean then we could swim away. I don’t think I’ve ever really let go of that dream. So, yeah, I’d probably choose to stay a mermaid. (Assuming, of course, there were other merfolk around and I wasn’t all alone in the big vast ocean.)

And in Goddess Boot Camp, Phoebe has to learn how to use her recently discovered powers. If you could have a power, what would it be and why?

Just one?!? Okay, this isn’t one of the twelve powers from Goddess Boot Camp, but I’d like dvr-type control of real life. To be able to pause and think before you answer a tricky questions, to rewind a few seconds and avoid spilling hot coffee on your laptop, or to fast forward through the boring parts, like traffic and lines at the post office. That would be awesome. It would come in especially handy around deadline time because I could give myself some extra hours to polish that first draft!

Now for the musical part. What song would you choose to represent Phoebe and Griffin’s relationship?

Hmmm, well, I’m not sure I can pick a single song to represent their relationship. They’ve had a pretty rocky road, if I get to write a third installment, let’s just say it’s not exactly a smooth ride to the finish. But I wrote Oh. My. Gods. back in the summer of 2005 and I can share some of the songs that were repeating on my iPod at the time.

• Pon De Replay by Rihanna
• Unwritten by Natasha Bedingfield
• Lonely No More by Rob Thomas
• Boulevard of Broken Dreams by Green Day
• Ohio (Come Back to Texas) by Bowling for Soup
• You and Me by Lifehouse
• We Belong Together by Mariah Carey

Could you name some of your favourite books from this year?

(These aren’t all books from this year, just fave books I’ve read this year.)

• Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
• Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
• Wake by Lisa McMann
• Eyes Like Stars by Lisa Mantchev
• Too Good To Be True by Kristan Higgins
• What Happens in London by Julia Quinn

Team Bunny, Team Unicorn, or the recently added Team Zombie?

Well, while I like both bunnies and unicorns very much, I don't think I'd like to be on a team with them. I mean, bunnies can't do much to save you in battle other than wrinkle their noses. And unicorns might spear the enemy with their horn, or the could just as well go back to grazing on grass. Then again, zombies want to eat my brains, so that's a no thank you. How about Team Mermaid? I'd definitely be on that one.

Thank you for stopping by The Clock Monkey! I’m glad you took the time to answer my questions :)

And since it's not December 1st yet, I'm linking to her website, her blog, her facebook, her twitter, and to get her books: Amazon, B&N, Indiebound, and The Book Depository.