Knitter, Baker, Weird Book Maker*

*Not in the gambling sense. In the author sense. I think I tried too hard to make that rhyme. I’m recovering from a cold and it’s possible not all the NyQuil’s worn off yet. ANYWAY. Let’s move on.

Even without tortured rhymes, that title is a little misleading. My knitting and baking skills are beginner level, at best. I’m a little better at the writing, I hope, especially since my sixth book comes out next week. It is weird though, that part is 100% true. I am going to talk about the knitting and baking first, because I find those creative outlets really important as additions to my writing life. For one thing, I’m really terrible at sitting still and doing nothing, but the wordy part of my brain needs a break sometimes. For another, sometimes in the middle of a 60- or 80-thousand word draft, the end can feel like it will never come. Making something tangible brings some desperately-needed balance.

I recently taught myself how to make a fancy twirly scarf. Here it is in progress:

I fully admit I bought that yarn because the colorway was “Zombie Apocalypse.” It’s finished now, and stashed away waiting for winter. Then I bought this because OMG isn’t it gorgeous, and it became a cowl.

One of these days I’ll graduate from scarves. I have actually figured out how to knit on DPNs, so gloves are in my future. I may even try hats. For me, though, I like the soothing repetition of a scarf, it’s everything I want after a long day wrestling with words.

I just looked on my phone for pictures of recent baking adventures and there are none, because I was apparently too busy stuffing my face to take any. This should tell you a lot about my relationship with cake and deadlines.

Ah, deadlines. I’m not exactly on any at the moment, apart from a very minor one reviewing pages for a completed book coming out next February, but there’s always one lurking around the corner. At the moment, I’m just equal parts nervous and excited about my newest book coming out on Tuesday. It was, by a very very long way, the hardest writing process I’ve had. Some of the issues were with the original story itself, others were external factors that made me stressed, and together, it was just a huge challenge. I still can’t quite believe it’s ready to be out in the world. I’m even more surprised that I’m proud of it. It’s a YA cyberpunk novel called Gamescape: Overworld, and it’s about a boy in a futuristic earth who plays a dangerous, complex virtual reality game, hoping that if he progresses far enough he’ll get the biomechanical upgrade he needs to save his real life. Things get complicated when he starts to suspect that the people who invented and run the game aren’t exactly what they seem to be. It’s out from GreenwillowBooks/HarperCollins on the 13th.

Right. That’s about as much as I can talk about myself without squirming, so I’ll answer a couple questions Karin posed.

What are you currently reading?

A few different things. The Infernal Devices, by K. W. Jeter, which is a steampunk classic. I randomly found a signed copy in a bookstore recently and picked it up because I hadn’t read it in years. The Blind Giant, by Nick Harkaway, which is a book I dip into and out of, though I have read it start to finish once. It’s nonfiction, focused on the dangers of technology and what society is losing by staring at screens all the time. And a first draft of a friend’s book which won’t be out for a year or two.

What is your favorite book?

Oh noooo I cannot answer this. Harry Potter, any of them. William Gibson’s Neuromancer. Where the Wild Things Are. Madeline Miller’s The Song of Achilles. Absolutely anything set on the Discworld.

…I think that totals about 67 books, so, uh, I’ll stop now.

Thanks for having me!

Emma