Meet the Newbies: Emily Skrutskie

Welcome to today’s stop on Meet the Newbies!! Today I am excited to be hosting Emily Skrutskie, the author of  The Abyss Surrounds Us which released on February 8!!

Emily’s Yearbook Entry!

Author Most Likely To Win An Oscar

Nickname: The Tall One

First Day of School: February 8, 2016

Homeroom: Flux

Grade: YA Science Fiction

Extracurricular Activities: Filmmaking, Junior Classical League, Academic Team, ALL the honor societies

Favorite Class: Latin!

Favorite Quote/Motto: “I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live. I rejoice in life for its own sake. Life is no “brief candle” for me. It is a sort of splendid torch which I have got hold of for the moment, and I want to make it burn as brightly as possible before handing it on to future generations.” -George Bernard Shaw

 

My Q&A With Emily!

** This was the prompt that I gave to ALL the authors- and I will answer them myself at the end of the event 😉 **

I figured that since this is called “Meet the Newbies”, it might be fun to go ahead and actually MEET you! But when I was coming up with questions, I thought about how being an author was really just one part of the bigger picture. With that in mind, I want to ask some questions about things that make you you.

As a  Teen

What was your high school experience like?

I actually had the pleasure of having TWO high school experiences, since I spent my sophomore year of high school in Boulder and the rest of my time in Charlottesville. I ran with the high achievers crowd, racking up AP scores, captaining the Academic Team (which was, and I’m not kidding, a varsity athletic sport at my school), and getting downright obsessed with Latin and the Junior Classical League.

If you had the chance to go back and do it again, what would you change?

I didn’t get my driver’s license until nineteen. If I could go back, I would get it the moment I was able. Turns out I really like driving! And because I lived out in the boonies, it would have been really nifty for my social life if I could get myself to and from places on my own.

Shannon’s Sidenote: As a fellow resident of the boonies, I do not know how you survived!! 

As an Author

What has been the most exciting part of the process so far? The most rewarding?

The most exciting part so far was definitely the part where I got to attend ALA Midwinter. It was my first event as a “real live author,” complete with a signing (with a HUGE LINE!) and a presentation on stage (where I DIDN’T make a fool of myself!)

The most rewarding part of the process will always be having readers. Whether it’s people reaching out on Twitter to tell me they loved the book, people pitching it to their friends and colleagues, people drawing fan art and making amazing fan creations, or even people quietly loving it without telling a soul. I don’t think I’ll ever feel like I deserve the love my readers have for me and my work.

What do you wish you knew before you started this adventure?

I wish I’d known that the work never changes. I feel like there’s an expectation that once you reach a certain level, it gets easier or it goes faster or the ideas come more quickly, and it’s easy to burn yourself out by expecting those things to happen. No matter how hard you wish or work, you’re never going to get to the point where you can snap your fingers and have a book. I’m working on what will hopefully one day be my sixth completed novel right now, and even though I have the experience of the other five in my belt, I’m still slogging through the draft the way I did with all of my others. It all comes down to patience and elbow grease.

Shannon’s Sidenote: I think these are some very wise words! Something we should all remember! 

As an Everyday Woman

What are a few things you simply cannot get through the day without?

A reading break, for one thing. Also ice water.

Describe the absolute perfect day for you- sky’s the limit!  

I wake up in my dream beach house on the California coast at 7AM and go for a morning swim with my dolphin friends. Get some writing done in between breakfast and lunch. In the afternoon, the telephone rings. It’s John Lasseter—the latest Pixar movie is in rewrites and they need me to swoop in and save the story. “Don’t worry, John,” I say. “I’ve got this.” I talk through things with the story team into the early evening, book my ticket for San Francisco, go out to dinner with my friends to celebrate, and end up at whatever bar Channing Tatum’s at to close the evening. We have a dance-off. He lets me win.

Shannon’s Sidenote: Can I come too? At least for the swimming and the fun bar that Channing Tatum is at? I promise, you can have center stage 😉 

As a  Reader

What book has made the most impact on your life (in any way, really) and how?

I’m going to be so surprised if anyone else has read this, but in middle school I read this book called Dragon and Thief, by Timothy Zahn. It’s a sci-fi book about a boy raised by his con man uncle who gets framed for a crime and has to team up with a dragon-like alien that takes a 2D tattoo form to clear his name. That book, along with seeing Star Wars for the first time around the same time, made me into an aspiring sci-fi writer.

Is there a book that you could read over and over again and never get tired of?

All of the books in the Raven Cycle. Sometimes I pick them up, flip to random pages, and just “hang out” wherever the book takes me.

Shannon’s Sidenote: This a good reminder for me to get on the ball and continue the series, so thank you Emily!! 

Thanks so much for participating!

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Book & Author Info!

The Abyss Surrounds Us by Emily Skrutskie
Series: The Abyss Surrounds Us #1
Published by Flux on February 8th 2016
Pages: 288

For Cassandra Leung, bossing around sea monsters is just the family business. She’s been a Reckoner trainer-in-training ever since she could walk, raising the genetically-engineered beasts to defend ships as they cross the pirate-infested NeoPacific. But when the pirate queen Santa Elena swoops in on Cas’s first solo mission and snatches her from the bloodstained decks, Cas’s dream of being a full-time trainer seems dead in the water.

There’s no time to mourn. Waiting for her on the pirate ship is an unhatched Reckoner pup. Santa Elena wants to take back the seas with a monster of her own, and she needs a proper trainer to do it. She orders Cas to raise the pup, make sure he imprints on her ship, and, when the time comes, teach him to fight for the pirates. If Cas fails, her blood will be the next to paint the sea.

But Cas has fought pirates her entire life. And she's not about to stop.

A finished copy of ANY of these fabulous books in the event, open internationally!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Have you read Emily’s debut yet? I must ASAP, several of my friends have and said it is fantastic!!