Freebie Friday with Tera Lynn Childs!

Happy Friday!

Another great book event last night. I'm giving a recap over at Teen Fiction Cafe if you're interested. Meanwhile, I'm stoked to bring you this week's Freebie Friday guest, YA author and all around goddess, Tera Lynn Childs. Tera Lynn is the author of OH.MY. GODS. and the recently-released sequel, GODDESS BOOT CAMP.

Here's the official GODDESS BOOT CAMP blurb:

Phoebe recently discovered she’s a descendent of Nike (the goddess, not the shoe), and now she's finding out that supernatural powers come with a crazy learning curve. Her new stepfather, headmaster of the Academy for descendants of Greek gods, has enrolled her in Dynamotheos Development Camp—aka Goddess Boot Camp—with a bunch of ten-year-olds for the summer. Embarrassing as that is, hopefully it’ll help her get control of her powers in time to pass the test of the gods, continue training hard enough to qualify for the Pythian Games (the only sporting event bigger than the Olympics), and enjoy her godly boyfriend, Griffin, all while avoiding getting smoted for accidental misuse of powers!

Booklist calls GODDESS BOOT CAMP "lighthearted, magic-packed fun" and Kirkus Reviews says the "light and clever story line" makes for a great beach read. Perfect for summer, right? Right! You can read an excerpt here.

And now on to the Standard Interview Questions:

What inspired you to write Goddess Boot Camp?

My editor saying, "We want you to write a sequel!" Just kidding. (Mostly.) Where the premise for the book started, actually, was with the opening line. After Phoebe learns she's a descendant of Nike in Oh. My. Gods. I suddenly pictured her thinking, I. Am. A. Goddess. And then there would be a bit BUT--the whole not being able to control her powers thing--because nothing is ever that simple for Phoebe. That's where the book began.

What excites you?
Learning. I am such an education junkie it's ridiculous. If I'm not watching a specific show on TV (like Psych, Leverage, or Burn Notice) then I'm usually on the Science Channel, the History Channel, or the Discovery Channel. It's an addiction, I'm telling you. I love that moment when you realize you just learned something you never knew you never knew (how very Pocahontas of me, I know). Like how when a liquid is bombarded with sound it creates bubbles that emit light when they burst. (Seriously. It's called sonoluminescence.) That's moment is magic. And it's all research for some unknown future book.

What turns you off?

Complacency. I never want to be happy with what I've got or what I'm doing. I'm always looking for the next thing, the thing that will be bigger and better and more successful or exciting or just more. This applies to my writing, too. No matter how well I think I did on the previous book, I can always do better and work harder on the next one. Melissa Marr once said, "If it's not hard then what's the point." I totally agree. If it's easy, then you're just letting yourself down.

Have you ever gone away to summer camp? What's your favorite (or worst) camp memory?
Never to a fun summer camp, like the girls in Parent Trap (oh, how I dreamed, though). I went to several summers of basketball camp and pretty much all of it is a worst memory. Okay, I'm exaggerating, but I was exhausting and hard and some of the girls were not very nice.

Who is your favorite Goddess and why?
I'm not allowed to choose, because they take it very personally when you pick favorites (see: Troy, War of). Who knows what kind of trouble those ladies would unleash if I let it slip that I prefer smart and powerful Athena. Ooops! Watch out.

If you found out today that you were a descendant of the Gods, what magical power would you wish to have?
There are twelve primary powers that the gods have passed on to their descendants, and the best by far is autoportation. This is the ability to zap yourself literally anywhere in the world. Of course, if you haven't been to that particular spot before you run the risk of finding yourself in the middle of a mountain or something equally dangerous. Autoport at your own risk.

If you could invite anyone you wanted - living or dead - to hang out with you at a weekend retreat, who would you invite and why?

Jane Austen, because she could not only tell me what the Regency world was really like, but also name her inspiration for Mr. Darcy. (Come on, there had to be someone who inspired that character!) Besides, I think she would be delightfully fun and could probably prepare tea like nobody's business.

What's one thing most people don't know about you?

Sometimes I have nightmares about spiders. (I have no idea what causes them because in real life I'm not nearly this terrified of them.) In the nightmare, I'm lying in my bed in my room when a spider suddenly drops down from the ceiling right above me. I jolt up, instantly wide awake and completely convinced that the spider is actually there. I'm used to them now, so I figure out pretty quickly that it was a dream, but the first time it happened (in college) I leaped out of bed, flipped on the light, and spent twenty minutes searching for the spider. Freaked my roommate out.

What's your favorite quote?

I love this one from Mark Twain: The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—’tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning.

Milk Chocolate or Dark?

None. I'm not really a chocolate fan. (Linda's note: gasp!) I'll eat it if there are other things involved (like caramel or marshmallow), but usually I pass on the chocolate. (Again, gasp!!) I do like white chocolate, though, but some people don't consider that chocolate. Just like some people don't consider my hazelnut latte to be coffee. I beg to differ.

To be entered to win a signed copy of GODDESS BOOT CAMP, leave a reply below answering one (or both!) of these questions:
1. What is your favorite/worst summer camp experience?
2. Who is your favorite Greek goddess and why?

This contest will remain open until Wednesday, July 1 or when I get back home, whichever comes latest!