BBAW Interview Swap

My interview partner for Book Blogger Appreciation Week was Weronicka Janczuk @ WeronickaJanczuk.com.

It was fun coming up with questions for her! She interviewed me as well!

Getting to know Weronicka:

1. Why did you start your blog?

I blogged sporadically through 2007 and 2008, maintaining a personal diary/journal online as a venue for me to talk about things that mattered. It was a very opinion-oriented spot and I realized that, unless I connected with an audience, I was blogging online for no reason, so I took a break. I began to blog more fervently on the topic of writing this spring because I intended to begin my eighth novel--which I finished on 09/02/09--and my hidden passion for blogging about the writing life and interacting with fellow writers and industry pros bloomed.

2. What is your favorite book genre and why?

My favorite book genre to read is literary fiction because of its potential for complexity and its observations on life. I love to see how different writers examine events of different varieties, each with a new lesson and observation to make. On the other hand, though I intend to write something literary in the future, everything that I've written has ended up being on the complex YA side, a genre that I love to write because I'm still a teenager myself and I've learned to make fresh observations about the type of people I interact with and see everyday.

3. Do you have a specific time of day that you read? Blog? Both?

Not at all! I fit blogging, reading, and writing in when I have the time. During the summer, I'll blog when I get out of bed--or once I've had a long breakfast and morning jog. I'll read before I go to bed. During the school year, however, I read in between class periods and during boring lectures, blog at one o'clock in the morning once all my homework is finished, and write almost rarely. It's an unfortunate truth that the amount of homework and responsibilities I have during school means I'm usually exhausted and, therefore, I write maybe a total of 10,000 words over those nine months.

4. Where is your favorite reading spot?

I really like to read tucked into the corner of one of the couches in our living room under a fleece blanket, even if there are people playing video games or cooking in the bordering kitchen. If I fall into the story, nothing--nothing!--can pull me out of it (with the exception of a physical tug or very irritated yelling on my mom's part, who is now used to my syndrome, of course).

5. Did you have a favorite book as a child? What was it?

As a child...oh, this is difficult. I'm 100% Polish so, for the first six years of my life, my mom read to me the most traditional Polish and European folktales; soon after, I began to read sporadically YA and adult books (yes, I was reading things far above my reading and stereotypical 'maturity' level). I still adore the story of the princess that feels the pea under the mattresses--the American title for it escapes me--and another about a princess that turns into a swan. I always wanted to be those princesses.

6. Do you have a favorite author?

One favorite author, no, but a few yes--Audrey Niffenegger, Jodi Picoult, Alice Hoffman, Dan Brown, Dean Koontz, Joyce Carol Oates, Shakespeare, Ernest Hemingway, Sarah Dessen, and John Grisham.

7. Do you read series books? If so, do you have a favorite?

No, not really. I loved the Hardy Boys when I was in elementary school, though.

8. How many books on average do you read in a year?

Let's do some math. I read, on average, a title a day during the summer--so ninety of them during the nine summer months, and then three for every month I'm in school (9 x 3 = 18), so about 108 or so books.


Please stop by Weronicka's Blog and get to know her....she is a fantastic gal.

Happy BBAW week everyone!