Hey, Shelley! It’s so great to feature you as our first interview on the blog.

Thanks so much for inviting me here!

For those of you who are not familiar with Shelley and her amazing contemporary Middle Grade books, here’s some links to her blog and books.

 Now, on with the interview! In the past, when I’ve interviewed you, we focused on your journey of self-publishing and tapped into marketing a bit, too. Today, however, I’d like to focus on emotions. Mostly because your newest release, CAMP NEVER, has evocative chapter titles and I want to dig into this a bit.

Shelley, your blog posts have been super optimistic, but in our personal emails, I know you’ve struggled with health issues, a cross-country move, and now you’ve got something even bigger on the horizon. How do you stay focused and motivated?

It’s pretty tough, actually. I’ve had a lot of other important things competing for my time and attention. But I treat writing like a job, and instead of recording my hours on a time sheet (which could also work for a writer), I put stickers on a calendar for each writing-related task I can get done each day. It helps to see all those cute little animal stickers on my calendar, and if I want to fill up the whole month, I have to work on either writing, editing, formatting, or outlining for a significant amount of time per day.

Yes, stickers never get old! I think I’m going to have to adopt this suggestion. Do you have any routines you swear by?

Not really, haha. I honestly write whenever I’m able to, whether it’s morning, afternoon, or night. But I’m aiming to create a schedule soon, and try to stick to it.

I’d love to see what you come up with. I see a blog post topic in the future…Do you work better under pressure?

Absolutely. If I have all the time in the world, I sort of… waste that time, haha. I still work, but not as well as when I have a limited amount of time. (Recent example: I was close to finishing a manuscript before going out of town for a week, and I wrote for *hours* on the days leading up to my trip so I could get it done.)

I totally get that. Nothing like a deadline to get your butt in gear. What’s your vice when you’re procrastinating? I’m a huge baker when I’m supposed to be revising… My kids like that!

I have a lot of these, unfortunately, but the one that will take me away from writing the longest is organizing. If I’m procrastinating and I notice that my bookshelves look a little sloppy, I will spend a long time going through and rearranging some of the books. Same goes for DVDs, clothes, anything else you can reorganize.

If only I cleaned instead of baked… Where do you work? Home? Coffee shops? Do you have a desk at home or do you write on the couch or bed?

I work at home. I have a desk with a desktop computer (that I built with my own two hands! Okay, done bragging), though I don’t have my own office, so my desk is in the family room. Which means I usually don’t have total quiet while I work.

That’s very cool, Shelley. If I made my own computer I’d be bragging too! I do have a writing desk at home, but I NEVER get any writing-writing done there. I send emails and pay bills, but most of my writing gets done outside or at the dining room table.

Now for some fun!

What are the last five MG books you’ve read?

This is hard, because I’ve been reading a lot of non-MG books lately, in order to broaden my views and get better acquainted with other genres. So, I’ll just name a few that I read not too long ago:

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass, Touch Blue by Cynthia Lord, and three older books: Ellen Tebbits by Beverly Cleary, A Girl Called Al by Constance C. Greene, and Have You Seen Hyacinth Macaw by Patricia Reilly Giff. Those last three were part of a blog series I’m doing called “Middle Grade of the Past,” and it was fun to see how books of earlier decades compared to MG books today.

M&M’s or Starburst?

I like M&M’s better, but I can no longer eat them because I’m lactose intolerant, so I’ll stick with Starburst.

Favorite writing quote:

“You can make anything by writing.” C.S. Lewis

It’s always fun interviewing you, Shelley! I can’t wait to see what your fourth book will be about.

Thanks so much for having me, Kristi! I’m very excited about your future releases as well!

Shelley Sly was born and raised in New Jersey, and lived in the Washington, D.C. metro area for years before moving to the hot, dry desert of the southwest. She lives with her husband and their chocolate lab mix. Shelley is the author of Wishing for Washington and One Hundred Thirty Stars, both available on Amazon.com. Her third children’s novel, Camp Never, will be released soon.To learn more about Shelley or keep up to date on future releases, visit her website at www.ShelleySly.com.