Ann Gonzalez

This week, we’re celebrating Ann Gonzalez’s debut! After writing RUNNING FOR MY LIFE during the 30 days of National Novel Writing Month (Nanowrimo) 2007, Ann Gonzalez realized she is a nano-novelist. Stories she writes in thirty days have more heart than ones she labors over. Ann holds an MFA in Creative Writing from the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, and she teaches and supports writers as an instructor at North Seattle Community College and via an on-going online course, Writing for Teens and Tweens.

Here’s a little bit about RUNNING FOR MY LIFE (WestSide Books).

RUNNING FOR MY LIFE is the powerful story of Andrea McKane, a fourteen-year-old who struggles to cope with her mother’s schizophrenia. The book accurately portrays the difficulties a teen faces when dealing with the illness, the abuse and absence of a psychotic parent. RUNNING FOR MY LIFE shows the effects of mental illness on a family, and a teenager’s attempts to manage the changes that have shaken her life. With courage, strength, and the loving support of her friends, her father, and her therapist, Andrea finds salvation through running. RUNNING FOR MY LIFE represents a breakthrough effort in portraying the challenges children deal with when they have to protect themselves from a guardian.

RUNNING FOR MY LIFE by Ann Gonzalez

If you had to give your book a movie rating: G through Rated R, which one would you give and why?

PG13 – It’s the story of a girl who has developed Post Traumatic Stress Disorder after being attacked by her schizophrenic mother. While the trauma happens outside the novel, the subject matter is serious.

What topics, issues, or themes does your book address? What drove you to write about them?

I’m more interested in how young people respond to trauma, after it has occurred, than I am in how they respond to the trauma itself. A counselor plays a primary role in the novel because I want to encourage young people who are suffering to consider therapy whereas they may not have known much about it prior to reading Running for My Life.

The primary issue of the book is what does it mean when a parent is alive but not able to care for a child? What should young people do when the adults in their lives let them down? In addition, I explore the importance and role of friendship.

Name three examples of readers who would identify or like your book.

• Anyone who has experienced trauma, and experienced a flashback.
• Anyone who has experienced trauma, especially if they have experienced a flashback to the trauma.
• Anyone who has had to deal with a parent, or family member with a mental illness, and who is curious about therapy.
• Anyone who likes coming of age stories about friendship and first love.

Now tell us about other already-published books that readers of your book might enjoy.

• STOP PRETENDING, Sonya Sones
• SPEAK, Laurie Halse Anderson
• OUT OF THE DUST, Karen Hesse

Now whet our appetites with a teaser.

“My body knows which days I meet with my therapist even when my head tries to forget. Earlier in the day, right after Algebra, my feet started tapping, my legs bounced. I must’ve blanched to the color of my crew socks, because Margie said, ‘You’ve got therapy today. Don’t you?’”

Are you offering authors visits to schools, libraries, or other organizations?

Yes.

Are you willing to speak nationally?

Yes.

List a few example titles of presentations, talks, or workshops you might give for an author visit.

• Emersion Writing – Writing a novel in 30 days
• Teens Write – The time to start your writing career is now. (geared toward teenage writers.)
• Where to Begin – Looking closer at how stories begin.
• Writing One’s Way Through Trauma – Healing through words

This concludes our interview with our latest author, ANN GONZALEZ. We wish her much success with her debut novel RUNNING FOR MY LIFE. To see what Ann is up to these days, visit her website at www.anngonzalez.com or her blog at http://anngonzalez.wordpress.com.

Related posts:

1. RUNNING FOR MY LIFE by Ann Gonzalez
2. Author Spotlight: Lauren Bjorkman, MY INVENTED LIFE (Giveaway Alert Now – 11/10/09)
3. THE RED UMBRELLA by Christina Diaz Gonzalez
4. Author Spotlight: Jenny Moss, WINNIE’S WAR (Giveaway now-02/11/09!)
5. AUTHOR SPOTLIGHT: Megan Crewe, GIVE UP THE GHOST (GIVEAWAY ALERT NOW – 12/15/09)