My character Lucy goes through a lot in the book, and I think teens and adults who either live in a hoarding situation or with other big secrets will identify with her. As the  book is getting out into the world, I’ve had some questions trickle in from people who are living with/have lived with hoarders asking for advice and I’m only just beginning to realize what a big responsibility this can be. Many other books have dealt with heavy issues including 13 Reason’s Why, Wintergirls, Speak and everything Ellen Hopkins has ever written and I think all of the authors must become quasi-experts in the issue that they’re writing about. If you’re writing about suicide, you need to have some answers and resources ready for those people who reach out to you when they are in that situation. Same thing if you’re writing about hoarding. I want to make sure that anyone who reads the book and uses it as a jumping off point to get rid of their dirty little secrets can find the help they need with me, so I’ve worked with some actual experts to put together a list of hoarding resources on my website. Because I chose this topic (or it chose me – depends on how you look at it), it’s part of my responsibility as a writer.

The biggest downside so far has been people who constantly apologize for the messiness of their house or don’t want me to ride in their car because they haven’t had a chance to clean it. I’ve all-of-a-sudden become the clean patrol for everyone I know, and that I didn’t sign up for.

Cynthia Jaynes Omololu

This week, we’re celebrating C.J. Omololu’s debut! Cynthia Jaynes Omololu majored in English at U.C. Santa Barbara because she liked to read, not because she liked to write. In fact, for years all of her journals ended on or about January 21st because writing about her life was well…boring. After her kids were born, she discovered that she did like to write about the lives of fictional people, and that the voices in her head often have interesting things to say.

Cynthia lives in Northern California with her Nigerian husband (hence the vowel-filled last name) and two sons.

Here’s a little bit about DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS (Walker).

From the outside, Lucy’s home looks normal. Inside the front door is where the secrets begin. Towering piles of newspaper and magazines. Bags of junk flooding every inch of open space. The line of mold creeping along the window frames. This is what she’s kept from everyone—that her mother’s compulsive hoarding has reduced their lives to garbage . . . literally.

With only two years until graduation, Lucy finally feels like a normal life is within her grasp, and her new best friend, Kaylie, and her longtime crush, Josh, make a future feel almost possible.

Then one morning Lucy comes home to find something she never expected, something that will change her life forever. And she must ask herself—how far can she really go to keep the family secrets safe?

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS by C.J. Omololu

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

PG-13. No sex, but some kissing and a little swearing. Oh yeah, a dead mother. Like right-there dead, not in the abstract.

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

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS is about the mental disorder of compulsive hoarding and what it does to a family. It’s also about how keeping secrets gives them power over you, and that no matter how bad they are, someone can always help you.

I got the idea from a magazine article about a woman who had grown up in a hoarded home. I didn’t grow up in this situation, but I’ve known some hoarders and have seen what the disorder can do. Once you start talking about it, it’s amazing how common the problem really is – almost everyone has known someone with some degree of hoarding. There wasn’t as much media exposure when I started writing this book, but now there is even a series on A&E called Hoarders.

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

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS is for anyone who has had hoarding touch their lives or who is interested in the disorder. I think it would also appeal to people who have felt they had a big secret that they had to keep. As depressing as the subject sounds, I find the book one of hope and survival, so it really has broad appeal to anyone over the age of 12 (that’s been my own benchmark so far). There’s also a romance thread, because what is a YA book without a romance thread?

List a few statistically improbable phrases or sentences one might find in your book. These are phrases or sentences you might never find anywhere else.

• As it ripped away from the base, the pile of papers flipped into the air, and several of the maggots were flung off them and into my face like a larval rain shower.
• Over the past couple of years, I’d told people that Mom had a brain tumor, multiple sclerosis, epilepsy, Alzheimer’s, kidney failure, and irritable bowel syndrome as reasons for why I couldn’t do something or have them over.
• I reached out and curled my hand around her still, icy fingers. I held it there for a long time as I sat with my knees to my chest, wishing that just for a minute she could squeeze it back and tell me everything would be okay.

How can your book be used in the classroom?

DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS is a great springboard for discussion about how we all have secrets and how they affect our lives. A large portion of the book is written in flashbacks, so it is an unusual example of this writing style.

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

Kids who like edgy books by Laurie Halse Anderson or Ellen Hopkins would probably enjoy DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. I love the new book The Mark by Jen Nadol (my sister in publishing) and think that readers who enjoy that would enjoy this.

Now whet our appetites with a teaser.

Everyone has secrets. Some are just bigger and dirtier than others.

At least that’s what I told myself whenever I stood in a crowd of normal-looking people and felt like I was the only one. The only person on the planet who had to hide practically everything that was real. It was soothing to look at all the unfamiliar faces and try to figure out the thing each person hid inside – true or not, it made me feel like less of a freak.

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.

• How to write sympathetically about an unsympathetic subject.
• Follow your “what ifs” into a great story.
• Your DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS – how they can change your life.

This concludes our interview with our latest author, C.J. Omololu. We wish her much success with her debut novel DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. To see what C.J.  is up to these days, visit her website at http://www.cjomololu.com or her blog at http://www.cynjay.blogspot.com.

*GIVEAWAY ALERT* C.J. is giving away a signed copy of DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS. Tell your friends and leave a comment for the author! Enter by December 8th, 2009 11:59 PM CST.

Your email address will not be displayed publicly and will only be used to contact you if you win! And don’t forget to participate in our other AuthorsNow! giveaways.

The reason I can hold my head up high and discuss this with a minimum of guilt is that it is all research. There have been a lot of great posts on how writers get their ideas (Amy Brecount White just did one a few days ago) and the truth for me is: everywhere. Taking a peek into the lives of people whose experiences are so different from mine starts the What If ball rolling. What if I was a pageant kid and decided not to do it anymore? What if I was kid number six in a huge family? What if I were poorly dressed…okay, never mind on that one.

My point is, take a seed from someone else’s experience and run with it. My picture book When It’s Six O’clock in San Francisco came about because my kids would ask what their cousins in London or Nigeria were doing at that moment. We’d play What If, and imagine what we’d be doing if we were in another country right then. My YA Dirty Little Secrets was born from a magazine article I read in Marie Claire about an adult who had grown up in a hoarded home. From there, I started imagining what it would be like to grow up like that, how it would affect me if I could never have any friends over. The new show Hoarders on A&E show that I’m not the only one who has found this scenario interesting. Take a page from someone else’s experience, examine it and allow yourself to ask “What If?” – you might end up with an amazing story.

Is reality TV invasive? Sure. Exploitive? Sometimes. Inspiring? Absolutely.

Quick—if I say Sarah Dessen, what kind of books do you think of? Yep, contemporary fiction with a romantic bent. Neil Gaiman? Slightly-scary fantasy. R.L. LaFevers? Adventure, ancient curses and feisty girls (if you haven’t read any of the Theodosia books, shut down the computer and go get one now…we’ll wait). These authors all have a strong brand—pick up a book and you pretty much know what kind of book it will be. These authors also have readers who wait with excitement for the next book, even if it’s not part of a series.

Other writers sort of stumble into a brand when something suddenly takes off. Alyson Noel wrote books for adults and a romancy YA before starting the Immortals series where she has really found success (which gives us unbranded writers hope).

I have no brand, and I can’t seem to find one no matter how hard I try. Stories come to me in all different forms and if I like it, I’ll start writing it regardless of age group or genre. My first book is a picture book about time zones and the second book that will come out in February is an “edgy” YA about hoarding (and romance). I’m working on a follow-up book to the PB and in the middle of a YA romance (no hoarding or other mental/social disorders). We have a book out with editors that is a boy-centric MG and the book that wants to be written next is a YA with some supernatural elements. Ugh.

I constantly pester my agent with questions about what to write—should I abandon an idea that I like because it doesn’t fit in with the other book? Should I stick to writing books about teens in abusive living situations? As much as I adore her, she always says the same thing—write what you love. But what if you love it all?

This really came up when we were designing my new website. It had to be accessible to parents and teachers who wanted information about When It’s Six O’clock in San Francisco, but wouldn’t be too cutesy for those teens who wanted info about Dirty Little Secrets. In the end, we just made a site that reflected me and not the books that I write.

Ultimately, I guess I do think that a good, strong brand is the way to go. I hope I get one someday. In the meantime, I’ll just write the stories that appear and hope that people like them.

Of course, the very next day I got myself over to the bookstore. As I approached the window, I could see my little orange book front and center in the store window, along with other children’s books that related to travel or other countries. Squee! After admiring it (and yes, taking a few photos I’ll admit) I went inside, where I was greeted with a floor to ceiling display of children’s books with my book face-out right at eye level (not three books away from In Our Mother’s House by Patricia Pollaco). And I’m not even related to any of the people that run the store. More squee!

I thanked the guys at the counter for putting my book in the window and they asked if I would sign the copies they had in the store. Um, sure. I guess. Staring at the pristine white page with an extra-fine Sharpie in my hand, I was stuck as to what to write. I mean, I can write my name and all, but most authors have some snappy little something that they put in the front. “Just draw a little picture,” one of the guys said. “That’s what a lot of kidlit authors do.” Ugh. Even worse, as I can’t draw at all. I finally just signed my name and they put the books back on the shelf with a fancy little “Signed by Author” sticker on them. Squee overload.

After years of writing and submitting, 3 ½ of those since I first sold this book to Clarion, I finally had that moment that most authors dream about – I signed my book in a bookstore. It was a little weird walking away and leaving my books at the store for other people to pick up and hopefully buy and share. Once the squeeing subsided, I felt a strange sense of satisfaction, the knowledge that something concrete has finally come out of all of this. After thinking about it for awhile, I realized that the true elation will come when (hopefully) I get a letter or an email from a kid or a parent or a teacher who read the book and enjoyed it, and that maybe it added something to their life, if even for just a moment or two.

For anyone who wonders if the years of learning, writing, rewriting, throwing out bad copy, attending conferences, contacting publishers, getting an agent, revising and waiting is all worth it, I only have one answer. You betcha.

Fate now smirks when she sees me, as I am the only female in a house full of males – even the dog and both of the cats are boys. The presence of several Y chromosomes in my life has made me think harder about all things boy-related, including their reading preferences.

My oldest son is just about to turn 12. He still reads, but he has trouble finding things that interest him. He’s a bit “eh” about fantasy (he never really got excited about Harry Potter, something that he will never admit to his friends), he didn’t like Twilight because there was too much “love stuff” and he’s too young for books like Looking for Alaska by John Green. The past few months, he has found a few books that he really liked – Savvy by Ingrid Law was a big hit (even though it is sort of a “girl” book), and Feed by M.T. Anderson is a favorite. He’s always looking for things to read, but is quick to dismiss anything that is overly girlie.

I’ve been told by those who should know that boys don’t read. At least they don’t once they pass the age of 12. Oh, they might pick up an action/fantasy book or a good graphic novel on occasion, but as a species, they don’t read regular books. I’ve started to wonder if boys stopped reading regular books because there aren’t many regular books for them to read, or if writers and publishers have stopped marketing regular books to boys because it was a losing proposition.

With all this in mind, I have a confession to make – I write books for girls. Honestly, it didn’t start out that way. When It’s Six O’clock in San Francisco is coming out in July, and as a picture book, that is for both boys and girls, but my YA Dirty Little Secrets is being marketed to girls. The book I’m writing now is definitely for girls (too much love stuff, as my son would say), and the zygote that is percolating and may turn into the book after that also seems to have a girl main character.

I feel bad about this. I want boys to have great books that will give them other perspectives on life without having to leave home. Even though my main character is a girl, I still hope some boys will pick it up and enjoy it. As my son says, they can always take the jacket off when they carry it around so that the girl on the cover doesn’t look weird.

If a book comes to me that has a strong boy character, I’ll write it, but I’m not sure I’ll go out looking for one. If you write it, will boys come? Honestly, I don’t know.

I don’t tweet or follow anyone on Twitter and frankly, I’m not really planning to anytime soon. Can you be a Twitter Quitter if you never started in the first place? I’m standing firm in my stance to dodge the popularity of this particular technology. If the big thing about Twitter is that Ashton Kutcher has a million followers, well, I don’t care enough about Ashton (or anyone else outside of my immediate family) to want to know what they are up to every second of every day. I may look back on this whole thing in two years when the entire world is tweeting and kick myself for waiting so long. On the other hand, I may sigh with relief six months from now when the whole Twitter thing has gone away. Friendster anyone?

The biggest problem with Twitter, Facebook, MySpace and even (ahem) blogging is that while they are a great way to stay in touch, they are also a great way to avoid the hard work of sitting down, opening up the trusty laptop file and writing the daily allotment of words on my current work in progress.

Which is what I really should be doing right now.

Is there a networking platform that you absolutely wouldn’t go without?

WHEN IT'S SIX O'CLOCK IN SAN FRANCISCO

• Publication Season/Year: Spring 2009
• Publisher: Clarion
• Release Date: July 20, 2009
• ISBN (hardcover): 978-0618768271
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

When it’s six o’clock in San Francisco, what time is it where you live?

When it’s six o’clock in San Francisco and Jared is just starting his day, it’s eleven o’clock in Santiago, where Elena is hard at work on a math problem at school. When it’s six o’clock in San Francisco and eleven o’clock in Santiago, it’s four o’clock in Cape Town and Nkosi stops to look at used CDs in the market.

When it’s six o’clock in San Francisco, children all over the world are busy going to school, playing with their friends, and spending time with their families. This lyrical picture book, illustrated in comic-book style by award-winning illustrator Randy DuBurke, celebrates the uniqueness of our world’s many cultures, while emphasizing the similarities in all children’s lives.

Cynthia Jaynes Omololu

The Author: Cynthia Jaynes Omololu
Location: Northern California

Cynthia Jaynes Omololu majored in English at U.C. Santa Barbara because she liked to read, not because she liked to write. In fact, for years all of her journals ended on or about January 21^st because writing about her life was well…boring. After her kids were born, she discovered that she did like to write about the lives of fictional people, and that the voices in her head often have interesting things to say.

Cynthia lives in Northern California with her Nigerian husband (hence the vowel-filled last name) and two sons.

Contact Information:

• Official web site: www.cynjay.com
• Blogger: www.cynjay.blogspot.com

Dirty Little Secrets by C.J. Omololu

• Publication Season/Year: Winter 2010
• Publisher: Walker
• Release Date: February 2, 2010
• ISBN (hardcover): TBD
• ISBN (paperback): TBD

When 16 year-old Lucy comes home to find her mother dead under a stack of National Geographics in their garbage-filled home, she hesitates as she starts to dial 911. She hardly notices the mountains of stuff that fill every available space in the entire house or smells the decay anymore – but she knows the paramedics will, and so will the news cameras that will follow. They’ll notice the garbage and the smell and wonder how anyone ever lived like this. Only freaks live like this.

As she stares at the cell phone, Lucy can already hear the echoes of “Garbage Girl” and picture the look of disgust on everyone’s faces. With a normal life finally within reach, Lucy has to decide how far she’ll go to keep the family secrets safe.