Welcome back to BOOK AND A BEVERAGE!
It’s been a while since I’ve hosted an author edition of Book and a Beverage but I am SO excited to be getting back into the swing of things! I had an overwhelmingly wonderful response from authors who were interested in participating so keep an eye out for even more author posts within the next few months!
Give a big welcome to author ANNIE CARDI!
Name: Annie Cardi
You know her best as the author of… THE CHANCE YOU WON’T RETURN (4/22/14)
Amazon // Goodreads
READING
What are you reading? I recently finished The Off Season by Catherine Gilbert Murdock and absolutely loved it. It’s the second book in the Dairy Queen series, and it was even better than the first one.
What’s important that we should know about this book? Would you recommend it? DJ’s voice is so real and heartbreaking and funny. Dairy Queen and The Off Season have been out for a while now, but I didn’t pick them up because they’re ostensibly about sports, and I have a hard enough time remembering how many points you get for a touchdown. But Murdock’s characters deal with major issues like financial instability and family obligation and coming out in a small town and medical emergencies, while also still getting in a lot of heart and humor and a dash of romance. If you’re not a sports person, these books are for you.
What are your top three books you would recommend to other people? That’s a tough one! The books that I’m zealous about are Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta, Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein, and The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater. They’re all so great on a craft level, have such complex and rich characters, and compelling plotlines. And they’re all books I immediately wanted to reread when I finished them. Logically I know that these books aren’t the right books for everyone, but I just want to sit down with everyone and gush over how many feels Taylor or Julie or Puck give me.
WRITING
What can you tell us about your current work in progress? I have two contemporary YAs in the works right now. One is more comic and deals with family, religion, music, crushes, and identity. I’ve had a lot of fun with that one, because it’s a protagonist I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I love getting to play around with her voice. The other deals more with grief and the unexplainable and finding your place in the universe. It’s told from dual perspectives, including my first male narrator. For a while I was sure this wasn’t going to be a kissing book, even though two of my crit partners told me kissing needed to happen. Sure enough, a couple months ago I went to group and had to admit they were right.
Are you a pantser or a plotter? I’m a total pantser. Every time I give pages to my writing group and they say something like “I’m really curious about where X is going,” I say “Yes…yes we’re all curious about that.” I always have great intentions about plotting things out in advance, but most of the time a story doesn’t come to me fully formed. I have a general idea of where I want to go or events I want to write about, but I have to kind of live it along with the characters, watch them grow and see what choices feel true.
Do you have a favorite spot to read/write? I like to change it up! I have an office at home that I write from, but I also like going to the local library or snagging space in a coffee shop—knowing that other people could see my screen makes me feel like I need to actually get work done and not waste all the time on Tumblr.
What are you drinking? Lots of water. The minute my giant Nalgene is empty, I refill. Sometimes I’ll jazz it up and get seltzer.
What’s your favorite thing to drink while reading/writing? Coffee and I have a very special relationship. (I’ve been known to sing songs about how much I love coffee after my first sip of the day.) I seriously have to hold back from drinking a whole pot on my own—usually two giant mugs is my limit. Paired with more water, of course.
Which character from a book would you say you’re most like? I was a teen reader when I encountered Elizabeth Clarry from Jaclyn Moriarty’s Feeling Sorry for Celia, and it was the first time I thought “This is what it’s like!” I wasn’t a long-distance runner and didn’t find out about a secret sibling or have a best friend who ran away to join the circus, but I totally related to Elizabeth feeling a little invisible and being hard on herself while also being funny and hopeful and open. It’s another book that I always recommend to people, even though I feel like I’m pretty much the only person I know who’s obsessed with it, and I think that comes from connecting with Elizabeth so much.
What type of scene is your favorite to write? I love writing scenes in which characters get to banter a little. As someone who’s on Tumblr a lot, I see how hilarious teens are, and I love finding the humor and quippy-ness in my teen characters. Of course sometimes I have to take out some banter because it’s not furthering the plot or emotional arc, but those kinds of exchanges are my favorite.
Do you have any writing rituals or superstitions? I try not to develop any rituals or superstitions, because I think it’s better to be open to the idea that writing can happen wherever and whenever. But I do tend to write with music—I like crafting playlists for each of my WIPs that help me get in the right mood. For The Chance You Won’t Return, I had a lot of Arcade Fire; for my current WIPs, I have a lot of Bowie and The Go! Team for one, and Jukebox the Ghost and Sufjan Stevens for the other.
Thank you so much to Annie Cardi for being a part of Book and Beverage today! I absolutely love her book recommendations — THE SCORPIO RACES is one of my all-time favorites!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Annie Cardi is the author of The Chance You Won’t Return, which was named a Bank Street College of Education Best Book of the Year for 2015. She holds an MFA in creative writing from Emerson College and a BA from the University of Virginia. In her free time, she enjoys running, baking, and spending too much time on Tumblr. Annie lives near Boston with her husband and a portrait of a sea captain.
2 thoughts on “Book and a Beverage Author Edition | Annie Cardi”
Really loved this. Annie Cardi has such a fun outlook. Looking forward to when those WIPs are in the book stores.
Love this, and those contemp WIPs sound so great!! More Annie Cardi books, please!!