Very in Pieces is about a mathematician in a family of artists. When her grandmother, a poet, falls ill, Very must try to figure out if who she is meant to be is pre-determined, or if she can write her own stories. It is my frist YA novel in about six years: my very first novel, Secrets of Truth & Beauty (2009) was YA, and since then I have been writing YA. It was so much fun to go back to the teenaged voice.
What are you currently craving?
Ice cream. The answer to that question is pretty much always ice cream. Unless you are talking book cravings. In that case, I’m kind of craving some good, meaty, narrative nonfiction right now.
If you could have dinner with anyone, alive or dead, who would you choose and why?
The first name that came to mind was Annette Kellerman. I would love to travel with her on her journeys.
What’s in your Netflix queue?
It turns out I need to clean up my list because I’ve actually seen a lot of the things I have there, but here are some things I want to see or TV shows I’m in the middle of watching: Orange is the New Black, In A World, Tig, Welcome to Me, Friday Night Lights, Short Term 12, Teacher of the Year, To be Takei, and Granite Flats. I also have Firefly in there. That show is like an old, comfortable blanket.
What’s on your writing desk?
Books, papers, a cup of pencils and pens, a printer, my phone, a big to do pile, a manuscript I am revising, a sampler CD from Paste magazine, some lego toys, cinnamon gum, stickies, and compressed gas for cleaning electronics. For starters.
Where is your happy place? Why does it bring you joy?
I like being by the water, preferably a still lake. It just makes me feel calm.
What’s your favorite quote or scene from Very in Pieces?
I love the ending. I had the image in my head from very early on in the writing process.
Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?
It’s kind of silly, but, “All you can do is your best.” It can be so easy to let fear guide you, or to put too much pressure on yourself. You have to give yourself permission to act, even if it means you might mess up.
Megan Frazer Blakemore is the author of the new book Very in Pieces.
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