Interview with Tiffany Schmidt, author of Hold Me Like a Breath

Tell us a little bit about your new release, Hold Me Like a Breath.

Hold Me Like a Breath is a modern re-imagining of the fairy tale The Princess and the Pea, but with royal families swapped for crime families that control the black market for human organs and transplants. It’s the first in the Once Upon a Crime Family series, where each book will be a contemporary reinterpretation of a different fairy tale.

What’s rocking your world this month?

Sunblock! After the winter that NEVER ENDED I’m so thrilled to be back outside and breathing in fresh air. I don’t care if I leave greasy white stains on every outdoor surface, I’m just delighted to see the sun and shed my coat and gloves! Even more exciting—getting my four-year-old twins outside. I’m not quite sure how our house is still standing after so many months of trapped-inside play, but it’s pretty awesome to be able to slick them up in SPF and let them run laps around the backyard.

If you woke up tomorrow in the storyline of Hold Me Like a Breath, what is the first thing you would do?

Hide. I would want to be far away from the conflicts within and between the organ-trafficking crime families. I like all my parts and pieces just where they are, thank you very much.

BAM. You’re a superhero (you’re welcome). What’s your superpower?

Self-styling hair. I do realize this is the most ludicrous superpower ever, but I hate everything about drying my hair. I hate the sound of the hair dryer (I also hate vacuum cleaners, so the ability to make floors clean themselves might be my second choice). I hate how long it takes. I hate the way I’m constantly getting brushes tangled in my hair when I stop paying attention and try and multi-task. I hate that by the time I’m done “styling,” I look like I’ve given my four-year-olds the comb and told them to get creative.
If I could step from the shower with hair that was already dried and behaving, then I could use the time I’ve saved for much more enjoyable tasks—like getting caught up on Netflix or Tumblr.

What is the one movie that you can quote the most?

I feel bad for anyone who has to watch Elf or Pitch Perfect with me. I have both of these movies pretty much memorized and it is SO HARD not to recite/sing along. (Also, if we’re being honest, Frozen. But that memorization was less my choice and more a byproduct of the Schmidtlets’ fandom…)

Where is your favorite place to write?

My treadmill desk! I think best while in motion, so a treadmill desk is perfect for a fidget-pants like me. But only for drafting. I do my best brainstorming while in the shower, swimming, running, or driving – thank goodness for waterproof notepads, and the app that lets me dictate notes to my phone. And I revise on paper—usually while pacing my bedroom or backyard.

Do you have a favorite quote or life philosophy that you live by?

“Nothing great was ever achieved without enthusiasm”
I love this quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson because I’m pretty much a fangirl of life. There are too many wonderful things in this world, why not celebrate them all? And there’s too much hardship and grief to not take every opportunity to gush and embrace the things I love.
This quote is also so relevant to writing. I have to believe in a project before I begin. I have to have sky high, let’s-conquer-the-reading-world goals. Otherwise when the doubts and second-guessing start to creep in mid-draft or throughout the labyrinth of revisions, I’ll never have enough confidence to keep going.
As I’m constantly telling my husband (usually while having an impromptu dance party in the middle of the grocery store), life is too short to be ‘too cool.’

Tiffany Schmidt is the author of the new book Hold Me Like A Breath.

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