The Story is About   +  Stephanie Kuehnert

I'd like to welcome author Stephanie Kuehnert author of, I Wanna be Your Joey Ramone and Ballads of Suburbia, which is being released today! Happy PUB Day Stephanie! You can check out my review of Ballads of Suburbia in the post below. This is an interview I conducted with Stephanie as a part of Traveling to Teens.

Mostly I write on my laptop so I need that, but I also always have pen and paper next to me to scrawl down thoughts for later in the book or universal themes I want to run throughout. I also need tea, especially in the morning. And quiet. I usually write in quite. But I need my iPod/iTunes at the ready in case I need a certain song for inspiration.

Do you have a specific time or place that you write?

I wish. I crave routine but am struggling to find it. I'm more naturally a binge writer. When I was in grad school I'd have two days a week where I'd just write for 8 to 12 hours. Now I do best when I can go away for a week and write 8 to 12 hours. That's how I finished the first draft of Ballads. Went to a beautiful house in Canada, a writer's retreat run by a former professor. It's also how I finished the draft of IWBYJR that went to my agent. Rented a house in Wisconsin with some friends. Next month another former professor is lending me their house for five days. Bliss.

But on a day to day basis, I write in my office and I write for an hour and a half as soon as I get up in the morning. Then I take a break to do other business. I try to get back to writing after the "other business" break, but I fail a lot. I do revisions on my dining room table and if I'm in a rut I also move to the dining room table. It's sunnier down there, but the cats bother me so it's a trade-off.

What’s the most interesting comment you have received about your books?

One reviewer compared Ballads to American Beauty. Dunno if that is interesting, but I pleasantly caught off-guard by the comparison.

The best letter I ever got was from an older guy who's girlfriend reminded him a bit of Louisa from IWBYJR and he'd decided to give her the book to urge her to get help and be a better mother to her daughter. Last I heard from him, his girlfriend had read the book, pursued alcohol/drug treatment and things were going well. I get teary thinking of it. To know that my words could inspire something like that... wow. Just wow.

If you could travel back in time for one year, what time and place would you choose? And if you could only take 3 things with you, what would they be?

I feel like a dork because I feel like I should be choosing some time in the distant past but I really just want to go back to the early nineties, as an adult and experience 1991 in Washington state. I want to see grunge explode in Seattle. I want to go to Evergreen State and be part of the early days of riot grrrl. The places I wished I could be as a teenager but was too young. I'd take my journal because I'm sure there would be lots to write down and my camera to take pics and record video and I know he's not a thing but I'd also take my fiance because I couldn't bear a year without him.