5×5 With The Hook: Linda DeMeulemeester

My daughter, Sarah, is very selective when it comes to choosing heroes. She doesn’t award her loyalty to just anyone.

So trust me when I tell you this: Linda DeMeulemeester has earned a special place in my daughter’s heart. Her Grim Hill  series features brave young souls unraveling long-hidden secrets while fighting against the forces of evil. The Grim Hill series emphasizes the value of family, friendship and believing in oneself. Here’s a quick synopsis of Book One:

   Cat Peters just transferred to Darkmont High and is already desperate to get out. When she hears that Grimoire, the private school nearby, is offering scholarships to the winners of a Halloween soccer match, Cat jumps at the chance.

   Her little sister, Sookie, and their bookworm neighbor try to tell her there’s something … just not right about the old school on the hill, and their worries are confirmed when they uncover a mystery about an entire soccer team that disappeared many years ago.

  Further investigation leads Cat to a book about ancient Celtic myth and fairy lore, and she soon realizes that there is something truly wicked at work inside the walls of Grimoire. 

Watching my daughter lose herself in Linda’s world is a joy to behold. As a parent I’d much rather see Sarah spends hours exploring the universe of Grim Hill than surf Facebook or Twitter. Linda has given my daughter the greatest gift of all: Inspiration.

Sarah’s book series, The Misadventures of Misery, was inspired by the denizens of Grim Hill and so in my book, Linda is a hero in every sense of the word. And like a true hero, she has had to overcome adversity. Linda has lived every writer’s most powerful nightmare: Her publisher, Lobster Press, went bankrupt, leaving the fate of her characters in limbo. The collective scream of Grim Hill fans everywhere left a pack of One Direction fans in the dust.

But it takes more than a Chapter 11 filing to keep this scrappy author down, kids. Undaunted, she pressed on, did the indie thing, and this was the eventual result…

I’ll say this: Linda is a fighter, a born storyteller and someone worth your time, my friends. And to top it all off with sprinkles, chocolate sauce and fresh cherries, she’s a part of the WordPress community. Her blog, Carnival of Secrets is the only blog Sarah feels is worthy of her time – mine included!

Now onto the queries and the positive vibes!

1)  Watching your publisher go out of business must have been heartbreaking.  Were there any particular happy thoughts or images you drew upon to buoy your spirits and help you carry on with the business of running Grim Hill?

   For sure, only it wasn’t heartbreaking, I felt like it was more disappointing and inconvenient.  I didn’t want to be the author who left a series on a cliff-hanger.  I’m not a huge fan of unhappy endings.

   Fortunately, once the dust settled, I had a lot of support from the talented professionals who’d worked with the publisher and are freelancing now.  The sixth book had begun production and it helped enormously that they came on board and lent their expertise to help me finish the job.

   I’m delighted with the sixth book: Carnival of Secrets.  Not to mention the whole process clarified what’s most important to me in writing – not the fanfare or wheeling and dealing.  I write to tell a story; that’s what I really care about and still managed to accomplish.

2)  Your favorite type of cookie is…

   This Christmas friends gave us ginger stem oat cookies and chocolate dipped fortune cookies – please don’t ask me to choose!

3)  If you could be anywhere right now, where would you go?  (Since I am a benevolent host, I’ll allow you to choose from any location on Earth in any time period or if you like, you can let your mind really wander and choose from any reality.  I’m great, aren’t I?)

   It’s pretty rainy where I am now, so sunshine matters. If it was anywhere, any time, I wish I could go to Egypt in the 1920s, ride camels in a caravan, dig up Egyptian artifacts, and have midnight desert picnics by the pyramids.

4)  You can choose to be any Wonderland denizen for a day: Who do you choose to be?

      Between you and me, Wonderland freaked me out!  I’d choose to be the White Rabbit so I could escape up the rabbit hole!

5)  Do you like your french fries crinkled or straight?

   Straight – shiny and lightly salted.

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Well, I don’t know about you, but I now have a hankering for fries…

But before I head out I ‘d like to thank Linda DeMeulemeester for taking the time to be with us today – and for inspiring and entertaining my offspring. You’re the best, Linda.

Take care, all. Se you in the lobby…