Win an ARC: A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL

I am thrilled to present an interview with the lovely Suzanne Young, author of A NEED SO BEAUTIFUL! At the end, you'll find details on how to win this amazing book!

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I'm sure you get asked this all the time and I could find the answer if I googled it, but since I'm made of lazy... Your concept is GENIUS! What gave you the idea?

I’d been thinking of A Need so Beautiful for about a year before actually starting it. I think originally I had this idea about the people around us, the people we meet for just a moment who totally impact us. And then they’re gone.

Once when someone close to me was sick, I felt really lost. I met this older woman while waiting in line, and we ended up talking for an hour as she listened to me cry. She gave me great advice and then told me to go home and be with the person I loved. I did. But after that, I actually thought—what if she was really an angel of some sort? The idea haunted my thoughts until I started writing A Need so Beautiful, and then it took on a life of its own.


I love your titles. Are they your original titles?

They are! And I’m so happy that I got to keep them. We’d been brainstorming other titles and then my editor came back and said, “We all agree. This is the perfect title for this book.” I was ecstatic.

The ending of the book left me fully satisfied but craving more... I know that's an oxymoron, but anyway. When is the sequel coming out? Are you finished with it? Will it be a three book series?

The sequel comes out summer of 2012, and I wrote book 1 as a standalone, making sure that it wasn’t left on a cliffhanger. I wanted to tell Charlotte’s story. Book 2 is really different, but I’m excited to watch it take shape in revisions. Not sure on a book 3 yet.


How do you balance all this writing and awesomeness with being a mom?
I’m lucky that my kids are getting a little older now. And they’ve learned that if mom is still in her pajamas in the afternoon, it must be a writing day. :-) But really, I write obsessively—for hours and hours at a time. And I do most of it while they are at school. And my crock pot has become my best friend.

Can you tell us a little about your writing and revision process? I'm hoping there was some revision involved in this book. It's just too perfect. I might have to stab you if there wasn't much revision.

I usually do my first drafts pretty quickly, but I was lucky enough to have an agent and editor that got A Need so Beautiful completely. This book felt more like an ongoing conversation than a huge revision. I’ve never had a better experience shaping a book. *whips out comb for knife fight with Jill*

Do you listen to music when you write? Can you tell us some songs that inspired A Need So Beautiful?

I do listen to music. Just recently I heard Iris by the Goo Goo Dolls and was like, Wow, this is perfect!! But while I was writing, I had a playlist. A few songs from it were:
Closer-Kings of Leon, Just Breathe-Pearl Jam, She Talks to Angels-The Black Crowes, and Go it Alone-Beck. But I should put together an official playlist of songs that go well with the story.

Okay, to win this frawesome ARC, add up your entries and leave them in the comments section, along with your email address!

1 entry = blog follower
2 entries = tweeted the contest
3 entries = blogged about the contest

The contest will end on Thursday at midnight Eastern. The winner will be announced Friday morning.

Good luck, everyone!

P.S. Did I mention it's SIGNED?? Yay!

P.P.S. There's a synopsis of the book a few posts down. Doesn't it sound amazing???