Welcome to my stop on the Rev Girl Blog Tour. Check out my Interview with Author Leigh Hutton and don’t forgot to enter the giveaway.
Rev Girl by Leigh Hutton
Genre: Genre here
Pages: 288
Publish date: May 24th 2014
Publisher: Leigh Hutton Books, distributed by Dennis Jones & Associates
ISBN: 0992495601
Purchase: Leigh Hutton Books – Amazon
It’s hard to be the new girl, but it’s even harder being the new girl who races dirt bikes . . . Ever since her parents forced her to move from Canada to Silvertown, Colorado, Clover Kassedy hasn’t fit in. So how do you deal when everyone hates you? Focusing all her energy on racing her motorcycle did it for a while, but now that Clover’s managed to find a bestie and a boyfriend, the pressure on the sixteen-year-old is worse than ever. She’s determined to get to the World Championships, where she could finally meet her idol – an Australian, the World Champion – and have a shot at becoming a professional dirt bike racer. But with her super- competitive dad, workaholic mother and relentless bullies at races and at high school, Clover is struggling to make her dreams a reality. Will it be her scheming ex-best-friend who shatters her world? Or will she let her ‘perfect’ boyfriend – the guy who has finally made her feel like she belongs in their school and their town – stop her from becoming an international racing star?
Author Interview
How did you come up with the idea for Rev Girl?
My first draft of REV GIRL was based very closely on my own life. Throughout the drafts and on the advice of my editors, the story took on a life of its own and Clover Kassedy developed a lot as a character. I guess I took the advice “write what you know” quite literally lol. I also gained a lot of inspiration for the story and for Clover as a character from the kick-butt Real Life REV GIRLS – please check them out at my website www.leighhuttonbooks.com
What is Clover (the main protagonist) like in Rev Girl?
Clover becomes a strong, independent young woman who’s capable and able to stand alone, but this doesn’t come easy to her. Like so many teens, she struggles to fit in, to deal with bullies and peer pressure and boys and resisting the party “cool kid” scene. She also has a wicked sweet tooth and is crap at math (both are points that hit close to home for me 😉
Who are your most loved and most hated character in your book and why?
Wow, great question! What a tough question… I think, like in real life, this isn’t always black and white. Dallas, for example, can be one of my favourite characters but in the same breath, I can also hate him. Relationships are complex, people are flawed and difficult and beautiful all at the same time. There’s a lot of characters like that in REV GIRL and in my second book, JUMP GIRL. That said, there ARE two clear villains in REV GIRL, and I definitely hate at least one of them. They both bully Clover and many of the other kids in her school and at races. I’d like to say more about these two girls, but I don’t want to give the story away! Oh, sorry – I just realised I’d only listed who I hated! How interesting… Well, Clover definitely is a character that I love. She represents myself in a lot of ways and those I hold most dear. I’ve always been a sucker for the underdog. I also love Sydney and Sera, her two best friends, and Kerry, her best racing friend. And Ryder. I definitely love Ryder, too.
How do you just sit down and write?
Another toughie! Nice work, Angel 😉 It’s like getting fit. Hard as buggery to start, but once you’ve been to the gym a few times and the endorphins start to kick in – you start to get hooked. The key is to form a routine. This was easier for me than people who start writing seriously when they have a lot of time on their hands; I only had two hours a day during baby nap time and about an hour at night so as soon as the little man was asleep I’d make myself a cup of green tea, sit down at my computer and lose myself in the beautiful thrill of creativity. But there are tough days. Days it literally hurts to write each word. Days your muscles burn and you have to FORCE yourself to do every minute on the treadmill. Pushing through these days is hard. But I can guarantee that the next day will be easier. And before you know it, word-by-word as Anne Lamott would say, you’ve got a first draft of a novel. Force yourself to make a routine of writing.
If you could go anywhere in the world, real or fiction, where would it be and why? I would go back to Canada to see my friends and family. It’s been way too long. It would be a dream come true to launch my second book, which is set primarily in Calgary (as well as Florida and France) in Brisbane and in Calgary.
If you were stuck on a deserted Island, what are the 5 books that you would have with you and why?
– Game of Thrones Book One because I really want to read it.
– Serena by Ron Rash because his words are gorgeous and I love that freaking book so much.
– Riders by Jilly Cooper because it’s the first book I fell in love with.
– Any of the Hunger Games, because they are gripping enough to hopefully keep my mind from deteriorating to the point where I’m tempted to create an imaginary friend out of a volleyball.
– And Romeo and Juliette by Shakespeare as I think a re-read could teach my a lot.
Thanks so much for having me, Angel. Great interview.
Thank you Leigh for letting me interview you it was a pleasure.
About the Author
Leigh Hutton grew up in the foothills of the Rocky Mountains near Calgary, Alberta, Canada. She was lucky enough to travel extensively with her parents and younger sister, for horse show jumping – they spent a lot of time in Denver, Colorado, and Phoenix, Arizona – as well as holiday trips across America to the Baja Peninsula, and later on for her chosen sport of dirt bike racing. Her favourite race was Honey Lake, California, in 2002 – the same year she attended her first International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) in the Czech Republic. Here she met a lovely family from Sydney, as well as the Australian team. Leigh moved to Australia a few months later, to race motorcycles. She fell in love with a fellow racer and Brisbane boy, found journalism, which she studied at the Queensland University of Technology, and shifted into media and public relations, to promote enduro and motocross and its competitors. She’s become especially passionate about promoting girls and women in all action sports. Leigh was a reluctant reader as a teenager, but discovered Jilly Cooper in her early twenties and has been devouring books ever since. She started writing REV GIRL after the birth of her first child, and is ecstatic to be drawing on her experiences to bring you the exciting novels of The Go Girls Chronicles . . . Check out the rest of the blog tour!
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