Q&A with Liza Palmer
I am thrilled to have the fabulously talented, funny, and charming on the blog today. If you don’t already know, I have a huge literary crush on Liza. Her books are simply brilliant and she is absolutely marvelous! If you haven’t read her yet, you must! I recently Liza’s latest novel, Nowhere But Home, which quite literally moved me to tears, and I just had to have her by to share some of that magic with all my readers. Welcome, Liza!
Lucie: Nowhere But Home features some real Texas cooking. What kind of research did you do to get the ‘flavor� of Queenie Wake’s down home recipes?
Liza: My step-dad is a Cordon Bleu chef and my mom is born in Amarillo, so the food in this book had to be PERFECT.Ìý I also ran everything by a friend’s mom who is born and bred in Texas.Ìý I scoured the internet, asked tons of questions and even made the infamous from the book.Ìý
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It was a mouth-watering endeavor to be sure.
Lucie: I’m a vegetarian, and even I was drooling over the Number One!
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Lucie: Along the lines of research, did you visit any penitentiaries to get the feel for what Shine Prison might be like? How did that impact you and your story?
Liza: The Texas Penal System has an amazing website, of all things. ÌýThey have all of the dates, pictures, names and even last words.Ìý There’s a speech Hudson gives in the bar after Queenie makes her first last meal about not wanting to know what the person did who spoke those usually beautiful last words, but knowing that when you do…it stays with you.Ìý That was definitely my way of getting a little bit of my experience with that world out…even just a bit.Ìý
It was a grizzly and intense world that I was happy to leave.Ìý
Lucie: And those scenes in Shine Prison are wrought with deep emotional drama. I can imagine not wanting to spend too much time in that world!
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Lucie: Many activities in the town of North Star revolve around their winning high school football team. What kind of research did you do to capture that team spirit in the novel?
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Liza: I went to Texas for a few weeks to finish writing the book and stayed in the small town of Smithville.Ìý While I was there, I absorbed as much as I could.Ìý The football was everywhere â€� and it doesn’t hurt that I’m a huge Friday Night Lights fan.Ìý I even added a few Easter Eggs in the book â€� Cal Wake’s football jersey number (#5) is a shout out to one of my favorite FNL characters:Ìý Vince Howard. Ìý
I knew football had to play a major role and was happy to thread it in as authentically as I could.
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Lucie: I’m not much of a football fan myself (though I’ve been dragged to a few games in my day), however, Nowhere But Home really made the sport seem like so much more than just a game. It was a way of life!
Lucie: What is your writing method? Are you a plotter or a pantser?
Liza: I am a reformed pantser.Ìý I now outline and I have never been happier.Ìý I love knowing where I’m going, so when that saggy middle hits I can lean on the work I’ve done to push me through.Ìý This also lends itself to even more exploration â€� and I love finding surprises even with the outline.
Lucie: I’m a reformed pantser, too!
Lucie: Do you have any writing rituals to help set the mood before sitting down at the keyboard?
Liza: Rending my garments and copious amounts of tea.
Lucie: Ah, yes. Nothing like a good cuppa tea at writing time!
Lucie: What was your first car?
Liza: I shared a bright red Chevy Chevette (with a manual transmission???) with my mom and sister for YEARS.Ìý The passenger seat wasn’t hooked down properly, so it was more of a rocking chair than anything else.Ìý It was the worst (best.)
Lucie: I love it! My first car was a 1976 Dodge Magnum. It had T-tops that leaked and a driver’s side window that wouldn’t roll down.
Lucie: What is your favorite holiday and why?
Liza: I am a big fan of the expanse of time between Halloween and New Years.Ìý It’s justâ€� magical.Ìý The twinkle lights, the fireplacey smell in the air and I don’t knowâ€� I just love it. ÌýPeople are different.Ìý Happier. Maybe that’s just me.Ìý
Lucie: Ah, a girl after my own heart. I adore the winter holidays. The sparkle and shine and the cherry colors. It’s intoxicating.
Lucie: Who was your first celebrity crush?
Liza: Pony Boy from The Outsiders.Ìý Full stop.Ìý Stay gold.Ìý (quiet sobbing) Stay gold.
Lucie: OMG! Pony Boy! I haven’t thought about him in years! Will have to rent The Outsiders ASAP!
Lucie: What was the first concert you went to and how old were you?
Liza: I went to see Janet Jackson’s, Black Cat tour.Ìý It was epic.Ìý I can’t remember how old I wasâ€� old enough to know IT WAS AWESOME.
Lucie: I have to say that is a fabulous first concert!
Lucie: If you could give just one piece of advice to your 16-year-old self, what would it be?
Liza: Take your time.Ìý Don’t be so busy trying to blend in that you miss the experience.Ìý No one is pointing and laughing at your attempts â€� they’re all just as much of a wreck as you are.
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Be here now.Ìý
Lucie: Excellent advice. And I do wish I’d gotten that when I was sixteen.
Thanks a million, Liza, for stopping by my blog! So wonderful of you to share your time with me!
To learn more about Liza and read her completely awesome books, visit her !
Ciao!
Lucie
