GCC Tours Teri Brown, author of READ MY LIPS

Okay, it's time for another fabulous GCC author to make a blogstop here on her virtual blog tour. This time it's the wonderful Teri Brown with her novel, READ MY LIPS.

Here's a little bit about READ MY LIPS and the author, Teri Brown:

Read My Lips (Simon Pulse)

Popularity is as easy as a good secret.

Serena just wants to fly under the radar at her new school. But Serena is deaf, and she can read lips really well—even across the busy cafeteria. So when the popular girls discover her talent, there’s no turning back.

From skater chick to cookie-cutter prep, Serena’s identity has done a 180…almost. She still wants to date Miller, the school rebel, and she’s not ready to trade her hoodies for pink tees just yet. But she is rising through the ranks in the school’s most exclusive clique.

With each new secret she uncovers, Serena feels pressure to find out more. Reading lips has always been her greatest talent, but now Serena just feels like a gigantic snoop….


About Teri Brown

Teri Brown turned to writing in a desperate attempt to keep from having to get a paying job at her local McDonalds. Fortunately, she's been successful, and her debut young adult novel, Read My Lips (Simon Pulse), came out June, 2008. She is also a contributing editor for iParenting Media, and her magazine credits include Writer’s Digest, Women’s Health and Fitness, Dog Fancy, and Oregon Coast Magazine, among others. Teri lives with her husband and children in a dilapidated 1969 ranch style house in Portland, Oregon.


Questions for Teri:


Do you (or did you ever) have a writing group? Who are the first people to read your book once it’s completed?
Kerty Blaisdell is one of my first readers and then Kelly McClymer. I belong to a couple of different critique groups too.


What writers do you consider your “sisters”? Are there any published writers that you hang out or tour with a lot? Call? Email? IM?
I consider Brook Taylor a sister. We roomed together a week for a national conference and got a long great! I met Terri Clark and Linda Sandoval at the same conference and instantly clicked with both of them.

Who do you find yourself being compared to or are often put together with in reading lists or book clubs?
Never happened.

What writers do you wish would be in your “clique”?
Joshilyn Jackson, John Irving, Kate Brian, Scott Westerfeld, Luisa May Alcott.

If someone was going to join your book club, what would be a “must read” in order to join?
Gods in Alabama by Joshilyn Jackson.

What was your “initiation” to writing?
I guess when I first started to write. But the moment I remember most was after I read a biography about Miss Alcott. I climbed up in our apple tree and tried to write a poem.

What did you feel when you officially joined the “published writers’ club”?
Astonishment and major relief. I’d been on the verge for such a long time. I couldn’t hardly believe it.

What was your best/worst memory of high school?
Hmmm I’d rather not answer this one! I really didn’t like school much.

In SISTERS OF MISERY, the last place new members want to go to is Misery Island. But if you had the choice, what island would you go to and what would you take with you?
Probably Orcas Island and I would take my husband with me. He could fish and I could read and life would be good!

Finally, what can you tell me about your book? Give me a quick run-down about why I’d want to pick it for my own book club.
It would have to be a teen book club, though I know some adults like enjoyed it, too. My main character is deaf and I think it’s important for teens who are deaf because it gives them someone like them to identify with. For hearing teens, it gives a glimpse of what it would be like to be deaf.