Living Backwards by Tracy Sweeney ~ Goddess Fish Blog Tour ~ Interview~ Excerpt ~ Giveaway

Living Backwards

by Tracy Sweeney

Tracy will be awarding a key chain that looks like the flask on the cover to three randomly drawn commenters during the tour (US ONLY). Please leave a comment along with your email address so you may be contacted if you are the lucky winner. To increase your chances of winning be sure to visit the other tour stops as well. They may be found here....  http://goddessfishpromotions.blogspot.com/2013/06/virtual-nbtm-tour-living-backwards-by.html

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Interview:

Crystal: Today as part of the Goddess Fish Virtual Book tour, I have the opportunity to interview  Tracy Sweeney. Would you share a little bit about yourself with us today?

Tracy: I’m a first time author and mother of two boys who are seven and four.  My seven-year-old is so unimpressed by the book.  He recently told his school friends that I only wrote one book.  Apparently his standards are higher than I expected.  Maybe if I write a sequel, he’ll invite me to Career Day.  We live north of Boston – sadly nowhere near New Kids on the Block, Matt or Ben.  I still blame my parents for this.  And I’m always writing about or doing something completely ridiculous.

Crystal: Do you have a favorite scene you would like to share with us?

Tracy: There are a few scenes that played out in my head so clearly from the very beginning of the outlining process.  There’s something strangely romantic about rainy evenings.  People cluster under umbrellas.  Street lights reflect off the pavement.  There’s such a sense of urgency.  In some of my favorite movies, a desperate boy shows up soaked at a girl’s front door.  I wanted to flip that image because in LIVING BACKWARDS it’s Jillian who is feeling the urgency and desperation.  She truly felt she was doing the right thing but instead caused herself a great deal of heartache.  I love the scene when she finally decides to confront Luke.  Rain, angst, a cute boy.  What’s not to love?

Crystal: Where did you come up with the idea for Living Backwards?

Tracy: I love time travel movies.  Peggy Sue Got Married, Back to the Future, The Butterfly Effect.  I eat them up.  Well not as much with The Butterfly Effect because seriously that movie bummed me out.  But being a fan of this type of film, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about the nuances associated.  If you were to really end up back in high school years later, could you effectively pretend you belonged there?  Do you remember where your locker was or your locker combination?  What you were studying in chem class?  Or where you sat?  Could you be the person you were when you were seventeen?  Could you make it through all of that trauma and teenage angst without a cocktail?  I couldn’t.

Crystal: What are you currently working on?

Tracy: I just finished a flash fiction piece.  The concept had been in my head forever but I had a hard time making it work.  I’m really happy with the finished product.  And when I’m not trying to convince the world to own a pink sparkly flask, I’m diving into something a little bit different for me.  Emma is a far cry from Jillian.  Emma would tell Jillian to buck up and put her big girl pants on!

Crystal:  Do you have any special routine that you follow when you are writing?

Tracy: I’m so boring when I’m writing.  No music.  No TV.  No distractions.  Except Facebook.  I have to check it every five minutes or so just to make sure nothing amazing is happening in the world.

Crystal: Did you have to do a lot of research for this book or any other? If so do you have a fascinating fact that you have learned you would like to share with us?

Tracy: I sadly didn’t have the opportunity to actually go back in time.  I did, however, learn that there are quite a few individuals in the world who believe that they’ve invented time machines.  And they all seem to be looking for assistants on Craigslist.  I’m thinking of applying.

Crystal:  Who are some of your favorite authors that you like to read?

Tracy: I tend to gravitate toward New YA so I’m a big fan of Laini Taylor and Stephanie Perkins.  I have such a crush on Etienne from Stephanie’s Anna and the French Kiss.  I’m dying to jump on Laini’s sequel to Daughter of Smoke and Bone.  I’m constantly updating my Goodreads status with book updates.  I just finished The Fault in Our Stars by John Green and it ruined me.  I want everyone I know to read it so I can swoon over Augustus regularly.  I’m currently midway through Pandemonium, Lauren Oliver’s sequel to Delirium.

Crystal: Is there any genre you haven't written that you would like to try?

Tracy: If I could write something to make you blush without making myself blush in the process, I’d do it.  But sadly, no characters are spanked in my book.  I know.  I’m sorry.  Maybe next time?

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BLURB:

Twenty-nine-year-old Jillian Cross refuses to believe that a pair of skinny jeans has led to her untimely demise. Life just isn't that cruel. But when an overly-enthusiastic attempt at squeezing herself into them leads her to fall and lose consciousness, she is faced with just that possibility. When she awakens with both a bruised ego and a bump on her head, she's not in her tiny apartment but her childhood bedroom circa 1999-the spring of her senior year in high school. Jillian knows that time travel isn't logical. But then again, neither was her decision to wear skinny jeans. As she attempts to navigate her way through the halls of Reynolds High, walking the same path and making the same choices she made years before, she knows that any change she makes can have a catastrophic effect on her future. But when she strikes up an unexpected friendship with motorcycle-riding, cigarette-smoking Luke Chambers, can she pretend to be the same shy girl she once was? At least she has her pink sparkly flask to take the edge off. One little change won't hurt, right?
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EXCERPT:

There were two other possible options: I could either be dead or in a coma. If I was dead and this was heaven, someone had a lot of explaining to do. My old bedroom in my parents’ house was not where I wanted to spend eternity. Suddenly I felt like I was in an episode of Lost because I didn’t even know when this was. I needed to find a calendar. I moved very slowly to get out of bed not knowing what the rules were when you were dreaming/dead/in a coma and waking up back in your parents’ house. Maybe my legs wouldn’t work right. I wasn’t taking any chances.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

Tracy Sweeney graduated with a degree in Management and Finance but prefers writing ridiculous things to crunching ridiculous numbers. She lives north of Boston, Massachusetts with her two young boys. Her short stories have appeared in Literary Juice, Solecisms and Slice of Life Magazines. Her debut novel, LIVING BACKWARDS, was published in January 2013.  She is currently working on her second novel which will be equally as ridiculous.

Follow her just about everywhere:

Website
http://www.tracysweeney.net/

Facebook Page
https://www.facebook.com/LivingBackwards

Twitter
https://twitter.com/pink_flask

Goodreads
www.goodreads.com/pinkflask

Tumblr
Pinkflask.tumblr.com


Buy LIVING BACKWARDS

Amazon
Living Backwards

Virtualbookworm
http://www.virtualbookworm.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Store_Code=bookstore&Screen=PROD&Product_Code=living_backwards

Barnes & Noble
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/living-backwards-tracy-sweeney/1114216279?ean=9781621371861