Sunday Special (26) Coffee Chat With Suzanne Selfors

I was supposed to post this on July 31st but I saved this special post for a special Sunday :) Needless to introduce our guest to day since she's known (and loved) by all of you already. It's Suzanne Selfors, the mother of Saving Juliet as well as Coffeehouse Angel, a super duper cute, fairytale-like novel which was released 2 days ago. For those of you who hasn't picked up the book, go and grab a copy yourself right away. But first, here's a little chat with our lovely author...



-Hi Suzanne, welcome to Serenehours! Firstly, I think the readers want to know what inspired you to write the book and How you came up with its title. So why don't you tell them a little bit about that?
I've always wanted to own a coffeehouse. And I spend a great deal of time in them, writing. I write best when I'm surrounded by lots of noise and activity. My favorite coffeehouse is in the town of Poulsbo, this little Scandinavian town in Washington, and it was the inspiration for Nordby and Anna's Old World Scandinavian Coffeehouse. The book was orginally called Coffeehouse Girl. But because in some ways, Katrina takes on an "angel" role (I'm not giving anything away), we changed the title.

-That's a cool change I guess. So...off all the characters, which one do you feel most related? If you could play any of them for a day, who would you choose?
Well, this is a tough question because as a writer, little bits of me show up in many of my characters. It just always turns out that way. But I'd have to chose Malcolm, the messenger angel. How could I turn down the chance to be an angel for a day?

-Katrina in the book did a good deed and was rewarded by angel although she didn't want to. Have you ever done something good and was unexpectedly repaid?
I'm a firm believer in Karma, in that if you surround yourself with positive energy and treat people with respect, then you will draw that kind of energy to yourself.

-Katrina also has, for a long time, been stuck, she didn't even know what she wanted to do or what she was really good at. Have you ever found yourself in her shoes when you were a teenagers?
I was exactly like Katrina. I had no idea what to do with myself. And when I went to college I was still lost. For most of my adult life, I would call myself a dabbler. A little of this, a little of that. I tried my hand at many jobs, from selling clothes to working in a TV station. But I always wanted to write. Always. It took me a very long time, (age 39), before I got up the courage to pursue that dream.

-As for Malcolm, I found him a really interesting and charming character but somehow it's hard to believe that he's really an angel. Personally, do you believe in angels, especially ones in disguise?
Well, I definitely believe that there are things in this world we will never be able to explain. And I definitely love the idea of angels. I would most certainly love to meet one. Malcolm's character was very fun to create because I drew from many traditions. From the belief that there is a hierarchy of angels (archangels, guardian angels, messenger angels,), from the tradition in painting where angels have halos, and even from one of the earliest messengers, Hermes, the Greek Messenger God. Malcolm is my own mixture, and I hope that each reader will interpret him in his/her own way.

-I see that the book delivered a lot of messages on forgiveness. What's your view on it?
It's often the most difficult thing to do --to forgive. I have struggled with it myself on many occassions. What you learn, as you get older, is that it takes a whole lot more energy to be pissed at someone than it does to let things go.

-Let's talk about your upcoming books. Are you working on any? If possible, we'd love to hear a bit about it.
I am hard at work on my next teen novel. It should be released next summer. Many of your readers might not know that I also write middle grade novels. I just released one called Fortune's Magic Farm. They can visit my website and watch the beautiful animated book trailer for the book. I'm very proud of it.
www.suzanneselfors.com

Or they can go directly to YouTube and watch it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FsRq_ixHYE

That's great! I know everyone will be looking forward to it.




So thanks Suzanne really much for paying a visit to my site today. We had great time altogether I hope. Also, as some of you may know, Suzanne has asked the readers for help with finding the model on Coffeehouse Angel cover. So if you have any slightest idea about who she is or how to contact her, please drop Suzanne a note ^^


Thank y'all in advance. Have a great weekend~!