Please help me welcome Patty Blount, author of SEND! She’s here today for an interview as part of her Blog Tour.

To keep his secrets, all he has to do is listen to the voice in his head and just walk away…

On his first day at his new high school, Dan stops a bully from beating up a kid half his size. He didn’t want to get involved. All he wants out of his senior year is to fly under the radar. But Dan knows what it’s like to be terrorized by a bully-he used to be one. Now the whole school thinks he’s some kind of hero, except Julie Murphy, the prettiest girl on campus. She looks at him like she knows he has a secret. Like she knows his name isn’t really Daniel.

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What inspired you to write SEND?

It was actually several ‘inspirations’ that sort of coalesced into one idea, one character. First, my son had a horrid sixth grade experience where he came perilously close to suicide following months of bullying. Then, in seventh grade, he was accused of being the bully, which devastated him more. While this was going on, I was writing another series of books after work. At work, I was busy learning social networking. I started reading about kids sexting, whipping up a mob mentality to get hundreds of people all posting insults. I remember thinking, “Thank God these sites weren’t around a few years ago or I’d have lost my son.” And that’s when a voice in my head started telling me, “I did that.” I started wondering how a kid lives with himself after doing something like this. The voice in my head told me, “I don’t live. I just exist.”

So, I put the other project aside to write this one so I could learn what happened next.

How would you describe your writing process? What part is easiest? Most challenging?

My writing process has to adapt to the time I can spare. I work full time and when I come home at night, I need to be able to pick up exactly where I left off the previous day because there are only a few hours remaining until my eyes shut of their own accord. I outline and plot obsessively. I have large poster boards and notepads that I cover with notes on characters, conflicts, and plot twists. It’s challenging to find enough time to write an entire chapter, for example, so I write in short bursts of a few paragraphs at a time. Once I nail down who my characters are and will be by the end of the story, it’s pretty easy to get them to that point. For Dan, I had to take him from unforgivable to forgiven. For Julie, I had to take her from obsessed with the past to being able to let it go.

Was there a book that spoke to you as a teen, that you are thankful to have read during that time in your life?

I am a fanatical reader. As a kid, I adored the Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys series. I obsessively consumed the Flowers in the Attic books and then there was the time I read Judy Blume’s Forever by hiding it in a corner of the library because I was afraid to take it home. There was a book that helped me and I cannot remember its name… it was about a girl diagnosed with scoliosis and had to wear a back brace. I was diagnosed with the same problem right after I read this book and you know what? It wasn’t scary at all. Wish I could remember its name.

What hobbies or activities do you enjoy (besides writing)?

I am a pretty decent baker and cake decorator. And I really love to watch BAD science fiction movies.

If you could go anywhere in the world on vacation, where would you go and why?

I really want to go to Italy. My family is Italian and now that all of my grandparents are gone, no one can speak the language or remember the rules to the card games we’d play with an Italian deck. I’d like to make that trip to reconnect with a part of my heritage that feels lost.

What’s your favorite book that you’ve read in 2012 so far, and what books are at the top of your to-be-read list for fall?

In 2012 so far, I thoroughly enjoyed Code Name Verity, a compelling World War II story that made me shiver. I’m looking forward to reading Kimberly Sabatini’s TOUCHING THE SURFACE and also Trisha Leigh’s WHISPERS IN AUTUMN. Linda Grimes has a debut coming soon called IN A FIX that hooked me from the excerpt. I can’t wait to read more. 🙂

Thanks so much Patty for stopping by today and answering my questions! Readers, enter the Rafflecopter below for a chance to win a copy of SEND for yourself! Check out the trailer for SEND:

About the author:
Technical writer by day, fiction writer by night, Patty mines her day job for ideas to use in her novels. Her debut YA “Send” was born after a manager suggested she research social networks. Patty adores chocolate, her boys, and books, though not necessarily in that order.

Author Links: Website | Twitter | Goodreads

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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20 Responses to Interview & Giveaway: SEND by Patty Blount

  1. fakesteph
    Twitter: fakesteph
    says:

    I totally wish I could bake… i can’t at all, but I love Nancy Drew… at least I did as a kid. I recently read one and it was a bit eye-roll inducing.
    fakesteph recently posted..Top Ten (Tuesday) Series I Haven’t FinishedMy Profile

  2. Erin D.
    Twitter: Erindubrock
    says:

    I never really saw bullying at my school. Granted I’ve been graduated for nearly 10 years now.. I was right in the middle of all of the crowds and I was so busy I think I just missed most of it. I know it happened and I can’t say I never saw cruel things happen, but not to the extent of someone picking on someone constantly. I hate that this seems to be a trend now.

  3. Michelle Greer says:

    Thankfully, I have never been bullied and I have never witnessed anyone being bullied, but I feel for those who have to suffer than.

  4. Bookish Brunette
    Twitter: bookbrunette
    says:

    I was actually bullied pretty badly in middle school, which turned me into the “mini badass” don’t look at me cross-eyed chick that you know and love today. 😉

    People- kids, specifically can be SO hateful. Whether they know it or not, things they say and do will always stay with someone. Being bullied LITERALLY affects you the rest of your life.
    Bookish Brunette recently posted..Character Interview: Nara & Ethan – Brightest Kind of Darkness by PT MichelleMy Profile

  5. Sarah Bauman says:

    I was not bullied myself but i feel for those kids that are.

  6. Karin says:

    I think its very rare to not even witness bullying in school. It is always there from what may seem like harmless teasing, right up to something heavier, including physical bullying.

    The school is my district all participate in Pink Shirt Day to and participate in an anit-bullying day. Although everyday shoudl be anti-bullying day, just sayin.

    If you’re interested here is a news article about the very first Pink Shirt Day: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2007/09/18/pink-tshirts-students.html

  7. Jenea Whittington
    Twitter: jeneaw0716
    says:

    I myself was not bullied in school. It is a scary thing as a parent to worry about our children going through something like this. This is a great post.

    Jenea @ Books Live Forever
    Jenea Whittington recently posted..Tuesday’s Trailer: Alice In Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1) by Gena ShowalterMy Profile

  8. Cyn says:

    I’ve never been bullied (my school was pretty tame). I haven’t read this book yet but it seems good, and I’m not entering the giveaway cause I already own a copy, but thanks for the giveaway.

  9. Lindy Gomez says:

    I was bulled in elementary school. I became very insecure, self conscious, and developed a low self-esteem. The emotional scars will last a lifetime.

  10. Laura McLendon says:

    Was most certainly bullied in school, long time ago but it affected lots of things in my life then and afterward.

  11. Galena says:

    I wasn’t bullied and didn’t bully anybody–I was in one of those mid-level friend groups that weren’t popular but also weren’t singled out for bullying. I was ridiculously lucky, but I definitely saw people around me experiencing it.

  12. alicia marie says:

    I was very lucky growing up. I was never bullied, nor did I bully anyone. I had a great group of friends and most everyone in our class at least got along with each other at school even though we didn’t all hang out. I’m sure there was bullying going on, but I was lucky enough to never experience it.

  13. Michelle Sedeño
    Twitter: michellesedeno
    says:

    I’m never bullied like I see in the movies/read in books (thank God)..I just got names from guys who are really jerk on my freshman year in HS (they do it to EVERYONE).
    Michelle Sedeño recently posted..WWW Wednesdays #9 / Waiting on Wednesday #8: Black CityMy Profile

  14. Nikki says:

    Sadly enough bullying starts at an early age. My first grader has been dealing with it since Kindergarten, because of his weight. He won’t take his shirt of around even me =(
    Nikki recently posted..Interview with the Awesome-sauce Author of Life of the party!My Profile

  15. Chrissy says:

    I was never bullied nor was I ever a bully. I never saw bullying in my high school either…but that was quite a while ago…we didn’t have social media and whatnot then. I wish the bullying that is out there would stop. There’s no need for it.
    Chrissy recently posted..The Language of Flowers by Vanessa DiffenbaughMy Profile

  16. Amanda T says:

    Racial comments is what I recieve at school. Nothing physical, but it still hurts

  17. bn100 says:

    I wasn’t bullied. I’ve never bullied.

  18. Julie Witt says:

    I’ve never bullied but I was definitely bullied in middle school. It was awful, which I think is why I never bullied any one else.

  19. Theresa Z says:

    This sounds like a really good book, I would be interested in this and then would love for my teens to also read it. Thanks for posting about this!

  20. HollyB
    Twitter: hmbryan
    says:

    I was not bullied in school (despite having a few pick-on-able traits they could’ve razzed me on, ha!), and I certainly was not a bully myself. To be honest, while there was the typical crap that you go through as a middle schooler or high schooler, I didn’t see bullying in my school the way it’s talked about now. Of course, it was just shy of 20 years ago when I graduated HIGH SCHOOL (good lord, am I really that old?!), so times were different. And perhaps I was just naive and/or never in a position to see it happening…but it still doesn’t seem like it was as bad then as it is now. Maybe that’s just because we talk about it as a society a lot more now? I do think that unfortunately technology has made it easier than ever for those mean girls to become ridiculously mean girls (and boys). It’s just so sad, and the real problem is that there is absolutely NO POINT to it whatsoever. The bullies don’t really feel good about themselves or what they are doing when all is said and done, anyway. So why do they do it?!

    Anyway…I’ve had my eye on SEND for a while and would love to read it. Thanks for the great interview, and for the chance to win the book!

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