Shea Berkley
About Shea
Contact Shea at:
shea@sheaberkley.com
Me giving you the face. You know, the face that says, "Why haven't you emailed me yet?"
FAVORITE
FANTASY NOVELS
Graceling
by Kristin Cashore
The Bartimaeus Trilogy
by Jonathan Stroud
The Name of the Wind
by Patrick Rothfuss
Eragon
by Christopher Paolini
Harry Potter Series
by JK Rowling
A Great and Terrible Beauty
by Libba Bray
FAVORITE
SCI-FI NOVELS
The Hunger Games
&
Catching Fire
by Suzanne Collins
FAVORITE
YA NOVELS
Undone
by Brooke Taylor
Story of a Girl
by Sara Zarr
Obviously, these aren't the only books I've read, but to date, they are my favorite ones that I would read again in a heartbeat.
IN MY
TO-BE-READ PILE
Rampant
by Diana Peterfreund
The Summoning
by Kelley Armstrong
Mockingjay
by Suzanne Collins
Nothing Like You
by Lauren Strasnick
How to Ruin Your Boyfriend's Reputation
by Simone Elkeles
Forget You
by Jennifer Echols
Shea's Interviews:
Who's That Girl
If you're itching to know more about me, then ask. Depending what you ask, I'll add the question to the list with an answer that's as close to the truth as I can make it.
Question and Answer Time
(This is how I felt when I couldn't read. Sad and alone.)
2) Did you always want to be an author or is this something you fell into later in life?
Fell is a fairly good description of how I became a writer, though I guess caving to peer pressure would be more accurate. Let me explain.
I grew up in North Dakota.
(That's the old homestead. And those bones are all that's left of Uncle Todd. He got lost in a blizzard one winter and never made it to the house.)
What can a gal say about North Dakota? It's flat, cold, windy and has loads of cows and other farm animals and acres and acres of wheat. But let me tell you, it's a place that encourages imagination.
(#1 activity when I was young? Cloud gazing. I'm pretty sure I was my mom's
version of a tornado warning system.)
I had a best friend named Constance. She was weird, and not because she lived on a goat and chicken ranch, but because she liked to read and write stories. I was nine, and not good at reading or writing, but Connie pushed me. We would hunker down for hours and hours making up stories and run wild playacting. It was my first taste of creating something more permanent than what I imagined in my head. I wish I could say I couldn’t wait for our writing sessions, but reading and writing was such a struggle ... dyslexia is quite the bear to wrestle.
(Dyslexia -- A learning disability invovling difficulties in acquiring and processing launguage
that is typically manifested by a lack of proficiency in reading, spelling and writing.)
I'm a writer with dyslexia. That's called irony.
Yeah, I thought I was the dumbest kid alive there for a while.
And then at sixteen, my mom tossed a book at me. Never fear, I played dodge ball and it didn’t hit me ... hard. It was a romance novel. I know, some of you are grossed out, but hey, I was sixteen … teenage girls live and breathe that lovey-dovey stuff. Anyway, I consumed every romance I could find (still do), and then branched out into other genres. When I finally got to college, I had conquered the bulk of my dyslexia. There were, and still are, a few areas that give me grief … but a major boost to my self-esteem came from my creative writing professor who told me I had talent and pushed me to write more.
So, did I want to be a writer? Yes and no. I fought it from the day I met Connie, and only when it became apparent putting words on paper was something I was actually good at did I learn to love the process.
3) Do you have a family?
I have a husband, and five kids. My sole job other than writing is to make sure the little darlings don’t harass the neighbors and then play dumb when the cops come knocking on my door.
(I'm hiding in the attic)
Little known fact: I've lived in several places around the United States and in England. Here's an alphabetical list. (It's alphabetized cause I can do that now.)
Albuquerque, New Mexico, (United States for those geographically challenged)
Alconbury, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
Fargo, North Dakota
Grand Forks, North Dakota
Hollesley, Suffock, United Kingdom
Little Rock, Arkansas
Longthorpe, Cambridgeshire, United Kingdom
Orlando, Florida
Sacramento, California
San Antonio, Texas
Tacoma, Washington
4) Who are your favorite authors?
This is really, really difficult. I read a lot and in a multitude of genres. My favorite authors change as soon as I pick up a new book. Does that make me fickle? I’d like to think it makes me well-rounded story wise. Below are some covers of my favorite fantasy/sci-fi books.
5) Do you have an agent?
I do have an agent. The lovely and energetic Laurie McLean of Forward Literary Agency.
