With Nicole O'Dell

Today we have Nicole O'Dell with Magna and Making Waves. Hi Nicole! We're glad that you're here. What is your favorite memory from when you were a teenager?
Among my favorites were my weeks at summer camp and events with the church youth group. On Sunday nights, after church, many of the youth would come to my house to swim. We’d have pop and snacks—sometimes hot dogs. They usually stayed until pretty late. We always had a blast!
Cool! What did you enjoy doing the most as a teenager? Why?
I LOVED being on the swim team. Much of the Making Waves story (except for bad ending—oh, and the scholarship potential) came from my own swim team experience. I loved being in the water and bleach is still one of my favorite smells. 

I love swimming and the smell of bleach too. What was your most embarrassing moment as a teenager?
LOL One time I called my youth pastor a really bad name because I didn’t know what it meant. Advice: Find out the meaning of words that sound cool before you try them out on an authority figure!

lol, I've been lucky enough to not do that! What was your favorite midnight snack?
Macaroni and Cheese or Doritos dipped in sour cream. My friend, Jodi, and I used to try to make mac & cheese all the time but it always seemed like we were out of one of the ingredients and had to improvise—never quite right.

What would you do if you found a purple-polka dotted panda in your living room one morning?
Assume it was my husband in costume and try to pull the mask off his head.

What kind of books did you enjoy reading as a teenager?
I enjoyed mysteries like Trixie Belden, Nancy Drew, etc. I also devoured books like Frank Peretti’s, This Present Darkness. My mom and I had a membership to The Paperback Trading Co. It was cool because you could bring bags and bags of books and turn them in for credit toward other books. We did that often!

When did you first discover that you were a writer?
I won a contest in 4th grade by writing a book called The Girl on the Runaway Pogo Stick. After that, I was hooked!

Who is your favorite character in the book?
I love the main characters in both books. Molly, in Magna, is a lot like me—we share very similar circumstances and reactions. My time working in retail contributed to that storyline. Kate, in Making Waves, really tugs at my heartstrings, too. I feel her burden for helping her mom by earning a college scholarship.

I think the “choice” format of the books really draw me in to the characters. I know what it’s like to face those kinds of dilemmas and, even though these are stories, we all deal with battles of the mind just like Molly and Kate.


What was the hardest part of the book to write?
I always have a tough time writing my characters into the wrong choice. I don’t want them to walk that road—I know where it leads and want them to avoid the consequences. But…I can’t make their choices for them.

What is your favorite verse? Why?
Philippians 1:6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.

That’s really my life’s theme verse. I love the assurance that I didn’t start the process in me, and I’m not the one who’s going to finish it. It’s a beautiful promise that I claim for my kids, too. I can relax a little knowing that they are a work in progress and that the work WILL be completed in me and in them.

What advice would you give to today’s high school and college girls?
Don’t sacrifice long-term things like your reputation and your parent’s trust, for temporary things that will NEVER be as great as you think they will be.

Do you have another book coming out soon? Can you tell us a bit about it?
High Stakes and Essence of Lilly come out in the Spring of 2011. High Stakes deals with the issue of cheating in school, and the tough decision of confessing to a wrongdoing to clear a friend’s name. Essence of Lilly deals with physical intimacy among teens.

And here is the book trailer for Magna and Making Waves:



Readers, here is how you can find Nicole O'Dell:
www.nicoleodell.com
www.scenariosforgirls.com
www.nicoleodell.blogspot.com
www.twitter.com/nicole_odell
www.facebook.com/nicoleodell

Nicole O'Dell is giving away a copy of Magna and Making Waves. To be entered in the book giveaway, leave a comment and check back on Sunday, May 9th to see if you've won. You can enter twice--once on each post in this spotlight. If you want to guarantee that you're notified if you win, then leave your email address in the comment.