Author Interview with Pamela Grusendorf Workman

Everyone feels like an outcast at some point in their lives. There is no one person who can fit neatly into every situation that they encounter. Isolation and uniqueness has always been a favorite theme of mine to both read and write.

Author Pamela Grusendorf Workman has become a voice for outcasts through her self-published YA novels. By telling stories that focus on characters in the most isolating and even scary situations, she is able to give them a voice through the stories themselves. Below, Workman has answered my questions about her well-received, self-published novels. Be sure to check them out!

1. How many books have you written and where can you buy them?

I have written many more than I have published! So far, I have published thirteen. Buy links to Amazon and other online retailers can be found on my website, or you can request them at your local bookstore.

2. What famous books can you compare to your own?

S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders

Jay Bennett’s The Pigeon

Joanne Greenburg's I Never Promised You a Rose Garden

Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time

3. Why do you write for this particular age group?

These are the stories that speak to me the most. Maybe because I started writing books as a teenager. Or maybe because teens' voices need to be heard, and I don’t feel that they are.

4. How autobiographical are your books?

I write about kids who are in prison, addicts, prostitutes, physically and sexually abused, etc. I am not any of those things. I write about teens who are loners or lonely, frustrated, and trying to make their voices heard. I have experienced all of those things.

5. What’s the best compliment that you’ve ever received about your writing?

"I just wanted to tell you that you’re a very inspirational writer and that every single one of your books I have read has spoken to me in ways no one or almost nothing else has."

“I wish I could forget the book [Ruby Between the Cracks] and read it all over again. It was so good and made me cry."

6. What has been your greatest moment as a writer so far?

Having teen fans reach out to me as an author - people who weren’t related to me and who I had never met before!

7. Where do you get your covers?

Some of them I have commissioned, some I have designed myself.

8. Who is your biggest fan?

A few teens who have written to me, a teacher-librarian at a youth prison, my mom and my hubby!

9. What is next for you?

I have Once Brothers coming up in December and Michelle (book #3 in the Between the Cracks series) early in 2016. And of course, November is NaNoWriMo and I will be writing a new draft. At this point, it looks like it will be book #4 in the Between the Cracks series.

10. End with a favorite quote.

I’ve got two, and they’re both by Dr. Suess!

"A person’s a person, no matter how small."

and

“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”