Day Twenty-Two - All About Elisa Ludwig

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Debutante Profile

Name - Elisa Ludwig

Debut - Pretty Crooked

Genre - Contemporary/ Thriller

Website - HERE

Facebook - HERE

Twitter - HERE

Elisa Ludwig has been writing since the age of nine when she issued The Elisa Bulletin to friends and family (for a price). She studied writing at Vassar College and Temple University. A freelancer, she writes about food, travel and many other topics. She lives in Philadelphia with her husband and her cat, Beau (a.k.a. Bread). PRETTY CROOKED is her first novel, the first of a trilogy, and a lifelong dream. She’s represented by Leigh Feldman at Writers House.

Dream Debutante Dress -  I’ve chosen this dress in honor of the heroine of PRETTY CROOKED trilogy, Willa Fox, who is a connoisseur of vintage clothing. We both love this colour. ( NOTE : I love it! The colour is definitely unusual but the vintage design is just beautiful!)

Notes from a YA Debutante

You know what’s hilarious? My fourth grade autobiography (okay, those three words are hilarious in and of themselves), in which I wrote that I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do when I grew up, but if whatever it was didn’t work out, I could “always fall back on writing.” Like the writing would be so easy. Like publishing fiction was such a sensible and predictable career path. Go on with your bad self, nine-year-old me.

I was kind of a broody and rebellious teenager (see here) but mainly I spent a lot of time observing what went on and writing in my journals. I also read everything I could get my hands on, from the YA greats like Paul Zindel and Judy Blume to Sweet Valley High to my dad’s Kurt Vonnegut paperbacks to the sad-girl porn of Go Ask Alice and I Never Promised You a Rose Garden. There were some New Agey spurts, a brief obsession with Tom Robbins, many Sassy magazines and a long stretch devoted to poetry in there, too. Always, I was looking for evidence of life outside of my little world, and a glimpse of what other possibilities were out there.

One of the reasons I’m drawn to writing YA fiction is that I still have a lot of observations I want to make about what’s it like to be in that bizarro, in-between world of almost grown-upness. Lots of things have changed between then and now but a few things haven’t: a) I am still 5’3” and waiting for a growth spurt; b) I still love to dive into a book; and c) I still have a little bit of a rebellious streak—I’ve just channeled it into Willa Fox for the time being.

And I guess whatever I planned to do didn’t really work out, because here I am, “falling back” on this crazy racket. I feel really freaking lucky. Thanks for having me!

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Bookie's Note: Let's give it up for Elisa Ludwig! You know Elisa, I get imagine you as a broody and rebellious teen :) You're too much for a sweetie! I think everyone reads Judy Blume at least once in their life! You make writing YA sound insightful and deep while when I think YA I think a chance to write boys that are too good to be true ;) Hehe, anyhow come back everyone tomorrow!

Badass Bookie xx