Christmas Countdown: Day 13: Interview w/ Marla Miniano + Giveaway

It’s Day 13, the second to the last post. This is my last interview post for Christmas Countdown. Me and Kai interviewed a Filipina author whose trilogy we’ll be giving away along with several books and swag. Her name is Marla Miniano, a chick lit author and a magazine editor.

Can you tell us what your book is all about in 140 characters (Twitter version)?

Young girl wants love, finds it not just in cute boys but in good friends and family and dreams, too. All you really have to do is be yourself.

What or who inspired you to write Every Girl's Guide Series?

Working for Candy magazine and constantly being around amazing teens. My work keeps me young—I never run out of opportunities to put myself in a young girl’s shoes: What is she thinking? What does she worry about? What makes her happy? What and who does she love? I think it also helps that I’ve always been such a big fan of young adult fiction.

What lessons will readers get from your novels?

That possibility is the best part of growing up. The happiest people are the ones who can surprise themselves—by finding friendship in someone completely unexpected, by taking a risk and reaping the rewards, by transforming into a better version of themselves. I think all three girls in the Every Girl’s Guide series got their happy endings by embracing some sort of change, no matter how awkward or difficult or emotional that change was.

What is it like being a Filipina author and knowing that you influence young Filipinas?

Young Filipinas are smart, insightful, and extremely talented, and knowing that I get to be a (mostly) positive influence on them through my words is a huge deal for me. It warms my heart every time I receive an e-mail or a Facebook message from a girl who read and liked my books—every day something like that happens is a good one.

Does your family have Christmas traditions? What are these (if any)?

My mom forces us to wear matching outfits every year! We wear all read one year, all green the next, then all red again, and so on. She’s very particular about it, too—I wanted to wear a silk top last year but apparently that was maroon, not red. Haha! There are eight of us in the family, so it’s pretty amusing stepping out of the house, going to mass, and having lunch in a restaurant with everyone looking at us like they’re expecting us to burst into song any minute. And of course, we pose for cheesy family portraits, where at least one person is frowning, has his eyes closed, or is looking away.

If you were to gift a book to someone this Christmas, what book would you gift and who would you give it to?

I’d love to give Vanessa Hudgens a copy of Every Girl’s Guide to Heartache. Kidding! (I do feel really bad about the Zanessa split, though.) I think I’d probably want to get lots of copies of Melissa Bank’s The Wonder Spot and distribute it to all my singe girl friends. She’s such an amazing writer, and I love how her happy endings are never what her characters or her readers expect them to be.

Thank you Marla for sharing!

Remember every comment counts! Just comment on this post and you’ll get an extra entry for tomorrow’s giveaway!

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