Hello! Today we have the author of Cracked, KM Walton, here with us for an interview! Welcome, KM!

K.M. Walton writes YA, middle grade suspense, picture books and nonfiction. Her debut contemporary YA novel, CRACKED, comes out from Simon Pulse ~ Simon & Schuster on January 3, 2012. She is fortunate to be represented by the lovely Sarah LaPolla from Curtis Brown Ltd.

How long did it take you to find representation and to seal the deal for Cracked? Was it a long and difficult process?
I queried for 2.4 years, racked up nearly 150 rejections (for three different novels), cried quite a few times and gave up twice. My family cheered me on from every angle, reminding me daily that “it” would happen. Writing new books during that highly charged time in my life helped to keep me motivated. By the time Sarah LaPolla offered me representation I was up to five complete novels and four complete picture book manuscripts. Never stop writing, getting quality feedback and revising. Ever. Once I landed Sarah (my hero), she sold CRACKED in two and a half months to Annette Pollert at Simon Pulse ~ Simon & Schuster.

What made you want to write about a social issue and Cracked?
The ten years I spent teaching middle school language arts definitely carved anti-bullying into my heart. Teaching my students how to see each other as human beings, and not labels, was my underlying motivation in nearly every lesson I taught. I firmly believe children—regardless of age—must be taught empathy, tolerance and kindness. Those things don’t come naturally to many. And I don’t mean teaching through some canned, pre-packaged program, I mean seizing the organic moments that arise every day when young people are together – seizing by discussing, writing about, sharing, listening, watching – all in an effort to show kids that every human being has feelings, every human being deserves to be treated with dignity, every human being matters. No matter what. I decided to write CRACKED because I wanted readers to understand bullying from both sides. I wanted to get inside the head of both the bully and the victim.

Did the words flow through you easily when you were writing Cracked?
When I start writing a new novel I am a woman possessed. I need long chunks of time to let the story get from my head to my laptop. It took me about a month to write my first draft of CRACKED, and then I got feedback and revised it a few times.

Cracked will be published soon, are you working on a new project?
Any sneak peeks into what that is? I am about to start writing a YA ghost story that is partially based on a true story. Creepy, eh? I have my bullet-pointed list with plot points and character ideas done. Now all I to do is pull the trigger on this project and get writing – which is always the hardest part – the starting. I don’t know why that is, but it is. Once I get that first page out of me I’m good.

If you had to pick a color to represent your mood right, what would it be? What does that color say about you?
Orange. To me orange is the perfect blend of yellow (sun-shiney-optimism) and red (fiery-passionate-excitement) and I am definitely a blend of those two colors lately. I’ve waited so long to actually be in this position—this toes-hanging-over-the-edge-ready-to-dive-into-my-career-as-an-author position—that I’m ready. I’m optimistic and passionate. I’m orange.

Thank you very much for having me today at Ivy Reads. It was a pleasure!

Victor hates his life. He’s relentlessly bullied at school and his parents ridicule him for not being perfect. He’s tired of being weak, so he takes a bottle of his mother’s sleeping pills — only to wake up in the hospital.

Bull is angry, and takes all of his rage out on Victor. He’s the opposite of weak. And he’s tired of his grandfather’s drunken beatings, so he tries to defend himself with a loaded gun.

When Victor and Bull end up as roommates in the same psych ward, things go from bad to worse. Until they discover they just might have something in common: a reason to live.

Thank you, KM, for a wonderful interview!