Writers Like Us - Hélène Boudreau

Continuing my mermaid book binge, I was thrilled when mermaid middle grade writer and agency sister, Hélène Boudreau wanted to participate! Every mermaid book is different and Helene's is a little bit Are You There God, It's Me Margaret meets splishy splashy.

Her answers are below in bold. Let us know what makes Hélène like you in the comments.

Hélène on Writing

• I've written 40+ books, and 14 have seen the light of day.

• My favorite type of scene to write is funny, smirky dialogue. 

• No matter how long I've been writing, I still have issues with punctuation; like using semicolons: instead of colons—or em-dashes instead of – whatever en-dashes are. 

• A typical comment from my critique partner is you keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. 

• The book I wished I wrote is The Princess Bride (of course!).

Hélène on Getting Published

• If my editor really knew how damaged I was, she would find out that I was under the influence of copious amounts of Diet Coke when I wrote most of my manuscripts. I’ve now, thankfully, replaced that vice with a Perrier addiction. 

• When I was querying, I felt equal parts hopefulness and despair. 

• The biggest mistake I ever made querying was sending queries in too-large batches when I should have sent 4-6 at a time to see if the query or pages still needed tweaking. Live and learn! 

• The craziest thought I've ever had while being published is what if they made a grave mistake? What if they meant another Hélène Boudreau (like there are millions of us…)? 

• When I got "The Call," my first thought was WHY DID MY ANSWERING MACHINE CUT OUT BEFORE THE END OF THE MESSAGE? WHO WAS THAT? DID SHE SAY WHAT I THINK SHE SAID??? 

• When I saw my book sale in Publishers Marketplace, I cried. 

Hélène on Life Outside Writing 

• If I weren't a writer, I'd probably be a mail carrier because I love to go on long walks. But I’d only work on nice days. None of this ‘rain, snow, sleet, hail’ stuff. 

• Secretly, I'm terrified of mice, heights and cotton balls (if I were holding a mouse, chewing on a cotton ball, while looking down from a great height—I’d be done for). 

• My secret boyfriend is greying Richard Gere or greying George Clooney. I bet Matt Damon will look great with grey hair, too. 

• Sometimes, when no one is around, I compose imaginary Facebook statuses as I narrate my way through my day.

Hélène Boudreau writes fiction and non-fiction for children and young adults. She is also a compulsive walker, a chicklet wrangler and a lover of cheese and cheap chocolate. Her tween novel REAL MERMAIDS DON'T WEAR TOE RINGS is a 2011 Crystal Kite Member Choice Award Finalist