This week's honorary dragon is Sage Blackwood, who  was born in Chicago and grew up in New York State. She graduated from Antioch College and the University at Albany, and taught ESL for many years. Her first fantasy novel, Jinx, was selected as a Best Book of 2013 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, and Amazon. About her second fantasy, Jinx's Magic, Booklist said, “This series deserves a permanent place in the children's fantasy pantheon, with Narnia and Earthsea.” She tries not to let this go to her head.

The third and final book in the series, Jinx's Fire, is due out March 24, 2015 in the US and the UK & Commonwealth.

1. Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

J.K. Rowling! If I'm going to die anyway, I might as well do it while discussing Harry Potter. Besides, it would be fun to pick her BRAAAAIIIINS.

2. Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

Hm. I hope you kept the receipt. And... if it's not too much to ask... would you mind just taking it out for a little spin? Thanks! If you come back, I'd like to visit medieval England (after I get my plague vaccine), the prehistoric Bering land bridge, Colonial America, 19th century New York City, the earth before we got to work on it... well, actually, everywhen.

But if it's a one-way deal, I'll stay here, please. Miniver Cheevy I'm not. The past is a great place to visit, but I wouldn't want to live there.

3. What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

That when people ask me, “So do your books have morals?” I get to cackle with glee and cry, “No, my books have no morals!”

Seriously, though, I don't think about writing for kids much. More than half the readers I hear from are adults. But I love hearing about kids reading my books. Sometimes people send me pictures of their kids reading Jinx, or even better, pictures the kids have drawn. I wanted to say something here about planting seeds in growing minds, and it would be true, but it's not as immediately thrilling as the pictures.

4. A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

I can flip ahead a few chapters, and see what's going to happen! If it's bad, I can take evasive action. If it's good, I'll quit worrying and just play along.

5. What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

Moved to a traditional hunter-gatherer village on the Bering Sea Coast, 400 miles from the nearest road. I stayed four years. It was only the act of moving there that was scary, you understand. After that it was just home.

One day I was standing in the doorway of my cabin, coffee cup in hand, when a big military helicopter roared in and dropped off a couple people. I thought “Should I offer them some coffee?” But I didn't, of course. I think they were on some kind of Arctic survival training mission, so that would have been very insulting.

(After a few years, I moved a bit closer to civilization, to where I could see a Distant Early Warning System tower out my kitchen window. It was the same DEWS tower that once nearly triggered a nuclear war when it detected a flock of geese. Gazing at this thing every day caused me some reflection, largely on the word “Distant”.)

6. What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out? What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing?

About writing, I wish someone had asked me this question: “Are you willing to work harder on this than you have ever worked in your life?”

About publishing: I wish I'd known that the people in publishing are just people! This hit me like a troll's fist when I went to meet my first editor in New York City. I was 45 minutes late because the bus got stuck in traffic. And she was waiting to meet me at a place near Central Park. I apologized profusely-- how could I, a lowly writer, ever be forgiven for keeping a great and mighty editor waiting? She didn't see it that way at all. No problem. She smiled and offered to carry my bag. She was wearing jeans and a sweatshirt. She was a great editor. But she didn't live on the pedestal that writers tend to imagine.

7. What would your daemon be?

An owl.

8. My books don’t have dragons, but they do have... Werewolves! Cranky wizards, cackling witches. A sentient forest. An apprentice magician with an attitude problem. 

My next-next book –the one after Jinx's Fire-- actually will have a dragon.

Tatum Flynn, thanks for interviewing me! And for having this blog where you call MG MG! I'm looking forward to reading your book...it looks terrific!

Thanks, Sage! Am so impressed with your amazing Bering Sea shenanigans that I'll let your MC off for having the same name as mine :) Jinxes unite! Find out more about Sage and her books on her website and chat to her on Twitter.

This week's guest is the alligator-wrestling (really - see below!) Marion Jensen. By day he's a mild-mannered instructional designer. By night, he puts on a cape and writes superhero books. Books that will make you laugh, cry (but only because you're laughing so hard), and then laugh some more. 

His debut, Almost Super, came out in January, 2014 with HarperCollins. Perfect for fans of Pixar's The Incredibles, Almost Super is a fresh, funny middle-grade adventure about two brothers in a family of superheroes who must find a way to be heroic despite receiving powers that are total duds.

1) Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

My first thought is to have a tough author by me to help fight off the zombies. Somebody like Ernest Hemingway who was as good at fisticuffs as any writer I know. The problem with this strategy is that everybody knows whoever is riding shotgun is a secondary character. That means at some point, they're going to be bitten, which means now I've got a zombie Earnest Hemingway to deal with. Yeah. I don't like that idea either. So instead, I'm going with James Joyce. I think I could outrun a zombie James Joyce.

2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

That's easy. I'd go back to last Thursday when I TOTALLY fell for a RickRoll. Stupid Rickroll.

3) What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

I love writing for kids who check under their beds for monsters... just in case. Kids who, when they get stung by a bee, wait to see if they develop superpowers. Kids that age still live in what I call the age of wonder, and they have a great imagination and a wonderful outlook on life.

4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

I'm going to pick a character out of my upcoming book, Searching for Super. Merry Johnson is a superhero. She has the ability to grow a mustache on her left kneecap. Because I mean... come on. That's just awesome.

5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

I once wrestled an alligator. No joke. An honest, live alligator in Florida. Just don't ask how big it was. Okay. It was about ten inches. But still... I won.

6) What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out?

I wish I'd known that writing isn't something you can either do or not do. It's just like everything else. If you practice, you're going to get better. The more you practice, the better you will become. It's like running. You don't wake up one morning and run fifty miles. But if you practice, you can totally run that far. 

7) What would your daemon be?

I don't know for sure what my daemon would be, but if there is fairness and beauty in the world, it would have the ability to dispense Pez. A Pez-dispensing daemon. 

8) My books don’t have dragons, but they do have...  belly buttons, Russian belchers, and a military-grade glove compartment.

A Pez-dispensing daemon may be my favourite idea yet :D Find out more about Marion and his books on his website and Goodreads page, and chat with him on Twitter.

This week my guest is secret burglar (see below!) Melanie Conklin. Melanie is a writer, reader, and all-around lover of words and those who create them. Her debut novel for middle-grade readers, Counting Thyme, will be published by Putnam & Sons in 2016. She lives in South Orange, New Jersey with her husband and two small maniacs.

1) Uh oh, it’s the zombie apocalypse. Which author (living or dead) do you want riding shotgun?

Without a doubt, Roald Dahl. I imagine that he would fill my last living moments with pure gems of imagination! Plus, that magnificent brain of his might even spit out a few life-saving ideas, as well. And when we finally came to our witty end, at least we'd make the most morbidly entertaining meal for the zombies.

2) Look, I got a time machine on eBay! Where do you want to go? (Said time machine may possibly malfunction and leave you there. Possibly. It was *very* cheap.)

Wow! I've heard of awesome stuff for sale on eBay, but this sounds like the steal of the century. I'd love to hitch a ride to the Victorian era. With my luck, I'd probably end up slaving away as a laundry maid, but I can't resist the lure of the dresses and the parties and the fancy-pants meals I've read about in so many historical novels.

3) What’s your favourite thing about writing for kids?

I love writing middle-grade stories because kids are the bravest readers. They're willing to follow characters through anything, and to give every circumstance a fair shot, even when things get rough. Kids are quick to empathize and slow to judge. They see the magic in everyday life and are never short of hope. It's this combination of honesty and wonder that draws me to middle grade, both as a reader and a writer.

4) A witch has cast a spell on you (sorry about that) and you’ve woken up as a character in a children’s book – what’s your special talent or power?

Since I was a child, I've dreamt of being able to fly. In those dreams, I inexplicably rise from the ground and soar higher and higher, despite my real-life fear of heights. I'm fueled by nothing more than my utter faith that I CAN FLY. And that is an awesome feeling - gut-wrenching and terrifying, but so liberating that I'm pretty disappointed when I wake up and find that I'm still bound by the laws of gravity.

5) What’s the scariest or strangest thing you’ve ever done?

I studied Design in college, which involved staying up all night and working in cramped studio spaces, so I've done my fair share of weird things, most involving adhesive spray and polyurethane foam. However, one of the strangest (and scariest) moments in my life came much earlier, in high school. My best friend and I came up with the brilliant idea to break into our mutual friend's house, just to scare her. Her parents were out of town for the night, and she was home alone. We painted our faces black, parked by the side of the road, and crept in on foot until we reached her car. The door was unlocked, and the garage door opener was inside. We opened the garage door. We ran inside. And wouldn't you know it, her house door was UNLOCKED. We turned the knob and started to tiptoe down her hall, although she surely must have heard us by then. Two seconds later, her house alarm blasted to life, blaring warnings and flashing lights. We ran. Out through the garage, back to our car, then realized the police would come, and returned to the house to reveal ourselves so our friend wouldn't be scarred for life. That's when we heard the word FREEZE! A man was standing on the porch with a shotgun leveled at us. We put our hands up, and luckily, that's when our friend emerged from the house. The man with the gun was her neighbor, and thankfully, he wasn't mad enough to shoot! We ended up staying overnight with our friend, barricaded together in her room, because we were all too scared to sleep.

6) What’s something you wish you’d known about writing when you started out? What’s something you wish you’d known about publishing?

The one thing I wish I'd known about writing is that no time is wasted time. The times when I'm cooking for my family and picking up my kids from school are just as important for my process as the word count I achieve on any given day. It's very easy to get seduced by the idea of writing books, and to crave completing a draft so hard that you want to neglect the rest of your life. What I've discovered over time is that NO TIME IS WASTED. That hour you spend watching The Vampire Diaries is totally worth it. As is giving yourself the time to take a nice, long shower (not one of those five minute slap dash affairs), or giving yourself the evening off (as in, completely off, with no thinking about plots and characters). The down time is important. It gives your subconscious time to process, so that you can surprise yourself in your next writing session. This is a big lesson, and one I'm still working to embrace.

When I first started writing, I knew very little about publishing. I spent at least a year learning everything I could on the industry, from reading blog posts and books on writing to attending conferences... and in each of these venues, I found there was a tremendous focus on querying and securing an agent. While securing an agent is a critical step on the writing journey, it's important to know that publishing is a much longer game than that. It's far better to give yourself a year to study writing craft, with ZERO intention of querying, than to rush into the hunt for an agent. Publishing is a big industry, with lots of barriers to entry, but publishing also depends on WRITERS. Agents and editors alike are eager to find great new writers They are not looking for reasons to say no; they are hoping for a reason to say yes! So put your writing first, as much as possible. Discover who you are, what you have to say, and what you want to write. The big secret to getting into the publishing world is writing great books.

7)  What would your daemon be?

Truth: I had to google that. Did you know that a daemon is a background process that handles requests for services such as print spooling and file transfers, and is dormant when not required? Neither did I! Oh, but it's also a companion animal that is a physical manifestation of your soul, according to Tatum... a little like a patronus in Harry Potter. In that case, my personal daemon would definitely be a badger, because I'm fiercely loyal to my friends and family, and fairly good at digging holes.

8) My books don’t have dragons, but they do have... 

Do you remember those special objects from your childhood, the ones you found tucked away in your bedside table when you cleaned out your room after college? The stack of Garbage Pail Kids cards. The pouch of tiny fruit-shaped erasers that used to smell like fruit, but end up reeking like old tires. The paper notes, folded and colored and tucked into fascinating shapes by your friends. These objects from our childhood are our personal talismans, temporary vessels for all of our hopes and fears in those formative years. I try to unearth these special objects in my character's lives and share them with the reader, because nothing makes me love a character more than knowing their secrets.

Sign me up for being able to fly too please! Find out more about Melanie and her books on her website and Goodreads page, and chat with her on Twitter.