Caroline Starr Rose is the author of the forthcoming middle grade novel May B, due out January 10 through Schwartz and Wade/Random House. Around the Internet, you can find her on her website, her blog, her Facebook page, and on Goodreads.

Pitch your book in 140 characters:
Abandoned and alone, May must fight to survive a harsh winter and even harsher school memories as she comes to terms with who she truly is.

Who will this book appeal to?
Fans of Laura Ingalls Wilder, survival books like Hatchet, verse novels, pioneer and frontier life, boys gusty enough to read about a girl

Favorite moment or character in your book:
May, though her brother Hiram is a close runner up.

What’s your writing routine?
Never the same twice.

What’s your best piece of writing advice?
You have something unique to say, and your work can only get better if you keep at it.

What’s been the most surprising part of the publishing journey?
Learning you never really arrive. A career is made contract by contract.

What did you do when you learned your book would be published?
Invited friends over for champagne.

What’s the best piece of writing advice you’ve received?
A fellow 2k12er just shared this: Learn to write this book. Each process is different, and that’s okay.

What are your top three favorite books?
The Count of Monte Cristo, Possession (AS Byatt), and the Phantom Tollbooth

What’s next for you?
A picture book about the Louisiana wetlands and a historical verse novel about the Lost Colony of Roanoke.