Frequently Asked Questions

General

Seriously, how DO you say your last name?

"Bandeira" is Portuguese for flag. The "ei" is pronounced like in "neighbor" or "weigh", and, if you REALLY want to get fancy and close to the actual pronunciation, the "a" in "Ban" is flat, so, altogether it would sound like: Bun-day-ruh.

Of course, you could always say "Bandaid- ruh" and you'd be close--plus, bandaid is easy to remember!

And if you want to get really, really fancy, you can pronounce my first name like they do in Portuguese, too: E- suh-bell, though Issy is fine!!!

When did you decide you wanted to be a writer?

I’ve wanted to write all my life. My parents have little “books” I made when I was only a few years old. I’ve been writing since the day I could string words together into stories, and I’m sure that’s thanks to all the wonderful books read to me and stories told to me when I was little. Back in senior year of high school, I had awful advice from a well-known author that had me convinced my chances of ever getting published were nonexistent if I studied engineering. It took over a decade to learn that he was wrong, and I've been making up for lost time ever since.

Who is your favorite author? Do you have a favorite book?

My favorite all-time author is Lucy Maud Montgomery, and especially her Emily series. I was ten years old when I read Emily of New Moon and finally, I found a character who was like me—Emily was a writer! What I love about the series is that LM Montgomery didn’t sugar-coat the struggles and rejections that come with this career, and that has helped me so much over the years. She taught me to persevere and keep writing no matter what challenges come my way.

You’re really an engineer? Isn’t that completely different from writing?

Yes, I’m a mechanical engineer, and there are actually a few of us engineer/authors, especially in the kidlit community!

A lot of people think engineering and the arts are mutually exclusive, but in reality, STEM needs creative people and the arts need STEM. I think it’s very important to emphasize to young people that they can be both an artist/writer and and engineer/scientist/mathematician if they want to. Believe me, the amazing designs I see coming out in my “day job” industry for medical implants and instruments can’t happen without incredibly creative, outside-of-the-box thinking engineers.

Hogwarts House? Divergent faction?

I’m a Ravenclaw and Erudite. :) No huge surprise there!

Who drew the adorable chibis on your swag and the website?

I commissioned the super-talented Draskia (http://draskiasart.com/) to draw them! I usually send her a character description and some excerpts from the books and she makes adorable magic happen. I totally recommend checking her out!

Ever After Series

It says “Book One” on the cover. Is this a series?

Yes. There are currently three books planned in the Ever After series, all companion novels that can be read as standalones, but characters from previous and future books are present in all three books.

What’s the title of Book Two? What’s it about?

Dramatically Ever After, which is Em's book! You can find out more about it on the book tab. Don't worry, Phoebe and Dev are there, but this will be Em's turn to try to get her own happily ever after.

Where did you get the idea for Bookishly Ever After?

The first bit of inspiration for B.E.A. came while I was writing a short scene for a blog hop. In that scene, a bookish girl tried to channel her favorite heroines in front of the guy she liked as she was crossing a two-rope bridge at camp. It was so much fun, and the characters kept bouncing around in my head, begging to tell their story, that I had to write it out. Then, while at a workshop at the Eastern PA SCBWI Poconos retreat, I was given the prompt “Your character falls in love at first sight.” I started writing and giggling like a fiend as my character fell in love with a character in a book she was reading. Thanks to that prompt, I found Phoebe’s voice and the rest of the story flowed from there.

Is Lambertfield a real place? How about the other places mentioned in Bookishly Ever After?

No, but they’re inspired by a mish-mosh of places in Camden and Burlington counties in Southern New Jersey. Marranos is based on the most amazing water ice and frozen custard stand in South Jersey which, in the non-Ever After world, is unfortunately closed from October to April. The camp is based off of Girl Scout camp Inawendiwin and YMCA Camp Ockanickon in Burlington County, NJ. The plantation Dev mentions in the second half of the book is actually based on a friend’s place about two hours from Mumbai that I visited while in India.

Is anyone in Bookishly, especially Phoebe, based on you? Are any scenes in Bookishly based on your scenes in your own life?

A little bit of me is in every character I write, but there’s a big chunk of my personality built into Phoebe’s big sister, Trixie. I’m the oldest of three girls and my baby sister, especially, was really good at talking me into making costumes/prom gowns/ren faire dresses for her and into buying books for us both to share. And I *wish* there was a Dev in my life! While no scene in the book is pulled directly from real life, I think we’ve all been there with bookish moments. I’ve sat for hours in booksigning lines, worn book-inspired outfits, and I’ve swooned over plenty of book boyfriends. It wasn’t hard to figure out book-nerd situations.

Do you play flute?

Yes!

Are there any songs on your Bookishly playlist?

“Dear Mr. Darcy” by Marian Call and another one of my favorites from her: “I’ll Still be a Geek After Nobody Thinks It’s Chic (The Nerd Anthem)”