My Interview with Robyn Schneider!

Today's post is probably one of my favorites ever, because it takes me back to the GREAT experience of meeting and interviewing Robyn Schneider.  Robyn's publicist was kind enough to give me time to talk with Robyn before a stop on her Epic Reads book tour.  Thanks so much to Robyn for this experience!

Robyn's new book, Extraordinary Means, will be reviewed here on the blog tomorrow (spoiler: it's so amazing!), and Robyn went on a small tour a few weeks ago to promote the book.  The book follows a group of students who have tuberculosis and are forced to live at a camp/boarding school while they await treatment, a cure, or possibly death. 

I just asked Robyn a few questions about the book and, of course, beauty products!  Check out Robyn's YouTube channel if you haven't yet! 

Enjoy!

Julia: So we're both kind of nerdy/quirky, but we're both also into fashion.  How do you combine those two worlds?  Usually nerdy people aren't fashionable, and fashionable people aren't nerdy, so how do you combine those two worlds?

Robyn: I think that nerdy people can be very fashionable.  If you're nerdy about the Victorian era, then you start dressing a little bit more Victorian.  You're into cameos, and granny boots, and you're into corsets.  So I think it just depends on what your nerd passion is.  If it's Star Trek, then you're probably not going to be the most fashionable girl, but it really depends on if your fandom relates to fashion.

Julia:  What are your top 3 beauty products?  What could you not go without?

Robyn:  I really like the Kevyn Aucoin curling mascara.  It rubs off with soap and water.  You can rub gently and it just peels off like glue, like the good kind of glue.  And then I guess I really like the Tarte cheek stains.  I think those are really pretty.  They're really subtle.  They look really scary in the tube, but it's like putting a push pop on your face.  And then my standby lip color is Revlon Just Bitten Kissable balm stains.  Cause they're really hydrating and they stay on.  And I like the orange color because it's bright and citrus.  They're better than most high-end balm stains.

Julia:  So in The Beginning of Everything, I feel like part of the underlying message is finding yourself when party of your identity has fallen apart or disappeared.  What is the message you're trying to get across in Extraordinary Means?

Robyn:  The message is that if you keep preparing for an ideal version of your life, you never really get to live your life.  If you keep saying "Well next year I'll be happy because I'll have ____ or I'll achieve ____, it's never going to happen.  I thought Lane's character represented a part of myself that I realized that I indulged in grad school in the wrong way, believing that I had to be a doctor and help people in that concrete way to be happy.  I was just putting off living my life because I kept thinking "Oh, well it'll be so long until I'm a doctor, until I'm helping people" and I just got very upset that I felt like I was wasting time.  And I think you can't really waste time, but you can spend it unwisely.

Julia: And I feel like bucket lists have become such a trendy thing, but it's all about doing something later, not now.

Robyn: It's like saying "I'll be happy once I've accomplished these things," and that's so dangerous.  We shouldn't make bucket lists, but we should list all the things that we've accomplished and maybe add 5 things to the bottom that they want to complete the list.  So we don't have lists that say "here are all the things I haven't done."

Julia:  So is Extraordinary Means partly autobiographical in some way?

Robyn: I think everything I write is hugely autobiographical.  I just take emotions that I'm having about something from my life and just translate it into emotions someone else would be having from something different in their life, but it's usually related.


Thanks again, Robyn!  I would definitely add this interview to a list of things I've accomplished!

Come back tomorrow for a review of Extraordinary Means!