Q&A

We meet again.

I put up an IG story last week for you guys to send in questions because I recently filled out a very thoughtful questionnaire for a book fest that I thought would make great newsletter material. Of course you guys did not disappoint. I interspersed them all below, and I tried to answer what I could about Left of Forever without spoilers.

• What was your inspiration behind your most recent book? I feel like I am constantly collecting little pieces of inspiration for stories everywhere, all the time. But, the very first seed behind the plot of LEFT OF FOREVER was planted when my husband saw me filling out some paperwork for one of our girls' school activities a couple years ago. Nowadays, these docs are all typically filled out online, and despite being together for over half of our lives, my husband went, "That's your handwriting? Huh. Haven't seen it in a few years." (Reader, he also went on to make a sarcastic remark about how shitty it is. (It is, in fact, shitty)) . . . A few months later, I was helping out in my daughter's class while we put together care packages for the firefighters working on a large campaign fire in our state, and one of her classmates' dads happened to be working on that fire. I kept thinking about how great it'd be if he got his son's package out of all of them, which led to me thinking about what an incredible set up that'd be for a novel, and all the potential for a second chance romance in there, too.

• What does "Reading with Pride" mean to you? For me, this is the same as reading with intention. I pick up books that I believe will not just connect me to characters that make me feel seen, but ones that help foster empathy in me for characters that maybe aren't much like me at all. I strongly believe that romance can heal, not just because we get to watch two pretend people go on to have a pretend happily ever after, but because we watch two people overcome scenarios and insecurities that are based on some hard realities, all while being loved in spite of (and often because of) those things.

• Why do you feel representation of a variety of people is so important when it
  comes to writing books? Because it connects us to the idea that while we are vastly different, we also have so much in common. Ultimately, we all want the right to exist safely. To love and be loved.

• Tell us a little more about your most recent/upcoming book and why you decided to write it. I rarely get to read romance stories about what happens after happily ever after, specifically after a marriage has failed. But I deeply understand how Life, in all its trials and chaos, can break down a marriage until we feel like strangers to each other. To compound that further, sometimes it feels like the most loving thing we can do is NOT communicate all our feelings to our partner in an effort to limit their burden. It's as if we want so badly to be good - to be good parents, good spouses, that we forget that we fell in love with our person in spite of their flaws, and vice versa. We signed up for Life, knowing it wouldn't necessarily always go the way we hoped, but that we'd at least be doing it with them. But, for as much as Life doles out circumstances that make relationships harder, it also throws out the occasional chance, and ultimately, lasting love comes down to a matter of choice. I wanted to write a story about a couple who took some hard knocks from life, chose to turn inward instead of turning to each other, and eventually let their love go. I wanted to give those same people a second chance, and watch them choose vulnerability, bravery, and each other again. I think the most epically romantic thing we can do is choose our person, time and time again.

• What can fans expect from your upcoming book? I think they can expect two imperfect people, who have an abundance of love and respect for each other, experience a chance situation that exposes a great deal of unresolved feelings within them, before they choose to carefully navigate a path back together. There's a lot of Life in these pages; between the way it doesn't care about our preferred timing, to how it can embarrass us and make us more vulnerable than we care to be, to the way we can stand up to it with the right support at our side. It's funny, it's sad, it's raw, and (I hope) it'll stick with them long after a hard-earned happy ending, for whatever's left of forever.

• What's up next for you in the bookish world? More books! I have no shortage of stories I'd love to tell.

• What was your “I made it” moment? Oh boy . . . Have I made it, lol? Listen. I really hate false modesty and I loathe anything with pity-seeking tonality so I take care to avoid whininess - I would rather show my gratitude for what I do have and keep that other stuff to the group chat, you know? But friends, this business is tough. From my first book being traditionally published to Left of Forever, my print run number has been reduced by, like, 63% and my sales have gone down each and every time. Which is simply out of my hands! And that’s okay! It’s quite literally not my job. Frankly, my only real “I made it” moment is the touchstone that I continue to circle back to, which is that I am writing full-time, and writing stuff that I’m proud of, and I know that I’m living the life I once dreamed about. There is so much in this industry that is doing overtime to make authors feel small. Hell, my first editor made me feel so diminished that I genuinely had moments where I did not want to write romance anymore, lol. But, my “I made it” is that I’m out here still making it. I am making art, in spite of X, Y, Z. I’m making art when the world is on fire, I’m making art when I feel undeserving. When I let other people make me feel unworthy (even if they’re the people making money off of it), I’m still gonna make it. I’m just . . . making it.

  

• What’s a piece of advice you wish you had early in your career? Chelsea Fagan (whose book I am currently reading to blurb and LOVING) posted a TikTok recently where she says to “diversify your identity”, and I feel like this is something that I have tried to articulate before and maybe didn’t nail is quite as well, but, she essentially says not to let your entire identity get wrapped up in one thing, because this inevitably leads us to develop a scarcity mindset about that thing. Writing can feel all-consuming. Especially when we want so badly to be successful at it. A scarcity mindset is going to make you feel jealous and threatened when people around you are getting that thing you want, and it’s going to rob you of any and all joy, because whenever you do reach a goal or are awarded something, you won’t be able to enjoy it because someone else is going to have more of that thing, OR, (if you’re like me) you’ll feel panicked about whether or not you actually deserved it in the first place. You'll think you have to do more just to prove that you did. I highly recommend watching the video because I think it’s so applicable. But, in essence, I would advise authors early in their career to (literally and figuratively) touch grass. Spend as much time in reality as you do in your fictional worlds. Make time with your real-life friends and family. Keep an active hobby that you enjoy. When you’re doing something that you want to make money at that you’re also passionate about, it’s so easy for it to become too much of your identity.

• Have you changed your mind about wishing you’d used a pen name? No, and part of that goes hand-in-hand with the above. I wish I’d been a little more ruthless about prioritizing and separating out my identity from my author identity. A pen name is just one small thing, and there are loads of arguments to support either way, but if I could go back and do it over I would. Who knows? Maybe someday I will!

• Tell me something you’re looking forward to. Tour! I should get to start announcing some stuff next week. For now here are some meme clues for some of the places I’ll be visiting . . .

  

  

  

  

  

  

  To Be Continued . . .