A. I cannot remember a time that I was not mesmerized by books and stories and characters! It felt like somewhere, in some parallel universe, these characters were actually living, and these events were really happening. I always wanted to also be a person who could create a different world.
I lived across the street from the library when I was growing up, and I always wanted to see my name in a book. I spent a lot of time at the library with books.
Q. So you were always a big reader?
A. Yes!
Q. So how did you get your start, then?
A. I started writing seriously writing novels once I quit teaching high school English at Springboro High School. I was there for eight years and when I had my first child in 2005, I quit teaching to start writing full time. I'd always been into journaling and poetry and writing stories, even since before high school. But I started seriously writing novel length works after my daughter was born and it took three novels and two-and-a-half years before I landed an agent. My first novel, "The Tension of Opposites," was published in 2010. This year, my third published novel will come out July 5 — "A Million Times Goodnight."
Q. So, you write Young Adult novels. Why?
A. Maybe partially because I haven't completely grown up? Actually, I really identify with a young adult voice. The first novel that I wrote was rejected by agents and did not land me with an agent. It was an adult novel but included a teen character, and that teen character seemed to come to life the most. I think having taught high school, I really connected with the age group and I feel like I can write that age group's dialogue better. After I realized that, it just made sense to focus on writing Young Adult novels.
Q. What is your writing routine like? You still have kids around in the summer!
A. My husband is a teacher, so everyone's home all the time in the summer, which is very exciting because we get to do a lot of fun things together as a family. But I have to get up very early in the summers if I'm getting in writing time.
During the school year, after the kids are on the bus, I get the full school day to write. I usually start by getting emails off my plate, so after that I can really focus on my writing. I then write in my journal if I need to kind of work out a kink or two. I do meditate which helps me sink into the story once I’ve started thinking about the characters and plot. And then I start writing. I’ll write for hours if I can.
Q. Why do you think Young Adult novels and stories as a genre have picked up such steam?
A. Several books and series have really pulled people in, really kickstarted it as something adults want to ready too, maybe starting with Harry Potter. Now as readers, so many adults are connecting and identifying with a part of themselves that they left behind a long time ago.
Q. Do you have tips for writers?
A. My first tip would be to write … and write a lot … because until you write a lot, you can't work down to the good stuff and get better. My favorite way to address that is to point people to "The Gap" by Ira Glass. You have to create whole lot of drafts before you get better — and I've been there and done that! And you have to read a lot inside and outside the genre you're working in, even things you don't like. You'll figure out what not to do, as well as what work. And finally, build a community with other writers! You can get support and feedback that way. Eventually, your work will begin to sing.
Q. I love that statement — but tell me more about what you mean by that.
A. I feel that as an artist, whether you're a writer or musician or visual artist, there just comes a time where you know it's working. That's what I mean when I say, "it starts to sing." I think I'm hitting that sweet spot right now with the project that I'm working. Up to this point, I liked it, but I knew it wasn't what I wanted it to be just yet. Now, it's starting to sing—the characters are really becoming well-rounded, full characters that I think readers would sense as real.
Q. Tell us a little bit about your next novel, "A Million Times Goodnight."
A. It's the story of a girl who is betrayed by her boyfriend. She has to decide in the very beginning what she's going to do — stay in town and get revenge? Or leave town and run away from the whole situation? At that moment in the story, time splits, kind of like in the movie "Sliding Door" with Gwyneth Paltrow. Then we follow my character through both time lines — in the even-numbered chapters, we see what happens if she chooses to stay, and in the odd-numbered chapters, what happens if she chooses to run away.
Q. That sounds so good! Remind us again when "A Million Times Goodnight" will release.
A. July 5, 2016.
About the Author