As the book’s release grows near, I thought I would share additional behind-the-scenes insight with you. THANK YOU for checking in for this quick read. I hope it brings a smile to your face, as your support does for me!
What is the most surprising thing you discovered while writing your book?
I fell in love.
Don’t get me wrong. I knew well in advance that I would love the characters. I fully expected that they’d become real to me and I figured I would get emotional while writing. I braced myself, but clearly not enough! The intensity of emotion took me by surprise. I am not exaggerating when I say that there were times I couldn’t read the words on the screen because the seemingly endless flow of tears blurred my vision. And more than once, my husband thought I was chatting on the phone when really I was just laughing with myself over another one of Quick’s snarky comments! Writing Through Quick and Quinn was a heart-tugging adventure of emotional oscillation, and that was because I developed such a profound love for the characters. I can only hope that I expressed their stories well enough for the readers to fall in love as deeply as I did.
What do you hope your readers take away from this book?
This book is chock full of numerous life lessons, but they all boil down to two fundamental messages: Be authentic and think for yourself.
Quick and Quinn’s journeys are riddled with events that shape them, just as it is with each and every one of us. Both characters are highly relatable, even if only in the smallest of ways, and it is my hope that this reader-to-character connection reminds us all of four truths:
- Hard times are temporary.
- Even though self-awareness can be uncomfortable, it is vital.
- Accepting and loving the self is imperative.
- Love, peace, and joy are gifts that come with authenticity.
The other take-away would be the importance of thinking critically. Not only is it okay to question things we are told, but it is our duty to do so. Other people’s versions of the truths might not be the truth. Intuition is real and we should listen more carefully to the answers that rest within. We must be brave enough not just to seek the truth, but to speak it as well!
What do you like to do when you are not writing?
Everything. Anything! I am never ever bored, but I am also content as ever to just sit and relax. If I had to give a list of hobbies, though, I’d say…
Reading on the couch. Tinkering in my amateur garden and greenhouse. Repotting houseplants into unconventional containers. Walking in nature. Lounging in the pool with my mini fish net in hand so I can clean as I go. Reading on the other couch. Crafting home decor, everything from wall art to table centerpieces. Texting my son and asking him why he never texts me back. Watching the neighborhood flock of quail argue with the doves over the massively sharable amount of seed I poured out onto the grass. Drinking coffee with a friend or two and always finding something new to chat about. Reading on the floor next to the couch. Taking Pilates and water aerobics classes at the nearby rec center. And of course, researching. Some may say that I am obsessed with geopolitics, but I’m trying to take it down a notch to more of a healthy level!
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