one identity crisis at a time, baby

It’s entirely possible that I sort of forgot I had a blog. It’s equally possible that I just didn’t care enough to do anything with it for a while. Something something the epic highs and lows of social media, but anyway…

I got caught up in the whirlwind whirlpool whirlidentitycrisis of finishing my second book—which, thank God, Dolly, and Cher, is at last dunzo and available for other people to read so I don’t have to anymore (there’s always a point where you just have to let go of the edits and let the thing loose into the wild, so if you see a typo no you didn’t).

For a book that takes place over the course of one night, this sucker took all of my time. I figured out not quite halfway through that, while a fixed period of less than twenty-four hours sounds like it’ll make for a quick and easy write, it’s actually much more… particular. The pacing matters more, it has to be tighter, I can’t just do time-jump montages like I did in my first book because there’s no time to spare. Everything is more urgent, and that certainly suits the atmosphere of the book since it’s a teen movie parody/self-aware commentary (you know, that whole Tonight Is The Night/Everything Hinges On This Moment/You Have One Last Shot And Nothing Will Ever Be As Important As What You Do Before You’re Even Old Enough To Rent A Car energy). So in that way it was a real “life imitates art imitates life” situation.

Despite the whirlidentitycrisis of it all, I really did have a good time with this book (or so I’ll tell myself until I’ve completely replaced the memories of writer’s block and self-imposed blows to my esteem)—the Easter eggs especially. While my books aren’t a series as such, they all take place in the same small-town Indiana setting, so there’s a lot of recurring characters, locations, and jokes. In book 2, How to Survive a Teen Sex Comedy, I got to make plenty of references to book 1, What’s Your Vibe? and do a lot of set-up for upcoming books; finding the moments where I could slip in those nods and hints was super fun for me, and I hope connecting those dots will be fun for readers, too.

(And on that note, you don’t by any means have to read my books in order of publication, but personally I think the Easter eggs, etc., are more fun exciting a-HA! that way.)

WYV and TSC share a bunch of similarities, most of which are on purpose and some of which—specifically in themes—are just kind of the nature of your second book. Like, I’m still figuring out who I am as a writer, what I want to do with all this, and my own identity both apart from and alongside that. I just accepted those repetitions as part of the process, because I gave both stories what they needed; I’m not going to sacrifice The Point for anything, otherwise why did I write these in the first place, you know?

My next book, though, will do things a little differently. You’ll still see those recurring characters, locations, and jokes, but there’s a bit of a mood shift. Themes of sexuality and queerness, self-discovery, and music are all there—but my leads are older, more aware of and comfortable with their respective sexualities, and I’m incorporating music in ways beyond playlists and mix CDs.

That’s all I’ll say for now. I’m digging into the drafting process, so we’ll see what else happens from here.

Other than that, I want to get back to my fun facts posts about WYV, and start another series of those for TSC, and jump into more Lifetime movie recaps. Now that I’m out of the ninth circle of publishing hell, I have considerably more energy (which still isn’t much, mind, I live life in the carpool lane—that is to say, slow and tired and a little agitated and there’s probably some or several voice[s] sighing dramatically for McDonald’s).

And we’ll also see how all that goes. Probably well, so long as I give myself a break to recoup, but the likelihood of that is… TBD.

I think this summer will be taken up by prep work for books and blog posts alike. I want to keep things a little more active on the blog, and that’s doable; but as much as I’d like to get book 3 out this year, that’s a hard maybe-and-probably-not (my sister’s getting married this fall, and the thing about weddings is it’s never just the wedding, and there are real-life occasions that take precedence over whatever’s going on in my computer).

But stay tuned, because I think I’m finally gaining the momentum I want with my writing projects, and I’m so excited to keep this ride going.