Interview with Elise Faber, author of Train Wreck

What can you tell us about your new release, Train Wreck?

I love Pepper, the heroine from Train Wreck. She’s a bit like every woman out there—fun and sweet, spunky and beyond klutzy, but deep down she’s also just a normal girl. Yes, disaster follows in her wake, but I think we all have sticky situations we get ourselves into and what’s special about Pepper (besides the fact that she falls for her brother’s six-pack-sporting-double-dimple-wearing-of-a-hottie friend) is that she grows from her failures. As a reader and just as a person in general, I really admire that.

Which book from your childhood or teenage years has stuck with you as an adult?

I have two books that really stuck with me. Growing up, I loved Dr. Seuss’s Oh The Thinks You Can Think. I remember making up my own stories from all of those fantastical names and characters. It’s been a favorite of mine to reintroduce to my kids now that they’re old enough to use their imaginations and make up their own tales. The other book was Pride and Prejudice. It’s probably super cliche, but I love the conflict between Darcy and Elizabeth and how, while their circumstances didn’t make it easy on them, a lot of their struggle was of their own making. The unfurling of the tangle between them is something that really captivated me and influenced my writing.

Say you’re the host of a literary talk show. Who would be your first guest. What would you want to ask?

Ah! This is such a hard question. I’ve been lucky enough to meet some of my favorite authors (Julia Quinn, Jill Shalvis, Catherine Bybee, Rachel Van Dyken), but there are so many I’d love to sit and chat with. I think if pressed I’d pick Kristin Ashley, because I’ve just started reading her books and she seems like she would have some awesome stories to tell!!

What is a typical day like for you?

I get my kids (a 1st grader and preschooler) off to school then head home to my office to work. I mention office, because I finally have one! For the last four years, I’ve written at our coffee table (Eight books. At a table the size of a postage stamp). So the office is HUGE! About lunch time I take off my author hat and put back on my mom hat as I pick up kiddos then play taxi driver for whatever sports activity they have that afternoon. At night, I either squeeze in some more writing time or I play ice hockey with my hubs (Funny story is that like Pepper, my hubs was my brother’s friend until we started playing on the same team together. Add in an intentionally cheesy pick up line that made me both giggle and roll my eyes and—poof!—fourteen years in the books).

What’s in your Netflix queue?

I’ve been bingeing Harlots on Hulu. OMG it’s so good. But nerdily enough, I don’t have a ton of time for TV. Though that being said, I always watch Dancing with the Stars (confession: I’m an 80 year-old woman at heart) and somehow end up watching way too much Tiny House Hunters.

What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

That I’m worthy. I think it’s totally normal for self-doubt to creep in from time to time, but when someone told me I was worthy of success, that I deserved love, it really resonated. Doesn’t mean it always sticks and I sometimes have to remind myself. But the words are there for me to remember.

What scene in Train Wreck was your favorite to write?

There’s a scene with a certain type of bedroom aid that had me laughing out loud and cringing with embarrassment because I could picture myself making the same mistake that Pepper did. Not that I have—*cough cough*—just that I could.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

Look, I’ll be honest. Some days it’s really “Just Make it Through Today.” Life is hard and kids are tiring and this writing thing can be tough. But not every day is like that, so most of the time I try and focus on enjoying every moment because even though kids are tiring, they get big so freaking fast.  And even though writing sometimes isn’t all puppies and rainbows, it’s something I love (and I feel lucky to be able to do).

Elise Faber is the author of the new book Train Wreck. 

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