What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write Her Target?
I’d always thought I could be an author, but instead I was writing outlines and stories for someone else. When I wrote the outline for the Rossi series and the client didn’t buy it, I was heartbroken. These were characters I really wanted to bring to life! And then I thought… Well, maybe I should write them myself. And then I did, and I started really wondering why I hadn’t done this a long time ago!
Penny and Michael are some of the most fun I’ve ever had as an author. Their personalities are sooooo different and yet they’re so immediately dependent on each other.
If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of Her Target, what would they be?
I actually come up with a soundtrack for each character, so this is easy! Penny’s soundtrack is ABBA: Bright, beautiful, and a little bit naive. Michael is all Maneskin, who’s one of my favorite bands. Aggressive, unapologetic, and loud!
What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?
This depends on when you’re talking to me! Sometimes YA, sometimes high fantasy, sometimes contemporary, sometimes straight-up history (I’m obsessed with Hollywood history and the Tudors).
I do write the genres I like to read, but I have such ADHD when it comes to reading style that I’m not sure you can judge anything based on that!
What books are on your TBR pile right now?
… I have like thirteen different TBRs, so that makes for about 100 books currently on my list. I’m not sure we have time to go through them all!
What scene in your book was your favorite to write?
Definitely the dancing-at-the-ball scene. I knew I wanted to write it before I even started the book and I had so much fun figuring out how it would go.
Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)
I’m a serial procrastinator, so I outline a book and then think about it for two months and then write it in two days. I also HAVE to have a calendar written out right next to me, with one of my favorite pencils. I do character sketches by hand because I think better that way, and my cats are always ‘helping’ while I write.
Do you have a motto, quote, or philosophy you live by?
Funny story: I died when I was 18. I had a TBR and had brain surgery that I wasn’t supposed to live through. Obviously I did, but it changed my outlook on life. I like to try whatever I think of almost immediately because you don’t know when it’ll all be over.
Some might say I have a lack of attention. I just say I’m trying to fit in three lives in one!
If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?
That Michale and Penny are both trying to do the right thing, and that they’ve just got very different ways of doing it. That’s pretty true of most people in life, I think.
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