1. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer?
It sounds very clichéd, but I knew I wanted to be a writer basically the first time I ever read a book. I used to dictate stories to my mom and have her write them down for me. (They were mostly Disney retellings, so I got an F for originality but an A for effort.) I always wanted to write books, but I didn’t get “serious” about writing until a couple of years after I graduated from college. That’s when I realized that (a) being a writer means you actually have to, you know, write, and (b) narrating the plot of Sleeping Beauty to my mom and having her write it down wasn’t gonna cut it.
2. What were your hobbies as a kid? What are your hobbies now?
Okay, prepare to understand what a total dork I was. When I was too little to actually have homework, I used to give myself homework because it sounded so glamorous when the girls in the Baby-Sitters Club did their homework. I would check out a bunch of books from the library and then write a research paper on cats that no one wanted or asked for. When I got to high school and realized that homework was neither fun nor glamorous, my favorite thing to do was listen to depressing music while obsessively journaling. Also, my best friend and I wrote a story that was what Tina from Bob’s Burgers would refer to as “friend fiction.” It was hundreds of pages long and I still have it somewhere. I was extremely straitlaced in high school (and I still am!), so I was not at all interested in parties but totally interested in creating elaborate fictional worlds that involved people in my real life. My hobbies now involve a lot of reading, baking, sewing, and hanging out with my dog. Not much has changed.
3. Did you play sports as a kid?
Definitely not. I’ve always been comically uncoordinated. I was (literally) picked last in gym class most of the time, and I still hold a grudge against anyone who made fun of my inability to catch a softball. (To be fair, I really couldn’t catch a softball.) The closest I got to a sport was the marching band in high school, which was a much more fun way to get in some physical activity (even if it did involve a very unflattering uniform). The sound of sneakers on a gym floor still gives me flashbacks to terrible gym class experiences, and I live in fear of winding up in a situation where I’m forced to play volleyball.
4. What book is on your nightstand now?
I have approximately one million books on my nightstand, including a Laura Lippman murder mystery, 100 Years of the Best American Short Stories, and a Morgan Matson book. My reading life contains multitudes.
5. Where do you write your books?
I’m lucky enough to have a home office, and writing there makes me feel very official, like, “Wow, I’m such a real writer, look at me in my OFFICE.” But I just as often write on the couch, because then my dog can sleep on my feet.
6. What sparked your imagination for Love and Other Alien Experiences?
The initial spark for Love and Other Alien Experiences came from something that really happened in my high school. Then, several years ago, there was a news story going around about a girl who was nominated for homecoming court as a joke. It seems unbelievable that anyone could be that cruel, but obviously it does happen! I started thinking about what it would be like to be that girl, and what it would be like if you decided to show everyone up by winning. Since then, LAOAE has evolved so much that it’s not really about bullying and it involves so many different story lines, but originally it was based on something very real!
7. What challenges do you face in the writing process, and how do you overcome them?
My main challenge is my own brain. I have the hardest time just sitting down to do the work, because my internal voice always tells me, “Ugh, this is going to be rough.” I just have to force myself to sit down (usually with a food or drink bribe) and commit to pushing out a small amount of words, even if they’re terrible. And then once I get going, I usually end up writing much more than my original goal. “You can’t revise a blank page” is my mantra.
8. If you could live in any fictional world, what would it be?
Okay, so this is from a television show and not a book, but I would love to live in Stars Hollow from Gilmore Girls. It always looks so cozy and comfortable, and everyone’s a character (but in a fun way, not a rude way).
9. What was your favorite book when you were a kid? Do you have a favorite book now?
I loved Little Women as a kid, and I still do! Jo March is my hero—she’s courageous and confident, she sacrifices for her family, and she never gives up on writing. I also like that she’s full of so many messy emotions, like jealousy and anger. As a kid, I totally thought Jo should have ended up with Laurie (specifically Laurie as played by Christian Bale in the 1994 movie), but now I sort of wish she didn’t end up with anyone and just kept writing whatever she wanted to. I still love Little Women so much because it’s a book that means different things to you at different ages.
10. What’s the best advice you have ever received about writing?
“Butt in chair.” As much as I hate to recommend advice that uses the word butt, it’s true. One of my writing professors in college used to say this, and I found out while writing Love and Other Alien Experiences that he was right. You’re not always going to get some special flash of inspiration that will make the words flow out of your fingertips. All you can really do is sit down, write for a while, and work with what you’ve got on the page.
11. What advice do you wish someone had given you when you were younger?
I wish someone had told me that I could write a book. It’s not that I didn’t have a lot of people in my life who were encouraging—I had parents and teachers who really believed in me—but I didn’t understand that “normal” people could write books. Even when I was a creative writing major, I still thought that people who wrote books had to have some sort of special credentials or connections. Nope! I firmly believe that anyone who wants to write a book can do it, and that’s what I would tell all young writers. Writing a book is hard, but it’s doable! Even if it takes you a long time or involves a lot of terrible first drafts (and it most likely will!), just keep at it.
12. What do you want readers to remember about your books?
The main thing I want my readers to know is that there are good moments even when you’re dealing with bad stuff. My books are pretty light—I love comedy and kissing—but deal with real, tough problems that many people have. I hope someone reading Love and Other Alien Experiences sees that severe anxiety doesn’t mean you can’t experience true friendships or the kiss of your dreams.
13. Do you believe in aliens?
I’ve watched far too many episodes of The X-Files to completely reject the idea of aliens. I’m pretty skeptical, like Scully, but in my heart I’m Mulder. I want to believe.
14. Have you ever received or given a Twizzler bouquet?
No, but sometimes when I’m deep in a writing binge, my husband brings me a bag of Skittles, and that seems just as romantic (and cavity-inducing).
15. It’s no secret that you’re a romantic-comedy movie fan. Do you have any favorites? If so, why?
I have a lot of romantic-comedy loves (The Wedding Singer, What If, Just Wright), but my all-time favorite is You’ve Got Mail. For starters, it’s written by Nora Ephron, the queen of the rom-coms. And Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan have fantastic chemistry. But my favorite thing about it is how sad it is. I like romantic comedies that are happy and hopeful but still understand that love doesn’t solve every problem or make your sadness disappear.
16. Are rom-coms what inspired Love and Other Alien Experiences?
In a way, yes! I watch a lot of romantic comedies and I’m constantly thinking about the tropes they use, so I really wanted to try out some of those tropes myself. My all-time favorite scene that’s in almost every romantic comedy, for example, is when the two main characters almost kiss but then get interrupted by a small child, meddling old person, or momentary misunderstanding. I hope I can put an almost-kiss into every book I write.
17. Did you research agoraphobia? Did you learn anything interesting and unexpected about it?
I did a lot of research on agoraphobia—although anxiety is something I have a pretty decent understanding of, agoraphobia isn’t something I knew a ton about before I started writing. I read a lot of articles and Reddit forums to find out what real-life people with agoraphobia experience. The most interesting thing I learned is that agoraphobia isn’t as simple as just a fear of leaving the house—it’s a lot more complex than that, and just like all mental illnesses, it’s different for everyone.
18. Mallory spends so much time online that her mom installs an app that limits her Internet usage. How addicted to the Internet are you? Be honest, this is a safe space.
I’m pretty embarrassingly addicted. While the app that Mallory uses (Focustime) is made up, I’m a BIG fan of Freedom and Anti-Social. I tend to get distracted and start going down true-crime Wikipedia wormholes or catching up on celebrity gossip if I don’t have something to force me to stay off the Internet.