Columnist Dorothy Rosby joins author Marsha Casper Cook and myself on the podcast today (Nov. 17th at 12 pm EST) here: 

www.blogtalkradio.com/michiganavenuemedia/2022/11/17/author-interview-michigan-avenue-media

Check out my pre-interview with her below:

What is the book about? 

’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about the stress we put on ourselves in the name of celebrating. All of our holidays, special occasions and not-so special occasions can have this effect on us. I start with Christmas and work my way through the year because no holiday makes me feel more inadequate than Christmas—except maybe Nude Recreation Week. 

Do you ever get writer’s block? If so, how do you overcome it?

 I’m not saying it’s not real, but as someone who’s been self-syndicating a humor column in the West and Midwest for more than 20 years, I’m saying I better not get it. And the way I stave it off is by a daily discipline of writing—even if I don’t like what I’m writing. Occasionally I  have to get up and walk away, clear my head. But that can be dangerous if I overdo it. Writing is the only cure I know for writer’s block. 


How did you get into writing humor?


It was my experience as a humorous (allegedly) speaker that led to writing humor. For many years, I’ve been a member of Toastmasters, an organization where members practice their public speaking skills. I loved doing humorous speeches and I won some humorous speech contests. So I decided to type up some of my speeches and submit them to my local newspaper. The editor agreed to take me on as a humor columnist and I’ve been writing a column ever since. Eventually I began marketing to other newspapers and now my column runs in small community newspapers throughout the West and Midwest. 


Why is humor important? 

As a humor writer, I often feel like what I do is trivial. But I reassure myself that when I’m escaping into my writing, I’m also giving my readers a way to escape the troubles they face. I often hear from readers who tell me that a good laugh is just what they needed. One reader who was going through a difficult time, commented on my blog post, “Thank you for making this day a little more tolerable.” If what I write can do that, that’s enough for me.
 
What advice do you have for new writers? 

Believe in yourself. You’ll get a lot of  rejections, and if you don’t I hate you. Not really! What I meant to say is, if you don’t get rejections, you’re probably not submitting enough. Some readers may even say very cruel things about your work. The way I see it, there are two kinds of people in the world. Those who do something with their life and those who criticize those who do something with their life. That’s easier. That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t learn from criticism. You definitely should. But you have to have this unshakeable belief that you're good and getting better at what you do no matter who tells you otherwise. You can pout now and then, even fall into despair for a day or so. But you can never give up.  
 
Check out her new book: ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate: Holidays, Special Occasions and Other Times Our Celebrations Get Out of Hand
 
Christmas comes but once a year; chaos never ends!

Happy Halloween, merry Christmas and joyful Lumpy Rug Day. We didn’t make that up. Lumpy Rug Day is celebrated every May 3, though “celebrated” might be too strong a word.  

It’s the American way to create a celebration for everything, then turn it into a chore or worse, a nightmare. ’Tis the Season to Feel Inadequate is a collection of humorous essays about holidays, special occasions and other times we let high expectations take the joy out of our celebrations. It’s understanding for those who think Christmas form letters can be honest—or they can be interesting. And it’s empathy for anyone who’s ever gotten poison ivy during Nude Recreation Week or eaten all their Halloween candy and had to hand out instant oatmeal packets to their trick-or-treaters.

Dorothy Rosby has been lampooning our celebrations in publications across the West and Midwest for more than twenty years. Join her in celebrating National Bicarbonate of Soda Day December 30—in case Christmas gives you indigestion.
 
Bio:
Dorothy Rosby is a South Dakota author and humor columnist whose work appears regularly in publications in the West and Midwest. Her humor column received first place honors from the National Federation of Press Women in both 2015 and 2020. And in 2022 she was named the global winner in the Erma Bombeck Writers Competition, sponsored in part by the Erma Bombeck Writers Workshop in Dayton, OH. She is the author of four books of humorous essays. 
 
You can learn more about her at:  https://dorothyrosby.com/

Pick up her book here:

As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you

I'm excited to have singer Laurie LaCross-Wright from the Rusty Wright Band on the blog today. I first met Laurie years ago when I was covering the band for a newspaper. From then on I covered the band when they had performances in the area and Laurie and I became friends. I have loved watching her (and the band's) career and just this week the band's new album, Hangin’ at the DeVille Lounge, debuted on the Billboard Blues chart at #9. 

Here's some info about the band: :The band’s 2015 album, “Wonder Man” reached #8 on the Billboard Blues chart, #4 in the Midwest Heatseeker chart, #3 on the Hit Tracks 100 chart (Europe) and was nominated for Album of the Year in Vintage Guitar Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Awards alongside Sonny Landreth, Jeff Beck, Pink Floyd, and Joe Bonamassa.  The song “Gonna Come a Day” from that album was selected from approximately 19.000 entries as a top finalist in the 2015 International Songwriting Competition. Wright’s 2013 album “This, That & The Other Thing,” earned widespread radio airplay across North America and won Blues 411’s Jimi Award for Contemporary Blues Album of the Year."

​Tell us about your latest album.

Our new record Hangin’ at the DeVille Lounge has been percolating in the back of our minds for almost 20 years. Sometimes it’s the odd tidbits in life that stick in a person’s memory. The inspiration for this concept album came from a now defunct dive bar in Flint, Michigan that used to take delight in aggravating the church just up the road. When the church’s marquee sign boasted “Sinners Welcome!” the Deville Lounge changed their flashing sign as well. “Sinners Welcome! We have beer!”  We drove past the bar one night heading home from a gig and darn near laughed our fool heads off when we saw that sign on the roof of the bar. Across the decades the culture of Blues music has been filled with references to ‘selling your soul’ and the ‘devil at the crossroads’ mythology. The wordplay of The ‘DeVille’ Lounge was just too good to ignore.

For years Rusty has been penning tongue in cheek tunes that boogie their way around that  ‘devil at the crossroads’ theme – but I guess ‘DeVille at the crossroads’ is more accurate in this case. Anyway, we have re-imagined OUR DeVille Lounge as an unusual bar tucked out of sight at the edge of New Orleans, a true juke joint with decades of human dramas, energies and memories embedded in the walls.

Rusty’s songs run the gamut. Songs like Trouble’s Always Knockin’, Devil Man Blues, and Goin’ to NOLA follow a more traditional Blues path, while the powerful No Man is an Island was inspired by a story about an autistic child. House of Spirits summons memories of juke joints and theaters the band has performed at that had a reputation for being haunted. No One Cares at All touches on human trafficking while Devil Music and Burnin’ Precious Time unleash the more rock-oriented side of Rusty’s personality.

The record just came out October 7th and reviews that have come in so far have been overwhelmingly positive so we’re breathing a sigh of relief. With a concept album you never know if people are going to ‘get it’. This is a very loosely connected collection of story songs. I’d love to create a theatrical blues revue from this music, adding actors and dancers to the production. We could take the show to theaters across the country. I think that would be great fun.

I heard you opened for Lynyrd Skynyrd. What was that like?

They were awesome to perform with and were very gracious. They watched most of our set from the side of the stage, just out of sight. We later learned how unusual that is.  Over the years we’ve been privileged to share stages with a number of legendary bands and performers. The thing that has been most surprising to me is how many performers are quite introverted and even shy once they’re out of the spotlight.

Tell me about how you got your start in the music business.

I was 14 years old the first time I sang on stage by myself, playing my guitar for accompaniment. I sang ‘House of the Rising Sun’ at our high school talent show. I think I was the only freshman competing. I’d decided to enter because I wanted desperately to be a singer and knew I needed to get used to performing in front on people and I thought this would be a good way to push myself, lol. I hadn’t expected 1100 people to cram themselves into our school auditorium. I managed to control my nerves with the exception of my left knee, which I couldn’t keep from shaking uncontrollably. I didn’t win the talent show but I made it through the song without falling down or puking and no one threw anything or booed me off the stage so yeah, I became a singer that night, although it was still a few years before I started getting paid for singing.

I wasn’t a naturally gifted singer. I had to work hard to develop my voice. Once I left high school I found I had to retrain my voice, changing my vocal technique so I sounded like a pop and country singer rather than a choir girl who over enunciated everything. I didn’t wait for someone else to make things happen. I took out loans for equipment. I was aggressive in auditioned for singing jobs. I juggled multiple jobs and stayed with them as long as I could continue singing most nights of the week. I worked a day job as a newspaper reporter on and off for years and later freelanced for regional and national magazines. Eventually I became more of a music writer which meshed nicely with my singing ‘career’. I joined a local band for a few years early on but continued to perform on my own. Once I left the ‘weekend warrior’ band I performed on my own for a very long time. Eventually I found booking agents willing to work with me and I put my belongings in storage and went on the road, spending a number of years traveling as a solo lounge entertainer. I had a 27 state radius that I traveled and spent most of the year living in the high end hotels I performed at.

I look back now and shake my head. There were no cell phones then. No GPS. I drove across the country with a Rand McNally atlas flopped across the passenger seat beside me. I made great friends but it was a lonely lifestyle at times. My long-distance phone bills were enormous. The phone companies charged by the minute and I called my mother every day and we’d talk for hours. My mother was brought up to believe the unknown was something to be feared. She was always afraid to follow her dreams – I think she was afraid to even have dreams of traveling and doing exciting things and living life differently from the narrow world she’d grown up in. It was hard on her when I started traveling extensively but I decided early on that I was not going to live in fear. If I wanted to try something, I tried it. My adventures weren’t always successful but I never regretted trying.

In the late 90s I was settled back in Michigan and had started an all-girl band. Rusty Wright and I had been together for a couple of years when I parted ways with the guitar player in my band. I asked him to step in on guitar so we could fulfill the performance contracts I had yet to fulfill. That was in 1998 and we’ve been performing together ever since.

Like me, Rusty started performing at a young age. Playing music and creating music were always foremost in both our minds so it wasn’t long before we realized we were well suited to making a musical life together. It takes a certain kind temperament and a whole lot of tenacity to continue pursuing a livelihood that offers zero security and no guarantees that if you do A, B and then C you can expect success to follow.  

We started the Rusty Wright Band in 2004 as an original music project. Within a few years we were touring across North America and headlining smaller music festivals and playing some really big festivals. In 2009 we began touring internationally. We’ve seen a lot of really cool places and met a lot of really interesting people over the years. Our first record came out in 2004 and we just released our 8th album a couple of weeks ago. Technology and marketing trends change so quickly we have to reeducate ourselves every time we put a new album out but we’ve managed to keep up with it all okay. This is our third time making the Billboard charts. We’ll never make enough money for a mansion on a hill but we’ve been able to spend decades doing what we love and that’s what I consider a pretty darn good life.

 
Who are some of your musical influences?

My musical tastes are all over the map. Of course I love blues music but I grew up hearing nothing but country and bluegrass. I loved Patsy Cline’s voice because my parents played her albums on our console stereo when I was little. I learned a lot of the folk songs of the 60s because that’s what my first guitar teacher taught me. I really connected with early 70s singer songwriters like Jim Croce and James Taylor because I could easily play and sing those types of songs with just my guitar. Heart was a huge influence, as was Linda Ronstadt, Barbra Streisand and Carole King; Later, I latched onto the music of Bonnie Raitt, Pat Benetar and a country singer name K.T. Oslin who was very popular in the early-mid 1980s.

I also enjoy some medieval music, accapella vocal groups, hard rock, classic and southern rock, and some older, melodic metal but I’m not into the growl-y cookie monster vocals so common in today’s metal scene – and I’m not into rap. To be truthful, I haven’t listened to much music in the past few years. I had Covid very early on and it left me with Tinnitus. I hear a constant high-pitched hum in both ears and it sometimes clashes with the music I’m listening to so audio books have been my go-to jam for a long time now. I’m trying to get back in the habit of listening to music. I really like a sister group called Larkin Poe and I’ve enjoyed watching the Michigan’s War & Treaty as their star rises. There are also dozens of contemporary blues artists I listen to and follow since a lot of them have become friends.
 
What are some of the albums that have really spoken to you over the years?

Tapestry, by Carole King. Bridge of Sighs by Robin Trower. Stardust by Willie Nelson. Photographs & Memories by Jim Croce. 21 by Adele. True Love by Pat Benetar (blues album!) Anything by Stevie Ray Vaughan or Etta James or Linda Ronstadt, Melissa Etheridge’s first album… these are just a few that come to mind at the moment. Some of the songs Rusty has written really touch me deeply as well. Pen or Sword and No Man is an Island are two songs that still bring out my emotions when I listen to them.
 
What advice would you give your younger self?

I was one of those kids who always felt/acted older than I was and I always suffered acutely from FOMO (although we didn’t know what to call it then). I started working at 15 and juggled 2-3 jobs my entire life. I raced from one thing to the next, constantly jumped headlong into experiences that I really wasn’t ready for and relationships I really wasn’t cut out for so I would advise my younger self not to be in such a rush to be an adult because you’re going to be an adult for a really, really, really long time.  
 
 
Who were your musical favorites when you were growing up? Anyone you pretended to be singing into a hairbrush? Any music crushes?

I used to sit in my parents’ garage with my guitar, singing. I chose the garage because it echoed out there and I could hear a hint of natural reverb when I sang. Anyway, my 14-year old self would attempt to sing Barbra Streisand songs. I had a little Panasonic cassette recorder and I would tape myself singing. I must have been pretty horrid because one day our old cat jumped up and literally put his paw across my guitar strings as if to say ‘enough already!’ Of course, I just realized this totally contradicts my earlier declaration that no one has been able to shut me up since that first talent show performance so, for the sake of a good story, let’s just pretend that the cat shut me down before I wailed my way through that song in the high school auditorium.

As for musical crushes, not really. When I was 10 or 11 I hung the pretty boy posters from Teen Beat magazine in my room but as far as musical crushes I can’t remember any. It’s been a while and I’m kinda old, y’know. Does Rusty count? I’ve been hanging pictures of him on our walls for 25 years now, lol. That’s a pretty long crush.

Also I wanted to note that Laurie shared that, "Rusty created all of the artwork. He also wrote the songs, did all of the recording, and mixed and mastered the record." 

Pick up a copy of the new album here or find it on Amazon

rustywrightband.com/cd-vinyl

Amazon: amzn.to/3ERV1fO

You can find more info on the band here: rustywrightband.com/

Please check out this podcast where Marsha Casper Cook, Krysten Lindsay Hager, and Kathi Goldwyn discuss how people handle life in 2022. How to feel good about yourself is not easy these days and Krysten and Marsha will be discussing how to get your life back and once again be able to control your destiny. 
​
Krysten Lindsay Hager is a bestselling author of YA and contemporary romance. Krysten writes romance because she loves bringing people swoony moments and hope-filled happily ever afters. Her books are known for making you laugh, cry, and swoon.

Find her work here: amzn.to/3MhP7pW

Kathi Goldwyn has a great passion for Indie Authors and has spent years promoting their books on Facebook. The writing bug hit her a year ago. She loves romance, love, and hope. She has also begun the amazing journey of becoming an author.

 Marsha Casper Cook has more than 20 years of experience in the writing industry. Marsha writes love stories about family relationships and multi- generational characters that remind her readers how much family matters. She uses her love of family to bring her characters to life.
Marsha is also the founder and Producer of Michigan Avenue Media podcasts on Blogtalk radio for over twelve years. Her shows are about writing, what's new in the entertainment field, health issues and current topics. She looks forward to meeting new friends who contact her about being guests on the shows as she continues to open the door to universal subjects that matter to everyone.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09Y2RFRM7
http://www.michiganavenuemedia.com
https://www.facebook.com/kathi.goldwyn

Find the podcast here: 
​www.blogtalkradio.com/michiganavenuemedia/2022/09/15/a-good-story-is-a-good-story-the-good-life--michigan-avenue-media
​

You know I'm all about the rock star/pop star crush books, so I reached out to Kimberly King to interview her about her latest boy band crush book that releases today. Check out the interview and book blurb below.
 
We both have YA books with a character getting to date her rock star/pop star crush. What inspired you to write about this?

I design my own covers, so before I ever write a book, I like finding a couple that inspires me. As soon as I saw this couple, I knew he’d be the perfect boy band crush.
 
Who was your music crush?

This is really going to date me, but Joey McIntyre of New Kids on the Block was who I’d daydream about dating, haha!
 
Favorite music when you were a teen?

Bryan Adams, but really any 80’s love songs.
 
What was your favorite book when you were growing up?

I didn’t have any favorites when I was growing up, but I loved Choose Your Own Adventure books, Nancy Drew, and Anita Stansfield.
 
I have a special love for YA books as those are the books I devoured growing up. Why do you like writing YA books?

I loved my high school years! I had such great friends, but I didn’t have a love life. Like, at all. I think I went on maybe three dates, haha! So writing YA romance fills the hole I obviously feel after all these years. Just kidding! I love writing about the innocence of young love, and adding lots of humor adults don’t typically get to experience since we’re mostly over those awkward years.
 
What is your favorite book now as an adult?

It’s hard to say what my favorite book is now, but I’m leaning toward Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen and The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King.
 
I always reread my favorite books. Do you reread books and if so, which one(s) have you read over again?

I do reread most of my books, not just my favorite ones. But there is one book I fell in love with when I was younger—The Alchemist—that I won’t reread. Finishing it was such an amazing experience, and I’ve been afraid of losing the magic of such a powerful ending if I read it again.
 
Who are some of your favorite authors?

Jane Austen—I love her sense of humor—and my favorite modern-day authors are Michelle Pennington for her sweet romances and Jessica Marie Holt for her humor and lovable characters.
What are you working on now?
I’m currently writing a modern-day twist of The Frog Princess called Kissing the Prom Queen.
 
Where can we find you online? (Social media sites, website, etc.)
On Facebook : Author Kimberly King
On Twitter: @kimkingwrites
On Instagram: where_is_my_eggroll
 
This or That Questions
:
Autumn or Spring? Spring
Ocean/Lake or Mountains? Mountains
Dramas or Comedy? Comedy
Favorite singer: Too many to ever list—it depends on my mood and what I’m writing!
Song you could listen to on repeat for hours: Jesse’s Girl by Rick Springfield
Favorite show to watch: I’m not huge into shows, but I’m always up for a romantic comedy movie. Like, always.
Actor/Actress who you’ll watch in anything: Cameron Diaz

Your bio: I am a young adult author who loves creating stories that are light, fun and will hopefully make you laugh. Some of my books are magical, and some of them are just good clean romances. I live in beautiful northern Utah with my husband, six children and three cats. I love a good thunderstorm, baking, and going on drives with my family. When I’m not writing, I’m reading (or cleaning, because six kids, haha!) And of course, my favorite thing ever is hearing how people met their spouses/significant others.

Book Blurb: Want to date a celebrity? Just don't lose your heart.
 
Val Hartman can hardly believe it when dreamy Zac Miller, lead singer of the Spud Rockets, is in town for the summer. Even more shocking is when they hit it off and he asks her out. But dating a rockstar has its own set of rules, and she’ll have to follow them to stay in the game.

It doesn’t take long to discover that nothing is fair when dating a celebrity, and when a secret is exposed, all that they’ve built falls apart. Add in a troubling phone call that takes Val out of town in a hurry, and everything important in her life is about to be lost for good.
The only way to make things right again will have to be something huge, but it will be the last thing Val ever expects.

Buy Links: amzn.to/3LY80xZ

​​As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you

​I'm excited to share with you the new cover for the third book in the Cecily Taylor Series. It's called Cecily in the City and it will be released early next year and I was so excited to see that it's already hit number one in Amazon's Hot New Releases! 
​

Check out the blurb: Cecily Taylor Damone thinks her life can't get any better when she moves to the city after getting a job on a daytime soap opera. She can't wait to be a real actress and be in the same city as her pop star boyfriend. But soon rumors start after she stars in another singer's music video. Plus, there's more drama behind the scenes of her new show than what's in the script. Cecily just wants to act, be happy with Andrew, and help the charities close to her heart, but life sure is different in the glare of the spotlight with people waiting to see you fall.

Can Cecily stay grounded while in the big city?

As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you

Pre-order it here:

In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety hit number 1! Thank you for supporting this book. It was amazing to hit #1 on the 8 year anniversary of when my 1st book was released. What a journey it's been! 

As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you

You can find the book here, It's free in Kindle Unlimited: 

Please join Marsha Casper Cook, Krysten Lindsay Hager and Stephanie Scott on June 9th at 4EST 3CST 3MT 1PST for the first of our new podcasts - It's All About  Love- Beach Reads. We will be discussing marketing, TikTok ,Reviews, Readers and more.  

Marsha Casper Cook is not only an award-winning author and screenwriter she is also the host and producer of all of the Michigan Avenue Media Podcasts on Blog Talk Radio. Her most recent accomplishment is her contribution to the worldwide magazine eYs. Marsha has written over fifteen books and twelve screenplays, including romance, dramas, and children’s books. 

Stephanie J. Scott writes young adult and romance about characters who put their passions first. Her debut ALTERATIdONS about a fashion-obsessed loner who reinvents herself was a Romance Writers of America RITA® award finalist. She enjoys dance fitness, everything cats, and has a slight obsession with Instagram. A Midwest girl at heart, she resides outside of Chicago with her tech-of-all-trades husband and fuzzy furbabies.

Krysten Lindsay Hager writes books about hope, true love, fame, self-worth, friendship, & happily ever afters. Krysten is the author of True Colors, Best Friends...Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, Competing with the Star, Dating the It Guy, Can Dreams Come True, and In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety. True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for children/teens.

Find it here: 

​www.blogtalkradio.com/michiganavenuemedia/2022/06/09/beach-reads-new-show--it-all-about-love

Beachy Fun Interview with Author Stephanie J. Scott. Stephanie will join myself and Marsha Casper Cook on the podcast Thursday for a chat on Beach Reads at 4 pm EST, but you can catch the replay anytime here:
www.blogtalkradio.com/michiganavenuemedia/2022/06/09/beach-reads-new-show--it-all-about-love 

Tell us about your work

I write YA and adult romance and wrote a series of young adult books set during the summer because I love summer romances so much! I love writing stories where romance is a central focus, but friends and family are just as important.

What were some of your favorite YA beach reads as a teen?

During summers as a preteen and teenager, I looked forward to my public library's bookmobile which parked right around the corner from my house once a week. Back then, there weren't a ton of YA books. I picked through old Sweet Valley High paperbacks (I really did not like them, but there were tons of books in the series and I read fast). I picked through what the library offered and discovered LJ Smith who wrote The Vampire Diaries and Christopher Pike who did paranormal and thriller teen books. A lot of people my age moved up to adult fiction pretty quickly, so I would read a mix of things either my Mom was reading or recommended by friends. I am so glad young readers have more options now! And is probably why when I started writing, I kept creating teen girl characters and focused on writing their stories.

What are some of your favorite beach reads now?

Over the last decade,  I've become a big-time romance reader! I read a bit of historical, but I love a contemporary romcom in the summer. My June reading list includes the new Mia Sosa book The Wedding Crasher, Emily Henry's Beach Read, Set on You by debut author Amy Lea, plus a few LGBTQ romances including D'Vaughn & Kris Plan a Wedding. For YA, I'm planning to revisit The Summer I Turned Pretty by Jenny Han which is being made into a movie for Netflix releasing this month.

Favorite summer time activity?

I love going to my local farmer's market. I buy vegetables and fruit, flowers, and eat from the food trucks. Just being outside with people and buying local stuff makes me feel like I'm experiencing summer.

I got into binge watching the Outer Banks. Do you have any favorite teen summer shows (or a show that’s an equivalent of a beach read)?

Our household devoured Stranger Things 4 the weekend it came to Netflix. I love the mix of nostalgia with coming of age elements. We've watched those kids grow the past five years.

What’s next for you?

I released two YA books this year so far - Free Wheeling Summer, a roller derby secret dating romance, and All-Star Love a fake dating romance set at a tennis academy. New covers are coming for my summer series (!) and I'm working on contemporary romcoms for an adult audience. My romances are sweet and breezy so teen readers can read them too.

Fast round questions:

Ice cream trucks rolls up, so what are you ordering?

One of those strawberry shortcake popsicles

What’s a song from your teen years that reminds you of summer?

Probably anything from the Beastie Boys - who I was obsessed with - listening to them in the car and driving to the beach with friends.

Favorite place you spent time as a teen during summers?

Hanging out with friends and watching movies, taking walks, getting ice cream. Not having a set schedule besides babysitting.

Summer must have as a teen? 

Sun In! I wasn't allowed to dye my hair but I could buy that spray that lightened your hair in the sun.

What was something you associated with summer memories as a teen—both in music and clothes?

The 90s-tastic baby tees (smaller, fitted T-shirts) and mixtapes/ mix CDs

Where can we find you online?

On Instagram at @ stephscottYA and TikTok @ Stephaniejscottbooks

As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Find Stephanie's books here:

​amzn.to/3azCYOs

Check out the new cover for my young adult contemporary romance, In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety. It’s the 2nd book in the Cecily Taylor Series about a high school girl who gets the chance to live out here dreams.
 
What would you do if all your dreams started to come true? Could you handle it?
 
Cecily Taylor Damone feels like she has it all: great best friends, the beginnings of a career as a model/actress, and she's dating her favorite singer/songwriter, Andrew Holiday. Then Cecily's best friend Lila begins to ditch her every time Lila's boyfriend calls. Cecily feels lost, but she and Andrew begin connecting more and she's never been in a relationship where she felt so understood. Andrew even begins to confide in her about his anxiety. Soon Cecily experiences her own anxiety on a magazine photo shoot, but she manages to impress the magazine staff.
 
Just when it seems like all her dreams are coming true, everything comes crashing down when a photo of Andrew with another girl appears online. He swears nothing happened, but Cecily is crushed. She feels like she's lost two of the people closest to her.
 
Was her perfect life real or was she in over her head?

The cover was done by Cora Graphics.
​
 As an Amazon Associate, I may earn from qualifying purchases at no cost to you.

Free in Kindle Unlimited
​
 Pre-order it here: