Lost and Found FAQ

I read your book and I want to know why Oliver is such a jerk, and why Delaney is so down on herself. Why did you make them like that?

Because.

Delaney has terrible self-esteem because she’s too focused on the wrong things at first. Because she’s a version of me, and I have had terrible self-esteem, too. (She’s not really me, though. If any one character is me in the novel, it’s…uh….thinking….I’ll get back to you.)

Oliver is a jerk because he’s partly Mr. Darcy. Because I love Mr. Darcy.

He’s a jerk because that way he gets to evolve. He’s a jerk because it works with Delaney’s story, too. Delaney’s got poor self-esteem because it works with Oliver’s story. If she were stronger, and he were nicer, it wouldn’t be the same.

Because I like flawed characters. I liked to read about flawed, imperfect people finding love and figuring out life. I don’t want to read about well-adjusted people. I find those books uninteresting. I am sure they can be amazing and brilliant, but they just don’t call to me, personally, so I would never write about people who have everything going for them.

Also, I don’t think Oliver’s really a jerk. I think he’s got some things to work out, but if you see him, you’ll see he’s actually very sweet and kind underneath. Kind of like Mr. Darcy.

That’s why. But I’m sure there are more reasons.

(PS, I don’t see this as a negative question! It’s fine with me if you want to know motivations behind writing certain characters. I love questions. Keep ‘em coming!)

What’s your favorite part of the novel?

Ursula and Delaney’s friendship. There’s a scene toward the end, that I’m not going to talk about because of spoilers, where Ursula and Delaney and Emily are all standing around and sobbing, and that’s by far my favorite part.

I know this is a traditional love story, but I was trying to say something about love stories, too. Love isn’t just for romantic partners. It’s for friends. It is, I think, where we learn how to really love. I think our first loves are our best friends, and then, lucky us, we get to keep meeting more true loves.

So, I love Oliver and Delaney, but I love Ursula and Delaney more. 

I do have other favorite parts, and I hope I got across what I think of love as a “cure all.” I consider this a feminist romance. It’s not perfect, but I tried to talk about what “the love of a good man or woman” does.

How long did it take you to write Lost and Found?

“Write” is a funny way of describing what I did, because there were a bunch of steps in the process that didn’t include writing, including cover design, editing, proofreading, more proofreading, goodness the proofreading’s still not finished?, more editing, formatting for all of the various formats, biting my nails, feeling like my heart was dropped into my lower intestines in fear, etc. etc. That’s the TL;DR answer that’s not an answer.

The short answer is: two months.

Wow, that’s fast for all that!

Yeah. Yeah. I’m…it was a personal goal, and I do not recommend a first-time author/publisher do that. Noooo. I did not do lots of things in those two months. Exercise. Eat lunch. Comb my hair. Wear makeup. Floss. Have weekends.

I wish I were joking about the things I stopped doing, but no. No. I’m giving myself four to five months for the next one.

The next one?

Definitely. I already started a new thing! It’s another women’s fiction novel with a romance at the center of it. It’s a little more serious than Lost and Found. 

Because I didn’t do this just to publish once. I am trying to do this for a living. I’m learning a TON about publishing, design, book marketing, etc. It’s a great learning experience. Invaluable. Aaaand I get to spend each part of writing, which was the goal. Not as much as I’d like, but, you know, here’s my tiny violin. Whatever. This is awesome and amazing and wonderful.

Are you making a lot of money?

No. (There was a longer explanation but blah blah blah. No.)(I hope you don’t read this as a negative either. It’s not! It’s a fact but I don’t need a lot of money. I live a pretty uncomplicated life and I would change very little about it.)

How does it feel to have your book out there?

Terrifying. I don’t know what you will think, or if you will like it. Also, exciting, wonderful, fantastic, tiring. It’s a roller coaster. I really like it. I can’t wait to do it again.

Did I say thank you? Thank you. Thank you for reading it and telling me about it and leaving ratings and reviews and liking it and…everything. Even if you didn’t like it, thank you anyway for giving it your time. Thank you.