Kate asked Jessica Strawser:

I'm almost done with your second book. I found this book in a Little Free Library. My question: looking at the synopsis of your newer novels, it appears that the characters are mostly millennials. And their children are at the 'play date'/exclusive preschool age. Assuming you're not yet the parent of teens I am asking if you're planning to have older characters in future work?

Jessica Strawser Hi, Kate! None of the characters in my novels are necessarily based on my own phase of life or my own family, though I do gravitate toward writing what I know in some respects. (I'm 42 and my kids are in elementary school.) My most recent novel, THE NEXT THING YOU KNOW, features an older preteen as a more minor secondary character, but the protagonist is not a parent at all, but a 30-something woman who has survived some tough challenges that have consumed her life for the previous several years. The book I'm writing now is also not at all about parenthood. I'm quite sure I'll have characters of all ages in my future books! Thanks for reading.

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