Interview With Author Emily May

 

1. What inspired you to write this book?  I was on Pinterest taking one of those “weird questions to ask yourself to find your direction in life”.  One of the questions was, what would your child self be upset that you haven’t done in your life yet.  I closed my eyes and I heard “why haven’t we written a book yet?  We love reading!” It felt right so I started thinking about things to write about.  I came across something that said to write about what hurts, so I did.  

2. What exactly is it about and who is it written for?  The book is written for adults who like romance novels and anyone looking to believe in love. Sunny and Jake are the definition of opposites attract. Sunny owns an art gallery in town while Jake, her husband, is a hard-working lawyer in the nearby city. With a love that burns strong and hot, Sunny and Jake want nothing more than to expand their loving family with a baby. Tonight is the class reunion Sunny is dreading.  Jake had talked her into it, convincing her it would be a fun night out with friends. With intense hesitation she agreed they would attend not knowing what the night would bring.  

Luca and Sarah’s marriage is heading toward divorce.  Luca knows he’s not the best husband, but he doesn’t want to lose her. All Sarah wants is for Luca to pay attention to her, and he realizes he must do better, not just as a husband, but as a person all around. He makes a promise to Sarah and himself to change, but once at the reunion, Sarah sees him up to his old tricks.  

While at the reunion, Sunny catches Luca’s eye and he stalks toward her. Luca wants to prove to Sarah he’s trying to change, not realizing trying to right a wrong will set off a chain of events that will tear apart four lives. Can love conquer tragedy?  

3. What do you hope readers will get out of reading your book?   I hope readers will take away that you never know what life is going to surprise you with but given time it always works out.   

4. How did you decide on your book’s title and cover design? I didn’t come up with the title until later in the book.  I wrote down every title that came to mind, but none of them fit.  When I thought of The Icing, I wasn’t in love with it at first, but it grew on me.  As far as the cover design is concerned, I saw it in my head while I was daydreaming one day.  

5. What advice or words of wisdom do you have for fellow writers – other than run!? As a new writer, I don’t know how much advice I can give!  My favorite piece of advice is to write like no one will read it.  I kept repeating that to myself as I was writing certain parts of the book.  Worrying too much about who will read it will diminish the explosiveness of your creation.  

6. What trends in the book world do you see -- and where do you think the book publishing industry is heading?  I see many more hybrid and self-publishers. I am happy that these companies exist for authors like me because we may have never been able to get our work out there.  I do not see it slowing down any time soon.  

7. Were there experiences in your personal life or career that came in handy when writing this book?  The Icing is loosely based on my experience with a guy I went to high school with, who was always saying mean things to me about how I looked or what I did.  It affected me more than I like to admit, as I heard him in my head well after we graduated.  This story helped me give that part of my past a different ending to move on from how I was feeling.  

8. How would you describe your writing style? Which writers or books is your writing similar to? My writing styles are narrative and creative.  Writers that inspired my writing style through reading their books would be Ava Harrison and the original, Danielle Steele.  

9. What challenges did you overcome in the writing of this book? The biggest challenge I faced with writing was the need for perfection that I would come to realize does not exist. You can rewrite a sentence a thousand times but will never finish your book.  You must learn to trust in your work and keep going.  

10. If people can buy or read one book this week or month, why should it be yours? You’ll laugh, you’ll cry, you’ll fall in love! Why wouldn’t you!  

Bio:  Emily May is a first-time author in the romance genre.  She was born and raised in New Jersey where she enjoys spending time with friends and family.  Loving books from a very young age, Emily wanted to write and publish a book of her own.  Without formal training she set off on the adventure of a lifetime. Emily wrote The Icing to remind people that life is unpredictable, but love will always prevail. For more info, please see: www.newmansprings.com/release/?book=the-icing  

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.6 million pageviews. With 4,800+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.