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Falling Lessons Q&A

What inspired you to write Falling Lessons?
I had seen so many middle grade and young adult novels that focused on romantic
relationships between two girls, but seemingly all of them were coming-out stories.
Don’t get me wrong: I love a good coming-out story. But I wanted to write a story
where the relationship between the protagonist and her girlfriend wasn’t any more remarkable than a similar heterosexual relationship would be. What if the
protagonist, her friends, and her family members had long ago accepted that she wasn’t straight? What if the story didn’t center on a Same-Sex Couple? What if
it centered on a couple that happened to be same-sex? The idea of writing that kind
of story is what prompted me to write Falling Lessons.

10 Random Facts
About Me

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  1. I have synesthesia and associate numbers with colors. (When I imagine a 1, it’s always lemon-drop yellow. When I imagine a 2, it’s always sherbet orange . . .)

  2. I once wrote Anthony Bourdain a letter, asking what his favorite punctuation mark was. He wrote back. His answer? The em dash.

  3. When I was in fourth grade, Erin Moran visited my elementary school in Parsons, WV, and signed autographs after our lunch period. Don’t know who Erin Moran is? That’s OK. Neither did I.

  4. I was born 10 weeks premature and weighed just 2 pounds and 14 ounces. That’s lighter than the average cantaloupe.

  5. I’m left-handed.

  6. I can’t smell stinkbugs.

  7. I love snakes but am unnerved by goats.

  8. At one time or another, I have semiseriously considered the following careers: beekeeper, welder, priest, electrician, pharmacist, clown.

  9. I am currently learning how to throw someone with a cane.

  10. I already know how to throw someone with a remote control.

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