In the Spotlight Today: Meaghan Curley!
How old are you and where are you from?
Meaghan: I'm 24 going on 25 in December (December 7th if anyone wants to wish me a merry life day on Twitter) and I'm from Central New York baby (what up 315)
How old were you when you realized you wanted to be a writer?
Meaghan: I think I was 7 and I remember writing a short story on my family's house burning down while we got ice cream. I remember because 6 years later my house really did burn down. Just another example of life imitating art!
Tell us more about your book! What inspired you to write it?
Meaghan: The quick pitch for my book is it's about a young woman who gets tricked into selling her soul to Hades by her grandmother because she kept interrupting her programs. What "Girl: Repurposed" is to me is about finding purpose in a senseless world riddled with indifferent, sometimes black-humored gods and goddesses. I was inspired by my own feelings of purposelessness the summer after I graduated college. Not only did I graduate with a degree I hated, I also just chucked this manuscript that I thought would be the One (to get me published).
I remember one day I was especially frustrated and went on a walk when I passed by one of my mom's neighbor's garage. I noticed that it was filled to the ceiling with beer cans. In NY that's 5 cents a piece so to me that was a gold mine. My first instinct, often the dumbest instinct, told me I should steal those cans. I didn't, by the way, but that moment did lead me to think about what would happen if someone got caught doing something stupid and was put on house arrest. How bored they would get? How quickly their family would get sick of them being there all the time? And that's how Tranquila and Grandma Sobriquet were born!
If you could relate to any character in your book, who would it be and why?
Meaghan: I think I relate to Grandma Sobriquet the most because I love trash television, I love roasting people and I also get called a bitch a lot. But personality wise I'm probably most like Tranquila because I have a bad habit of making rash decisions, I'm indecisive, and I love saying "I'm going to quit this hard thing now" even though two seconds later I'm right back to working on said challenge.
What type of books do you enjoy? What are two of your favorites?
Meaghan: I couldn't even tell you what books i tend to read because I'll read just about anything you throw in front of me. Everything from fanfiction to contemporary New Adult to radical feminist essays to anything Tin House publishes, I guess. Right now I've been reading a shit ton of poetry and literary fiction though (I just finished "Frankenstein in Baghdad" by Ahmed Saadwi and a complete work of Petrarch's poetry this week so I'm all over the place haha).
Besides reading and writing, what else do you enjoy doing during your free time? Do you have any other businesses?
Meaghan: I wish I could tell you I had all these hidden talents and hobbies but I'm kind of a one-trick pony. Other than writing and reading, the only things I enjoy doing are illegal. That and wasting time with my favorite people.
If you could pick any song to describe your main character, what would it be?
Meaghan: That's the best question I've ever been asked!! "Forget" by Marina and The Diamonds, hands down. Especially the lyrics "I've put my money where my mouth is/ For the first time in my life/ I've made mistakes, but I believe that/ Everything was worth the fight".
Do you have any upcoming books in the works?
Meaghan: I'm currently working on an outline for a project I wanted to do for National November Writing Month but it's so preliminary right now I don't even know who the antagonist is yet hahaha.
Do you have any book specials/giveaways or events coming up?
Meaghan: I just did a book giveaway on Twitter but my birthday's coming up and I was planning on doing one for the Holiday/ Celebrate My Existence Season :)
Where can readers keep up with you on social media? Post your usernames!
Meaghan:
Twitter: @Forgetful_Bacon
Instagram: @Meag_a_what Wattpad: @UncleMeggy https://www.fanfiction.net/u/2718534/UncleMeg for all my fanfiction homies (I got a story about Biggie Smalls teaching Hermione how to stand up to bullies; another about Gaston becoming a feminist; Snape and Ariel go on a date; Dumbledore discovered 90's Rap. If you want weird takes on classic stories, I got you)
Anything else you would like to share?
Meaghan: Yeah, Amazon's trash to their employees. So if you wanna buy my book but don't want the guilt of giving Bezos more money, go to Indiebound.org. They're about the same price anyway.
Check out her book on Indiebound https://www.indiebound.org/book/9781988762081
or on Amazon https://www.amazon.com/Girl-Repurposed-Meaghan-Curley/dp/1988762081/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=152616517
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