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Author Interview and Excerpt featuring Krysten Lindsay Hagar, In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety (a Cecily Taylor Series book #2) w/a rafflecopter giveaway! #interview #YA @KrystenLindsay

In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety

by Krysten Lindsay Hager

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GENRE:   YA

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BLURB:

Cecily feels like she has it all: great best friends, the beginnings of a career as a model/actress, and she’s dating her favorite singer, Andrew Holiday. Then Cecily’s best friend Lila begins to ditch her every time Lila’s boyfriend calls. Cecily feels lost, but she and Andrew begin connecting more and she’s never been in a relationship where she felt so understood. Andrew even begins to confide in her about his anxiety. Soon Cecily experiences her own anxiety on a magazine photo shoot, but she manages to impress the magazine staff. Just when it seems like all her dreams are coming true, everything comes crashing down when a photo of Andrew with another girl appears online. He swears nothing happened, but Cecily is crushed. She feels like she’s lost two of the people closest to her.

Was her perfect relationship real or was she in over her head?

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Excerpt Three:

One day I had the career and the guy of my dreams. Then Danielle King came along. If people could be trusted, maybe it would have been okay, but they can’t. They suck. And now my dream relationship was gone and no one would ever know what had actually been in my grasp.

How can a person go from having a whole life with someone, and then it ends like you were never even together? No wonder people talk about how awful divorces are. That must hurt a million times more. Sure, I don’t have to see Andrew every day at school like I did Zach, but it seems like Andrew was everywhere. I went to the grocery store with my mom and they were playing one of his songs because he’s technically a local.

 Andrew’s music was always what I listened to when I was sad. His heartache music got me through the worst times and now, not only could I not stand to listen to it, there was now the chance I could end up hearing music about our breakup. Actually, I didn’t know which was worse: the possibility he’d use our relationship as inspiration for a song, or finding out I was barely a blip on his radar and not even warranting a mention.  

What was I supposed to do with my life now?


Welcome Krysten Lindsay Hager! Please start off by telling us a little about yourself. 

 

I write YA books and also have a middle school series (The Landry’s True Colors Series). I’m also currently working on some rom-coms for adults. I like to write funny, feel good books with happily ever afters.

Is In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety a single title, or part of a series? 

 

It’s part of the Cecily Taylor Series that follows a teen getting to embark on the life she’s always dreamed of where she’s acting and dating the singer/songwriter she’s been a fan of for years.

What were your inspirations for the story?

 

One of my inspirations was my own childhood music crush (George Michael) and applying those feelings to the book. There are certain songs from back then of his and a couple other musicians that bring out a real reaction in me and they inspired a lot of the book.

Please share your setting. Have you ever lived or visited there? If so, what did you like most? 

 

I created my own town in Michigan because I visit lake towns every summer and I already used another (Grand Haven) in books I’ve written (Next Door to a Star and Competing with the Star). This setting, Blue Arbor, is if you took Ann Arbor, Michigan and had a lake nearby. I needed it to be near a beach for the music video shoot, but I wanted somewhat of an urban feel to show that this isn’t a small town.

When did the writing bug first bite? 

 

I started writing as a kid and my mom wanted me to prove I was serious about it so she started signing me up for workshops and writing conferences before I even graduated high school. It was so overwhelming going to these things feeling like such a kid, but her idea was to throw me into the deep end of the pool to see what I’d do. I ended up feeling like this was exactly where I belonged. She told me later that my dedication to it (even when I was overwhelmed) made her realize this was something I was committed to doing.

Who are you favorite authors, book/series?

 

I read a lot of different types of books like mysteries (particularly teen ones), non-fiction, rom-coms, literary fiction, YA, and middle grade. I love May Sarton, Sylvia Plath, Cathy Hopkins, Ann M. Martin, Judy Blume, F. Scott Fitzgerald, and Tolstoy.

If you could have an author roundtable discussion with any authors, who would you invite?

 

Can I include ones who have passed on? Not trying to be creepy, but I would LOVE to have a chat with F. Scott Fitzgerald and May Sarton. Oh, and Paula Danziger! To just sit and listen and maybe take notes.

Do you have any hobbies or special things you like to do in your spare time?

 

I read, watch TV, pay attention to too much news, spend time messaging with friends, and journaling.


What is the one thing that you would tell an inspiring writer to do?

 

Read and take classes and go to conferences. Honestly, it’s the only way I was able to learn the business. I sacrificed a lot of stuff to save up for those because they weren’t cheap, but that’s what helped me. I mean, you need training for any job you go after and writing is no different. 

 

Also, before you put a book out make sure to publish some articles or something so you get used to feedback on your work. I’ve seen people epically meltdown because their first experiences with strangers criticizing them was on their “baby” that they devoted everything to and it was brutal. It helps to get your feet wet first by putting other material out there.

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AUTHOR Bio and Links:

 

Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends…Forever?, Next Door to a Star,  Landry in Like, Competing with the Star, Dating the It Guy, and Can Dreams Come True. True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for childen/teens. Competing with the Star is a Readers’ Favorite Book Award Finalist. Landry in Like is a Literary Classics Gold Medal recipient.

Krysten’s work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on Living Dayton.  

Author links:

Website: http://www.krystenlindsay.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krystenlindsay/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KrystenLindsayHagerAuthor

Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/krystenlindsay/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KrystenLindsay

Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VRYS65N/

Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07VRYS65N

Amazon Canada: https://www.amazon.ca/dp/B07VRYS65N

Amazon Japan: https://www.amazon.co.jp/dp/B07VRYS65N

Amazon IN: https://www.amazon.in/dp/B07VRYS65N

 

Book One: https://www.amazon.com/Dreams-Come-True-Cecily-Taylor-ebook/dp/B079S3KJSH

 

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GIVEAWAY INFORMATION and RAFFLECOPTER CODE:

 

Krysten Lindsay Hager will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes and Noble GC to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

 
a Rafflecopter giveaway

9 thoughts on “Author Interview and Excerpt featuring Krysten Lindsay Hagar, In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety (a Cecily Taylor Series book #2) w/a rafflecopter giveaway! #interview #YA @KrystenLindsay

    1. No, my cover artist, Cora Graphics, did this one. I did get to help with ideas for the cover of the first book in the series tho.

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