Guest Blog: From the Author of “How Do You Know?”

I am so excited today to be able to introduce you to one of my favorite chick-lit authors, Meredith Schorr.  Her books are the best of chick lit!  Her stories are well-developed and her characters are interesting and fun!  If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to check out her books and I’m very lucky to have her as my guest blog today and talk about why she became a writer.  Thank you, Meredith!

Thank you, Erin, for inviting me to your blog. I’m excited to be here and always welcome the opportunity to talk about my foray into writing.

You know those authors who knew from a very young age they wanted to be a writer? The ones who were scribbling stories with crayons as soon as they learned to read and write? Well, I’m not one of those authors. In fact, my sister used to write some of my book reports and speeches for various occasions, like my Bat Mitzvah. It wasn’t because I couldn’t write them myself, but because she offered and since she was my idol, I naturally assumed she would do a better job.  I was past thirty by the time I discovered my love for writing, which is “over the hill” according to most heroines in chick lit, but with four stand-alone novels under my belt, I think I’ve done a stellar job making up for lost time.

I’ve always been an active daydreamer—making up stories in my head during long car rides or while running. If I had a crush on someone, I would imagine how things would be if we were together or if things weren’t going so well in a current relationship, I’d conjure up scenes in my head of what could have been. This is how the idea for my first novel, Just Friends with Benefits, was born.  A relationship had gone sour and I daydreamed about a better case scenario while walking to my day job as a paralegal. I decided rather than keep the idea within the space between my ears, I should write a book. I had already discovered my passion for writing at this point, surprisingly a result of compliments by my boss on my technical writing skills. I dabbled in short stories and kept a regular (anonymous) “dating” blog, but it was on this walk to work when I first thought about writing a novel. I wrote the first three pages that day and never looked back.

I knew I wanted to write chick lit because most of my favorite books were of that genre. I related to those characters. They were usually about a flawed woman searching for her happily ever after, complete with bad dates, embarrassing moments, and fun-loving friends. Kind of like my life!

After I published my second novel, A State of Jane, I was ready to dig a little deeper and write about turning forty in a way that was original and sassy. Most of the novels I read about women thirty-five and over depicted them as unfulfilled wives and mothers, wives left by their husband for younger women, or newly divorced “cougars” sleeping with twenty-something guys. There is nothing wrong with these plot lines, but I wanted to write a book with characters who reflected me and my friends—youthful, attractive, intelligent women who reached that milestone age without getting married. Women who had every intention of doing so, but only if “settling down” didn’t mean “settling.” I started this book, but after forty pages, I realized it lacked direction. So, instead, I wrote Blogger Girl, another chick lit novel. I had an amazing time writing Blogger Girl (working on the sequel now), but I still yearned to write a novel about a single, never-been-married, thirty-nine year old woman. The second time was a charm and I released How Do You Know? in December, 2014.

Although How Do You Know? is light-hearted, humorous women’s fiction, it is a slight departure from the chick lit I have written in the past. That being said, the character of Maggie is relatable to women of all ages and relationship statuses. After all, she’s just a girl seeking her happily ever after. Who can’t relate to that?

Thanks again, Erin! PS: I am halfway through The Shopping Swap and loving it. Chick lit at its best.

BLURB FOR HOW DO YOU KNOW?

What if you were approaching the end of your thirties and all of the life milestones you took for granted in your youth suddenly seemed out of reach?

On the eve of her thirty-ninth birthday, Maggie Piper doesn’t look, act, or feel much different than she did at twenty-nine, but with her fortieth birthday speeding toward her like a freight train, she wonders if she should. The fear of a slowing metabolism, wrinkling of her skin, and the ticking of her biological clock leaves Maggie torn between a desire to settle down like most of her similarly aged peers and concern that all is not perfect in her existing relationship. When a spontaneous request for a temporary “break” from her live-in boyfriend results in a “break-up,” Maggie finds herself single once again and only twelve months from the big 4.0. In the profound yet bumpy year that follows, Maggie will learn, sometimes painfully, that life doesn’t always happen on a schedule, there are no deadlines in love, and age really is just a number.

AUTHOR BIO:

A born and bred New Yorker, Meredith Schorr discovered her passion for writing when she began to enjoy drafting work-related emails way more than she was probably supposed to. After trying her hand penning children’s stories and blogging her personal experiences, Meredith found her calling writing chick lit and contemporary women’s fiction. She secures much inspiration from her day job as a hard-working trademark paralegal and her still single (but looking) status. Meredith is also the co-founder of BookBuzz, a live author/reader event held annually. She is a loyal New York Yankees fan and an avid runner. How Do You Know? is her fourth novel. To learn more, visit her at www.meredithschorr.com.

CONTACTS:

Website: www.meredithschorr.com

Twitter: @meredithschorr

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

BUY LINKS:

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00OGQII9E/ref=s9_simh_gw_p351_d0_i1?pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_s=center-2&pf_rd_r=0D67KXN7041J840S7M6E&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=1688200382&pf_rd_i=507846

Amazon UK:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Know-Seeking-Happily-Ever-After-ebook/dp/B00OGQII9E/ref=sr_1_1?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1416414201&sr=1-1&keywords=how+do+you+know%3F

Barnes and Noble:

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/how-do-you-know-meredith-schorr/1120809409?ean=2940150191693

iTunes:

https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/how-do-you-know/id947175435?mt=11