Monday, October 28, 2024

Devon Daniels Interview - The Rom Con


Photo Content from Devon Daniels

Devon Daniels is a born-and-bred California girl whose own love story found her transplanted to the Maryland shores of the Chesapeake Bay. She's a graduate of the University of Southern California (fight on!) and in her past life worked in marketing, product design, and music.

Devon loves writing books that make people laugh, cry, and swoon, and feels incredibly lucky that her job is to make people happy. Her debut novel Meet You in the Middle was chosen as one of the Best Books of 2021 by USA Today.

When she's not writing, you'll find her clinging to her sanity as mom, chef, chauffeur, and referee to four children, or sneaking off with her husband for date nights.

        


When/how did you realize you had a creative dream or calling to fulfill?
I’ve always known that I’m a creative, right-brained person, though I didn’t even consider writing as a profession until 2016 or so, when I started writing my debut novel, Meet You in the Middle. I’d always been an avid reader, and at a certain point I started thinking, “Could I do it better?” The time finally came for me to put my money where my mouth was.

Tell us your most rewarding experience since being published.
Getting such moving, thoughtful emails from readers. Despite being an avid reader, I’d never written a ‘fan letter’ to an author before becoming one myself. I’m so surprised by how many people do this, and especially by how meaningful they are to receive. It keeps me motivated!

What advice would you give to someone who wanted to have a life in writing?
You should make sure you really love the actual process of writing (rather than just the ‘glamorous’ idea of seeing your book on the shelf) because the challenges associated with the publishing industry will test you at every stage. You need extreme perseverance to succeed in publishing—and probably a day job to pay your bills.

What was the single worst distraction that kept you from writing this book?
Social media. I want to interact with every person who reads my books and reaches out to me. Building a passionate reading audience is important, but all that time creating content for social media takes away from the actual act of writing.

What chapter was the most memorable to write and why?
I loved writing the chapter where Cassidy and Jack go out on a double date with her sister and brother-in-law. I think it’s the funniest scene in the book—there are several storylines intersecting, rapid-fire dialogue, and a ruse that’s rapidly going off the rails. It reminds me of the dinner table scene in While You Were Sleeping where there are 25 different conversational threads going on (“These mashed potatoes are so creamy!”), and you start laughing so hard you can’t hear all the lines. Every time I read the double date scene, I cackle out loud (which is quite a feat when I’ve read it several hundred times!)

Why is storytelling so important for all of us?
I take it very seriously that it’s my actual job to make people smile and laugh and feel something through my storytelling. Reading allows us to tap into certain parts of our personality that we may not always feel comfortable showing to others, and I love that my books help people feel giddy or swoony or allow them to let out their inner ‘hopeless romantic.’ It’s an honor I don’t take lightly.

Can you tell us when you started THE ROM CON, how that came about?
Years ago, I stumbled across a viral Facebook post that stopped me in my tracks. A woman had been treasure-hunting at a garage sale when she came across a cache of vintage magazines. Among them was an issue of McCall’s from January 1958, and when she flipped through it, one article in particular jumped out: “129 Ways to Get a Husband.” The list of tips was as entertaining, outlandish, and dated as you might expect (“Look in the census reports for places with the most single men,” “Read the obituaries to find eligible widowers,” and “Get lost at a football game” will give you some flavor). She posted the retro romantic advice to Facebook, where it quickly went viral.

I couldn’t stop thinking about what an amazing rom-com this old-fashioned dating advice would make. What if a contemporary woman decided to test out the retro tips on some unsuspecting suitors? Better yet, what if she tested them on her unsuspecting nemesis? And what if our thoroughly modern heroine found—much to her chagrin—that this old-fashioned advice actually worked? And so The Rom Con was born.

What were your feelings when you first saw the cover of the finished product?
I’m so in love with my cover! Some of the inspiration images I provided included vintage 1950s movie posters, as well as the NYC skyline, where the book takes place. I also obsessed over what my heroine would be wearing, since fashion plays a unique role in the story. Somehow, the Berkley cover designers managed to take my vague vision of “like a retro movie poster, but make it contemporary” and translate it into a stunningly perfect cover.

What were your inspirations for the character development?
I like to write heroines who are reflective of the women I surround myself with in real life: smart, fierce, imperfect women with strong opinions. Cassidy is passionate, headstrong, and independent. While this story is of course a romance first and foremost, there are a lot of other layers to Cassidy’s character that I think all women can relate to: mustering the courage to go after secret dreams, dealing with disappointment when life milestones don’t happen on the same timeline as friends, and tackling the challenges women face in their desire to strike a successful balance between a purposeful career and a fulfilling relationship and home life.

For her counterpart in Jack, I wanted to write a man who would both surprise and challenge her, who’d be confident in himself while being supportive of her. I gave Jack alpha male, power CEO-energy, but with some surprising insecurities and flaws of his own.


Your Favorite Quotes/Scenes from THE ROM CON
  • “Some try hard to stand out, while others stand out without trying.”
  • “Once you find your last, you’ll wish they were your only.”
  • “I realized I could live without her – and I want someone I can’t live without.”
  • “Anger is like fire – if you don’t feed it, it eventually burns out.”
  • “If I say I’m going to call, you can trust I’m going to call. And if I say I want to see you again, then that’s exactly what I mean. I won’t make you guess.”
  • “If life were fair, every dress would have pockets.”
TEN RANDOM FACTS ABOUT THE ROM CON
  • It took me 2+ years to write.
  • The book is dedicated to my grandmothers, and I named my main character, Cassidy, after my maternal grandmother, Cassie. My paternal grandmother’s initials, LSH, also made it into the book.
  • I wanted the book to feel like a mash-up of all our favorite early-aughts rom-com movies like How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, 27 Dresses, The Ugly Truth, and Down With Love.
  • All of Cassidy’s fashion in the book is based on actual vintage dresses I own or found online.
  • A hilarious scene in the book is when Cassidy attempts to make Engagement Chicken for Jack – though my husband is the one who makes the Engagement Chicken at our house!
  • A fun - and slightly eerie – story: Early on in my writing process, I saved an image of a cherry-print apron to a Pinterest board as inspiration for the vintage apron Cassidy wears during the Engagement Chicken scene. Once I finished writing, I decided to track down the apron so I could buy it for myself as a memento. When I finally located it, I learned it's actually called...the Betty apron (if you've read The Rom Con, you'll understand why this freaked me out!) There are truly no coincidences.
  • Music plays a special role in The Rom Con, so I created an oldies-themed Spotify playlist to listen to while writing. As a result, my most-played song of 2021 was Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me.”
  • I initially resisted setting The Rom Con in New York City (so many books take place there!), but once I decided it needed to be NYC, I leaned in to it and tried to include as many famous landmarks as possible, like Times Square, Arthur Ashe tennis stadium in Flushing Meadows, and Central Park.
  • My kids provide endless inspiration when I’m stuck on something - my teenage son came up with the idea for Cassidy to jump into the leaf pile.
  • My dad is one of my most enthusiastic early readers (and editors).
What is the first job you have had? 
Babysitter and piano teacher.

What is your happiest childhood memory? 
Going on family road trips in our minivan. I loved reading and inhaled every book in The Baby-Sitters Club series, but my parents would never let me read in the car because it made me sick.

What was your favorite subject when you were in school and why? 
I was good at English/language arts and math, but hated science. I was a perfectionist A student and would cry if I got an A-.

Name one thing you miss about being a kid. 
The lack of financial responsibilities!

What is the first thing you think of when you wake up in the morning? 
I’m tired.

What is your most memorable travel experience? 
Every year for Thanksgiving, we go on a road trip with our kids. We choose a destination within driving distance (basically, our surrounding states—we’ve visited towns in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, and New York). Being flexible and doing little planning is part of the fun—one of everyone’s favorite memories was the year we couldn’t find a single restaurant open on Thanksgiving and ended up having Thanksgiving dinner at Waffle House.

What do you usually think about right before falling asleep? 
I’m up too late.

If you had to go back in time and change one thing, if you HAD to, even if you had “no regrets” what would it be? 
I’d take more chances in just about every area of life (I played it too safe!)

If you could go back in time to one point in your life, where would you go? 
The one year I was married without any kids! And I’d do a lot of sleeping in.

First Love? 
Dean Cain as Clark Kent/Superman in Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman.

At a movie theater which arm rest is yours? 
Both.

What is your greatest adventure? 
Being a mom of four.

Best date you've ever had? 
Not really a date, but when I met my husband at a wedding in 2005. It was love at first sight and I said, “I’ve met the man I’m going to marry.”

What event in your life would make a good movie? 
Meeting my husband at a wedding, then learning that he lived 3000 miles away.

What is one unique thing are you afraid of? 
Not finding a bathroom in time.

When was the last time you told someone you loved them? 
Every day to my husband and kids.

What were you doing the last time you really had a good laugh? 
Probably scrolling TikTok.

What decade during the last century would you have chosen to be a kid? 
I would choose exactly what I had, 80’s and 90’s. I’m so grateful to have grown up without the internet and social media! The late 90’s/early 2000s boy band era is the best era ever, and we were the luckiest to live through it.


A modern battle of the sexes about a journalist who hatches an elaborate plan to take down her industry adversary, from the author of Meet You in the Middle.

After a particularly brutal breakup, Cassidy Sutton has had it with dating. So when her grandmother gives her a 1950’s dating guide entitled 125 Tips to Hook a Husband, she decides to turn the retro advice into an ironic “What not to do” article for Siren, the popular online women’s publication she writes for. And who better to secretly test the old-fashioned tips on than Jack Bradford, chauvinistic creator of rival men’s site Brawler? She’ll write an article that will entertain female readers everywhere and embarrass their sexist nemesis at the same time. Two birds, one stone.

But her perfect plan soon proves to be anything but. Those vintage courtship tips Cassidy was so quick to poke fun at? They actually seem to work, calling her most closely-held beliefs into question. Even worse? Jack isn’t falling for any of her tricks—and it’s not long before their ‘fake’ relationship starts to feel like the realest one of her life. As her cat and mouse game starts to spiral out of control, Cassidy has to decide if she’s playing to win, or if she’s willing to lose it all for love.

You can purchase The Rom Con at the following Retailers:
        

And now, The Giveaways.
Thank you DEVON DANIELS for making this giveaway possible.
1 Winner will receive a Copy of The Rom Con by Devon Daniels.

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