I’m doing my final edits on Mother Road, so I’m too tired to come up with a good blog title. To keep you posted, Mother Road goes to the final editor in two weeks, so I hope to have it out to you on May 31. I’ll post if that changes. For now, let’s have some fun…
Five Facts About Mother Road:
1) Almost all of the book's entirety takes place on Route 66, the historic road that runs from Chicago, IL, to Santa Monica, CA. I could have made this book 2,000 pages long with all the amazing things I read about the history of the road. Honestly, I think my kids could write a book about Route 66 now with as much as I’ve talked about it. Most of the scenes occur in real locations, but there are a few fictitious ones.
2) The leads, Nico Meyer and Eli Tenney, are two bisexual males. Queer representation is extremely important to me in the books that I read. Often, you see bisexuality treated as a plot point rather than an aspect of a character. While done well occasionally, it usually comes off as tiresome and even offensive. Mother Road is absolutely and foremost about two people falling in love, regardless of sexuality or gender. Their sexuality is not a plot point, and I hope that I have portrayed their identities in a thoughtful manner.
3) In addition, as seen in Broken Records with both Lucy and Jack, mental health awareness is also something that I like to see represented in books. I know this is something that can be triggering for some readers, so I wanted to warn you ahead of time. Nico suffers from anxiety and panic attacks, and has trouble eating because of this. Eli is dealing with the grief of losing a parent. However, I firmly believe that you cannot have sadness without humor, and vice versa, so I still promise that this book lands on both sides of that spectrum. There’s heartache, but there are also donkeys, and donkeys are adorable.
4) As I’ve stated before, a lot of this book was written from some demonic place inside my soul that needed to out-nerd myself. This time, it’s all about literature. Message me if you catch any of them. I can think of four in the first chapter off the top of my head, ranging from subtle to very unsubtle. I’m shaking my head at myself for some of these. English teachers of the world, I apologize now. I also apologize to anyone who doesn’t get the references and just thinks I’m writing while high. Finally, I apologize to anyone who has ever thought of Mr. Darcy as the epitome of all romantic leads. I apologize most ardently.
5) As always, there’s a little bit of each Meyer family member, but Matteo, Lucy, and Nonna have more page time in this book. (Yes, Jack is there too. He’s not in jail. Yet.) Love you all, more info to come soon.