Author Interview

"It’s been an honor to share my community and my culture with readers, and I think Canto Contigo is so specifically a celebration of that."

"With the lack of control and feeling of helplessness and also the need for some fun escapism, something just clicked in my head, so I picked up these two story-idea threads and weaved them together."

"when I think back to the music of my childhood, a lot of it is country"

"It’s been so exciting to see more and more books come out with trans protagonists, and I am so proud to add to that much-needed wave."

"I do, however, continue to write fanfiction in some different fandoms these days, and I will never admit to anyone which fandoms or who I am!"

"Part of fear is the unknown, and so that’s a balance I consider a lot."

"I can’t begin to tell you how wonderful it was to write about characters who are the grownups."

"That got me thinking about the fallibility of memory and how reliant we are on other people to tell us the stuff we can’t remember ourselves."

"Even before I knew what romance tropes were, I loved them."

"In many ways, writing Brynn’s story felt healing."

"Ultimately, I realized I needed to just let them be angry and afraid and anxious, and give them a whirlwind love story anyway."

"None of my protagonists are exactly like me, but I think there’s definitely a small part of me in every protagonist I write."

"I wanted to explore power: who has it, who wants it, who tries to take it away from others."

"Most of the themes of the book are tied to things that I’ve been thinking about lately, including what it means to make art and engage with an audience while you’re still evolving as a creative person."

"Sometimes it’s easy to forget that so much of writing happens in that leap of faith, when you’re still mid-air and not sure if you’ll clear the chasm underneath you."