My Lost and Found Life by Melodie Bowsher is about Ashley - spoiled rich kid, homecoming queen and general Alpha Girl - whose enchanted life is completely turned upside down just a few days away from her high school graduation. Not only has her mother has taken off amid accusations of embezzlement, but her so-called friends have snubbed her. Ashley is broke, homeless and alone. This is the engaging story of how Ashley learns to not only survive, but thrive.
Melodie, what gave you the inspiration for My Lost and Found Life?
A real-life case of a teenager who was abandoned by an embezzling parent was the original "spark" for my novel. But I altered that true-to-life story and changed the characters to fit other ideas I had – inspired by my own struggles to raise two teenagers in an affluent San Francisco suburb. While I never embezzled any money (wouldn't even know how to go about it), I was the quintessential overly-indulgent parent who wanted to make her children happy by giving them everything they wanted. I got in debt trying to give them the material things their friends at school had. It took me a long time to figure out that my job wasn't to make them happy and that the most loving thing I could do wasn't to give them stuff, but to help them become strong, independent adults.
Did Ashley's story come to you all at once or was it something that evolved slowly?
Everything evolved from the first chapter of the book, when Ashley learns that her mother has disappeared with a million bucks. I wrote that chapter first and I knew how I wanted the book to end. So I thought about what might logically happen in between. Ashley would be in denial at first, expecting her mother to return and fix everything. She would be stunned when many of her friends shun her. She's young and spoiled so she might turn to partying, sex and even drugs. But what would she do when the money runs out? She's 18 so she wouldn't go into foster care. I wanted her to have to fend for herself without being bailed out by an adult. Housing in the Bay Area is very expensive and she couldn't logically afford an apartment on minimum wage, so I had her live in a camper. Where could a girl without any skills get a job? A coffeehouse, of course. I've spent a lot of time in San Francisco coffeehouses so I know what they're like and what their customers are like.
I will say that I planned all along for the book to end differently than it did. But half way through, I saw that the only logical ending was the one I wrote.
The affluent suburb you write about happens to be the one I am sitting in right now! Have you heard any feedback from real-life Burlingamians?
It's odd but I've only heard from one Burlingame resident (not a young adult) – and she liked the book very much. For many years my children and I lived in Millbrae which is adjacent to Burlingame and I chose Burlingame/Hillsborough as the setting because it's even more affluent than Millbrae.
Did you know you were writing a young adult book when you started?
Actually, I never set out to write a young adult book. I wrote a book about a young adult – then my publisher bought it and called it a "young adult" book. I have mixed feelings about that YA label, because the story isn't suitable for children and young adult books are often put in the children's library. There are many books like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time that are written about teenagers but not called young adult books and that confuses me too. I'm glad that lots of young adults enjoy reading Ashley's adventures. For instance, I've received emails from readers including a 22-year-old in Ohio and a 12-year-old in Arkansas who loved the book. But I've also heard from many adults in their 30s or 40s -- male and female -- who really liked the book, too.
I think My Lost and Found Life will appeal to teenagers that like melodrama. What do you think?
Melodrama, hmm, that's interesting, because I think my book is much less dramatic than the stories I read in the newspaper every day. A lot happens to Ashley, but a lot of bad stuff can happen to a teenager who lives in a camper without parental supervision. Teens do become homeless, use drugs, have sex, commit suicide, become prostitutes, get mugged, get shot in drive-bys, deal with street people and so on. Almost everything that happened in the book is based on a true story, but it's condensed into a shorter time frame. The holdup in the gas station, for example, was based something that happened to my daughter's best friend. She drove into a station and was mystified as to why it was deserted. Then she heard someone hammering on the restroom door – the attendant was locked in because the station had just been robbed.
What kind of books did you like when you were a teenager?
What did I read as a teenager? EVERYTHING. I was and still am a voracious reader. I read all my mother's romantic novels – contemporary stuff like Marjorie Morningstar and historical novels about Anne Boleyn and Mary Queen of Scots. I remember staying up all night to finish Gone With the Wind. I also read classics like Jane Eye and Anna Karenina. I read the Tolkien trilogy and Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. One of my favorite books of all times is still A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I devoured mysteries by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. I guess you could say my taste in literature was and is eclectic.
Little bit of trivia: I envisioned Ashley as a current-day Scarlett O'Hara, pretty, spoiled and thoughtless. However, I thought the name was too obvious. Instead I named her Ashley after Ashley Wilkes and Mitchell after Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind.
Did you always want to be writer?
Always – but originally I wanted to a world-famous newspaper reporter. My college degree is in journalism and I was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal right out of college, but I found that I didn't like journalism as much as I thought I would. In college it was fun but in the real world reporting felt very invasive and sometimes destructive. When the head of an airline was fired because of a story I wrote, I was very uncomfortable with having that much power. Now I think I was just too young – I was only 20 when I began working for the Journal. And, unlike Ashley, I don't like to be center of attention or want to be a "star" in any situation. Ultimately I turned to business and marketing-type writing. I've always worked as a writer but I was scared to try my hand at fiction because writing fiction is very self-revealing. But now that's all I want to write.
Can you talk about your path to publication?
It was a long and tortuous one. After I wrote the book, I had a tough time finding an agent – I was rejected by 42 agents! I would get very discouraged and stop sending it out for a few months. Also, I kept revising and editing it – it was like I was picking at a scab and making it worse. Finally I decided to leave the manuscript alone and just keep sending it out. I had a sign on my desk quoting Winston Churchill that said " Never, Never, Never Give Up" and I adopted that as my credo. Other writers advised me to throw it in a drawer and start another book. But I liked the book, I liked Ashley (even when readers told me she was a brat or unlikable) and I thought it was an engaging story. Finally I sent it to Andrea Somberg, who called me saying she loved it and wanted to be my agent. Bless her, Andrea sold it to Bloomsbury very quickly and I became an author. I was delirious. Still am.
What do you do about writer's block?
Just keep writing, even if you think what you're writing is garbage because you're going to have to rewrite it anyway. Very few writers (certainly not me) can write a wonderful first draft. Some famous writer said all good writing is rewriting and I believe that. If you don't start -- if you just sit at the computer moaning that you're blocked or you don't have a good idea -- you're never going to get that awful first draft on paper. And writing that awful first draft allows you to move on to a better second draft and a terrific third draft. For months I wrote all sorts of stuff, some of it so-so and some of it not so good, before I sat down one day and wrote what turned into the first chapter of MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE.
What's your next project?
I've started a book about Tatiana/Tattie, a "minor" character in MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE. I find her interesting and want to explore what happened to her. Tattie's the so-called bad girl, the tramp or "ho" that people are quick to judge without really knowing or understanding her. She's a little outrageous, she's been through a lot and she has a good heart. I'm enjoying getting to know her as I write about her.
World Famous Lightning Round
Type of Pen: I write on a computer. Pens are for signing checks (though I do have one covered with sequins).
Library: The libraries most convenient for me are closed for renovation! The staff at the North Beach branch is helpful.
Bookstore: Books Inc. on Chestnut Street (ed: WOOHOO!)
Beverage: Nonfat cappuccinos and, when celebrating, a margarita.
Dessert: Pecan pie.
Color: Fire-engine Red (just like Ashley)
Season: Summer
Fictional Character: Elizabeth Bennett
Song: "Not Ready to Make Nice" by The Dixie Chicks
What's one book (aside from your own) that you think Not Your Mother's Book Club should read?
LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by Susan Beth Pfeffer – I couldn't put it down. A meteor collides with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth's climate. Teenage Miranda can forget about worrying about boys and prom. She, her mother and two brothers must struggle to survive in an increasing desperate world without electricity or gasoline or medicine or all the conveniences we're used to -- and then food starts to run out.
If your club hasn't read, WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch, they should. Please, don't judge this book by the mediocre movie that was made. Fitch's writing is so beautiful. Teenage Astrid is forced into the foster care system after her poetess mother is sent to prison for murder. The book is sad and yet hopeful at the end, because Astrid survives and becomes stronger in spite of it all. I loved this book.
Also, check out TALLULAH FALLS by Christine Fletcher – Seventeen year old smart-ass Tallulah leaves Oregon to rescue her friend but ends up abandoned and penniless in rural Tennessee.
Obviously I like books about people who overcome adversity – but isn't that what life is all about?
Thanks, Melodie!
Click here to buy the book from Melodie's fave bookstore.
Peek at the official Bloomsbury ML&FL page.
Visit Melodie's home on the web.
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Melodie, what gave you the inspiration for My Lost and Found Life?
A real-life case of a teenager who was abandoned by an embezzling parent was the original "spark" for my novel. But I altered that true-to-life story and changed the characters to fit other ideas I had – inspired by my own struggles to raise two teenagers in an affluent San Francisco suburb. While I never embezzled any money (wouldn't even know how to go about it), I was the quintessential overly-indulgent parent who wanted to make her children happy by giving them everything they wanted. I got in debt trying to give them the material things their friends at school had. It took me a long time to figure out that my job wasn't to make them happy and that the most loving thing I could do wasn't to give them stuff, but to help them become strong, independent adults.
Did Ashley's story come to you all at once or was it something that evolved slowly?
Everything evolved from the first chapter of the book, when Ashley learns that her mother has disappeared with a million bucks. I wrote that chapter first and I knew how I wanted the book to end. So I thought about what might logically happen in between. Ashley would be in denial at first, expecting her mother to return and fix everything. She would be stunned when many of her friends shun her. She's young and spoiled so she might turn to partying, sex and even drugs. But what would she do when the money runs out? She's 18 so she wouldn't go into foster care. I wanted her to have to fend for herself without being bailed out by an adult. Housing in the Bay Area is very expensive and she couldn't logically afford an apartment on minimum wage, so I had her live in a camper. Where could a girl without any skills get a job? A coffeehouse, of course. I've spent a lot of time in San Francisco coffeehouses so I know what they're like and what their customers are like.
I will say that I planned all along for the book to end differently than it did. But half way through, I saw that the only logical ending was the one I wrote.
The affluent suburb you write about happens to be the one I am sitting in right now! Have you heard any feedback from real-life Burlingamians?
It's odd but I've only heard from one Burlingame resident (not a young adult) – and she liked the book very much. For many years my children and I lived in Millbrae which is adjacent to Burlingame and I chose Burlingame/Hillsborough as the setting because it's even more affluent than Millbrae.
Did you know you were writing a young adult book when you started?
Actually, I never set out to write a young adult book. I wrote a book about a young adult – then my publisher bought it and called it a "young adult" book. I have mixed feelings about that YA label, because the story isn't suitable for children and young adult books are often put in the children's library. There are many books like The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time that are written about teenagers but not called young adult books and that confuses me too. I'm glad that lots of young adults enjoy reading Ashley's adventures. For instance, I've received emails from readers including a 22-year-old in Ohio and a 12-year-old in Arkansas who loved the book. But I've also heard from many adults in their 30s or 40s -- male and female -- who really liked the book, too.
I think My Lost and Found Life will appeal to teenagers that like melodrama. What do you think?
Melodrama, hmm, that's interesting, because I think my book is much less dramatic than the stories I read in the newspaper every day. A lot happens to Ashley, but a lot of bad stuff can happen to a teenager who lives in a camper without parental supervision. Teens do become homeless, use drugs, have sex, commit suicide, become prostitutes, get mugged, get shot in drive-bys, deal with street people and so on. Almost everything that happened in the book is based on a true story, but it's condensed into a shorter time frame. The holdup in the gas station, for example, was based something that happened to my daughter's best friend. She drove into a station and was mystified as to why it was deserted. Then she heard someone hammering on the restroom door – the attendant was locked in because the station had just been robbed.
What kind of books did you like when you were a teenager?
What did I read as a teenager? EVERYTHING. I was and still am a voracious reader. I read all my mother's romantic novels – contemporary stuff like Marjorie Morningstar and historical novels about Anne Boleyn and Mary Queen of Scots. I remember staying up all night to finish Gone With the Wind. I also read classics like Jane Eye and Anna Karenina. I read the Tolkien trilogy and Robert Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land. One of my favorite books of all times is still A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I devoured mysteries by Raymond Chandler and Dashiell Hammett. I guess you could say my taste in literature was and is eclectic.
Little bit of trivia: I envisioned Ashley as a current-day Scarlett O'Hara, pretty, spoiled and thoughtless. However, I thought the name was too obvious. Instead I named her Ashley after Ashley Wilkes and Mitchell after Margaret Mitchell, the author of Gone with the Wind.
Did you always want to be writer?
Always – but originally I wanted to a world-famous newspaper reporter. My college degree is in journalism and I was a reporter for The Wall Street Journal right out of college, but I found that I didn't like journalism as much as I thought I would. In college it was fun but in the real world reporting felt very invasive and sometimes destructive. When the head of an airline was fired because of a story I wrote, I was very uncomfortable with having that much power. Now I think I was just too young – I was only 20 when I began working for the Journal. And, unlike Ashley, I don't like to be center of attention or want to be a "star" in any situation. Ultimately I turned to business and marketing-type writing. I've always worked as a writer but I was scared to try my hand at fiction because writing fiction is very self-revealing. But now that's all I want to write.
Can you talk about your path to publication?
It was a long and tortuous one. After I wrote the book, I had a tough time finding an agent – I was rejected by 42 agents! I would get very discouraged and stop sending it out for a few months. Also, I kept revising and editing it – it was like I was picking at a scab and making it worse. Finally I decided to leave the manuscript alone and just keep sending it out. I had a sign on my desk quoting Winston Churchill that said " Never, Never, Never Give Up" and I adopted that as my credo. Other writers advised me to throw it in a drawer and start another book. But I liked the book, I liked Ashley (even when readers told me she was a brat or unlikable) and I thought it was an engaging story. Finally I sent it to Andrea Somberg, who called me saying she loved it and wanted to be my agent. Bless her, Andrea sold it to Bloomsbury very quickly and I became an author. I was delirious. Still am.
What do you do about writer's block?
Just keep writing, even if you think what you're writing is garbage because you're going to have to rewrite it anyway. Very few writers (certainly not me) can write a wonderful first draft. Some famous writer said all good writing is rewriting and I believe that. If you don't start -- if you just sit at the computer moaning that you're blocked or you don't have a good idea -- you're never going to get that awful first draft on paper. And writing that awful first draft allows you to move on to a better second draft and a terrific third draft. For months I wrote all sorts of stuff, some of it so-so and some of it not so good, before I sat down one day and wrote what turned into the first chapter of MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE.
What's your next project?
I've started a book about Tatiana/Tattie, a "minor" character in MY LOST AND FOUND LIFE. I find her interesting and want to explore what happened to her. Tattie's the so-called bad girl, the tramp or "ho" that people are quick to judge without really knowing or understanding her. She's a little outrageous, she's been through a lot and she has a good heart. I'm enjoying getting to know her as I write about her.
World Famous Lightning Round
Type of Pen: I write on a computer. Pens are for signing checks (though I do have one covered with sequins).
Library: The libraries most convenient for me are closed for renovation! The staff at the North Beach branch is helpful.
Bookstore: Books Inc. on Chestnut Street (ed: WOOHOO!)
Beverage: Nonfat cappuccinos and, when celebrating, a margarita.
Dessert: Pecan pie.
Color: Fire-engine Red (just like Ashley)
Season: Summer
Fictional Character: Elizabeth Bennett
Song: "Not Ready to Make Nice" by The Dixie Chicks
What's one book (aside from your own) that you think Not Your Mother's Book Club should read?
LIFE AS WE KNEW IT by Susan Beth Pfeffer – I couldn't put it down. A meteor collides with the moon, catastrophically altering the earth's climate. Teenage Miranda can forget about worrying about boys and prom. She, her mother and two brothers must struggle to survive in an increasing desperate world without electricity or gasoline or medicine or all the conveniences we're used to -- and then food starts to run out.
If your club hasn't read, WHITE OLEANDER by Janet Fitch, they should. Please, don't judge this book by the mediocre movie that was made. Fitch's writing is so beautiful. Teenage Astrid is forced into the foster care system after her poetess mother is sent to prison for murder. The book is sad and yet hopeful at the end, because Astrid survives and becomes stronger in spite of it all. I loved this book.
Also, check out TALLULAH FALLS by Christine Fletcher – Seventeen year old smart-ass Tallulah leaves Oregon to rescue her friend but ends up abandoned and penniless in rural Tennessee.
Obviously I like books about people who overcome adversity – but isn't that what life is all about?
Thanks, Melodie!
Click here to buy the book from Melodie's fave bookstore.
Peek at the official Bloomsbury ML&FL page.
Visit Melodie's home on the web.
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Comments
I've been checking for this at the library for weeks now, because I like the concept a lot. Part SHELTER by Cooley and STREET by Pearson, with some Cordelia Chase money loss thrown in. :)
42 agents rejected her before she found her match!
*girds loins*