Guest Post: How it Feels to be a 16-Year-Old Woman

Sara Jane Rispoli is still searching for her missing family, but instead of fighting off a turncoat uncle and crooked cops, this time she finds herself on the run from creepy beings with red, pulsing eyes and pale white skin chasing her through the streets in ice cream trucks; they can only be described as Ice Cream Creatures. They're terrifying and hell bent on killing her, but they're also a link to her family, a clue to where they might be and who has them. While she battles these new pursuers, she's also discovering more about her own cold fury and more about the Chicago Outfit, how the past misdeeds--old murders and vendettas--might just be connected to her present and the disappearance of her family. But connecting the dots is tough and time-consuming and may finally be the undoing of her relationship with the handsome Max--who's now her boyfriend. But for his own safety, Sara Jane may have to end this relationship before it even really starts. Her pursuers who've shown her her mother's amputated finger and the head of the Chicago Outfit who's just whistled her in for a sit-down make a romance unthinkable. The only thing that matters is finding her family and keeping everyone she loves alive.

How it Feels to be a 16-Year-Old Woman

Write what you know. Every author is familiar with the phrase, and like uttering the pledge of allegiance or chanting a well-worn prayer, most repeat it both to aspiring writers and themselves.

What it doesn’t mean: if you’ve worked as a drill-bit operator, you should write a 500-page memoir about drilling bits. What it does mean: channel how it felt to do the job – the challenges, rivalries and intrigue – into whatever you write. What you know in your heart versus how much you know about drill bits are two very different things.

So let’s talk about being punched in the face.

Throughout COLD FURY and in the upcoming FLICKER & BURN, Sara Jane Rispoli is terrified, lonely, confused, swooning with love, pissed off as hell, and yes, punched in the face. I say with pride that she always gives back as good as she gets, and better.

Over the years, I too have been hit in the face, and hit back, many times. I know what it feels like when a fight is inevitable, to see in near slow motion when a punch is thrown, to feel it connect to my jaw, and to connect with the jaw of my opponent. I, too, have been terrified, lonely, confused, swooning with love, and pissed off as hell – who hasn’t?

The most common question I receive is how can I, as a man, write from the perspective of a 16-year-old woman? My answer is always the same – I have a habit of regarding women as human beings. If a human being is terrified, they run, and if pissed off, they fight, and in love, they swoon.

In other words, I’m writing what I know.

Thank you T.M. Goeglein for that wonderful post! Be sure to check out Flicker & Burn when it hits shelves August 20th!

Happy Reading!