Today I’m thrilled to welcome Kennedy Ryan, author of When You Are Mine (Grand Central Publishing/Forever Romance), to the blog. Not only is Kennedy a multi-talented author, she’s a busy mom who generously makes time to advocate for families dealing with the challenges of autism.
Over to you, Kennedy!
What’s your idea of the perfect meal…from your own kitchen? (Sorry. I’m a foodie girl. Lol)
A perfect meal would NEVER come from my own kitchen! I am missing several of the WOMAN genes that would better domesticate me! LOL. So if I didn’t cook it myself, it is already closer to perfect. My favorite food in the world is pizza, so just a fabulous NY slice would be awesome. And I don’t like a ton of toppings – feta, mushrooms & green olives. I know. A woman of simple tastes.
Tell us about your new book, When You Are Mine. Gorgeous cover! How did you come up with the idea? Is this book part of a series? And please…tell us about the next book!
How I came up with this story is a story in itself. My son has Autism and is, like many kids on the spectrum, obsessed with water. Especially during the summer, we are at some body of water EVERY night. He has trouble sleeping and is hyperactive, so we take him to pools, rivers, fountains – wherever – to wear him out. He just sleeps better. So two years ago, it was the Chattahoochee River every night. We’d spend probably an hour and a half or so there each night, and this idea started forming around a fictional town called Rivermont.
Every night on my phone, I just started capturing scenes, dialogue, characters – everything. Didn’t actually write all summer. And then in the fall, wrote the whole book in a few months or so. Actually I wrote books 1 and 2. It was behemoth. LOL. I can’t believe the editor even entertained a book that long. It was literally the first editor I had ever pitched to. They kindly asked if I’d be willing to split the MASSIVE book in half to make 2 books. And then asked if I’d be willing to write a third, to round out a trilogy, which is what I’m doing now.
When You Are Mine is a love triangle. Kerris, the heroine, is a former foster kid who lived through things no child should. She is dating Cam, also a foster child who lived through things no child should. Two damaged people together for the wrong reasons. Kerris believes she is immune to love and passion because of abuse in her past, but wants something she and Cam never had – a family of their own.
But when she meets Cam’s best friend Walsh, it’s fireworks for the first time in her life. When they first meet, they don’t realize she is the girl Cam has been telling Walsh so much about. It examines how our past can shape our self-view, and how a damaged self-view can lead to destructive behavior patterns and bad decisions. And ultimately, how we heal those past hurts, renew our minds, own our mistakes and make better decisions.
I will say everyone gets a happy ending…eventually. It is pretty angsty. I put them all through ringers. They EARN that HEA! LOL.
How do you feel about writing a love scene? Is it easy? Hard? Fun?
I really enjoy writing love scenes. I actually love the challenge of creating a lot of steam without being terribly explicit. I focus on the chemistry and the intimacy. I invest as much time in the tension as the “resolution.” Intimacy typically moves the action forward for me. It’s a huge part of any relationship, and I make it count.
I’m massively impressed that you write and juggle the demands of a family and an Autistic son. How do you organize your time?
I don’t sleep. Kidding…kinda. I do not sleep as much as most people do. I am even responding to these questions at 4am. LOL. I work a lot. When my plate is full, I usually just ask for a bigger plate! LOL. Managing my son’s life is really an industry in itself. About seven years ago, I also started a foundation for Georgia families living with Autism, and I run it. Until about 6 months ago, I was also working a full-time job.
I had delayed writing for a long time because of those demands. I reached a point where I really needed to do something just for me. Writing is that, and I made time for it. I would write, and still do, after everyone is asleep. Now that I’ve left my job, I focus a lot of my writing and foundation work during the hours when my son is at school because once he is home, I’m much less productive! And then I write and work once he and my husband are asleep.
That means my house isn’t always as clean as I’d like. The dinners aren’t all made from scratch. My laundry is my very own “slush pile” and I only have space in my life for three TV shows at any given time, but I care a lot less about those things than helping families with Autism and writing the stories I want to tell.
You’re also active in helping families deal with autism. Tell us about your efforts.
As I mentioned, I run a foundation. Myles-A-Part. We have three programs. We sponsor COST-FREE, KID-FREE retreats for married couples in crisis raising kids with Autism. We run a holiday program to ensure single parents raising kids on the spectrum have what they need for Christmas. And we have a scholarship program providing financial assistance to GA families for services not covered by insurance or medicaid, as funds are available.
I am donating 10% of my personal royalties to my foundation and 15% to my national charitable partner, Talk About Curing Autism. It never occurred to me to write this book and not give back because the Autism community has been so incredibly supportive of and helpful to my family when things were really dark and hard for us. This will ALWAYS be a part of every platform I have.
What are your future writing plans?
I am writing book three of The Bennett trilogy now, out in February 2015. I am almost done with a new adult manuscript that my agent will be itching to pitch! I am researching my next book, which will be adult contemporary. I also write for Modern Mom magazine, and want to continue writing non-fiction. I’m working on a non-fiction book about our journey with Autism and the lessons we learned about fighting for your family that I think will be transferrable for anyone experiencing adversity, not just parents raising special needs children. I want to compel people with stories, imagined and true.
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Wow…you are one busy lady! Thank you so much for sharing your plans and projects with us. You’re inspiring and incredibly generous. I wish you all the best in your ongoing autism advocacy. We look forward to reading When You Are Mine and the next two books in The Bennett series.
Find Kennedy Ryan on social media:
Goodreads; KennedyRyanWrites; Twitter; Facebook
Buy When You Are Mine:
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