The time it was about Every Last Word

As you all know by now, my love knows no bounds for Tamara Ireland Stone and all of her boys words {Bennett Cooper is mine, I have proof}.  After devouring the arc that Tamara sent me, I asked if she would be available to do an interview and she said yes!

Before we get to her answers, let’s check out the book, shall we?

If you could read my mind, you wouldn’t be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can’t turn off.

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn’t help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she’d be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam’s weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet’s Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more “normal” than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

Sounds good, right? {IT’S SOOOOO GOOD}

1. Where did the idea for Every Last Word come from?

I first became interested in telling a story about a teen with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder (OCD) when a close family friend was diagnosed four years ago, at age twelve. It was heartbreaking to hear how the disorder affected her. She couldn’t sleep. She felt powerless to a stream of negative, often terrifying thoughts. And her group of friends unknowingly made things harder. I couldn’t imagine dealing with something so intense, especially at such a young age.

I wanted to learn more about OCD, and she was eager to share her experience in hopes of helping other teens understand what it was like to live in an active, occasionally frightening mind like hers.

But I think she’d agree that Every Last Word isn’t a story about a girl with OCD. It’s really a story about self-acceptance, learning to drop your guard, and surrounding yourself with people who like you for exactly who you are, flaws and all.

2. Why do you love Sam and AJ and why should we root for them?

I love Sam’s willingness to dig deep to truly understand herself. She’s afraid of her brain, but she’s also passionate about figuring out how it works and learning to control it. I find that admirable.

I love how AJ speaks his mind. He’s an open book, and while he’s never mean about it, he says what he thinks. Sam, by contrast, keeps everything inside.

It’s not an instant attraction. Sam certainly finds AJ’s singing and acoustic guitar playing adorable (because, come on, who wouldn’t?), but that’s not why she’s drawn to him. They actually first connect over a shared love of words.

Throughout the story, they make each other brave. AJ helps Sam finds her voice. Sam helps AJ fight his biggest fear.

They’re imperfect individuals. Together, they make each other stronger. I can’t imagine a better reason to root for two people.

3. Without spoilers, were there any scenes that had to be cut that you wish could have stayed?

Not really. I certainly cut a lot, but I’m happy with everything I pulled.

I tend to overwrite. The content often feels right at the time, but with a bit of distance, I realize it’s not working or aiding the plot. So I chop it.

But it’s never wasted time. All that writing helps inform who I want the characters to become, how they all interact with each other, how the story progresses. Even if those words don’t live on the final pages, they did an important job.

I probably cut the most around the scenes between Sam and her therapist, Shrink-Sue. It was really important to me to get the client/therapist relationship right, and it took a long time and many tries to get the text to match the relationship I had in my head.

I wanted to honor therapists, especially those who work with teens. And I wanted Sue to be a role model for readers who might be looking for someone to trust and confide in. I think I worked harder on those scenes than any other part of the novel.

4. Describe Every Last Word in 5 words.

Self-acceptance and true friendship.

Speed {ish} round:

1. You get the call/email/letter saying you’re being published for the first time. Describe the next 5 minutes.

The English language really needs a word for that laughter-through-tears emotion. Because that.

For much more than 5 minutes.

2. What three things would you take to a desert island?

My husband and my two kids. (You didn’t say I was stranded. Vacation!)

3. You can only read one book for the rest of your life. What is it?

Gloria Steinem’s Revolution from Within.  My 20-year old copy is tattered, dog-eared and highlighted, and I still learn something new about myself every time I read it.

4. What is the one thing about publishing you wish someone would have told you?

Don’t overthink it.

Overthink the writing and the story—get that part right—but don’t overthink the rest of the stuff that goes along with it.

5. You wake up and find that you’re Bella in Twilight. You know how it plays out. What do you do differently? {Huge thanks to Bookish Broads for letting me use this question!}

Listen to Edward and remain human. Dating a vampire is interesting. Being one? Meh.

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TAMARA IRELAND STONE is the author of Time After Time and Time Between Us, which has been published in over twenty countries to widespread acclaim, and hailed as “an exciting debut novel” by Booklist and “a warm, time bending romance” by Publishers Weekly. It has been optioned for film by CBS Films.

Her next novel, Every Last Word, is about a teen girl with OCD who’s hiding part of herself from the world, until she discovers a secret poetry club that changes her in unexpected ways. Every Last Word releases on June 16, 2015.

A former Silicon Valley marketing executive, Tamara enjoys skiing, hiking, and spending time with her husband and two children. She lives just outside of San Francisco.

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Huge thanks to Tamara for not filing a restraining order always taking the time. Make sure you’re checking out her website, following her on Twitter, liking her Facebook page, and adding all of her books to your Goodreads TBR shelf.

Now.  Haven’t had a chance to pre-order this gorgeous book? Well, I’ve got a copy up for grabs! Giveaway is international, book will be coming from TBD, and additional giveaway rules are here.

**Good Luck!!**

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