Pump Up Your Book Chats with Allie Larkin

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Allie Larkin lives in Rochester, New York, with her husband, Jeremy, their two German Shepherds, Argo and Stella, and a three-legged cat.

She is the co-founder of TheGreenists.com, a site dedicated to helping readers take simple steps toward going green.

STAY is her first novel.

You can visit Allie’s website at www.allielarkinwrites.com.

About Stay

Savannah “Van” Leone has loved Peter since the day they met. The problem is, Peter has loved Van’s best friend, Janie, since the moment they met. And now they’re walking down the aisle, with Van standing nearby in a Halloween orange bridesmaid dress, her smile as hollow as a jack-o-lantern. After the wedding, Van drowns her sorrows in Kool Aid-vodka cocktails and reruns of Rin-Tin-Tin, and does what any woman in her situation would do: She buys a German Shepherd over the internet.

The pocket-sized puppy Van is expecting turns out to be a clumsy, hundred-pound beast that only responds to Slovakian. Van is at the end of her rope—until she realizes that this quirky giant may be the only living being who will always be loyal to her, no matter what. And thus begins a friendship that will alter Van’s life in ways she never imagined.

Joe leads Van to Dr. Alex Brandt, a rugged vet with floppy blond hair and winning smile. But just as things are starting to heat up, the newlyweds return from their honeymoon, forcing Van to decide just how much she’s willing to sacrifice in order to have everything she ever wanted. Warm and witty, poignant and funny, Stay marks the arrival of an irresistible new voice.

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Thank you for this interview, Allie. Do you remember writing stories as a child or did the writing bug come later? Do you remember your first published piece?

I was (and still am) a compulsive daydreamer, but I didn’t write much as a child. I remember imaging very detailed stories, the same way I do now when I’m working on a book, but I never wrote them down back then. I tried sometimes, but I had undiagnosed Attention Deficit Disorder, and found writing stories out longhand very frustrating. I’d get ideas I wanted to add to the beginning of the story when I was halfway down the page. In school, when we had creative writing assignments, I was always getting scolded for my messy papers. I had arrows everywhere trying to show where the story should go next, but neatness often counted more than content, and I got very discouraged. I didn’t think writing was something I could do. I don’t think in a linear way, which is why writing on a computer works so well for me now. But too many years of trying to write on ruled notebook paper had me convinced that I wasn’t a writer.

I didn’t start writing until I went back to college in 2002. My first published piece was a story called Bathtub Mary that was published in The Summerset Review, and reprinted in Slice Magazine.

What do you consider as the most frustrating side of becoming a published author and what has been the most rewarding?

I don’t have enough hours in my day! I think that’s what frustrates me the most. Trying to find that balance between book promotion, normal life stuff, writing and making space to have down time to daydream and come up with ideas for my work is challenging. I wish there were two of me. But I absolutely love what I do, and I feel so lucky to be able to focus so much of my time and attention to creative work.

I get amazing e-mails from readers, and I think that’s the most rewarding part of all of this. I’ve always been a reader. I cherish the books I’ve read that pulled me into the story and made me feel apart of it – the ones I just couldn’t put down. When a reader sends an e-mail or tweets at me to say that they were up until all hours of the night because they couldn’t stop reading Stay, it’s the most amazing feeling. I’m so honored by that, and by the opportunity I have to share my work like this.

Are you married or single and how do you combine the writing life with home life? Do you have support?

I am married. My husband, Jeremy, is really the reason I can do what I do, and the reason I kept going through rejection letters and moments of self-doubt. He never stopped believing in me, and has always had so much respect for my writing. He worked very hard to make sure I could have the time and space I needed to write Stay. Even when being published felt like a bit of a pipe dream to me, Jeremy saw my writing as important. I couldn’t have done this without him.

I certainly have Jeremy’s support, but I don’t have any outside help or an assistant.

Can you tell us about your latest book and why you wrote it?

Stay is about a heartbroken woman named Savannah “Van” Leone who has to serve as maid of honor to her best friend, Janie, as Janie marries the man Van has been in love with for years. After the wedding, Van drowns her sorrows in grape Kool-Aid and vodka, watches a Rin Tin Tin marathon, and accidentally orders a 100lb German Shepherd off the internet from Slovakia. Not only is her new dog, Joe, the friend she’s so desperately needed, but he has a hot vet to boot.

Stay started as a short story in a college writing class, and years later I pulled the story out again to take to a writing group. Eventually, I realized that the story I wanted to tell was going to be book-length. I kept writing because I loved Van so much. I wanted to find out what was going to happen to her.

Can you share an excerpt?

The words on the screen were starting to blur, but I didn’t care. I needed a dog, and I wasn’t going to stop until I found one. I clicked from one site to another and then, I saw him.

He was a shaggy ball of fur. Jet black, except for a small pink tongue hanging out of his mouth. His head was tipped to one side like he was listening to something intently. One of his ears flopped over. The breeder was in Bratislava, Slovakia, and the site wasn’t in English, with exception of a few shaky translations. At the top of the picture of the puppy, it said something I couldn’t read, and then male 11/5. The puppy was only a few weeks old. He was just a baby. Under his picture, there was a link that said, order form. I moused over it, ready to click.

I took another long slurp of my Kool-Aid. I couldn’t just decide I wanted a dog and order one off the Internet. It was crazy. Crazy! I tried to go back to watching Rin Tin Tin, but I couldn’t stop staring at the picture of the puppy. It was like one of those paintings where the eyes follow you everywhere. From every angle, I felt like that dog was looking at me. He was going to be taken away from his mother. He was going to be given to some random family and he was going to get lonely and miss his mom and they wouldn’t understand. Not like I would.

“You need me, don’t you?” I asked him. I felt like his eyes looked more and more sad and lonely every time I looked at the picture.

I clicked on the link. The order form said that the cost for the dog was one hundred and forty thousand koruny, which, seven drinks in, I figured was like pesos or lira or something like that, where a thousand of them equaled a dollar. I thought about looking it up, but my vision was starting to blur, and I wanted a dog. Now. I didn’t want to wait any longer than I had to. What if someone else was sitting around in their pajamas watching the Rin Tin Tin marathon, realizing they needed a dog too? What if, in the time I took to look up the conversion rate, someone else bought my puppy? Someone else would get to cuddle up with that little ball of fuzz. Someone else would get sloppy dog kisses on their cheek. Someone else would have a true and loyal friend who would hop over burning hay bales for them, and I’d still be alone. And whoever got him wouldn’t understand him the way I would. It was probably really cheap. Cheaper than buying a dog from the United States even, I was sure.

I grabbed my purse off the coffee table and rifled through the mess of business cards and discount cards, dropping them all over the couch, until I found my credit card.

Where’s your favorite place to write at home?

I tend to rotate around the house – office, kitchen table, living room couch, comfy chair. I don’t really like to sit at my desk. It feels too formal. I have a futon in my office and I like to work there with my computer on my lap. A spot will feel just perfect for the afternoon, or even a few days, but then I’ll get restless and need to move. I just repainted my office and rearranged all the furniture. I’m hoping now that the room looks and feels the way I want it to I’ll want to spend more time there.

What is one thing about your book that makes it different from other books on the market?

I don’t know of any other books about a woman who accidentally buys a dog from Slovakia off the internet. And I think Van is different, too. She’s messy and flawed and very honest. I respect her as if she were a real person, and I tried to write her that way.

Tables are turned…what is one thing you’d like to say to your audience who might buy your book one day?

I hope that readers enjoy Stay. I hope they love Van as much as I do. And I hope they don’t decide to drink grape Kool=Aid and vodka and order a German Shepherd off the internet from Slovakia. I am all for rescuing dogs while sober.

Thank you for this interview, Allie. Good luck on your virtual book tour!

Thank you so much, Dorothy! I really appreciate it! I’m having so much fun doing this virtual book tour!

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Question of the Day

How do you make sales happen for you?

A lot of hard work! I sponsor a lot of on line parties, festivals and contests. Book sales don’t magically happen, believe me. An author has to work hard to earn her readers. And then she has to work hard to keep them by giving them something they’ll enjoy reading. I try hard to make my books worth a reader’s time.

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