Introduuuuucing Megan and Bitter Angel!

I've never done an author interview on my blog and I'm psyched that for my very first one I get to have the awesome and talented Megan Hand!!!

At twelve, Megan decided to write a novel. A month later, she quit. A reading junkie by nature, she started writing again in her twenties as a way to get the voices out, because who wouldn't want to create a Real Living Person out of thin air? Megan also plays the piano and sings. She teaches little kids and takes pictures of pretty butterflies. She eats way too much chocolate, is sort of a mad scientist with her blender, and spends an unhealthy amount of time LOLing on Facebook and Twitter. She lives in Ohio with her husband and very smiley son. Bitter Angel is her first published novel.


So, you wanna know more about Bitter Angel, right? You should, because I've already read it and it's a fast-paced nail-biter of a book that I couldn't put down.

Torn between two realities.
A choice that will mean life or death.
But she won’t know anything… until she wakes up.

College sophomore, Lila Spencer lived Friday night twice. She doesn’t know how or why, just that she did. As if she split in half and went in two different directions.

Out clubbing with her friends, Heather and Nilah, the girls rock it out and party hard. What begins as an innocent night will lead to a deadly fight for their lives, and Lila might be their only chance for survival.

In bed with her boyfriend, Jay, Lila is safe and warm as she drifts to sleep in the arms of the man she loves. Until she is sucked into a horrifying nightmare of her friends' deaths.

As the sunlight warms her face on Saturday morning, the two scenarios collide. But there can be only one outcome. Will she wake up in her warm bed with Jay by her side, devastated and grieving for her friends? Or was she there to save them?
So I had like a bazillion questions I wanted to ask her, but I narrowed it down to a few that I REALLY wanted to know.

ME: First, tell us why you wanted to be an author in the first place?

 MH: I read and wrote as a kid, but both got sort of swept under the busyness of adulthood and marriage. This is going to sound so cliche, but in my mid-twenties, I read Stephanie Meyer's The Host and fell in love. Next came the Twilight books which spurred my new reading obsession. I started to tell my sister that I've also had stories locked up in my head for a long time. She said "Whoa, Megan, you should write one of these." I tinkered with the idea, finally sat down and started writing one day. Four months later, I had my first novel. What. A. Blast!
ME: What has your experience been like self-publishing?

MH: So far, it's been great! I've had fun getting to know some of the readers, a TON of authors, and getting my feet wet. The great thing about self-publishing is, there is always time for anything. Meaning, I could publish, not publish. Set my own dates. Write as many or as little books in a year. But I also have to work on my own toward these goals. It's not totally alone. I have a great network of people backing me, and I have to say the people have it made it worth everything.
ME: What made you want to write New Adult?

MH: I started the New Adult adventure because I 1.) Have a severe case of Peter Pan Syndrome and would literally live in college if I could, and 2.) I saw a desperate lack of stories in that age category. There were a bazillion books about kids in high school, not so much in college. At the time (several years ago) it was taboo. Authors have since broken down those taboo walls big time. Now there is so much NA, we are swimming in it, which is just fine by me :)
ME: Where did the inspiration come from for Lila's story?

MH: Lila's story came to me as all of my stories too, in a half-awakened dream. It usually happens when I'm first waking up and a real dream becomes a scene, which usually later becomes a story. Lila's story was originally supposed to be a short story. She lives the two days, she wakes up, and she gets her answer. But I could not stop it there. You'll have to read to find out why!
ME: What was the hardest part about writing Bitter Angel?

MH: The hardest part was letting Lila get herself into certain situations. I was screaming at her, banging on the walls of my conscience, and she couldn't hear me. I admit writing the antagonists was fun but also hard. It's not often I get to write someone as evil as some of the characters in Lila's story, and I struggled with that at times. Because while Lila didn't have to be in their head, I sort of did. It was difficult. 

ME: What part did you love the most?
MH: The part I loved the most was all the action. Bitter Angel is a very plot-driven story, whereas most of my stories are character-driven. Writing the constant action was really fun, and of course seeing where Lila took me. There were a couple twists that even took me by surprise, and that is one of my favorite parts of writing any book.

ME: What project/s are you working on now?

MH: I'm working on an NA contemporary romance, very emotional and I'm super excited about it. This book has been a labor of love for a number of years, and I'm absolutely giddy to get it finished this final time.

ME: Because I always like to know... What are you reading right now?

MH: Sigh... I am reading nothing right now. Well, that's not totally true. I am helping a friend edit/beta her contemporary country romance that is super HOT and great! Other than this one exception, I am taking a break from reading to really concentrate and put my heart and soul into this next book. I'm buckling down and can't seem to fit the books in the seat with me, so I'm setting them aside for a short period of time. I am planning a catch up party for the summer. I have a feeling my summer reading list is going to be as thick as a novel ;)

Thanks so much for having me, Melanie!!

And a SUPER MASSIVE thank you to Megan for stopping by and answering my questions. You can find her at Megan Hand Writes and you can find Bitter Angel on Goodreads or just go ahead and buy it at Amazon or B&N. You should. Like right now. Because it's awesome.