The Bloom of Youth was, by far, the wackiest, most neurotic of my novels. But it was also the most enjoyable to write! While most of my books start off as a thrill to write, somewhere in the middle I find myself running out of steam or needing to rekindle my excitement about the story. This usually happens again towards the three-quarters mark, when I'm trying to tie the story all together and end all of the characters' arcs in a satisfying way. Point being, writing a novel is far from a stress-free process!
The Bloom of Youth was an exception. It was such a joy to mentally revisit my teenage years and weave those emotions and experiences into Will's story. I don't recall ever worrying about what to write next, or determining how Will might react to a certain situation. The entire process was smooth and organic, a much needed break from the high intensity events of the FLEE series and the slightly darker source material.
Revisiting Will's story in audiobook format has been similarly fun. Stepping back into his world has been a refreshing break from 2020, with its global pandemic, murderous insects, locust swarms, looming financial crises, endless series of natural (and not-so-natural) disasters, and freakish weather. Will's problems may be big in his mind, but they're nothing compared to all this, and right now that's exactly what I've been needing. So it's been fun!
Unfortunately though, for this particular audiobook I won't be uploading the entire thing to YouTube. Audible's guidelines are pretty strict, and they don't allow authors to share the full content on any other sites. (This also means I'll be taking down most of the chapters of the FLEE audiobook.) Still, I hope you enjoy this little snippet. And if so far you've been on the fence about picking up The Bloom of Youth, hopefully this'll give you a good sampling of what to expect. Enjoy!
