Shoulder Pads & High Hair – Yes, it’s the 80′s!

This blog post first appeared on Selena Robins Musings.

Selena Robins welcomes Kame Book Reviewer who is tag-teaming with me to interview author, Laura Kennedy.

About Laura Kennedy:

Growing up in Minneapolis, Laura Kennedy was molded by a mother who wrote and sold two romance stories a month for over thirty years. Longing to be a movie star, Laura realized by the time she could tie her shoe laces she’d wanted to be a writer, too. By her early twenties, Laura was living in California, was married, had a baby, and was flat broke, the perfect Petri dish for a writing career. Borrowing her mother’s portable typewriter, she concocted her first romance story in five days resulting in her first sale, creating what has been often called a quirky, humorous, easy style she sprinkles like paprika into everything she writes.

About Kame Book Reviewer:

Kame is a wife, mom of two and a professor. She loves to read books from Christian Fiction to Steamy Romances and is a guest book reviewer. Kame has read and reviewed Laura Kennedy’s, SEE MOMMY RUN. You can follow Kame on Twitter and join in her twitter fun.

About Selena Robins:

Genre-defying, witty, humorous, suspenseful, romantic and sexy— words used to describe Selena’s novels. A self-professed foodie and chocolate guru, Selena loves to dance with her dog, sing into her hairbrush and write in her PJ’s. In love with her family, friends, books, laughter, hockey, lively discussions and red wine (sometimes all at the same time).

Selena is a dragon slayer who enjoys reading and writing sassy heroines and hot heroes (the ones your mamma warned you about, but secretly wished she’d dated a few in her life).

The Interview

KAME: Selena, I want to thank you for this opportunity to interview Laura with you. Laura, I read your book in one sitting, but thought about it for days after. Did you know when you wrote it that it would stir such strong feelings among the people who read it?

Laura: Although I’m loathe to admit it, that’s when I was raising my teenagers–three girls and a boy. Of course, I was a child bride. Ha ha. Actually, my target audience was any woman who could identify with Margie. Initially a publisher was interested, but it ended up a no go. One agent said he couldn’t imagine anyone leading such a hellish life. Obviously, he was single and living in a pent house in New York. I intentionally kept the story in the 1980′s as I think the story would have been harmed if I’d changed decade.

KAME: Mike and Margie have two delinquent daughters. Was it a conscious choice for their children to be girls? Could this have been the same story if they were boys?

Laura: Hmm. I don’t think the story would have been the same if they had been boys. All the characters are fictitious, but my two oldest daughters were definitely my inspiration. They acted like unmitigated hell, but I’m happy to say they’re both wonderful, successful women today.

KAME: I want to avoid spoilers, so I will be a little vague. The people Margie meets and make up part of her life in San Francisco are very diverse. I sort of see them as each helping Margie develop a part of herself. Why did you choose the people you did as her new friends?

Laura: I think I can mention Randy without giving anything away. Although when beginning this book, I had no idea he’d spring full-grown into my consciousness. Moving Margie to San Francisco and not encountering the large gay population would have been unrealistic. As for other characters, I needed a female character as a sounding board for Margie, hence Ginger. As for Mr. Ass hole, Quinn, we’ve all known men like him. But, as a reader pointed out, he has lovable characteristics too, making him, hopefully, a three-dimensional character.

KAME: My last question. I felt at the end of the book that we have not seen the last of Margie; are you planning a sequel of some sort?

Laura: The idea of a sequel to See Mommy Run never entered my mind until recently. I recently was a guest at a book club and I was asked the same question. At this point I’m not sure. Is it better to leave Margie’s future to the reader’s imagination or I could writeSee Margie Run, Redux.

Selena: Thanks again for visiting us, Laura. How about those 1980′s fashion trends. Which ones do you wish would come back? (Please don’t let her say stir-ups or parachute pants).

Laura: Jumpsuits with shoulder pads, my favorite! I also remember big hair and big earrings. I used to go out dancing and boy did I think I was hot.

Selena: Favorite 1980’s girl band?

Laura: The Supremes. Actually, they were more ’60s and ’70s. As for guy bands, I loved Journey, The Eagles, Chicago and the Doobie Brothers.

Selena: Celebrity crush?

Laura: Since it would be indecent for me to have a crush on stars barely out of puberty, I would have to say Matthew McCouaughey. Even he’s too young.

Selena: If Hollywood came knocking, who would you cast as Marge? Mike? The Twins? Quinn? Randy?

Laura: If only they would. I always thought Meg Ryan would be a great Margie, but she’s probably a teeny bit too old now. Mike would be have to be someone funny like Matthew or Owen Wilson. As for the Bobbsey Twins (who are Irish twins since they’re really a-year-and-a-half apart), I’m not up on teen actors (they don’t call them actresses anymore). Kim would have to be a someone who could act wily and relatively mature; Molly would be more babyish and impressionable. Quinn must be hot! English actor Ed Westwick, who plays Chuck Bass on Gossip Girl, would be fabulous, but he’s a little young. But then, by the time the movie was made, he’d be just right. Randy would have to be gorgeous, too, since everyone falls for Randy.

Selena: Tell us about your next book.

Laura: I’m in the process of rewriting a couple final scenes in my newest Chick Lit novel, titled: Affairs and Fibs. When I announced the title, several writer friends (female) protested. Now I’m rethinking. Maybe your readers can help me out. My new novel is a contemporary story about a thirty-nine-year-old wife and mother who has an affair with a gorgeous twenty-four-year-old Greek guy. It’s set against the background of Coral Cove, Florida, an imaginary sponge fishing town. It’s a light read that will hopefully give readers a few laughs. It seems I’m not capable of writing anything too heavy.

Selena: Laura, thank you for walking down the 1980′s memory lane and or sharing your writing journey. Good luck with your next book and I will ask the readers to help you out with a title for your new book.

KAME: Thank you again, Selena, for letting me join you on this interview, this has been a lot of fun. I also want to thank RomanceMan for asking me to write the review for SEE MOMMY RUN . I rediscovered my love of reading and I love to talk about books. The Romance Man’s Blog is my favorite place to go talk about books.

Romance Man is funny and he supports woman’s causes, including ovarian cancer research. You can contribute to this cause by shopping through the Amazon search box on his website. They receive a small percentage and donate all the proceeds to ovarian cancer research.