Debut You is an interview feature on Our Stories Matter blog. Debut authors, who have released or have upcoming releases in 2021, are given five questions to answer about themselves and their book. Currently, the questions are the same for all authors. We hope you enjoy getting to know Joya Goffney and can offer your support.
Describe yourself in five words, then expound on one of them.
Impatient, anxious, attentive, creative, and quiet.
I’m quiet when I’m outside my comfort zone. When I’m around people who aren’t my family or very close friends, I don’t talk much, and when I do, I’m very soft-spoken, delicate, and sweet. But when I am at home, I am loud. I am rambunctious. I am annoying.
Explain your book’s journey—how long did it take—from idea to publication?
Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry took about three years to be published. I wrote it while querying another work. The book I was querying at the time was very dark and draining. Ugly Cry was like a breath of fresh air. It took me about a year to complete before I started querying in 2019. It’s crazy—my current agent was only the second agent I queried. She responded the same day! We went on submission a couple of months later and got our deal about a month after that. It all happened very fast, and I’m still reeling.
Balance is the key to successful living. How do you balance the act of writing with other priorities, such as your job, family or fun activities, and self-care?
Like Quinn, I love lists. I love lists, schedules, planners, and calendars. I still haven’t mastered balance in my life, but I feel my most sane when I set aside time for yoga, time for journaling before bed, time for cleaning my house, and time for (virtual) movie night with friends. I love to write, but when I neglect my other priorities for writing, I stop feeling human and start to feel more like a machine.
Understanding your audience is essential. What do you know for sure about the audience you are writing for?
I write for teens. I know for sure that teenagehood is a tumultuous time for everyone. It is a time for identity building, social learning, losing friends, and finding love. I write stories about these daunting new challenges and show how my characters overcome them.
Tell us about your book:
Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is about a chronic list-maker named Quinn who loses her list journal and is blackmailed into completing a to-do list of her worst fears. In order to track down the blackmailer, she teams up with Carter Bennett—the last known person to have her journal. Together they journey through everything Quinn’s been too afraid to face, and along the way, Quinn finds the courage to be honest, to live in the moment, and to fall in love.
Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry was inspired by experiences from my life. My current romance started out like Quinn’s. I wrote a list of all the things I was too afraid to do, and my guy was the only person I felt comfortable sharing that list with. He encouraged me to face my fears, just like Carter, and along the way, our initial animosity towards each other morphed into irrevocable love. Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry is romantic and swoony and cute, but it doesn’t shy away from heavier topics like race, grief, and identity. For a chance to win a free copy, email jgoffneybooks@gmail.com!
Joya Goffney grew up in New Waverly, a small town in East Texas. In high school, she challenged herself with to-do lists full of risk-taking items like “hug a random boy” and “eat a cricket,” which inspired her debut novel. With a passion for Black social psychology, she moved out of the countryside to attend the University of Texas in Austin, where she still resides.
Excuse Me While I Ugly Cry
HarperTeen | May 4, 2021 | YA | 368 Pages | Amazon | Bookshop | IndieBound
Connect with Joya Goffney
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