In 2019, we made it our goal is to work with as many debut authors as possible and to spread the word about their debut novels. It was such a success last year that we decided to continue the fun for years to come! Follow us this year as we pick the minds of the 2021 debuts and chat with them about their writing process and what it's like to be a new author. Also stay tuned for news of giveaways, Twitter chats, and more!
At the end of 2020, we Tweeted about wanting to discover more debut authors and their books. We ended up finding Kalena Miller and her novel THE NIGHT WHEN NO ONE HAD SEX, and we have been interested in it ever since! We even got the chance to read an ARC, and it was an absolute gem. We are so excited to have Kalena on the blog today to answer some of our questions!
Kalena Miller grew up in College Station, TX with her mom, dad, and the most photographed hamster in history. After high school, she moved a thousand miles north to attend Carleton College, where she graduated summa cum laude with a BA in Religious Studies. After a brief stint working as a paraeducator in Seattle, Kalena decided she missed school too much, so she spent the next two years pursuing her MFA in Creative Writing at Hamline University. Kalena currently lives in Hopkins, Minnesota with her husband, Kenny, and Toy Australian Shepherd, Toshley. She writes middle grade and young adult fiction and co-authors narrative nonfiction with her mom, Kathy Miller (check out her website here). She loves books that make her laugh and make her cry, preferably at the same time, and she firmly believes all quality novels should feature a cat.
The Book Bratz: First of all, congratulations! How does it feel to be a debut author?
Kalena: Thank you so much! It honestly feels unreal! I’m so grateful to have this opportunity to share my writing with readers across the country, and it’s still mind boggling when I imagine total strangers reading my words.
The Book Bratz: In your opinion, what's the best part of the writing process? What's the hardest?
Kalena: I absolutely adore first drafts, so staring at a blank piece of paper is the best part of the process for me. I love the feeling of endless possibilities and getting to experiment without deadlines or other issues influencing the process. For me, revising tends to be more difficult. Once I have a complete draft, my brain balks at the idea of messing it up because I’m overwhelmed by the prospect of putting it back together. This is when my tendency to procrastinate kicks in. Whenever it’s time to revise, you can probably find me cleaning my house instead.
The Book Bratz: Where did you get the idea for THE NIGHT WHEN NO ONE HAD SEX?
Kalena: I was in a writing workshop, and one of my mentors told me I was skilled at writing sex scenes. I was so excited that I really ran with that compliment and started writing a book comprised entirely of sex scenes (as a joke). Well, it turns out that I enjoyed the characters and stories I was creating, so I backtracked to work on necessities like plot and momentum. The rest is history!
The Book Bratz: Who was your favorite character to write? Who was the most difficult?
Kalena: Julia was the first POV I started writing, and she remains my favorite probably. I love her humor, her zany non sequiturs, and the earnestness with which she approaches the sex pact. I also think her voice is most similar to mine, so I could really channel my own energy in her sections. The most difficult character to write was Alex. Those chapters have a slightly more serious tone due to the seriousness of his storyline, which didn’t come quite as naturally to me. This was also the furthest I’ve written outside of my own cultural experiences and my first time writing a male protagonist, so both of those things challenged me as a writer as well.
The Book Bratz: What surprised you the most about the publishing process?
Kalena: How long everything takes!! Actually, the turnaround from this project being acquired to publication day was much faster than most people’s experiences, but it still felt like forever ago that I started writing this book. I think as writers, we get used to doing everything on our own schedules, but once there’s a whole company involved and a billion different voices and meetings, the publishing process slows down a lot.
The Book Bratz: What do you hope that readers will take away from THE NIGHT WHEN NO ONE HAD SEX?
Kalena: Honestly, I just hope readers have a good time. This is a fun, light-hearted book, and I really hope I’ve created a story that provides people an enjoyable escape from whatever is happening in their lives. For teens reading my book, I want them to be reassured that it’s perfectly okay to feel overwhelmed and directionless. There’s all this pressure on high school seniors to plan the next forty years of their life, but that’s just not realistic. Climb on top of a roof. Have (safe) sex with your partner. Buy a gazillion pop-tarts. It’s okay to take a breath and enjoy where you are now.
The Book Bratz: Do you plan on returning to the world of THE NIGHT WHEN NO ONE HAD SEX in the future, or do you have any other projects in mind? Can you tell us anything about them?
Kalena: I don’t plan on returning to this world—at least there’s nothing in the works, but I won’t say never. However, I’m so excited to have a middle grade book coming out in the spring of 2023 with Delacorte. The story is about a middle schooler living with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder who’s thrust into the spotlight during a theatrical production of The Sound of Music. There’s friendship drama, family angst, and so many musical theatre references.
Title: The Night When No One Had Sex
Author: Kalena Miller
Publisher: Aw Teen
Publication Date: October 12th, 2021
Summary: It's the night of senior prom, and eighteen-year-old Julia has made a pact with her friends. (Yes, that kind of pact.) They have secured a secluded cabin in the woods, one night without parental supervision, and plenty of condoms. But as soon as they leave the dance, the pact begins to unravel. Alex's grandmother is undergoing emergency surgery, and he and his date rush to the hospital. Zoe's trying to figure out how she feels about getting off the waitlist at Yale--and how to tell her girlfriend. Madison's chronic illness flares, holding her back once again from being a normal teenager. And Julia's fantasy-themed role play gets her locked in a closet. Alternating between each character's perspective and their ridiculous group chat, The Night When No One Had Sex finds a group of friends navigating the tenuous transition into adulthood and embracing the uncertainty of life after high school.
Thank you so much to Kalena for stopping by and answering our questions! We absolutely adored reading THE NIGHT WHEN NO ONE HAD SEX (you can read our review here), and it's out in the world now for you to enjoy! Plus, that's not all -- until 10/24, we're giving away our ARC on our Twitter!
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