A 90 DAY DATING GUIDE TO LONG-LASTING LOVE

my brain until I can find the time to get them out. I’ll go to other writers or readers to get ideas on how to shape the story, character, or world to suit the audience, but the stories seriously just take up shelf space in my head until I can purge them. The way I see it - if stories spontaneously conceive inside me, it’s my decision and almost a duty to bring them to life and share them with the world; what the world does with them after they exist is of no consequence to me, I did my part.

How do you define your preferred genre to work within?

This is going to come across as strange, but my preferred genre to write in for fiction is actually... time travel! I have grand ideas and storylines inside me that need more time and attention and skill then I currently have. The books I’ve published so far are all just the warm-up, if you will, to who I really want to be as a writer. I’ve enjoyed everything I’ve done so far, but none of them are my preference, they are the practice to get me to where I want to be. My current work, (working title of The Big Y) will be the closest I’ve gotten so far to it, but I’m still getting there.

Your new book, UNF*CKABLE!, seems to be a bit of a departure from previous books. Tell us about the inception of this book and the format/concept?

This question is a perfect segue for the previous one. UNF*CKABLE! is one part strategy, one part memoir for mid-life dating in this day and age. It came about because I found myself unexpectedly single at the end of my thirties. I didn’t want to be single but didn’t want to leave too much up to time, chance and feelings so I studied dating to figure out how to attract and get the right guy for me in the shortest amount of time possible. My husband and I have been married five years now, so I felt the strategy had long-lasting merit and I wanted to try my hand at non-fiction anyway. I suppose I stepped into non-fiction with UNF*CKABLE! for the same reason I’m “practicing” with other fiction genres. I have grand plans for an intense non-fiction series someday but before I can do it justice, I need to get plain old non-fiction down first. There will be a follow-up book,

UNF*RGETTABLE, to help me further hone my non-fiction skills and also share our strategy for saving monthly memories to keep a relationship thriving.

It seems like you did quite a bit of research on the dating app world. Talk about that, and about the research aspect of working on any of your books. I did TONS of research for UNF*CKABLE! Way back in 2015 when I found myself reluctantly single I started looking into dating in this day and age and used the information for my sole dating purposes. I am a data geek and science nerd. I love statistics and psychology. I knew enough to know that physical attraction clouds rational thinking. I wanted to make as rational a decision as I could to find a lifelong partner this time around in the most time-effective way. I did a lot of research into attraction, human preference, and relationship longevity. I followed dating gurus, read relationship books, employed my personal faith and beliefs and developed a pretty strict set of rules to date men by. It worked remarkably well so I wanted to present my findings, if you will, to the population at large. In order to best present my findings, I dug in again to research dating, attraction, and relationships, as I wrote UNF*CKABLE! to further support my previous research and provide a broader application of the strategies I used.

A lot of people will be trying their hand at long form writing this November for NaNoWriMo - what words of advice would you offer someone just starting out?

The best advice I can give to anyone jumping into NaNoWriMo is to have a story idea in mind before November begins. Start thinking about what you will write now. Envision the end! Whatever the start or middle is, know your end, or at least have a really, really good idea of how the story ends. Get your mind ready and excited and FULL of ideas you’re bursting at the seams to get out. Then when November comes, write to the end, that way if you get stuck in a scene, you can put a pin in it, and reroute yourself to the end. Don’t worry about editing or creative crafting during the month of November, concern yourself with getting the words, characters, ideas and story out and drive them as best as you can to the end. You can fine-tune and refine it later after you have the end.

If writing to the end doesn’t get you 50,000 words, go back and puff up the arcs and characters, probably those “sticky” scenes worked themselves out as you got to the end, so go back and buff them up to fit the end. Still looking for words? Give yourself permission to play in the world you’ve been imagining, don’t just assume people know how the world works, immerse them in it. I’m big on detail. I feel like little details make characters and worlds come to life in big ways - and they take up lots of words! If you’re a “skinny” writer, fill up on detail; add color, texture, smell, and all the things our senses crave, to build up that word count and make your story more robust.

Any release parties/signings or in-person events coming up?

We’ve had so much fun launching UNF*CKABLE! We had a brunch at Weed’s cafe in Cashmere, and a celebration at the Bowling Alley in East Wenatchee where my husband and I actually met. There will be one more event at the Buzz Inn in East Wenatchee on their ladies night Wednesday, October 26th. I’ll be there to sign any purchased books and they’ll be giving away one of my books... or maybe more depending on how much I have to drink... Of course if you buy a book from me that night, your drink is on me. Otherwise, my books are available online exclusively through Amazon. You can also find most of them at Ye Olde Bookshoppe in Wenatchee or A Book For All Seasons in Leavenworth.

Any genre or topic you would love to cover but have not yet tackled? Yeah... time travel! I’m coming for it!

Website: lucyhdelaney.com/ SM Links: Facebook.com/LucyHDelaneyAuthor instagram.com/lucyhdelaney/ Brand New on TikTok: @lucyhdelaney C