251: JJ Elliott- Author of There Are No Rules For This

 This week's guest is JJ Elliott (There are No Rules For This, She Writes Press, May 2023). We discuss how a family tragedy formed the backdrop for this debut which JJ wrote to challenge herself rather than with an eye to being published, how picking up a random book to read led her to a retreat that reawakened her love of writing, how she resisted the lure of big-name publishers who wanted to change her core message, why she changed her initial title, and how this last year has been one of saying "yes" to unexpected and serendipitous marketing opportunities, including a mention in Katie Couric's newsletter. JJ Elliott's debut novel, There Are No Rules For This, is the winner of two Zibby Awards—Best Book for Best Friends and Best Book That Made You Cry. It was also a finalist in Best New Fiction in the International Book Awards.    Elliott lost her mother to suicide as a teenager, and spent over two years volunteering on the suicide hotlines in LA. One of the reasons she wanted to write her novel is because she is increasingly frustrated by the way suicide is treated in print and on-screen, as a mystery to be solved rather than a multi-layered, complex mental health situation that can rarely be boiled down to one specific "reason." A native of Northern California, JJ now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her husband, two teenage kids, and two poorly trained bulldogs. She loves to read, drink wine, play tennis, and eat cheese.   To learn more about JJ, click here.