Episode 89: Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz; Fade Into the Bright

Jessica Koosed Etting and Alyssa Embree Schwartz are the authors of Fade Into the Bright, a Young Adult fiction book that was released in April. The novel is all about an 18 year old, Abby, who found out her estranged father is dying from a rare degenerative genetic disease called Huntington’s Disease. This gives Abby and her sister a 50% chance of testing positive for the gene. The book follows Abby after she flees to Catalina Island after testing positive.  May is Huntington’s Disease Awareness Month and Jessica and Alyssa are hoping to raise awareness for Huntington’s Disease through this book. In this episode, they share about the book stacks that some of their readers have created to raise awareness and money for Huntington’s.  Jessica and Alyssa have a great story about the inspiration behind writing Fade Into the Bright and you’ll hear about that in this episode. You’ll also hear about how they work together on all of their writing projects, pursuing their dreams of becoming authors, some of their favorite books to read, the writing process, and so much more! This episode is hosted by Emma Benner. What we talked about: 2:50- Introduction to Jessica and Alyssa 3:30- How Jessica and Alyssa met 5:20- Where their dreams for becoming authors came from 6:55- How they started working together on all of their writing projects and some of the projects that they have worked on 13:35- Their recently released book, Fade into the Bright 16:55- How writing this book has changed their perspective on life 20:05- The inspiration behind writing this book and their goal to bring awareness for Huntington’s Disease 24:00- The research that went into writing this book 24:55- The writing and publishing process 27:00- The process of writing a book together 29:30- The draw to writing young adult fiction 31:10- What’s next and the projects that they are working on 31:50- What a book release day looks like 33:35- The responses that they have gotten from the book and the Instagram challenge that is happening for Huntington’s Disease Awareness 36:15- How their writing process has changed since they have moved apart from each other 38:50- Where you can find Fade into the Bright 39:20- End of podcast questions Show notes: Book recommendations: These Women by Ivy Pochoda Win by Harlan Coben The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah Memorial by Bryan Washington Missoula by Jon Krakauer Untamed by Glennon Doyle Jessica and Alyssa’s Website Jessica and Alyssa on Instagram Jessica and Alyssa on Facebook #StacksforHDAwareness Huntington’s Disease Society for America CASA Follow The Illuminate Podcast: Illuminate Podcast on Instagram Illuminate Podcast on Twitter Illuminate Podcast on Facebook Follow Sandyboy Productions: Sandyboy Productions on Twitter Sandyboy Productions on Instagram