Kelley McNeil
Author Interview - Kelley McNeil
Author of A Day Like This
What if everything you’ve ever loved, ever known, ever believed to be true…just disappeared?
Annie Beyers has everything—a beautiful house, a loving husband, and an adorable daughter. It’s a day like any other when she takes Hannah to the pediatrician…until she wakes hours later from a car accident. When she asks for her daughter, confused doctors tell Annie that Hannah never existed. In fact, nothing after waking from the crash is the same as Annie remembers. Five happy years of her life apparently never happened.
Annie’s marriage is coming to an end. Now a successful artist living in Manhattan, she’s no longer home in their beloved upstate farmhouse. Her long-estranged sister is more like a best friend, and her recently deceased dog is alive and well. With each passing day, Annie’s remembered past and unfamiliar present begin to blur. Haunted by visions of Hannah, and with knowledge of things she can’t explain, Annie wonders…is everyone lying to her?
The search for answers leads Annie down an illuminating path far from home, to reconcile the memories with reality and to discover the truth about the life she’s living.
Author Interview - Kelley McNeil
Author I draw inspiration from: I tend to look to David Nicholls, who is particularly inspiring in the way he crafts tight, contemporary dialogue. He has a rare ability to convey a remarkable amount of emotion and insight through the most perfectly chosen words. There are a few scenes in One Day that get me every time, with barely a sentence. I get a wonderfully rich sense of a character each time I read (or re-read) one of his books.
Author Interview - Kelley McNeil | Author I Draw Inspiration From
Favorite place to read a book: I love to settle in and nest when I read so that I can completely immerse myself in the story. It can be a comfy lounge outside with a warm breeze or in the perfect reading chair with a soft light. But with two kids and pets and a bustling household, more realistically, usually it's in bed with reading light clipped to my book, after everyone else has quieted down for the night.
Book character I’d like to be stuck in an elevator with: Dumbledore. I don't like elevators and he'd get us out in a blink.
Author Interview - Kelley McNeil | Book Character I’d Like to be Stuck in an Elevator With
The moment I knew I wanted to become an author: I had been tossing stories around in my head for years before I decided to see if I could turn one into a novel. I worked on it as a kind of hobby, but the moment I typed the words THE END for the first time, I was absolutely hooked. I knew in that instant that I wanted to be an author and make it a career.
Hardback, paperback, ebook or audiobook: I love to hold a paperback in my hands and get a sense of where I am in the story. Between my phone and my computer, I spend way too much time looking at screens and it feels good to look at words on actual paper. I also tend to pick flowers when I'm out and about, and press them into the pages of whatever I'm reading at the time. It's a fun little ritual that feels like a time capsule.
The last book I read: The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab. I was completely captivated. I also regularly have Julia Cameron's The Artist's Way, and The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz, closely on hand.
Author Interview - Kelley McNeil | The Last Book I Read
Pen & paper or computer: It's a combination of both, and I often go back and forth for awhile before going exclusively to the computer for the final draft. As the story is initially coming together in my head, I need the freedom I feel with a pen in my hand, letting it drift over the paper naturally until I suddenly look down and realize I've written pages and pages. It's a wonderful feeling. I have stacks of lined notepads filled to the brim with notes in the margins. But when it comes to re-writes and editing, I end up on the sofa with my legs stretched out beneath my laptop.
Book character I think I’d be best friends with: Matthew de Clairmont from A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness. Because of course this would be a platonic friendship right? (It would not.) He's always handy to have around in a pinch, knows his way around fashion, culture and wine, and has a pretty impressive list of friends, which could all be fun. I know he's killed thousands of people, but we all have baggage.
Author Interview - Kelley McNeil | Book Character I’d be Best Friends With
If I weren’t an author, I’d be a: I spent years trying to figure out the answer to this question. Fingers crossed I never have to again!
Favorite decade in fashion history: Regardless of the time period, whether it's the cafés of Paris in the 50s or the rock n roll streets of London from the 70s, any time a person is dressed as though they feel effortless and beautiful in their skin, something good is happening. I do feel particularly drawn to the 1920s though - everything about the fashion of that time was so flattering.
Place I’d most like to travel: I'd like to return to the Swiss and Austrian Alps and have the chance to spend more time there. Summertime, in particular, is breathtaking.
My signature drink: Infused gin when I'm feeling festive. Otherwise it's the much less exciting glass of green tinted, chlorophyll water that I sip all day.
Favorite artist: Whatever musician makes me lose myself in the moment
Number one on my bucket list: To live in another country for a good, long while.
Find more from the author:
Instagram: @kelleylmcneil
Author Bio: Kelley McNeil is the author of the upcoming Fall 2021 novel, A Day Like This. She worked in the entertainment industry, promoting concert tours and theatrical events prior to turning her full attention to writing. A native of Pittsburgh, she spent a number of years living in the Catskills region of New York. These days you can find her in South Florida most of the time and London the rest of the time – usually accompanied by good music, a good pen and her daughters bopping along nearby.
