Debut Launch Day: I Never Knew I Needed You is out now!

When I was in my twenties, I wanted to be a writer; I wanted to make movies, and I wanted to tell stories. Sometimes, I did, just never to anyone outside my close circle, and more often than not, I kept a lot of my imagination inside my head. I used to tell myself that someday I’d have something, anything, published, official… real.

Those of you who know me know that I can be, well, a bit of a talker… the problem is that my brain works faster than my mouth does, and often, the words can come out a mess. I needed to rein it in, focus, and tell the story that I had been banging around in my head for far too long. My problem was I didn’t know how. I had so many incomplete, half-baked tales that seemed way bigger than my ability. I struggled to find a writing style and voice that matched my gift of gab. So, I quit.

After I gave up writing, my mind continued to race around the world that I wanted to create and the characters living in it. I couldn’t shake them. I had to suck it up and figure out a way to unleash the storyteller within my heart.

One of the best things about having a teenager is revisiting some of the old movies and TV shows from my youth. When Lauren became obsessed with The Outsiders after spending a summer living in The Eras Tour universe with James, Betty, and Inez, it hit me.

I love the cheesy and cliché, romantic coming-of-age stories from my youth; truth be told, I haven’t found something that hit the same notes that I loved. This would be my style, with a twist.

So, I stopped fantasizing about someday being an artist and put away the “I’ll do it later” mantra I had lived with for the last two decades and over the course of many late autumn nights watching Pac-12 football; I finally created something that a younger Andy would enjoy.

With that, I am both proud and terrified to share that my first novel is available for pre-order now with an official release on May 5th.

Thanks for reading! Andy