Prior to working in the archive, I was a children’s librarian and I knew all the kids that were like me, the ones that beeline straight for the Goosebumps. I have wondered about this before I started writing Ghost Girl, and while editing Ghost Girl and now that my book is out, I’m still thinking about it. Or in the library, same book in hand, a teacher giving me a cocked eyebrow and a sidelong look. Anxiety was descending.Īnd once again I was whisked through time back to the halls of my school, clutching my tattered copy of Scary Stories to tell in the Dark, teased by the other kids in the hall. “Yes,” I said, my voice a pitch higher as the tips of my fingers started to tingle. Her face wrinkled in surprise that then deepened into disgust. What do you write? My lizard brain blurted out the same thing I say all the time, not even thinking it would elicit a response. It was almost like I couldn’t stop myself. To say I was excited to meet her was an understatement.

But let’s just say that this biographer happened to write one of my favorite books about one of my favorite writers. I work in a research library and one day we had an appointment with a well-known biographer.

It had been over a month and to say I was getting antsy would be an understatement. Back in January 2020 Ghost Girl, my debut novel, had been accepted but we were waiting on contract stuff to finalize before the announcement was made. It’s fine to tell family and all but you aren’t supposed to go on Twitter and scream about it as much as you’d like to. For instance, you’re really not supposed to talk about your book being accepted for publication before the Publisher’s Weekly announcement. Let’s start at the beginning, shall we? One of the things a lot of people might not know about publishing is that it involves secrets. I froze, shame flooding me, coloring my cheeks, tightening my throat. “I would never let my children read that.”

Ghost Girl by Ally Malinenko