Today, Tiffany McDaniel is #ontheblog talking about The Summer That Melted Everything (and no, she is not talking about the Mississippi heat wave 😉 plus giving away a SIGNED copy of her book! So, sit back and get ready to learn a bit more about Tiffany and if you want to check out some thoughts on her debut- Chelsea at The Suspense is Thrilling Me gave it 5 stars!
Interview with Tiffany McDaniel:
Photo Credit: Goodreads
Could you briefly describe your book?
The Summer that Melted Everything is about an eighty-four-year-old man named Fielding Bliss, who is looking back on his life during one summer in 1984 when he was thirteen-years-old and his father, Autopsy Bliss, invited the devil to their small town called Breathed, Ohio. Who answers the invitation ends up being a boy in overalls and bruises. This boy’s arrival comes the first day of a hell-hot heat-wave that carries through the entire course of the summer. This is not just a story about the heat, but a story of everything that melted in that heat. Family, friendships, innocence, and even lives. Puddles of all of these things melted down. That is what this story is. A man trying to survive ferrying these puddles, which to him have become oceans he must cross to once again find the bliss of his name.
Is your book based on personal experiences?
While the story itself is not inspired by personal experience, the landscape certainly is. The story takes place in the fictional town of Breathed, Ohio, which is a landscape very much inspired by my childhood summers and school year weekends spent in southern Ohio, where the hills roll, the creek strides in its own good time, and the roads are dirt laid and grass lined. That hilly acreage, front porch lifestyle, and southern twang has shaped me as a writer. Having spent my childhood summers down-home was like being one of the lizards crawling the screen door, one of the bullfrogs by the creek edge, one of the tall blades of grass in the field. Those memories of that place are in the book itself. In the way the fireflies fly, to the way the creek ripples at the dive of a gar. That southern culture and beauty has been the fuel to the explosion that is my craft.
What advice do you have for aspiring writers?
To never give up. I wrote my first novel when I was eighteen. I wouldn’t get a publishing contract until I was twenty-nine. So it was eleven years of rejection and fear I’d never be published. It’s a hard journey to get a foot in the publishing door. Especially when you write literary fiction, like I do. Publishers don’t want to take risks on literary fiction because it could be a financial loss as it’s not as lucrative as say genre or commercial fiction. I really believed I’d never get published. I know I’m so fortunate, about to see my book on the shelf for the first time. I feel for those writers still on the journey to publication. To them I say never, ever give up. Never turn your back on your dreams. You owe it to yourself to stay the course. It will happen for you. You will get that rocket ship ride into the stars one day. Believe it.
About Tiffany:
An Ohio native, Tiffany McDaniel’s writing is inspired by the rolling hills and buckeye woods of the land she knows. She is also a poet, playwright, screenwriter, and artist. The Summer that Melted Everything is her debut novel.
Want to know more about Tiffany? Check out her website!
*Have you added The Summer That Melted Everything to your Goodreads TBR?*
Giveaway:
Win Signed copy of The Summer That Melted Everything by Tiffany McDaniel (US only). Check the Rafflecopter for more details.
Happy Reading and Bookishly Yours,
T @ Traveling With T
Traveling With T 