Author Interview: Amy Peterson: Part One

Morning Everyone,

    Hope everyone had a great weekend and are starting the week with a bang. To make your week a little more interesting I have an Author Interview staring Amy Peterson the author of From Zero to Four Kids in Thirty Seconds

The book is quite humorous and is available on Amazon here.

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Kindly introduce yourself to the blog audience.

I am the stepmother of four kids, wife of an obsessed fisherman, caretaker of over a dozen fuzzy pets, author, blogger, grant manager, photographer and outdoor nut. I blog at amylpeterson.com about nature, pets and life, most of which are light hearted and filled with photos. My book From Zero to Four Kids in Thirty Seconds was published as an e-book on Amazon.com in late December and I’ve been marketing every since. The paperback version will be available on Amazon the week of March 4. A wonderful review of my book was posted by veteran reviewer Joy V. Smith on The New Book Review on February 12—she likened my work to Erma Bombeck. Quotes from Joy’s review and a few others are on my new landing page here 

Tell us a little more about your book and about what prompted you to write the book? 

From Zero to Four Kids in Thirty Seconds is my humorous story of becoming a stepmom to four kids, ages three, five, 13 and 15. I wrote it because some of the other books about becoming stepmoms are as uplifting as lead balloons, or downright scary. My casual writing style is intended to invite people to get to know me as I show what it’s like to dive in head first without a clue what I was getting into. I also use fun chapter titles and include 70 tips which are humorous and helpful. Consider Tip #11: If your first meeting with the children doesn’t go well, rest assured it won’t be the last thing that won’t go well.

You went from Zero to Four Kids in Thirty Seconds. How was it? Give us your comment on the same? 

It was overwhelming and wonderful and stressful and a lot to adjust to and worth every moment. The kids were great: the two youngest (at three and five) were adorable and always excited to see me, and they didn’t seem to care that I didn’t know how to transform a Transformer or change a diaper on a doll (I was a bit of a tomboy growing up). The two older kids were teenagers and they were very good kids, too, though typical teenagers. Consider Tip #22: A teenager can say “I love you, I hate you, you’re cool, you suck,” in one breath to the same person. And mean every word.

Have you ever seriously considered duct taping them all together and sending them out so that you can have a moment’s peace? Kindly elaborate. 

Great question! Chapter 9 of my book is called “Can’t We Just Duct Tape Them Together and Send Them Outside?” and it shows the fun of having four kids in a small apartment for the month of July. To get some peace and quiet, I took up rollerblading to escape for a while. That lasted about a week—until my beau found rollerblades for the kids at a garage sale. Even as I sought ways to find some time for myself, though, I didn’t think seriously about duct taping them together, any more than we would have carried through with the threat of strapping them naked to a flag pole if they whined about the used bikes we bought them at an auction. You’ll see that in Chapter 12: “So Nice Not to Meet You,” which is about dealing with ex-spouses and financial inequity.

What do your kids say about the book? Are they all enthusiastic about it? Especially what do the teenagers say? 

The book’s epilogue shares that the kids are all grown up now—the youngest is 22 and will graduate from college in April. So part of what I think my book offers is that the kids all “survived” me being their stepmom, which gives it some credibility. I think the kids would all be thrilled for me if the book became a bestseller. Or even a close-to-best seller. Or even if I sold enough copies to break even.

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NOTE From Amy Peterson:

It’s Read an E-book Week March 4-9. Check out From Zero to Four Kids in Thirty Seconds on Amazon.com.

     Hope you all enjoyed reading about Ms. Amy Peterson. Kindly drop-in by her blog and let her know the same. Visit back tomorrow for the rest of the interview.

with warm regards

Abhishek Boinapalli