Give us the elevator pitch for Somewhere in Nowhere.

When a closeted sixteen-year-old is overcome with increasingly intense panic attacks, he must face a dark secret inside before he loses his chance with the boy he loves — and somehow survive senior year, a new school, and a rescue cat with opinions.

What inspired you to write this book?

When I decided to write a novel, I knew immediately that it had to be a classic LGBTQ+ coming-of-age story about a boy dealing with mental health challenges. I also knew I wanted it to be in the vein of Judy Blume, who wrote my favorite books as a child.

On my twenty-first birthday, I experienced my first panic attack. I've experienced panic attacks on and off most of my adult life. After several years of relief, they returned worse than ever, catching me completely off guard. I was in the throes of these attacks when I decided to write Somewhere in Nowhere. The story is fiction, but what the main character, Simon, goes through was exactly what I was feeling and experiencing. I would be up all night with crippling anxiety and panic, and then, in the morning, I would lay my experiences bare on the page.

How did you come to writing fiction after a career as a songwriter?

The seed was planted while I was attending the Gaithersburg Book Festival. As I passed The Writer's Center booth, someone asked if I was a writer. When I said no, they probed further, asking what I did for a living. When I replied, "singer-songwriter," they said, "You're a writer. It's in your title." It was a light bulb moment for me.

When the pandemic wiped out my work as a performing musician, I remembered that conversation from the year before. I thought, well, this is the time. I put the kettle on and sat down to write the novel. I did this every day until I finished.

How does your songwriting background inform the way you write fiction?

I thought it would be different, but I've come to realize the creative process is very much the same. The tools are what change. I trade my guitar and ukulele for my laptop and a pot of tea. Both require sitting down in a comfortable place — surrounded by my dogs and cat — and accessing the creative part of my brain. One comes out as a melody, and one comes out as prose.

In one form, you have to say a lot in a small amount of time, using very few words and letting the music amplify mood, texture, and feeling. In the other, you have more space for rich detail and emotion, but it's harder to make people feel something through the written word alone.

What do you hope readers — especially queer teens — take away from this book?

I hope their takeaways are similar to the ones I had as a child reading Judy Blume's books. Found family, acceptance, tackling difficult topics head-on, and yes, it's really true what they say — things really do get better. I hope this book, and these characters, feel like a friend to queer kids everywhere. I hope they know they are so loved.

Why does representation in books matter to you personally?

We all deserve to see ourselves represented in books, especially now, when libraries and schools are under attack and book bans are gaining traction everywhere. There are trans kids, ace kids, kids with different religions and backgrounds who need to know they're not alone and that it's okay to be different. Everyone needs to feel seen, and books are the perfect way to make that happen.

I will never forget the first time I walked into Lambda Rising bookstore in Washington, DC. I was a nineteen-year-old kid, just coming out, and it was like going to Disneyland. Everything in the store was queer. I spent hours browsing those shelves in awe.

What's next?

I recently turned in the manuscript for my second novel to my agent. And I really love this book. In writing Somewhere in Nowhere, I found my voice writing stories where the dark meets the light. I love giving readers all the feels. My second novel takes that up several notches. You'll laugh and cry, even harder, the second go around. I've also started writing book three.

All three books are stand-alone novels and can be read separately. But if read together, they are connected by sharing the same world, and minor characters cross over from story to story.