Curling Up With A Good Book: Rockstar Book Tours, Guest Post, & Giveaway: Summer Of Supernovas (Darcy Woods)

Tuesday, May 10, 2016

Rockstar Book Tours, Guest Post, & Giveaway: Summer Of Supernovas (Darcy Woods)

Title: SUMMER OF SUPERNOVAS

Author: Darcy Woods
Pub. Date: May 10, 2016
Publisher: Crown BFYR
Format: Hardcover, eBook

As the daughter of an expert astrologer, Wilamena Carlisle knows that the truth lies within the stars. So when she discovers a rare planetary alignment, she is forced to tackle her worst astrological fear – The Fifth House of Relationships and Love. But Wil must decide whether a cosmically doomed love is worth rejecting her mother’s legacy, when she falls for a sensitive guitar player hailing from the wrong side of the chart.

Debut author Darcy Woods explores love in all its complexities and how to best honor the loved ones who have passed before us, in a novel packed with both humor and heart.

Find it:

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iBooks | Goodreads

Young adult author Darcy Woods had three big loves in grade school: Reading, writing, and pizza day. Some things never change. She lives in Michigan with her madly supportive husband, two tuxedo cats (who overdress for everything) and a closet full of neatly organized shoes. Once upon a time, she served in a US Army aviation unit and threw live grenades. Now she throws words.

Darcy’s Golden Heart®-winning debut YA romance, SUMMER OF SUPERNOVAS, comes out from Random House/Crown May 10, 2016.

Meandering Toward Meant to Be

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

The question felt hostile. Unknowable. It made my palms sweat and my stomach sink like a stone. I contemplated pulling the fire alarm just to create a diversion. Because, hi. I was seventeen and had NO EARTHLY IDEA WHAT I WANTED TO BE WHEN I GREW UP. I had zero interest in adulting (still don’t). Nor could I get jazzed about the notion of getting up, day in and day out, like the Dunkin’ Donuts man to perform a mundane job that I didn’t have one iota of passion for.

And it reeeeeally didn’t help so many friends seemed to know what they wanted to do. They had clear visions for their future. I had a clear vision for lunch. That was seriously as far as my plan went. So what did I do?

I joined the Army.

(I’m third row down from top, second in from the right.)

Turns out refueling helicopters is not nearly as glamorous as it sounds. But that’s exactly

what I did for three years. My silver lining, of course, was that I got stationed in an aviation unit in Germany. GERMANY. Which meant I was eighteen and the continent of Europe was my oyster! Surely I’d know what to do with my life after all that international vagabonding and soul searching!

Yet . . . I didn’t.

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

Now the question inspired MASS PANIC and had me breathing into a paper bag. I decided maybe it was best not to fixate on what I wanted in a career, but more on what I didn’t. After a series of odd jobs, I concluded I did not want anything that required me to:

Scoop poop and carry it around in a bag like a carnival prize.
Wipe tiny tushies. In fact, anything involving feces was categorized as an insta-no.
Scrub pots that were literally the size of me.
Carry heavy stacks of medical records from one end of a rat-maze building to the other, without the promise of cheese.
Telemarket for Xerox. Because I do not have a blazing passion for copiers.

But I loved PEOPLE. So on a whim, I accepted a full-time position as the front desk manager at the Douglas J Aveda Institute (an educational center where people get trained to become licensed in hair and skincare services). Following a year of intense life experience in conflict resolution—because truly, hell hath no fury like a woman dissatisfied with her hair—I pursued my own license and became an esthetician and instructor. And for nearly two decades, I was content teaching and working in a spa.

So then, why did I still feel restless? I was happy enough. Loved my clients and where I worked. But something was . . . missing. What???

Five years ago, I got my answer when I sat down to write for the very first time. And since life has a rather circular way about it, the answer brought me back to the very question that had been haunting me from the dawn of time:

“What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I, Darcy Woods, want to be a YA author.

And miracle of miracles, that’s just what I did.

(Me holding a finished copy of my book for the first time! EEEEE!)

They say there are many paths to climb a mountain. For some of us, we end up trying out a lot of them until we find the road that takes us home. The road that leads us to what we are meant to be. And you know what? We are better for the journey, however winding.