I recently finished reading Brenna Ehrlich’s addictive teen novel Placid Girl. I want to tell you about it because she’s a friend, but even moreso because it’s good and even moreso because she made this happen.
I met with Brenna years ago to give her whatever advice I could muster about finding and dealing with agents. I talk to lots of people about this, because the word “agent” sounds kinda glamorous and people like hearing about how to get one, like hearing where you got your SodaStream or microsuede sofa. But she was one of the serious ones, which I knew even then, but have proof now: She didn’t just write a kick-ass book. She decided to start her own publishing company to put it out, All Ages Press.
I love people who just fucking do shit. They want something. They figure out how to do it. Then they do it.
This is rarer than one might think.
As hinted, I talk to a lot of people who claim to want to be writers or whatever. But they often don’t seem to like the work and rejection and etc. that come with that. I love seeing things come together for the rare others, the Brennas who put in the work to write the book and to get it out there.
Of course, this would be less exciting if it wasn’t a good book. But the Emo Teen inside of me just loved this one. It’s a moody mystery about Hallie, shy girl who’s a drummer in a band and obsessed with a mysterious, mask-wearing musician named Haze. Basically all hell breaks loose when she starts getting direct messages via an Instagram-like app from a guy who claims to be the reclusive Haze, and it becomes part road-trip adventure, part romance, and part gothic mystery.
You should check it out, and support people who do shit.