Zoe McKnight's Blog

My debut novel, LIVING IN GLASS HOUSES, is going on a book blog tour! When I tell people this they smile and say congratulations or they like my FB status and some have even re-tweeted my message, but most people have no idea what it even is. A couple of months ago neither did I. But I’ve since done my homework and explored the benefits with some of my fellow writer folks and have decided to get my book blog feet wet.

So, what is it? It’s basically a virtual form of a traditional book tour, but rather than traveling from bookstore to bookstore ( which is something I’d still love to do), you travel from blog to blog. Bloggers read your book, then either feature your novel on their site, write a review, conduct an interview or all of the following. The tour consists of several ‘stops’ on a designated number of blogs over a week’s time or more.

My tour was coordinated via Chicklitplus.com and is scheduled for October. It will include ten blog-stops as well as some guest blog posts and interviews. I’m in no rush for the summer to be over, but excited for the tour. I’ll keep you posted!

Jonathan. My inspiration for Jonathan Moore was not any one man (or woman) I know. I see a lot of him in many people. Now, in case you haven’t finished the book yet, don’t worry. This wont be a spoiler. But his character’s dilemma begs discussion. Should you ever settle?
I know. The word has a bad connotation. It somehow implies that you’ve accepted less than, that you’ve undervalued your worth, that you’ve folded your hand on the assumption the dude sitting across from you at the poker table (the one wearing the dark shades) has a better hand. Sometimes he does. Sometimes he doesn’t, but your decision to call, raise or fold is based on the unknown. Along the same vane, people date and marry based on the unknown, based on assumptions. Not just on the assumption that this person will love, honor and cherish you, but that they are the best you can do. It sounds a bit harsh, but that’s the real of it.
We all start off in life with pipe dreams of meeting that perfect someone who will complete us. The one who will measure up to all of our criteria. But as time goes on, our list gets shorter and non-negotiable become negotiable. It begins to sound something like this. He has to be tall, at least 6’2”. Soon enough you just hope that you’re not taller than him in your heels. He needs to earn six figures. Okay, okay five figures will do as long as his credit is good. Oh, and he should have an advanced degree. A few years later, you’re just happy he knows the difference between where and wear. The list goes on. One day you wake up in bed next to the guy you wouldn't even give your number to during happy hour. Why? Because your waistline is no longer 26 inches and the corner office you just knew would one day be yours is still just a spacious cubicle with a view. And, most significant of all, your eggs are running low.
So, in light of this you pare down your list and start to believe what your old Aunt Madge told you last Thanksgiving when you admitted that you were still single. “You young people are too damn picky . . . ” she chastised as you watch her husband belch and scratch himself at the dinner table.
Picky? Yes some people are just that. I was always told to think before you speak, practice what you preach and never ever throw stones in a glass house. But if you do have your house in order, do you have the right to be picky? Statistics would indicate that many people are. According to the U.S. Census Bureau only about half of the American population is currently married, compared to seventy-percent in 1960. Folks are tossing aside old Aunt Madge’s advice and waiting it out. Waiting to meet the best of the best. Yet, there are many who subscribe to the ‘she’ll / he’ll have to do’ philosophy. I hear statements like: ‘She treats me well. He’s a good person. She’ll do anything for me. He will be a good father’. And in the same way that some arranged marriages ultimately work; some of these relationships (those based more on logic than emotion) do work out in the end.
What’s your opinion? Should you stick to your guns and wait for HIM or HER or opt for the one who is good enough?

It’s been a long time coming. In a matter of days my debut novel, Living in Glass Houses, will be available for sale. This is a project I began several years ago. What started as unorganized notes I jotted down based one of the thousand what if’s which had swirled through my mind. One of the things I’ve learned in my thirty-something years is that people come in three categories. Picture the proverbial bell curve we all learned about in 10th grade math. If you don’t remember its that graph which looks like an upside down U. It’s graph that plots the distribution of data. In its simplest terms and as it relates to people, it holds that more people are alike than not. Most of us are accounted for in the peak of that curve and on the tail ends of either side, you will find small amounts of people who are the extremes. We are more alike than we are not.
There are some really evil bastards out there, not many, but they do exist. Then you have some truly good hearted people out there. Those who literally would not hurt a fly and are selfless to a fault. Those are the extremes. Most of the population fall somewhere in the middle ( at the peak of the bell curve). What I mean is that humans are layered beings. Good people sometimes do bad things and folks of questionable character are capable of doing good things. We live in a world where it’s so easy to judge others and hold people to high standards. I am guilty of it too. Especially in my youth when things were simpler, I was known to start a sentence with, “I would never . . . “ Well as the years progressed and life became increasingly complex, I found myself saying and doing things I’d sworn years prior I never would have. Some were based on selfish needs, others based on fear and others, I guess I still don’t know why, but I’m not ashamed to say I’ve made my share of mistakes. And have learned from them and know I’m sure there are more to come but I believe what makes me different than some is I can admit that I don’t have all the answers. I am wonderful is some ways and flawed in others.
I wanted to create characters who reflected these realities about people. I thought, what happens when you put some inherently good people in some messed up situations? I believe most people will find at least one character with whom they can relates, one they will despise whether because they know someone like that or because secretly they know they are that person. I expect you will feel sympathy, empathy and adoration for some of these characters. You will root for some and hope others fall on their face and I don’t really care who you like and who you don’t but I want you to feel something. To be engaged and sucked into their personal journeys.
I hope you have as much fun reading Living in Glass Houses as I did writing it.
Oh and don’t forget to take a sneak peak of the sequel, What Happens in the Dark, when you get to the end.
Cheers!