The other morning, I rolled over in bed to find what I thought was a lump of poop on my pillow but upon further inspection realized was a hairball. A gross, sticky, matted hairball. One I had slept on all night. Horrified, I leapt into the shower and vigorously scrubbed my face, eyes and hair clean. Despite all that effort, for hours afterward I convinced myself I was going to get some horrible infection and go blind. No, I’m not dramatic at all.

When I texted my best friend to tell her what had transpired, she responded with, “Oh, my god. This is exactly like your book.”

And she was right.

My recent release BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH opens with the main character coughing up a literal hairball. My life, it seemed, was imitating my art that morning. Although, let’s be clear: I did not cough up a hairball. My cat did.

As an author who writes dark, psychological thrillers and, most recently, body horror, the last thing I want to do is experience the scenes in my novels in real life. But the truth is that all my novels have been derived from something in my real life.

My debut thriller WHEN I WAS YOU is about two women in the same town with the same name who become obsessed with one another. This idea came to me when I learned of another Amber Garza in my town. We’ve gone to the same gym, same doctor, same stores. We’ve circled each other for more than a decade but have never met. But the question “what if we met and wanted each other’s lives?” eventually became this novel.

Similarly, when my daughter was in middle school, I dropped her off at a friend’s house and when I went to pick her up a strange woman answered the door and had no idea what I was talking about. I panicked for a moment before realizing I was, indeed, at the wrong house. It was a tract home, and they all looked the same. But my sophomore thriller WHERE I LEFT HER sprung from the question: what if I had been at the right house?

The idea for my debut horror novel BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH came about in a much different way. I haven’t technically experienced anything in that book, thank God. I’m not losing my hair or teeth or *slight spoiler alert* throwing up body parts. But, in a much more symbolic way, I have experienced everything I wrote in that book. In early motherhood, my mind and body were stripped away from me, leaving behind nothing but an exhausted carcass. I’ve experienced gaslighting by medical professionals. I’ve experienced extreme loneliness, grief and pain. I’ve loved in a way that’s hurt. And I’ve been a well that gives and gives until there’s nothing left. Until I’m bone dry.

I first had the seedling of an idea for BETTER TO EAT YOU WITH back when I was knee deep in caring for small children, but I didn’t write the book until they were adults. I think that was not only good, but necessary. I have a perspective now that I didn’t back then. I know the hard seasons of childrearing pass, and, honestly, in the blink of an eye.

But when you’re in the thick of it, mama, I know it’s hard. All-consuming. And, yes, also lovely.

This book isn’t relegated only to those who have experienced motherhood. I think anyone who has loved someone else, cared for someone else, has had a mother or anyone who just enjoys a good scare, will like the book.

But I don’t think any of you would like waking up to find a nasty hairball on your pillow. So, buy my book and make me feel better!

Thanks, friends.