Q&A: Author's Book Finds Local Settings, Lakewood Coffee Shop Perfect Fit for New Release

Those familiar with the sights and sounds of the 253 area code will get a kick out of Megan Bostic's first published book, Never Eighteen.

Raised in Tacoma and a graduate of Bellarmine Prep High School, Bostic takes many widely known locations in the South Sound and plants them in her novel (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, $7.99), which she started writing in 2007. The book, geared toward a young adult audience, is about a 17-year-old boy named Austin Parker who is dying of leukemia.

The story begins with a weekend journey when he asks his best friend and secret crush (Kaylee) to drive him around in her 1969 Ford Mustang to visit people who he wants to show the value of his life.

Kaylee works at the in Lakewood, a place Bostic, 42, is fond of.

"I wanted her to be smart, so I wanted her to be someone that reads a lot," Bostic said. "I love that store and that Starbucks. It made sense to me that’s where she would work."

Bostic is hosting a book release party at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 17, at the Proctor Street library in Tacoma. She will also host a book signing at 1 p.m. on Feb. 4 at the Joint Base Lewis-Mcchord PX.

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Patch Local Editor Marques Hunter asked Bostic a few questions during a recent phone interview:

Patch: Are there parts of your book where people from the Northwest can relate?

Bostic: The book takes place mostly in Tacoma. They go out to different areas of Pierce County like Mount Rainier, The Space Needle, The Puyallup Fair and Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Lakewood would still connect with the book.

Patch: What motivates you to continue this path of writing and publishing more work?

Bostic: I love it, No. 1. I’ve been to a lot of jobs and I don’t think I’d found my niche. I sat down and finished my first book in 2007. I found something I was really good at and loved to do. That’s why I continue to do it. I like to write about the teen social issues. I don’t think people realize what teens say every day. Every day for them is a challenge.

Patch: Does your book reference personal experience?

Bostic: Yes. There are things I personally dealt with. Now that I have teens of my own, I know they are facing the same stuff I did when I was a teenager.

Patch: When did you first think that writing was something you would take seriously as a career?

Bostic: Back in 2002 is when I began writing my own book to kill some time. I was writing it for myself and for my kids. I was just playing with it. I got to like 50 pages and though, "This is going somewhere." I just kept writing. It took me some time. It took me like five years. When I was writing that first book and it was going to be a school-length book, I decided that’s what I wanted to do.

Patch: How long did it take to complete Never Eighteen?

Bostic: It was a personal challenge to writing it in 30 days. It was National Novel Writing month in November. I wrote a 50,000-word novel in 30 days. It wasn’t a publishable version so it took me a lot of rewrites to get it where it is now.

Patch: Can you talk about the challenges of getting your first book published?

Bostic: It's definitely difficult. I was a stay-at-home mom. My husband would take the kids. It was nice that I had that support.

Patch: Did you ever think you’d get published?

Bostic: I don’t think any writer thinks they'll get published. It’s a hope, but the process is so difficult. ... Some of the agents don’t even take e-mail. ... I always hoped I would but I wasn’t sure that I would.

Patch: What’s the No. 1 thing you hope people walk away thinking after reading your book?

Bostic: Mostly that you only get one shot at life and you shouldn’t take it for granted. You shouldn’t waste it. Live every day as if it were your last.

Patch: Why should someone read this book?

Bostic: It’s funny yet sad. It makes you think. It’ll make you want to be better.

Patch: Better as in…?

Bostic: Better as in connecting through people.

Patch: How many words and pages is the novel?

Bostic: It’s about 43,000 words, or 204 pages. It can be read within a couple hours.

Patch: I hear you’re working on a new book already?

Bostic: Yeah. I sent it to my agent. I'm hoping it will come out next year. Right now its called Slice. It's about a teenage cutter.