It’s no secret that my newest book, Close Quarters, was inspired by my family. As the dedication page says and the story alludes to, we are a loud, interconnected, overstepping group of humans who love each other very much. The memories we have created were the foundation for this story of the Ames cousins, who come together when times got tough. But just how much of the story is true? Today I will use my weekly blog post to point out a few of the absolute truths woven into the fiction and share a few behind the scenes stories as well.

If you know my family, this might be especially fun. But if you are a random writer, stopping by my site by chance, I’ll invite you to stay. It is my hope that seeing how one writer takes their real life and spins it into a saleable story will be worthwhile and worthy of your attention.

I’ll start at the beginning. I am one of ten grandchildren on my mother’s side, the second oldest, by three days. Despite our expanded age gap of 12 years and growing up across the span of several Midwestern states, we spent enough core holidays and summer days at the cabin to solidify us into a motley crew.

My six cousins, sister and I at one of our favorite local haunts, 4 Sisters, which makes an appearance in the book.

It was the daily communication through a snapchat thread with the eight of us girl cousins that was the true inspiration of this story.

No one character in Close Quarters is any one cousin in my real life. They are more of a conglomeration of our personalities, lifestyles, quirks and talents. I would say that I am somewhere between Kelly the dreamer and Lindsay that planner. I won’t out my sister and cousins, but rather let them claim their roles in the story as they choose. I will say however, that we cousins are a product of the real Aunt-tourage. My mom and her sisters (pictured below) are a four-woman traveling team of love, support, advice (requested or not) and fun. We are so lucky to have them in our lives. A few uncles’ names also made it into the book.

Another real story within the story is the tale of Rainbow Fish in chapter 11. My lovely mother-in-law did gift us a fish, although in real life he was called Red Treasure. Red Treasure did dive bomb into the garbage disposal. I did save him. I also once cracked the original glass bowl and was forced to go to Pet Smart where I lived out a real life nightmare purchasing a new (plastic) bowl after surviving the feat of searching for it amongst cages of skittering creatures and standing in line behind a woman lamenting about the destruction caused by her brood of cats. I do love my mother-in-law, and sadly (for some) Red Treasure passed away just weeks before the publishing of Close Quarters. He would have been so proud to see his story in print.

As I have mentioned before, in this post and also profusely on social media, all of the businesses mentioned in this book (except for Garden of Readin’) are real. Please visit them. La Crosse is a wonderful city and we would love to have you!

Just a few more.

Several of the phrases and pieces of dialogue truly come from the mouths of my relatives. Thanksgiving really does look like that at our house and my grandparents really did live on a bay of the Black River. That beach scene at the beginning could have happened a hundred times, although you can replace the grieving with fishing, sledding, ice skating, fort making, sandcastle making or just hanging out on the deck just looking at the bay. My Gram did pass away several years ago, when she was 69, so the whole mourning our matriarchal rock scenario was very real for us. Many of the things the girls mention in tribute to their grandmother around the bonfire are real life aspects of my grandmother. She was incredible and truly I thought of her as one of my best friends. We miss her very much.

In an original draft of this book, all four of the cousins had names that started with the letter. The apple story, also in chapter 11, stated that their mothers made a pact to name their daughters starting with the letter K, instead of giving them all the same middle name. Kelly, Lindsay, Mia and Harper were originally Kelly, Kristen, Kelsey and Kendall. My beta readers told me this was too confusing. It was difficult to keep the characters straight in their head. So, I changed them. But if I’m being honest, they are still Kelly, Kristen, Kelsey and Kendall to me. I did my best to purge the manuscript of these names, but even the copy editor still found one or two in there as she scrubbed the final draft clean.

Kelly, Lindsay, Mia, and Harper grew up not only as cousins but as best friends. Kelly has always been the dreamer and Lindsay the one with all her ducks in a row. Mia claimed the role of wild child the day she was born, and Harper will forever be the baby. Separately they are flawed, but together, the Ames cousins are convinced they can do anything.Then, without warning, their grandmother, the infamous Midwestern literary critic, Ingrid Ames dies. Suddenly, they each find themselves unsure of how to move forward without her guiding presence in their lives. As they attempt to pick up the pieces after the funeral, the cousins come together to open a bookstore in her honor. Unfortunately, their vision of tribute seems to be jeopardized at every turn. A surprising pregnancy, mysterious deliveries to the store, a deployment, and — most unexpected — time with each other, threaten to collapse the entire operation. This new novella from Amanda Zieba, explores the tribulations of being a woman in today’s high expectation world, the complexities of close-knit families and the power of friendship.

I’m sure there are more pieces of truth in this fiction, but they are so ingrained in me and my story that I’m having a hard time pulling them out. What I do know is that I hope you enjoy this story. I think it is my best yet. Maybe you’ll find a little piece of your La Crosse history or see bits and pieces of your own family in this cozy little story built of the foundations of my childhood.

Happy Reading!

Amanda

P.S. When you are finished, I’d love it if you took the time to write a review on Amazon or Goodreads. Thank you in advance!

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