12 STEPS TO NORMAL by Farrah Penn

I met Farrah Penn at last year's YALLWEST, and when I found out that her book 12 STEPS TO NORMAL confronted the necessary issue of addiction, I knew I had to feature it. It debuted yesterday, and I'm sure it will appeal to a lot of readers.

Kira's Twelve Steps To A Normal Life

1. Accept Grams is gone.
2. Learn to forgive Dad.
3. Steal back ex-boyfriend from best friend...

And somewhere between 1 and 12, realize that when your parent's an alcoholic, there's no such thing as "normal."

When Kira's father enters rehab, she's forced to leave everything behind--her home, her best friends, her boyfriend...everything she loves. Now her father's sober (again) and Kira is returning home, determined to get her life back to normal...exactly as it was before she was sent away.

But is that what Kira really wants?



In addition to being an author, you work for Buzzfeed. What do you love most about both jobs and why?

One of the best things about working at BuzzFeed is the people. I love going into an office where I'm surrounded by talented, funny, creative, and collaborative co-workers. Working there also allows me to be creative with content in a way that's different from writing a novel because I'm writing up fun pieces about pop-culture or books that are immediately published, or working on a video that takes me a few weeks to edit and put out in the world, and both provide that feeling of instant gratification. Books take a *little* bit longer to get out in the world, and I love having the quiet alone time in my own head to work on a story. Both equally feed my extroverted and introverted sides!


Ah, an ambi-vert! Me too. 12 STEPS TO NORMAL not only talks about addition, but how it affects everyone surrounding the user(s). What do you hope readers can gain from this book when they're finished?

Alcohol addiction and substance abuse have a social shame surrounding it, which sometimes makes it hard to talk about. Growing up, I told very few people there was someone in my family struggling because on one hand, I didn't quite know how to talk about it, and on the other hand, I personally felt like it was shameful to admit. It was also heartbreaking losing friendships when family friends did find out and would therefore decide to distance themselves. So I hope this book provides readers with a little bit of empathy. I also hope it can act as encouragement to start a conversation or seek out help if they're going through something similar to what Kira is facing.


It's definitely a book a lot of people need. And I love your website. What led to its current iteration?

Thank you! I'm not a web designer by any means, but after scouring Pinterest I had an idea of the layout I wanted. My good friend Jon Moreaux was able to create it for me, and Omar Padilla built it out in a way that was manageable for me to update!


Checking Pinterest for web design sounds like a great idea. What are some of your current projects?

I'm not going to reveal too much, but I've been working on another YA contemporary that centers around sisters and — I hope — contains a lot of female empowerment.

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