Molly McAdams embraces art imitating life

Molly McAdams, author of Changing Everything: A Forgiving Lies Novella (out now), shares the real-life background of this story.

Molly: I always say that writing what you know is best. Easiest. Well, unless you write fantasy, which I just can't do. My readers seem to connect most with the parts in my stories that have actually come from my life, or from someone's life close to me.

Sometimes the stories get turned into something much more comical than they actually were, sometimes they tend to lean to the dramatic side. Regardless, I like telling stories from my life, always have — even long before I started writing. I was extremely active in high school and the beginning of college, and have a lot of stories to share from that time. Eli and Paisley's story is just one of them …

"Is there any possibility of there being an us?"

I've seen a lot of reviews that say the prologue, and that question, is what hooked them. And then the extended version of that scene later in the story had them choking up. Trust me, it wasn't any easier to say to "Eli."

I fell in love with him pretty much instantly in junior high. Did I tell him? No. Did everyone else in my life and his know? Yes. His mother knew, my entire family knew, all of our friends knew. But he was my friend, and as the years went on he became my best friend. The only difference between us, and Eli and Paisley, was that I was the one who was constantly dating, he refused to date at all — but it was clear that I was friend-zoned with him early on. Throughout every boyfriend, everyone still knew that I was in love with "Eli." I was always asked why I wasted my time with those other guys, and I'm not sure. But, hey … they've all made for great writing material now!

"Eli" and I went to formals and proms together. He said he wanted it that way so girls wouldn't get the wrong idea. Trust me, I always got the wrong idea — as did everyone else. I kept thinking, this is it, he's going to say something and we're finally going to be together. When I went away to college, he would come visit. I always had the best time with him — but I was still friend-zoned. And then I met the man who is now my husband …

I told my roommate the day I met him, "I'm going to marry that guy some day." She'd laughed, but I knew it. There was no doubt in my mind. "Game changer." That's how I described him to "Eli." The week after I met my husband, I drove home and asked "Eli" out to coffee so we could talk. I told him I met a guy, and he laughed since I was always "meeting guys." But when I said the words "game changer," he stopped laughing. And that's when I — very shakily — told him about how I'd loved him since I was 12 years old. If you've read Changing Everything, you know the conversation I had with "Eli." The only part I left out was his laughing about me meeting guys. I won't spoil the rest of that conversation here if you haven't read it, but I will say this:

Obviously that's where the similarity in the story ends, because I ended up with my husband and not "Eli." But I don't regret that for one second, if I did, I doubt my husband would have been OK with me writing the story, and I seriously doubt he would have been OK with me talking about it here. I also don't regret telling "Eli" about the way I felt, because then I might have had those really bad "what if" thoughts, and that's just not good for anyone.

I will always remember him fondly as my best friend growing up. But even though I thought I was in love with him all those years, I never knew what love was until I let go of the hope that we would one day be together, and fell in love with my now-husband, and the best friend I've ever had.

About Changing Everything: A Forgiving Lies Novella:

Paisley Morro has been in love with Eli since she was thirteen years old. But being his best friend and wingman, while keeping her feelings under wraps, has grown more difficult with every passing year and every new woman in his life. After twelve years, Paisley is tired of the constant heartache and has finally decided it's time to lay all her feelings on the table.

Eli Jenkins has the life: his dream job, countless beautiful women, and a best friend who's the one he counts on for everything else. One conversation, however, threatens to not only change everything between them, but possibly cause Eli to lose the only girl who has ever meant anything to him.

When a family tragedy forces Eli to take a hard look at his life, he realizes life without Paisley isn't a life at all. Only now, he may be too late.

Find out more about Molly and her books at www.mollysmcadams.com.