Costa Mesa-based author and podcaster Stephanie Mack’s new novel “Twenty Something Else” is a heartwarming and mystical ode to turning 40.
Sutton Layne is facing her 40th birthday, and she can’t help but wonder if she could have done things differently in her life. After she gets knocked unconscious in a pickleball accident at her birthday party, she wakes up in a magical portal with the opportunity to live out her 20s all over again. In addition to writing women’s fiction novels, Mack interviews other authors on her weekly podcast “Underline That.” Following the release of her traditional publishing debut “Twenty Something Else,” Mack has another book set to come out this fall titled “When We Blinked.”
What inspired you to write “Twenty Something Else?”
It was definitely looking at my own 40th birthday. I don’t care who you are, all women wonder, “What if?” I always wanted to write a magical realism book. It’s a Wonderful Life is my favorite movie of all time. I love exploring the notion that one choice from one person can impact countless other people. This was all brewing, and I was playing pickleball with my husband, and I got whacked in the face with a pickleball so hard. It was this moment of, “That’s going to be the inciting incident. Let’s do it.”…