An Interview with Morgan Vega, author of ‘Sleeping Around’, out August 3rd! 🥳💕

Hello lovelies!

I am honored to post this author interview with the lovely Morgan Vega, author of Sleeping Around, out today! 🥳 Morgan kindly reached out to me and asked if I wanted to review an early copy of Sleeping Around and of course, I said yes! My review will be up in a few days (you can already find it on Goodreads) but for the release day, I wanted to share the interview Morgan Vega granted me!

Hard-hitting yet humorous, this young adult contemporary following a teen’s transition from foster care to college by debut author Morgan Vega is perfect for fans of What I Carry by Jennifer Longo and Watch Over Me by Nina LaCour.

Foster care always promised her a bed. Now she doesn’t even have that.

Coralee (Corey) Reed can’t wait to trade her current foster house for Harmony Hall, the dorm for music majors. Corey arrives at Borns College with her pawn-shop violin and a borrowed duffle bag, ready to leave her foster care baggage behind.

But Corey’s first day on campus starts on a sour note. She runs into her archrival violinist Dylan Mason, then her name’s not on the dorm’s roster. Worst of all, Corey can’t live at Harmony Hall. Period. Because she’s not yet accepted into the music program. Instead, Reslife shoves her into a temporary triple with two unsuspecting (and beyond different) roommates.

When one of her roommates does the unforgivable, Corey starts sleeping around campus—from air mattresses to random couches—while waiting for an open room. But how can she beat Dylan for first chair if she can’t keep her eyes open? How can she pass her finals without a good night’s sleep? Will college, the place she thought would launch her dreams of becoming a professional violinist, be the place her dreams end all too soon?

Here’s where you can purchase the books:

Website: https://morganvega.com/books/sleeping-around/ 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/58035090-sleeping-around 
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Sleeping-Around-Morgan-Vega-ebook/dp/B0974W6BJF
Barnes & Noble: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/sleeping-around-morgan-vega/1139809365 

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Interview

Karla @Anotherbookworm: Can you tell us a little bit more about yourself?

Morgan Vega: Thank you so much for having me on your blog, Karla! This is actually my first-ever author interview. Yay! 🎉 I live in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia with my partner, Kelvin, and our two chiweenies, Osito and Piñita. I’m a book blogger, bookstagrammer, BookTuber—and now a published author! I also (finally) work full-time in publishing, after a few internships and part-time editing gigs. 
Fun fact: my two sisters, Susan and Allison, are my best friends, and we’re in the band Thieves Beware together. (Don’t look us up, though. We need to work on our online presence, haha.) Like the main protagonist Corey from Sleeping Around, the first instrument we learned was the violin!

This was my first time reading about foster care, and it made me want to look more into the subject and do some serious research. I have no experience with the system but you painted an emotional, loving setting  but unfortunately that is not always the case. Why was foster care something that you wanted to include in the story? 

I’ve actually always wanted to foster! I’m hoping Kelvin and I can someday soon. Though the foster care system is far from perfect, I hope our home can one day be a safe space like Tom and Kathryn’s house is for Corey. I’m also donating a portion of my pre-order and first-month sales to HumanKind—a non-profit human services organization that supports loving foster parents of at-risk youth—and their Cases for Kids program that provides foster youth with new items of their own. So be sure to order now to give back to a wonderful organization doing good in the world, especially for youth in foster care!
I also think many young adult readers will connect with Corey’s internal struggles, even if not rooted in the same reason as foster care. The heart of this story is about belonging, letting people in, and not demanding perfection when it comes to loving ourselves and others. I’ve struggled with all those things, and I think most people have too.

 I really connected with Corey’s college experience and I liked how honest it felt. My experience was far from perfect and Corey’s wasn’t for so many reasons. What would you have said to your younger college-going self or to anyone going to college now? 

If I could say anything to my younger self before going to college—and to anyone going to college now—it would be this: Don’t hold on to the person you’ve imposed yourself to be. Allow yourself to soak up the ideas, beliefs, and ways of life introduced to you from your peers and professors. College isn’t just about what you learn in the classroom. This is the time to learn who you want to be—outside the influence of the adults and the pocket of society you grew up with.
No spoilers, but I pulled a lot of inspiration for Emma, Corey’s college friend, from my younger self, though I wish I had been as open as her back then. I spent a lot of time in college holding on to beliefs that weren’t mine and that made me utterly miserable. While I’m proud of the person I’ve become and am becoming, I want all college-bound students to know they’re allowed to evolve—without anyone’s approval.

My favourite part of the story was the music! It played such an important part in Corey’s life so I wanted to ask: why did you to center Corey’s character around her music? And can you share some of your favourite artists? 

So many reasons! First and foremost, though, I wanted Corey to have a passion that showed her determination and independence. A future that showed she didn’t define herself as a victim but as an artist with a colorful, complex soul. For someone who has felt so alone, Corey finds music as something that connects her to other people. 
On a personal note, I’ve always turned to music during hard times, not only as an outlet but as an act of self-care. I truly believe music speaks a language that we understand beyond a logical level. 
As for some of my favorite artists (I definitely snuck some into the book!), here are a few: Grimes, Tegan and Sara, Chloe x Halle, London Grammar, CHVRCHES, and the list could go on and on and on. My sisters and I cover a lot of Tegan and Sara songs in our band!

This was your debut novel (I think?), do you have any advice for aspiring writers out there?

Sleeping Around is my debut! I’ve learned (and am still learning) so much from this first book release—from the drafting to the publishing process. For some tangible advice, give yourself way more time than you think you need to publish. I’m talking months! Uploading files and covers, getting print copy proofs, etc. takes forever. I definitely learned the hard way. Yet, at the same time, anything that could possibly go wrong is fixable. It’s been nerve-wracking, but I keep reminding myself that. 
For less tangible advice, believe in yourself and your story first before you expect anyone else to. Get to the internal place where (for the most part), no matter what anyone says and no matter how many trolls leave one star reviews, you’re excited to share your book with the world because it means something to you. I can’t tell you how much sleep I lost over non-existent bad reviews—before I had even set a publication date. But I knew I was ready to publish when the drive to say what I had to say through my story outweighed my fear.

Thank you so much for granting me this interview. I am so excited for the world to discover this wonderful book. To finish, this is a question I like asking people: where is your favorite place to be in the world?

Ugh, I have so many favorite places: The Green Valley Book Fair, where I buy almost all my books; PYRAMID in Waynesboro, Virginia, where I buy all my crystals and tarot decks; and in the Dominican visiting my partner Kelvin’s family. My ultimate favorite place, though, is at home with Kelvin and our pups. Especially when I’m reading a good book on the couch or practicing music with my sisters.

Best of luck for Sleeping Around and I wish you all the best for your future endeavors! 

About the Author

Morgan Vega earned her BA in English from Bridgewater College and MA in Writing, Rhetoric & Technical Communication from James Madison University. She worked in higher education for seven years before transitioning into the publishing industry. Morgan interned at Kore Press, worked as an editor at Scarsdale Publishing, and now does marketing for No Starch Press. Morgan grew up and lives in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. When she’s not writing, Morgan’s freelance editing and talking about books on social media. Sleeping Around is her debut novel. Visit her website morganvega.com, subscribe to her YouTube channel Morgan Vega, and follow her on social media at @MorganVegaWrite.

Author Links

Website: https://morganvega.com/ 
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/morganvegawrite/ 
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/MorganVega 
Twitter: https://twitter.com/morganvegawrite 
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MorganVegaWrite/ 
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/morganvega