Interview with Michelene Esposito, Author of Spinning Into Gold

What’s the story behind the story? What inspired you to write this book?

I live in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the college application process can get…a little intense. 😊 I’ve watched so many teenagers spend four years building the perfect résumé, taking the hardest classes, piling on activities, worrying about test scores, and believing that getting into the “right” college will somehow determine the trajectory of the rest of their lives. And I kept thinking: You’re seventeen. This is supposed to be the beginning of your life—not the final exam.

That’s really where Spinning Into Gold began. Anna has a plan. A very detailed plan. She’s spent four years working toward an Ivy League future—and then every Ivy says no. But what if the thing that feels like the end of the world is actually life nudging you toward something you never would have chosen for yourself? I wanted to take a little of the pressure off teens around college applications, but I also wanted to plant another seed: leave room for the unexpected magic. You can change your mind. You can change your plans. You can discover something you never knew you wanted.

Work hard. Dream big. But don’t get so busy planning your life that you forget to actually live it. You only get one. Have some fun.

If you had to pick theme songs for the main characters of your book, what would they be?

Music always finds its way into my writing, and Spinning definitely had a soundtrack.

Anna: Hit the Wall — Gracie Abrams
Finn: Beautiful Things — Benson Boone

What’s your favorite genre to read? Is it the same as your favorite genre to write?

My bookshelves are a little bit of everything—and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

I love romance, rom-coms, women’s fiction, and literary fiction. But if I’m being honest, what I really love is talking about books.

I’m in three book clubs because I love the conversations every bit as much as I love the books.

One focuses on literary and award-winning fiction through my local Books Inc. Another is through my local library (I’m also a total library fangirl. Librarians are some of the true heroes in our world!), where we follow the Great Books Reading & Discussion Program and have tackled everyone from Aristotle and Socrates to Emily Dickinson. The third picks a theme—food, Hollywood, walking—and everyone recommends a different book inspired by that theme.

One of my reading goals this year—thanks to the booksunbound podcast for the idea!—is to read the favorite books of the people I love. Right now my nightstand holds an Amish romance by Shelley Shepard Gray alongside Lost Horizon, Party Girl, and A Separate Peace—favorites of my mom, dad, and son.

So yes…clearly, I love reading books.

But I love, LOVE, talking about them.

What books are on your TBR pile right now?

Yesteryear, Small Boat, The Autobiography of Benjamin Frankling and Nothing Like The Movies

What scene in your book was your favorite to write?

Without a doubt, it’s the scene where Anna’s princess party is going spectacularly off the rails and Finn and Noah show up to rescue her. And when I say rescue, I mean really rescue. There are costumes. Juggling. Balloon animals. Face painting. And Noah arrives on a horse. Because apparently just showing up to help would have been too easy. 😊

I loved writing it because it’s funny and completely over the top, but there’s something really sweet underneath all the chaos. Finn sees Anna struggling and shows up for her—and brings his best friend along for the ride. And Noah is having every bit as much fun as the kids.

By the end, the party Anna thought was going to be a complete disaster has become such a hit that parents are asking to book more parties. It’s one of those scenes where everything I love about writing comes together: humor, friendship, a little romance, and characters finding unexpected joy in something they never planned.

Which, now that I think about it, is pretty much the whole point of Spinning Into Gold.

Do you have any quirky writing habits? (lucky mugs, cats on laps, etc.)

I wish I had a more glamorous answer involving a lucky mug or a cat supervising my every word, but I’m actually pretty boring. 😊

I’m a morning writer. My favorite writing days start with a long walk, followed by breakfast, my second (of three!) cups of coffee, and a few uninterrupted hours with my characters before the rest of the world comes knocking.

It’s a routine more than a quirk—but it works for me.

Do you have a motto, quote or philosophy you live by?

Oh, I love a good quote. One of my favorites hangs on the wall in my office. It’s Edna Mode from The Incredibles: “Luck favors the prepared, darling.” (And yes, you absolutely have to say it with all of Edna’s fabulous snark.) Right next to it hangs Edward Robert Hughes’s painting Midsummer Eve. Every time I look at it, I think about that young woman wandering into the woods, never imagining she’d find fairies. I hang them side by side to remind me: yes, have a plan—but leave room for the unexpected magic.

If you could choose one thing for readers to remember after reading your book, what would it be?

Serendipity. Have a plan. Work hard. Dream big. But leave a little room for the unexpected magic.

You can change your mind. You can take a different path. And something that feels like a terrible disappointment today might lead you somewhere you never knew you wanted to go. If teens close Spinning Into Gold feeling a little less pressure to have their whole lives figured out—and a little more excited to see what happens along the way—I’ll be happy. You only get one life. Don’t forget to have some fun living it.