Candice Iloh: Hi, my name is Candice Iloh, author of Every Body Looking, my very first novel. I wish I could tell you this story came to me in a dream or was inspired by some magical dancer I saw on a stage somewhere, but instead I'll tell you the truth. Every Body Looking was a story that came from being me. That's right. This book is based loosely off of a true story about what it's like to move far away from home for the first time to go to college only to discover you haven't really escaped anything. Where you live is different, but you're still haunted by childhood memories and the pressures to please your parents. You've got some decisions to make.

I won't spoil the adventure for you though. Just know you're in for a wild ride, a ride that starts at high school graduation and ends mid-semester in college with pit stops to the past, college parties, and dark family drama along the way. But don't worry. Before you hop on to this ride, just know I went on one too in order to write it. And my favorite part, squeezing all of these epic moments into short lines. Here's an excerpt:

The sixth grade is a strange time. There are suddenly big tests and first dances and health classes where the teacher is suddenly asking you to watch a vagina expand because of baby is coming out of it and suddenly you need to know about this and the bell rings and you change classrooms and are given four minutes to get to your next one. All kinds of things happen in the hallway as you move to the next one. You hear and see everything and sometimes it's about you. Sometimes everyone is talking about or laughing at you and you don't really have time to be sure because you can't be late and you don't really have time to cry. Your father says these people are not important. That when you leave this place you will forget all about them and they will be nobody and whether or not they thought your hair was the most hilarious thing or your voice was too deep or that your mustache was visible on this day will not matter. They will not matter. Crying is stupid when it is over a boy or the group of girls who you just wanted to like you enough to make you their friend.