Deborah Michel

http://www.deborahmichel.net

Photo by Shreya Ramachandran

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but Prosper in Love was inspired in part by my own marriage. In the early years, it seemed like my husband and I fell into the trap of having the same fight over and over again, too often ending with, “Well, maybe you’d be happier without me!” “Maybe you would!” “Fine!” “Fine!” We’d always back away from that scary place where neither of us really wanted to go. But I wondered, what would have happened if our foolish younger selves had somehow failed to kiss and make up one night?

Before writing a novel I spent years in the magazine world. My most glamorous sounding job was perhaps my first: as a New York nightlife columnist for Avenue magazine. I went on to work for a long list of publications including Spy, Premiere, House Beautiful, Buzz, Los Angeles, and the Los Angeles Times Magazine, writing about everything from the movie industry to interior design to which private jet Silicon Valley tech moguls favored.

It seemed natural to set Prosper in Love in Los Angeles; it’s where I lived when I was my characters’ age, plus I grew up there. LA is still one of my favorite cities. Today I live in Northern California, which is a pretty nice place too. In fact, it’s turning out to be the perfect setting for my next novel, currently getting written at my dining room table.

Hide full bio