As far as I know, my upcoming  book DIRTY LITTLE SECRETS is the only YA out there dealing with compulsive hoarding. Like most authors with “issue” driven books, I didn’t set out to become an expert in hoarding, although we do have someone with hoarding tendencies in my family. I simply read an article in a magazine about a woman who grew up in a hoarded home and got inspired.

My character Lucy goes through a lot in the book, and I think teens and adults who either live in a hoarding situation or with other big secrets will identify with her. As the  book is getting out into the world, I’ve had some questions trickle in from people who are living with/have lived with hoarders asking for advice and I’m only just beginning to realize what a big responsibility this can be. Many other books have dealt with heavy issues including 13 Reason’s Why, Wintergirls, Speak and everything Ellen Hopkins has ever written and I think all of the authors must become quasi-experts in the issue that they’re writing about. If you’re writing about suicide, you need to have some answers and resources ready for those people who reach out to you when they are in that situation. Same thing if you’re writing about hoarding. I want to make sure that anyone who reads the book and uses it as a jumping off point to get rid of their dirty little secrets can find the help they need with me, so I’ve worked with some actual experts to put together a list of hoarding resources on my website. Because I chose this topic (or it chose me – depends on how you look at it), it’s part of my responsibility as a writer.

The biggest downside so far has been people who constantly apologize for the messiness of their house or don’t want me to ride in their car because they haven’t had a chance to clean it. I’ve all-of-a-sudden become the clean patrol for everyone I know, and that I didn’t sign up for.

About The Author

Cynthia Jaynes Omololu majored in English at U.C. Santa Barbara because she liked to read, not because she liked to write. In fact, for years all of her journals ended on or about January 21st because writing about her life was well…boring. After her kids were born, she discovered that she did like to write about the lives of fictional people, and that the voices in her head often have interesting things to say.  Read more about Cynthia Jaynes Omololu.

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