by Amy Sparling
Frequently asked questions about the Summer Unplugged Series
How did you come up with Jace and Bayleigh’s names?
I chose Jace’s name because I’ve always thought Jace was a cute name for a guy. (Shallow of me? Maybe!) One day I got my neighbor’s mail on accident. I knew her daughter’s name was “Bailey” but on the envelope, it was spelled Bayleigh, and I thought that was such a cool way to spell the name that it inspired me to use it for a character in my book. And thus, Bayleigh and Jace were created!
Why did you write about motocross?
I grew up in Texas and spent most of my childhood and teenage years on the dirt bike track. Unlike Jace, I wasn’t that great at racing or riding, but it was very fun! I met a ton of friends on the track and I’m still friends with them to this day. Motocross is such a fun sport and since motocross guys are totally hot, I knew I had to make Jace into one. :)
Will Summer Unplugged get made into a movie?
Unfortunately, as an author, I have absolutely no say so over this. I would totally love to see my story on the big screen, but usually the way that works is that a movie producer will seek out books they want to turn into movies. Another way is for a screen writer to turn the book into a script and then pitch it to movie producers. I currently have a screen writer friend who has talked about doing this in the future, but nothing is certain yet.
What is your favorite book in the series?
I want to say ALL OF THEM! But if I had to choose, I’d pick The Beginning of Forever because it’s the wedding book. One thing I really love about Jace and Bayleigh is that their love of being together is more important than following clichés and trends. They had a small wedding and they did it their way and I really love that. They could have easily had some fancy thing that was very expensive, but they chose to celebrate their love their own way. I really love that!
Jace is so swoony. Is he based on someone you know in real life?
Fun Facts about Summer Unplugged
The first four books of the series are also available in audiobook. They are narrated by Cheryl Texiera, who is an actress that plays Maya’s mom on the Disney Channel show, Girl Meets World. I was SO excited to work with her because I love that show and she did such an awesome job narrating the books!
Mixon, Texas is a ghost town. When I work on a book, I like to set it in a town that’s not currently real that way I don’t have to worry about getting all the details right and I can make the town look how I want it to. However, instead of making up names, I search for Texas ghost towns and pick one from the list. Ghost towns are places that used to be a real town a hundred or more years ago, but over time people moved on to bigger cities and those towns faded into nothing. Most of them are just empty fields out in the middle of nowhere. Mixon is one of them. I liked the way Mixon sounds, so I adopted it for my own and made it into a bustling country town with a famous motocross track.
Salt Gap is also a Texas ghost town!
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About the Author
Amy Sparling is the author of The Summer Unplugged Series, The Devin and Tobey Series, Deadbeat & other awesome books for younger teens. She lives in Houston, Texas with her family and a super spoiled rotten puppy.
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