college admissions that earned starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Library Journal, was named a Book Club Winner by Real Simple, and was selected as an Apple Best Book. Dobmeier holds an undergraduate degree from Princeton University and a JD from UC Berkeley and worked in biotechnology law and nonprofit leadership. Dobmeier was a nationally ranked youth tennis player and went on to play at the University of Michigan, where she earned her undergraduate degree before pursuing a career in medical marketing. Dobmeier and Dobmeier both live in Seattle with their husbands. They enjoy sports, reading (obviously), civic engagement, and spending time with their amazing families and friends. You can often find them together brainstorming and walking their dogs, Shadow and Josie.
The authors applied the Page 69 Test to their new novel, Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay, and shared the following:
From page 69:Visit Tracy Dobmeier and Wendy Katzman's website.Chapter 9We have to admit we were a bit skeptical of this test when we first heard about it, but it’s uncanny how well it works for Ten Thousand Light Years from Okay! Page 69 is the start of Chapter 9, and a pivotal moment in the protagonist’s story. From the back cover copy, readers would know that the book is about Thea, a young, widowed and still-grieving writer whose husband died shortly after her debut novel was published in a manner that was eerily similar to the protagonist’s husband in her book. Page 69 picks up as Thea is arriving at the launch party for the first novel she’s worked up the nerve to publish since that tragic event turned her life upside down. This time, she’s written a happily-ever-after romance as a way to hedge her bets, just in case what she writes comes true again. But as she prepares to enter the launch party, she can’t help but reflect on her state of mind at the launch of her debut novel, and how she had absolutely no clue that night how dramatically her life was about to change. We love that page 69 at once captures her terror that she could be standing “on the precipice of hell once again,” but also the simmering excitement and anxiety that comes with counting down the hours to a book’s official launch, a feeling that every author no doubt innately understands.
As we pulled up to the café where the book launch party was being held, I prayed I wasn’t on the precipice of hell once again. I reminded myself for the billionth time that I’d written a happily-ever-after romance. Yet my body was frozen in place. Rebecca must have sensed my apprehension, because she reached behind her seat to pat my knee. In the weeks leading up to my book’s publication, Rebecca and I had tiptoed around each other, but I was touched by all her support, despite her misgivings. She’d called in a favor from a client to let my publisher host the launch party here after-hours, and had even hired a stylist to come over and do my makeup and battle my thick hair into submission. But my hair was less of an issue than my nerves. Because four hours from now it would be midnight on the East Coast and my new book would be launched into the wild.
As William held open the door and Lucy and I walked across the threshold hand in hand, I felt like Cinderella arriving at the ball, minus the glass slippers. We’d opted for matching white sneakers and light-pink shift dresses similar to the one worn by the main character on the cover of the book as she gazed up at Mars in the night sky.
As I took in the beautifully decorated space, my mind traveled back to the launch event for my debut novel, which had been held at a swanky rooftop restaurant in New York. I’d been so naive as I sipped champagne and my prepregnancy hair complied with my every wish. With Sam by my side for that one night only, having stopped in on his...
Interestingly, page 69 also mentions five of the novel’s six most important characters - Thea’s in-laws, her daughter Lucy, and her beloved late husband Sam. The only major character not on this page is Thea’s best friend, Frannie, but Frannie more than makes up for that as the book unfolds! Finally, the first paragraph of this page does an excellent job of capturing the essence of Thea’s relationship with her mother-in-law, Rebecca. There are obvious hints of tension between Thea and Rebecca, but also a clear sense that Rebecca’s love and support of Thea wins the day. The intricacies of their complex relationship-–with both of them intensely grieving the loss of the same man (Thea’s husband and Rebecca’s son) but with incompatible styles—is a central theme of the book. All in all, we honestly don’t think we could have picked a better page for readers to engage with our book than page 69!
--Marshal Zeringue
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