Romantic-Comedy Novel Debuts Next Month Written By Westchester County Author Eileen Palma

Westchester County resident Eileen Palma, 37, will be a published author in about a month. Her debut novel should appeal to fans of romantic comedies and especially to anyone who shed a tear watching Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan fall in love as they e-mailed back and forth in You've Got Mail.

Kate Richards, one of the adversaries in Palma's novel Worth the Weight, is the author of a best-selling kids’ cookbook about healthy eating and the host of a children's television show that champions fitness.

While a guest on a network TV talk show, Kate expresses contempt for Considerable Carriages, a company that manufactures strollers, high chairs and car seats for overweight children. The very next day, unknowingly she begins a relationship with the company's founder, Jake Moskowitz, after he rescues her dog from a fight at a Chelsea dog park.

Palma said she became interested in becoming a writer after reading To Kill a Mockingbird at ten-years-old. She rereads the novel every year and feels she learns something new about writing with each fresh read. Palma even managed to squeeze a reference to the classic into her own novel. 

In a speech made at her elementary school graduation at the age of 11, Palma said her dream was to one day become a writer. (A 34-second clip of the speech appears on Palma's website www.eileenpalmaauthor.com.)

“I grew up watching Nora Ephron romance comedies like Sleepless in Seattle and When Harry Met Sally,” she said. “I love the way Ephron asks bigger questions like can men and women really be friends? Then she takes the audience on the ride with her to find out the answer.” 

Palma grew up in Eastchester, NY, and earned a dual Elementary Education and English degree from the University of Massachusetts Amherst. She met her husband Douglas in college when he lived in the dorm room next to hers and they ended up married weeks after graduation.

Palma spent her post-college years as an inner-city school teacher. But she was sidelined from the classroom due to long-term health problems after developing a life-threatening pregnancy complication called HELLP Syndrome when she was pregnant with her daughter Molly.

Palma said, “When I lived in the city, I ditched the umbrella stroller when my daughter was two because of health issues that made me too weak to lug the stroller up and down subway stairs. The bigger my daughter got, the harder it was for me to push her around. So, she walked everywhere with me. I was in awe of  people pushing kindergarten-aged kids through Manhattan in strollers.” 

“I thought it would be funny for the protagonist of a rom-com to own a super-sized stroller company. My husband and I had fun brainstorming ways to make the company jump the shark—like super-sized cup holders, iPod hook-ups, built-in snack trays, flip-up DVD players, and a weight capacity of up to 83 pounds.  That’s how Jack’s company Considerable Carriages was born,” Palma continued.

“In true rom-com fashion, I had to make the female protagonist the polar opposite of the male. So, of course Kate became a kids’ fitness guru with her own show on ABC and the author of a New York Times bestselling kids’ healthy cookbook called ‘Mini-Munchies.’”

Palma worked on her debut romantic comedy while taking a pair of writing workshops at The Writing Institute at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville. During the first course, "Novel Writing," she did most of the writing and while attending "Advanced Novel Writing," she revised and refined the original draft. Both courses of study were conducted by Jimin Han and Patricia Dunn.

Worth the Weight won in the Single Title category in the 2012 Tampa Area Romance Authors contest and was a 2012 Wisconsin Romance Writers of America Fabulous Five finalist.

She resides in Bronxville with Douglas who is a veterinarian at the Animal Medical Center in New York City, their 12-year-old daughter Molly, and a scrappy Wire Haired Fox Terrier named Oscar.

The following readings have been scheduled thus far.

• May 1. Bronxville, Sarah Lawrence College Center for Continuing Education Living Room, 45 Wrexham Road. A Romance Reading with Elf Ahearn. 7 to 9 p.m. 
• May 4. Bronxville Public Library Yeager Room, 201 Pondfield Road. 4 to 5:30 p.m. 
• May 8. Scarsdale, Athleta, 700 Post Road. Author Night/Mom’s Night Out with Annabel Monaghan, Emily Liebert, Susie Schnall and Beatriz Williams. 7 to 9 p.m.
  

Paperback versions will be available for purchase at the readings. 

Worth the Weight will be released on April 29, 2014 by Diversion Books, a New York City based publisher. 

Digital copies of Worth the Weight can be pre-ordered through Amazon, iBookstore and Kobo at this linkhttps://ganxy.com/i/91666.  

Diversion Books, New York, NY, 212-961-6390, www.diversionbooks.com