{"id":57592,"date":"2015-09-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2015-09-30T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news-draft\/uncategorized\/university-of-rhode-island-student-tackles-sexuality-drug-use-mental-health-issues-in-first-novel\/"},"modified":"2015-09-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2015-09-30T00:00:00","slug":"university-of-rhode-island-student-tackles-sexuality-drug-use-mental-health-issues-in-first-novel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/2015\/09\/university-of-rhode-island-student-tackles-sexuality-drug-use-mental-health-issues-in-first-novel\/","title":{"rendered":"溏心vlog免费B站 student tackles sexuality, drug use, mental health issues in first novel"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n\t\tJunior Elizabeth Miceli\u2019s novel Barren set for release Oct. 6<\/b><\/p>\n

KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 September 30, 2015 \u2014 Sexual assault, mental health issues, eating disorders, drug use and promiscuity are difficult topics for teenagers to talk about, much less write about. Yet, 溏心vlog免费B站 junior Elizabeth Miceli, of North Kingstown, R.I., made the bold decision to tackle all of these topics when she crafted her first novel, Barren, which is set for release Oct. 6.<\/p>\n


\nPublished by Swoon Romance, a digital-first, mostly contemporary imprint from Georgia McBride Media Group that publishes young adult, new adult, adult romance, and erotica, the e-book will be available on Amazon, Google Play and other online book retailers. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI won\u2019t be in class on Oct. 6. There\u2019s going to be a lot of apprehension,\u201d Miceli said. \u201cPeople might connect to this character and it could get 4-star reviews, or they might say it\u2019s terrible and I\u2019m going to be miserable. I don\u2019t know if it\u2019s going to go well, but I think my sensitivity is why this book happened, so I\u2019m prepared for the good or the bad.\u201d <\/p>\n


\nIndeed, Miceli\u2019s sensitivity helped her cultivate her source material as she listened to her high school friends and talked with them about their experiences, fears and issues. In the course of her work on a human sexuality class project, Miceli interviewed friends and classmates, discussing issues they often struggled to talk about with adults. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cMy friends called me \u2018Mom,\u2019 because I was the one who would always listen at 4 a.m. if they had a problem,\u201d Miceli said. <\/p>\n


\nThat experience helped Miceli inject authenticity into the character of Stacey Lorenzo, a 17-year-old with poor self-esteem and an eating disorder. Stacey turns to partying \u2013 binge drinking, drugs, cutting and engaging in risky sexual activity \u2013 in an attempt to find herself. However, the downward spiral it causes threatens to bury Stacey in a hole so dark, even love won\u2019t be able to pull her out. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cI began writing this as a high school senior, so I was living it,\u201d Miceli said, who is now 20. \u201cNothing that intense ever happened to me, but after leaving high school it was very clear to me that there were generational issues that affected a large number of teenage girls, and I wanted to explore them in Barren.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nSwoon has already optioned a sequel, and Miceli has submitted her manuscript for Consumed to the publisher. She has also completed a draft of her third novel, which is unrelated to the Barren series, and is working on her fourth and fifth novels. <\/p>\n


\nAs difficult as the experiences are to talk and write about, Miceli said she struggled to present her writing to her parents, Mariann and Jim Miceli. Jim Miceli is the quarterbacks coach and recruiting coordinator for the 溏心vlog免费B站 football team, and Mariann is a real estate agent. <\/p>\n


\nMiceli asked if she could read the book to her mother, so she could filter out the more explicit material, but Mariann Miceli insisted on reading it for herself. She made it to Chapter 8. Her father hasn\u2019t read the story.<\/p>\n


\n\u201cMy mother wouldn\u2019t even look at me!\u201d Miceli said, laughing. \u201cI asked her if we could finish it together, so that\u2019s how she heard the rest of the story.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nMiceli, who is majoring in human development and family studies with a minor in psychology, has long intended to pursue a career as a sex therapist. While she always enjoyed creative writing, she didn\u2019t view it as a viable career path. She considered pursuing a journalism degree to put her writing skills to good use, but ultimately decided she wanted to help people. <\/p>\n


\nThat could all change, depending on the success of Barren. <\/p>\n


\n\u201cStacey was a senior in high school in Barren, so in Consumed, she\u2019s in college and it\u2019s about seeing how the character continues to progress,\u201d Miceli said.<\/p>\n


\nPhoto courtesy of Elizabeth Miceli<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Junior Elizabeth Miceli\u2019s novel Barren set for release Oct. 6 KINGSTON, R.I. \u2013 September 30, 2015 \u2014 Sexual assault, mental health issues, eating disorders, drug use and promiscuity are difficult topics for teenagers to talk about, much less write about. Yet, 溏心vlog免费B站 junior Elizabeth Miceli, of North Kingstown, R.I., made the bold […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":57594,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-57592","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-archives"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57592","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57592"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57592\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57594"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57592"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57592"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57592"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}