What is the title of your latest release?
A WOMAN IN PINK
What’s the “elevator pitch” for your new book?
When she meets Dutch, she believes that he is her Johnny Cash, that she is his June Carter, and that theirs is a great love story. As the novel progresses, it tells a different story, one of addiction and the chaos it creates.
How did you decide where your book was going to take place?
Location is never named in A WOMAN IN PINK, but I wanted it to feel like home. In my case, that is the Midwest, specifically Metro Detroit, and I used it as the model for my setting.
Would you hang out with your heroine in real life?
Absolutely! I’d have to give her some tough love, but I’d also have her back. She’s my little sister.
What are three words that describe your hero?
Hopeful, fragile, torn
What’s something you learned while writing this book?
I learned that tidily resolved fiction doesn’t work for me. I like some ambiguity and room for interpretation. At the conclusion of A WOMAN IN PINK, I wanted to leave different doors open or at least cracked.
Do you edit as you draft or wait until you are totally done?
I’d never finish a page if I edited too much along the way. I work better when I edit a complete first draft.
What’s your favorite foodie indulgence?
This makes me sound like a six-year-old, but there’s nothing better than Sour Patch Kids on movie popcorn.
Describe your writing space/office!
It’s a nook in my bedroom with a comfy, overstuffed chair, an ottoman, a little lamp with perfect warm light on the nightstand beside me, and a large window overlooking my neighborhood.
Who is an author you admire?
I love James Baldwin and recently finished Nicholas Boggs’ incredible biography Baldwin: A Love Story. It feels so intimate and reads like a novel.
Is there a book that changed your life?
Many books have changed me. But more than one specific book, I would say that a specific era of reading changed me most. That was college. Until then, the “greats” I was required to read were almost exclusively by and about white men. The literary horizons I discovered in college were so much more expansive and really cracked open my perspective.
Tell us about when you got “the call.” (when you found out your book was going to be published). Or, for indie authors, when you decided to self-publish.
The processes of finishing A WOMAN IN PINK, editing, and querying took a few years. I faced a lot of setbacks and self-doubt. Then Regal House Publishing expressed interest, and I’ll never forget my first conversation with Founder and Editor-in-Chief Jaynie Royal.
For context, many people who had reviewed my manuscript told me, “You have to name your protagonist.” I heard that again and again. Jaynie was the first person who not only understood but valued my decision, which became clear during our call. I felt like my book was finally being seen, and that I was, too, as an author. It was absolutely thrilling.
What’s your favorite genre to read?
It’s a toss-up between literary fiction and memoirs/biographies, usually of writers, artists, comedians, and musicians I admire.
What’s your favorite movie?
I can’t pick a favorite, but I love The Hours.
What is your favorite season?
Fall. The light and colors are gorgeous. I still get that burst of “back to school” energy. I also like retiring the shorts and pulling out the layers.
How do you like to celebrate your birthday?
Can I get the banks to close? Can I have a parade? Parties, trips, dresses, heels, fanfare – the bigger, the better, if I can pull it off.
What’s a recent tv show/movie/book/podcast you highly recommend?
If you enjoy literary fiction with contemporary settings and subject matter, I’d highly recommend Miriam Gershow’s Closer.
What’s your favorite type of cuisine?
Italian! I could eat pasta and bread every day. The wine is lovely.
What do you do when you have free time?
I read a lot. I hang out with my amazing daughter and friends. I walk in the early morning.
What can readers expect from you next?
My second novel, one about family, is out for consideration now. I’m also working on a third book, a collection of personal essays.
A WOMAN IN PINK by Megan A Schikora
In A Woman in Pink, an unnamed woman recounts her deeply intertwined relationship with Dutch, a man she meets in her twenties and immediately loves. Dutch tells her he has distanced himself from the substance-fueled chaos that once consumed him, while she explains she has left her eating disorder in the past. Together, they convince themselves they’ ve outrun their darkest histories. But over the span of their fifteen-year relationship, those shadows loom large, influencing their bond in ways they never expected. She wants to free herself from the turmoil of addiction. She also wants to believe that Dutch is her Johnny Cash, that she is his June Carter, and that theirs is a great love story. When their histories and choices finally collide, she is forced to confront everything she thought she knew about love, identity, and what it means to truly heal.
Women’s Fiction Psychological | Fiction Literary [ Regal House Publishing, On Sale: February 17, 2026, Trade Paperback / e-Book, ISBN: 9781646036936 / eISBN: 9781646036943 ]
Buy A WOMAN IN PINK: Amazon.com | Kindle | BN.com | Apple Books | Kobo | Google Play | Books-A-Million | Indie BookShops | Ripped Bodice | Walmart.com | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR
About Megan A Schikora
Megan A. Schikora’s short stories and personal essays have appeared in numerous publications, most recently Exacting Clam, Midway Journal, Change Seven, Hidden Peak Press, and F(r)iction, whose 2022 Short Story Contest she won with her story “Sticks and Stones.” Her debut novel A Woman in Pink was a Writing Award Short List choice for the Page Turner Awards and is forthcoming with Regal House Publishing in 2026. She lives in Michigan with her daughter.
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