Self-Published, Went Viral, and Got Her Master's Abroad — She Is Not Playing It Safe

You may have already seen the video. Amanda Wilson, author and content creator from North Carolina, posted what she thought would be a simple family moment: announcing at her birthday lunch that she'd been accepted to a master's program in creative writing in Glasgow, Scotland. Her aunt kept eating. The internet had feelings about it.

But there's a lot more to Amanda's story than one viral moment.

She and Melinda talk about her self-published debut novel Mixed Tapes and Mixed Emotions — a mid-2000s coming-of-age story about a homeschooled girl navigating a public university, religious deconstruction, emo boys, and everything she was never taught growing up in a conservative bubble. Amanda wrote most of it during one of the hardest years of her life: battling depression, going through a divorce, and holding onto writing as the one thing that got her out of bed.

She designed the cover in Canva. Published it on Amazon with no editor, no budget, and no industry connections. Queried agents, got polite rejections, and kept going. Sold one copy last year — to someone she knew. And then went viral, and sold 150 more to complete strangers.

They also get into the millennial experience of graduating into a recession, the housing market that was never built for them, and what it means to finally bet on yourself when the people around you don't quite get why you have to leave.

Mixed Tapes and Mixed Emotions is available now on Amazon.

TikTok & Instagram: @so.im.amanda

Book: Mixed Tapes and Mixed Emotions is available now on Amazon. - https://amzn.to/4znqpwA

Donate to her GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/f/bridge-the-gap-to-my-masters-at-glasgow