Broke in New York City With a Dream Lily — Kay Martin

Broke in New York City With a Dream is the story of a twenty-eight-year-old, Penny Jacobs, an ambitious dreamer whose devoted goals are to be financially successful as a stand-up comedian. Working several minimum wage jobs isn't cutting it for Penny Jacobs. She's pushing thirty. Her aging parents need financial help to retire. And her goal of supporting herself as a stand-up comedian has been on hold for so long. She's afraid it's never going to happen. One of her comedian friends suggests she should moonlight as a dancer at a gentlemen's club. It had been a joke….But then it wasn't. Penny has so much shame and embarrassment about her new occupation that she strives to keep it a secret. By day she is dancing in sparkly gowns with a full face of makeup at the day shift and writing her jokes in the locker room at the club. By night, she is running around New York City doing open mics, and shows with her hair pulled back while wearing graphic tees, skinny jeans, and her Chuck Taylors.  Determined to make it in comedy, Penny is doing whatever it takes to set herself up for the freedom to do comedy- but when she falls in love, will he accept the one occupation that has given her the freedom of time?  Penny has to figure out her life soon because she doesn't want to be a dancer until she is eighty. If Penny fails at comedy, she'll never feel fulfilled, and she won't be able for her parents ever to see her proud.