Interview from awesomegang.com

 

Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I have been writing poetry and stories since I was in sixth grade. It has been a dream of mine to one day publish one of my stories. I can now say that dream has come true as my first book was just published 09/18/17.

 

What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I love reading, writing, hiking, traveling and archery. My own adventures and love of mythology inspired my first book Waking Chaos. It is about descendants of the Greek gods with lots of sassy women and adventure.

 

Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I like to let the story just flow naturally. I was actually really surprised by where the story for my first book led me. I started with a general idea and just let the characters drive things. It was an interesting journey.

 

What authors, or books have influenced you?
I love reading. There are so many authors that I read it’s hard to say. Probably Suzanne Wright, Kim Harrison, R.L. Matthewson. I love the way they introduce funny scenes into their writing. It’s great when you can get lost in a book and even if you have a bad day a funny scene can turn it around. There are scenes in my book that made me laugh as I was writing them and just made the whole experience that much more fun.

 

What are you working on now?
I’m doing promotion for Waking Chaos and I’ve started writing the prequel to the series. I’ve also done some scene ideas for book number two in the Paldimori Games series.

 

What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
I use Facebook ads combined with Facebook author promotion groups and other book promo sites like this one.

 

Do you have any advice for new authors?
Becoming an author is much harder than I ever anticipated but it is also one of the most rewarding things I have done. My advice would be to never give up if becoming an author is what you truly want to do. There are a lot of resources out there to help new authors now and you should use them all.

 

What is the best advice you have ever heard?
I learned some lessons the hard way through the process of writing my first book. I plan to share my wins and struggles with other aspiring authors on my website. There is a blog post by Nick Stephenson on his YourFirst10kReaders site called “Normal People” vs High Performers.In that blog he gives a lot of great advice not just for writing but for life in general. One of the best ones is introducing “deadlines and consequences.” I worked a fulltime job, had a toddler at home, and was going through some medical issues while I wrote my book. Most of my writing time was between 9pm and 2am. I was determined to do this and set a deadline for myself. My consequence was giving up on my dream if I didn’t publish this time. Aspiring authors often give up before they ever get the book written. Having deadlines and consequences keeps you working toward your goal.

 

What are you reading now?
I just finished Call of the Wilde by Jenn Stark which is the latest in her Immortal Vegas series. Now I’m reading Ashes by Suzanne Wright.

 

What’s next for you as a writer?
I have some draft title names for the rest of the books in the Paldimori Games series and will be working on those books. I also have several ideas for other books that I plan to explore a bit more next year.

 

If you were going to be stranded on a desert island and allowed to take 3 or 4 books with you what books would you bring?
Oh man, that’s hard. I have thousands of books and I re-read my favorites just to keep in touch with some of the worlds/characters. Ok, here goes: Written in Red by Anne Bishop, Trickery by Jaymin Eve & Jane Washington, The Witch with No Name by Kim Harrison, and Checkmate by R.L Matthewson. I’d go for mostly humor otherwise I’d be building sand people to talk to all day - ok that would happen anyway.