Tell us about yourself and how many books you have written.
I’ve only written one book so far, but I’ve had this story percolating in my head for years. I’ve written a blog story of the same city starting last year. It didn’t really go anywhere, but it allowed me to get a feel for writing the world I built in my head for twenty years.
What is the name of your latest book and what inspired it?
I name the planet something different and the title to my book was (no kidding) “Amisha’s life and the fight for life love and Liberty and the safety of her people.” I think I was thirteen. It was like fan fiction of a fantasy life that I thought was better than mine at the time. It was a form of escapism for me as I didn’t do well in school or at home.
I matured, life got better for me, and I set that story aside. I would occasionally have a waking dream (that period where you aren’t fully awake, but are sort of aware of the room), and I would write the details down. During this time, I married, had kids, and life went on. The waking dreams became less until they pretty much went away altogether.
About three years ago, we had some bad luck. Things happened and I was looking to escape again. I wasn’t quite ready to go all out on writing a book yet, so I wrote a blog story of a woman who forgot who she was. It was probabaly the worse writing I’ve ever done, I haven’t written a full story in a long time, but I’ve used the opportunity to learn how to write properly again.
Last year, I finally decided to rename the planet. I don’t quite remember the name, I think it was Xeron or something to that extent (google it, it’s not that creative of a name). I decided to try one of those planet name generator, but I thought the names were ridicoulously hard to pronounce. Eventually, after playing with random sounds I gave up. The next morning, I heard the name in a waking dream. The first one I had in a long time.
Do you have any unusual writing habits?
I don’t know if it’s unusual. I came up with a lot of these scenes while I’m waking up or in a dream. Then if I remember, I write them down. I put the scenes into OneNote and arrange them in a way that makes sense to me. When it looked like I Had enough for a novel, I started to expand the scenes.
What authors, or books have influenced you?
Believe it or not, when it comes to books, I happen to like dystopian novels. The gritty ones are okay, but the ones that really piqued my interest are the ones with a clean, orderly society.
The Giver by Lois Lowry is what got me started on dystopian novels. It was the first in my assigned reading list I had when I started homeschooling. Just before I started writing as an adult, I listen to Utopia. I think those two actually influenced my book the most.
When it comes to sci-fi, I actually prefer movies and TV series. I was allowed one half our show a day when I was in kindergarten and elementary school. I picked Voltron which not only became my favorite series, but it also influenced my love for space and space travel. Knight rider fueled my love for gadgets, computers, and programming. Starwars influenced the idea telepathy and telekentics. V (the TV series in the 80s) and Babylon Five showed me the possibilty of aliens and our interaction with them.
As for Authors that influenced me, J.K. Rowling is who got me to finally start writing in the first place. I don’t expect to get on the same level as her, but it’s very encouraging when you see someone literately write herself out of poverty.
What are you working on now?
I’m already working on the second book in the series. I also have been writing down scenes in short story or novella series. Maybe I’ll go back and fix that first story I mentioned earlier.
What is your best method or website when it comes to promoting your books?
Don’t know yet since I haven’t sold that many books (I’m still new at this), but so far, I have a small fan base on Minds.com.
Do you have any advice for new authors?
It’s never too late to start. Seriously, start writing a blog or something. It may not be popular, but you can use it to learn from it.
What is the best advice you have ever heard?
The same advice I would give to new authors. That and failure is just a learning opportunity. It’s okay to fail.
What are you reading now?
Tech Mage, Magitech Chronicles by Cris Fox. Actually, I’m listening to it since if I’m not doing mother stuff (cleaning, dealing with the kids, etc) I’m writing. Listening to the book while I’m cleaning makes the chores less of a chore.
What’s next for you as a writer?
I have two more books to write in the series. Then the short story series I mentioned earlier will be next.
What is your favorite book of all time?
So far, “The year of the Flood” by Margaret Atwood (which is completely unrelated to anything I’ve mentioned). There’s something fascinatingly creepy about a dystopian society actually becoming a possibility.
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